Healing Tao USA

Tao Articles

Can Love Heal Evil Qi?

Topic: TaoNews
Author:

Healing Tao USA

Chi Flows Naturally

by Michael Winn
HealingTaoRetreats.com / 888-750-1773    •    HealingTaoUsa.com / 888-999-0555
Nov. 1, 2017
 

Primordial Tai Chi is a bridge between the cosmic infinite Self and our physical finite self. This form is a magical, powerful 800 year old lineage ceremony. Integrates the magic square of feng shui, the dynamic inner water & fire coupling of Taoist alchemy, the healing benefits of medical qigong, and the earthly transmission power of China’s original tai chi form!

https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/taichi for DVD & support products.

Fall 2017 Schedule of Tao Events in Asheville, N.C

.

1. Nov. 18-19:   Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-Love. Amazing spiritual tai chi form, easy to learn and practice.

If you’re practicing from DVD, live attendance gives Instructor Certification.

2. Dec. 9-10:    Medical & Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 3 & 4: Internal Qi Breathing & Bone Rooting – prevent or heal chronic illness and clear ancestral issues

3. Dec. 23: Sat. 7:30 pm. Winter Solstice Black Dragon Ceremony (free): “Go Within to Rebirth”. With Crystal Bowl concert by Malana Riverah

FEEL FREE TO REPLY – I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!

Dear Lovers of Bringing Light to the Darkest Corners of Self,

I’ve been threatening for several years to publish a book on Primordial Tai Chi, aka Wu Ji Gong, or Primordial Qigong, But as I dug deeper into the Tao cosmology underlying this amazing 12th century form from Wudang Mountain, I came up with new riches. Now I’ve invested eight years writing it, with some long pauses to raise a child — who was conceived immediately after doing a Primordial Tai Chi ceremony calling him in.

As the book grew in depth and length, it became clear I was using this 800 year old “cosmological qigong” ceremony as a spring board to explore the wider field of Taoist inner alchemy and to better understand all Taoist paths. They all share a Taoist Qi-based cosmology, embodied with a magical profundity in Wu Ji Gong.

But there are many variants of Tao cosmology, and hence a lot of confusion and vagueness in people’s understanding of their relationship to “what is Tao?” or to Qi itself. We have to overcome heavy cultural filters: how does Qi relate to western values like love?

Writing this book inspired me to map out what I feel is a clear multi-dimensional relationship between three different kinds of Qi and parallel kinds of Love. Pure (divine) Love, Unconditional (soul) Love, and Conditional (personality) Love match up with Original Qi, Pre-natal Qi, and Post-natal Qi. “Enlightened Self-Love” is my name for the integration of these three kinds of love and corresponding Qi from three Taoist Heavens.

I’ve re-structured the 26 draft chapters I’ve written so far into five sections, which I’ve re-named: 5 Bamboo Scrolls. The table of contents of those five scrolls are published below in this newsletter.

This Tao inner alchemy transmission in 5 Bamboo Scrolls is a digital nod to the bamboo slats tied together to make scroll-books 2500 years ago in ancient China. It’s why Chinese is still read vertically. Westerners scroll vertically to read an eBook, even as our alphabet eyes scan horizontally.

                

L: Vertical pictographic writing on bamboo slats.    R: Bamboo slats tied together with thread to make a scroll-book.

All five Bamboo Scrolls still use Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-Love as their reference point. That keeps all the cosmological theory about Qi grounded and in the context of an embodied, physical movement practice. For support materials, until the individual Bamboo Scrolls are published:

1. Introduction to Primordial Tai Chi: Way of Enlightened Self-Love (Bamboo Scroll #1 – downloadable 50 page PDF):

https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/articles/primordial-tai-chi-book-one-introduction/

2. 5 Bamboo Scrolls: Table of Contents of all 26 chapters: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/articles/primordial-tai-chi-way-of-enlightened-self-love/

I hope to publish Bamboo Scroll #1 by the end of this year 2017. I’m currently adding a new final chapter. It covers the Dark Side of the Tao and the issue of Evil Qi. A number of Wu Ji Gong adepts have told me they used the ceremony to neutralize Evil forces that was interfering in their lives.

I’ve met lot of modern spiritual seekers who don’t believe Evil exists. Their thinking is influenced by modern scientific theory of randomness. Bad things happen by chance, or have knowable specific material causes. New agers and Hindu-influenced yoga crowd may accept that evil events are caused by pre-destined “bad” karma. But many deny evil exists, or consider Evil is a product of the paranoid religious imagination of Fundamentalists. Satan is a cartoon-like myth projected from a Jungian collective unconscious.

 Is Evil Qi Real?

I accept the reality of Evil Qi. That’s because I’ve experienced “an attack by the Dark Side” and struggled to rid my Energy Body of its presence. I took it as a strong indication of my spiritual progress towards merging with Source of Tao that Dark Forces felt the need to attack me. They didn’t want my spiritual work to spread. This attack lasted 18 months – the longest months of my life, truly exhausting.

The problem is that Evil Qi does not come from without; that is easy to identify and defend. When the feeling of Evil comes from within ourself, from a higher dimension than our personality, then it much more difficult. That’s becuase we hold the Dark and Light sides within us, it is part of our greater Self-creation. It means we have to shift to the Greater level to dissolve the Evil Qi blockage.

Here is a short excerpt from my chapter 5:

Love & Sex, Evil & Death, Everyday Human Tao. (Bamboo Scroll #1, Ch. 5)

Chapter Five

Love & Sex,

Evil & Death,

Light & Dark Qi,

Everyday Human Tao.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Taoists harmonize human Qi with Nature Qi by marrying their micro-cosmos (personal Energy Body) with the macro-cosmos (Nature’s Energy Body) using Qi cultivation methods. This marriage opens the portal for both to return to the proto-cosmos, to Origin.

Return means consciously restoring our original Qi vibration to its primacy in our physical present moment. It’s an inner-worldly, not an other-worldly quest. Origin is an expanding space of pure cosmic Self-love buried within our dense physical body.

In simple language, Taoists view Human love as the key link between Heaven and Earth. Humanity is their child. We have an important job: to teach our parents Heaven and Earth how to love each other in new creative Ways. A key part of that process is harmonizing the Yin/Dark and Yang/Light aspects of our self.

The hard part is when a being uses Yin Qi to contract, then mis-uses its Free Will to stay contracted. It is MIS-use because it violates the natural cyclical expansion as Yang Qi. This “anti-flow” of stuck Yin Qi is what we call Evil. Evil Qi fuels desire to have power over others. It feeds off violence, injustice, and struggle created by extreme polarities like hatred. Evil Qi opposes the unfolding of “de”, seed of natural virtue and integrity of the Tao gifted to every human soul.

Evil Qi has its own virtue: it helps intensify our awareness of Good Qi and apprreciate the natural flow of the Life Force. This is why Taoists commonly hold the view of non-judgement: this world is neither good nor evil, it just IS itself, which includes all polarities.

This is very challenging when one is actively confronted with what feels like Evil Qi. To feel the Self-love inherent within Tao for all that is created – including the dark side using its Free Will to create evil – requires us to open our hearts wider and deeper. Our personality lives in a physical world with hard-edges. These edges challenge us to focus our love and defend our chosen boundaries.

In sharp contrast to our personality, Qi freely crosses all boundaries. Qi fuels an ultra-creative cosmos made of ever-changing realities – with soft boundaries. Taoism is famous for its principle of yield to the soft espoused in the Tao Te Ching. Loving the continuum of Qi flowing between finite physical and infinite subtle is key to completing our mission as humans.

My personal experience is that our cosmos’ flowing sense of Self radiates in all directions and dimensions from a core impersonal ocean of Pure Love Qi. Taoists call this Tai Yi, The Great Oneness. It’s function is that of a Central Sun radiating from within, illuminating all levels of manifestation with its light and love.

This ocean of Pure Love Qi is traditionally called the Original Breath of the Tao, or Yuan Qi. It is so subtle, so ultra-fine in its high vibration, and so omni-present that our slowly vibrating sensory personality cannot easily grasp its Presence. It’s hard to fit it into our “normal” and limited reality. It is much easier for us to notice locally where this universal Pure Love Qi is NOT flowing, i.e. temporarily stagnant False Yin Qi or wilfully frozen or blocked Evil Qi.

The leap from personality’s self-love to cosmic Self-love is a life long journey. Our personal Energy Body must develop great flexibility, and learn to embrace wildly different realities if we are to escape the illusion of being stuck in a tiny physical body. Trapped within us may be contracted patterns of False Yin or its extreme, Evil Qi.

The process of Self-loving is one of a sleepy human child awakening and growing up to become a luminous Inner Sage able to love ourself equally at all levels: lesser self (micro-cosmos), greater Self (macro-cosmos). and original Self (proto-cosmos).

Embrace Light & Shadow Sides of Cosmos

This chapter explores key polarities likely to arise on anyone’s life path. My intent is to bring the shadow and light sides of Primordial Tao cosmology into clear focus. This saves us from chasing after the naive ideal that any increase in Qi flow is good. Westerners are vulnerable to believing that bigger is better.

Our economic and scientific thinking favors quantitative outcomes: “if a little more Qi is good for me, a lot more Qi will be even better”. We must instead shift to embracing a qualitative balance between the real forces and hidden counter-forces at play in our bodies and lives.

The Taoist approach requires cooking together the Good, the Bad, the Ugly and the Beautiful into one Qi soup. Getting these polarities to transform by merging half-way into each other – an alchemical-sexual act of love – is one of the highest and most profound Ways of Change.

1. LOVE vs. POWER. Is our core belief in a world run by love or power? We can choose to believe in a sphere-archy of love-arising-from-within, OR a top-down pyramid-of-power cosmology. I propose the former, with three love types: Original Qi = Divine or Pure Love, as highest cultural values of East and West.

Pure Love births two offspring: our soul’s Un-conditional Love, and personality‘s Conditional Love.

Pure Love is the true neutral ground of the Tao, onto which temporary Yin-Yang power struggles are projected or acted out. I offer a Tao Love Cosmology diagram that mirrors the sacred geometry embedded within the movement shape of Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-love.

2. SEX: BATTLE or DANCE? Taoist Yin-Yang Theory is a sexual theory. Nature – the matrix of Space, Time & Beings – arises from the sexual copulation of polar forces. True Yin & True Yang Qi are having non-stop sex. Original Qi lubricates their process of birthing increasingly complex patterns of polarity into events known as Creation.

Humans were originally androgynous in the astral plane, but suffered a “Fall” when they split into separate male and female physical bodies. This caused the Original Qi binding True Yin & Yang Qi in humans to be scattered in the physical plane. Healing the sexual trauma of male-female division from this Fall is the most direct path to resurrecting the integrity of Humankind.

This requires shifting the old male-female sexual battle-of-opposites into a dance-of-complementary-polarities. I share my personal journey through “five rings” of sex and love.

3. SHADOW vs. LIGHT. Good and Evil, Joy and Suffering, Love and Hate, Heaven and Hell are major Yin-Yang Qi patterns in Creation. These polar patterns may manifest as struggle at different macro-cosmic frequencies of Qi:

a. over soul/stellar – collective karmic

b. planetary – archetypal

c. blood line – ancestral

d. geomantic – earth grid/feng shui

e. human culture – social/political

f. individual – biological/psychological

Patterns of resistance are spread across this entire spectrum of manifesting consciousness. They are micro-cosmically embedded as unique patterns within every human’s personal Energy Body (soul vessel). One Cloud’s 9 Inner Alchemy Formulas offer a practical roadmap to progressively resolve these polarities (see Appendix).

These Yin-Yang Qi patterns create what is popularly known as our personal shadow and light sides. Shadow patterns hidden in our subconscious are difficult to manage. Confusion and feelings of “stuck-ness” are common. This is multiplied and obscured by habitual False Yin and False Yang Qi patterns.

Theories of Evil Qi are discussed. If evil is real, where does it originate? Can Evil Qi’s polar relation to Good Qi be resolved? Or does an essentially “good universe” require an opposing evil force in order for good to be clearly defined? Why Pure Love has no polarity.

4. HARMONY vs. STRUGGLE. Attempts to cause Yin or Yang to triumph over the other may be useful as a learning experience, but any dominance is temporary. Yin-Yang Qi is a single unified energy with bi-polar fluctuations that spin continuously around a monopolar axis of Yuan Qi. Yin-Yang is not a duality or battle between two separate forces with a clear winner.

All change is a process of Qi flowing in harmony or disharmony (struggle) between Yin-Yang poles. Change unfolds within a spiral of continuous and seemingly infinite events, whose totality is called Creation. Human life is an opportunity to get the “Yin-Yang players” buried deep within our psyche (and the cosmic psyche) to come out into the open and learn to dance gracefully with each other.

Failure to achieve harmony produces wars on Earth and in Heaven. Struggle – including all violence, illness, and warfare – is simply an indicator of an inefficient process of change. Struggle is the default option until we learn how to dance more effortlessly. Evolution serves the whole.

The agenda of the strongest must harmonize with the weakest or cosmic process will ultimately be undermined. The weak link will cause its failure, unless we embrace strong—weak as a single steady cycle of Nature. Can we choose diplomacy over war? The highest level of Taoist harmony is wu wei, spontaneous and effortless change, as it most directly expresses the Tao.

5. DESTINY: CONTROL IT vs. SURRENDER TO IT? How do we create a path of highest human destiny, worldly and spiritual? De is the golden nugget of Free Will given to each being. Realization of “de” – our mission, the gift of authenticity from Origin — is best supported by reducing shadow-side resistance to the natural unfolding of our personal de.

One highly effective alchemical strategy to reduce shadow side resistance is to grow the neutral, non-polar third force of Original Qi or Pure Love Qi. Yuan Qi acts as a super-lubricant to harmonize the creative flow of Yin-Yang Qi circulating between Origin and Creation. Increasing the flow of neutral Qi allows us to more easily move around the boulders of resistance embedded in the cosmic stream of Qi.

Struggling to destroy or kill our Resistance is a waste of Qi. It cannot be killed, only transformed. Better to bring it into the light of Pure Love and engage it productively. This accelerates the healing of Humankind from its “Fall” into horizontally split male-female bodies, as well as the vertical split between spirit-matter. This vertical split causes feelings of separation on earth. It originates at the over soul level, but can be healed by humans choosing to return to Origin.

Highest worldly destiny (ming) is our process of bringing Yin-Yang Qi into manifest Harmony. Highest spiritual destiny (xing) is getting Yin-Yang Qi to return to its original Unity state of Yuan Jing-Qi-Shen. Worldly and spiritual destiny are equally important to our evolution. But cultivating Harmony and Unity are different processes; Harmony moves Qi outward, Unity moves Qi inward. They create a synergy that strengthens each other.

 

 

 

 

 

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6. DEATH: LIBERATION or DARK SIDE TRAP?

Taoist classic texts never mention reincarnation. But Tao tradition of immortality suggests an afterlife exists for those who cultivate Qi to a high level. Believers in reincarnation usually fail to distinguish between “soul reincarnation” vs. “recycling of personality fragments” (the 12 organ memories) in the afterlife.

Are life & death a polarity? What happens to our Free Will at the moment of death? How can we avoid dark side manipulation in the astral plane after death? Is there a Taoist hell for evil-doers?

 

“Big Picture” Question: Can Wu Ji Gong help resolve these major light-shadow side issues.

Short Answer: Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-Love is a very accessible sacred movement ritual. It alchemically builds Yuan Qi within our Personal Energy Body and aligns us with the Cosmic Energy Body. Done repeatedly, the ritual can accelerate different levels of healing, personal destiny, and prepare us for our death transition.

Wu Ji Gong brings shadow side elements into conscious embrace with our light side. It thus supports the evolution of Humankind to a higher level of harmony and love. That is quite a powerful package of benefits!

——————-

Visit my recently upgraded Primordial website, or order related DVD/Audio products:

https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/taichi

Primordial Tai Chi Nov. 18-19 in Asheville NC

 

Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Love
  • Nov. 18-19, 2017 (Sat/Sun): Asheville, N.C.
     Sat 9-6; Sun 9:30 am – 6 pm.
  • a.k.a. PRIMORDIAL QIGONG, WU JI GONG

    with Feldenkrais for Effortless Super Learning of body movement arts.

   Taught by Michael Winn, plus recorded guidance by Joyce Gayheart.

We gather the directional chi of Heaven and Earth in graceful spirals. This is one of my favorite forms, but requires deeper commitment (15 min. practice length). Combined with Feldenkrais, it opens up many levels of healing energy and ease of movement amazingly quickly.

I go far beyond the DVD during this class, revealing many things about the inner structure of the form, and how to intensify it with toning and focused intention.

For more about the form, and numerous testimonials about how amazing the form is, please see http://www.taichi-enlightenment.com

Cost: $185. ($90. deposit). Reviewers: $125.

contact: info@HealingTaoUSA.com

828 505 1444

Location:: Asheville Training Center, 261 Ashland Ave., Asheville NC. 2 long blocks south of downtown and Patton Ave. Enter alley behind Town & Mountain Realty. Lots of free parking. http://ashevilletrainingcenter.com/directions.html

Note: The course is the certification course for Primordial QiGong/Tai Chi. You receive a teaching certificate from Healing Tao University. Those seeking certification should have been practicing the form well in advance, if only from a DVD.

Mantak Chia learned this form from me on a China Dream Trip, and loved it! He has made it a part of his official UHT curriculum, as has the Healing Tao Instructors Association (HTIA). You can use this course as hours towards becoming a Healing Tao Instructor. For more info: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/instructorbecome.html
MORE INFO:

Visit my recently upgraded Primordial website, or order related DVD/Audio products: \

https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/taichi

5 Bamboo Scrolls – Table of Contents of Upcoming eBooks

Primordial Tai Chi

Way of Enlightened Self-Love

5 Bamboo Scrolls

An Inner Alchemy Transmission

Tao Science of Transmuting

Heart/Mind ­– Soul – Pure Love Qi

                                               

Bamboo Scroll # 1

Tao Cosmology & Sacred Movement

800-Year Lineage Qi Gong for Radiant Health

by Michael Winn

Preface by Roger Jahnke

Dedication

This Tao inner alchemy transmission in 5 Bamboo Scrolls is a digital nod to the bamboo slats tied together to make scroll-books 2500 years ago in ancient China. It’s why Chinese is still read vertically. Westerners scroll vertically to read an eBook, even as our alphabet eyes scan horizontally.

                

L: Vertical pictographic writing on bamboo slats.    R: Bamboo slats tied together with thread to make a scroll-book.

I dedicate these scroll-books with eternal gratitude to my Wu Ji Gong teacher Zhu Hui, and his lineage founder Zhang (Chang) San Feng of Mt. Wudang. I thank the Tao immortals who inspired this magical form and all Taoists, ancient and modern, with the spiritual courage to transmit neidan gong, the amazing Tao science of inner alchemy.

Special appreciation to my previous wife Joyce Gayheart, now floating in Flower Heaven, and my current wife Jem dancing with me in Heaven-on-Earth. They both have done the Primordial Tai Chi ceremony with me hundreds of times, bringing great blessings into our lives. Our 3 year old son Emerald was consciously conceived following a Wu Ji Gong ceremony that invoked Pure Love Qi from Origin. He is clearly a power house expression of love.

I’ve embedded my five digital bamboo scrolls with an alchemically distilled spiritual essence, compressed like a jewel and polished over eight years of writing. Beyond the deep content, these scrolls are intended to be a direct Qi transmission to empower every reader. The download is automatic, via gan ying, principle of harmonic resonance. Just open your heart to fully receive a boost on your Way.

Primordial Tai Chi is a springboard to share much useful information about the Tao path for any reader. For those with the discipline to regularly practice this marvelous ceremony, expect to receive Pure Love Qi blessings on your Way. May you cultivate Original Breath and grow enlightened Self-love as the foundation of your life.

I am grateful for the genius of Chinese civilization to embody the rich and deep wisdom of the Way in such a simple, graceful sacred dance.

Great Tao — thank you, thank you, thank you!

– Michael Winn, Asheville, N.C. November 2017

Note: I have already written drafts of all 26 chapters that comprise the 5 Bamboo Scrolls. But much work remains to polish and integrate them, so they will be released over time as they ripen.

—————————————————

Bamboo Scroll # 1

Tao Cosmology & Sacred Movement

800-Year Lineage Qi Gong for Radiant Health

                                                       

Table of Contents

Preface by Roger Jahnke:

Zhu Hui Lao Shi

Introduction by Michael Winn:

Awaken Self-Love with Sacred Movement

——————————–

Ch.1: Wu Ji Gong in China:

800 Year Lineage of Cultivating the Unknowable

 

Ch. 2: Battle of Ancient & Modern Cosmologies:

The Quest to Know Our True Origin

 

Ch. 3: Primordial Tao Cosmology Map:

How Qi Flows from Wu Ji to Body & Back

 

Ch. 4: What is Cosmological Qigong? 

Dancing Sacred Rhythms of Space, Time & Beings

 

Ch. 5: Love & Sex, Evil & Death, Light & Dark Qi:

Everyday Human Tao

 

Appendix A: One Cloud’s 9 Inner Alchemy Formulas for Immortality

Appendix B: Joyce Gayheart’s “My Body Moves Easily, I Feel Graceful and Light”.  Feldenkrais-Primordial 4 Audio CDs

Appendix C: Medical and Spiritual Qigong Home Study Courses

 

—————————————————————–

 

Bamboo Scroll # 2

Tao of Entering Sacred Body Space

Cultivating a Pearl of Golden Elixir

By Michael Winn and Zhu Hui

                                                      

Table of Contents

Ch. 6: Wu Ji Gong Origins & Theory  by Zhu Hui

 

Ch. 7: Physical Practice of Wu Ji Gong  by Zhu Hui

 

Ch. 8: A Glimpse into Zhu Hui’s Life

 

Ch. 9: Prepare a Powerful Ceremony:

Shape the Pearl of True Intent

 

Ch. 10: Activate Feng Shui Power In Your Body:

Why Sacred Direction is Important

 

Ch. 11: The Endless Flow of Questions & Answers:

Cultivating Whole Body Enlightenment

—————————————-

Bamboo Scroll # 3

The Qi Patterns of Heaven and Earth

Flowing Light, Sound & Movement

                                                 

Table of Contents

Ch. 12: The 12 Earth Cycle Movements:

Gather & Harmonize 12 Organ Spirits

  

Ch. 13: The 10 Heaven Cycle Movements:

Couple Your Inner Male & Inner Female

 

Ch. 14: Our Body is a Living I Ching:

Dance the 8 Trigram Patterns of Destiny

 

Ch. 15: Seven Sacred Tones:

Music Arises from Primordial Silence

 

Ch. 16: Spoken from an Open Heart:

Wu Ji Adepts Share Their Stories

——————————————

 

Bamboo Scroll # 4

Tai Chi as Creative Play

Taoist Sexology, Medicine & Numerology

                                                 

 

Table of Contents

 

Ch. 17: Free Will – the Wildcard in Human Destiny:

Inner Will (De) + Outer Will (Yi ) = True Play (Wu Wei)

Ch. 18: Sacred Movement as Chinese Medicine:

8 Extraordinary Vessels Heal our Deep Self

 

Ch. 19: Primordial Tai Chi as Spiritual “Anti-Tai Chi”:

Which Way is Your Qi Flowing?

 

Ch. 20: Love & Sex in the Primordial Realm

 

Ch. 21: Taoist Numerology:

Numbers as Living Beings Hidden in Life Structures

——————————————————-

Bamboo Scroll # 5

Way of Inner Alchemy

Water & Fire Copulate to Ignite Original Breath

                                                    

Table of Contents

Ch. 22: Inner Alchemy Science of Self-Realization vs.

Modern Science of Shaping Matter

 

Ch 23: A Brief History of Yuan Qi:

How Inner Alchemy Concentrates Original Breath

 

Ch 24: Torus Shape of Infinite Creativity:

Find Self-Love in the Hole of a Spinning Donut?

 

Ch. 25: Is “God” a Scalar Wave?

Science of Ultra-Deep Consciousness

 

Ch. 26: Advanced Inner Alchemy Methods:

Activate Your Primordial Imagination

=====================================

Cosmic Torus: which way is your Qi spiraling?

 

Primordial Tai Chi creates a Torus shape, seen from the inside in this image. This shape allows your Qi to spiral in or out, up or down, in any creative direction it so chooses.Many think the torus (do-nut) is the fundamental shape of this Cosmos.

 

Blessings on Cultivating Your Primordial Way,

Michael Winn

“Who takes Heaven as his ancestor, Virtue as his home,
the Tao as his door, and who becomes change — is a
Sage.” — Chuang Tzu, Inner Chapters

“The Tao is very close, but everyone looks far away.
Life is very simple, but everyone seeks difficulty.”
— Taoist Sage, 200 B.C

Register online for on Healing Tao University,
the largest Tao Arts & Sciences program in the
West with 15 week long summer retreats featuring “chi kung”
(qigong) and inner alchemy (neidangong) training. For
more info, see http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Or visit http://www.HealingTaoUSA.com to receive free Inner Smile ebook

Healing Tao USA    •  Asheville, NC 28803  •  Tel. 888.999.0555  •

Wudang Spinning Pearl Orbit – Captures Dragon Qi

Topic: TaoNews
Author: Michael Winn

Chi Flows Naturally

by Michael Winn
HealingTaoRetreats.com    •    HealingTaoUsa.com / 888-999-0555
Sept. XXX, 2018
How to Capture Spinning Dragon Qi

Spinning dragon guarding a Pearl, from my collection of Chinese silk paintings. The Mt. Wudang Red Dragon Orbit is unique and more powerful method for capturing the spinning force of Nature within our body.

 ALERT! PRODUCTS ARE NOW DOWNLOADABLE!
As usual, five years after the high tech crowd, I’m finally digitizing the best of my products for readers who need it INSTANTLY (or who live abroad and reasonably want to save shipping and custom costs).
Downloadable DVDs: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/downloadable-dvds/
Downloadable AUDIO:
Note that because downloaded items are non-returnable, they are not refundable. We guarantee clean digital delivery. For my famous one year money-back guarantee, order the physical product.
 Fall 2018 Tao Events

• FREE EVENT:  Sept. 22, 2018. Sat. 7:15 – 10 pm

Fall Equinox White Dragon Ceremony, Wu Wei Music Concert

+ Autumn Qigong for releasing resistance. Breathe out the Old, breathe in the New. At Winn home, by RSVP only (hit reply). See details below.


—————————————————-

1. Oct. 20 – 21, 2018 in Asheville, N.C.

Medical & Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1 & 2

Inner Smile, Five Animals Qigong, Mt. Wudang Red Dragon Spinning Pearl  Orbit, Six Healing Sounds.


• BRAZIL Alchemy Retreats, Rio de Janeir0

Contact: Eduardo Alexander  <edu.alexander@gmail.com>. Foreigners welcome. Taught in English.


Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, 2018, Advanced Practice of Star Alchemy + Heaven & Earth Alchemy.


Nov. 6 – 11, 2018. Sun Moon Earth Alchemy (Greater Kan & Li).


2. Nov. 17 – 18, 2018  in Asheville, N.C.

Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-Love

(aka Wu Ji Gong, Primordial Qigong)

Doubles as Certification Training


3. Dec. 8 – 9, 2018 in Asheville, N.C.

Medical & Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 3 & 4 

3 types of Taoist Internal Qi Breathing + Bone Breathing and Rooting

FEEL FREE TO REPLY – I LOVE HEARING FROM YOU!

Dear Lovers of Dragons and Flowing Qi,

Hollywood has popularized dragons in recent years. These are mostly the mythical archetype of Western dragons, which have wings and swoop down from the sky. It’s part of the generally patriarchal “sky gods rule the earth” model. Msny of them work for evil forces that need to heroically be overcome by a male teen age protagonist eager to prove his virtue and manhood.

Chinese dragons occupy a different mythic space and serve a nearly opposite cultural function. The Chinese archetype, like Taoism, is matriarchal and earth centered. Dragons don’t have wings. They emerge twisting and spinning from the ocean in the spring, circulate for six months and then descend underground in the Fall. They are linked to the cycles of the seasons, and symbolize imperial power, rulership of the earth realm from within. When internalized through spiritual practice, it is a sign of Self-rulership over the forces of Nature that shape human destiny. Traditionally, there are five dragons, each a different color and arising in a different direction, representing control over the five elements or phases of Nature’s seasonal Qi flow.

While dragons abound in Chinese arts and literature, there are very few methods I’ve found for bridging the gap between one’s personal reality and the mythic reality of dragons. I never really believed in dragons until I had the spontaneous experience of BECOMING a fire-breathing dragon. By this I mean that my personal Energy Body (functional layers of the “soul”) morphed into a dragon after I finished a round of spinning movements of a Taoist Bagua Zhang circle-walking form.
Dragon spiralling inside a bagua (octagon)
It was a shock, in a full waking state with eyes open, to see flames and steam emerging from my mouth. I wasn’t sure how to get back into my human form, but eventually I did. After that, I never doubted the reality of dragons. But it’s taken me a while to evolve a reliable practice where I can invoke dragons and they instantly arrive to work with me energetically to accomplish some spiritual task.
I have evolved the wandering Taoist One Cloud’s Inner Alchemy Formulas over the past 36 years far beyond the seminal but limited transmission I received from Mantak Chia in 1982-83. This has been a gradual process of expanding my personal Energy Body to embrace and merge, step by step, with the Cosmic Energy Body. This has made it much easier to manage dragon Qi as a natural part of connecting more deeply to Nature. In fact, in the last decade I developed a method that works even for rank Western beginners. You can learn this method from my home study audio Qigong Fundamentals 1&2 course. Better, get the live transmission via workshop (Oct. 21-22, details below).

Superior Benefits of Wudang Spinning Pearl Dragon Orbit

The Microcosmic Orbit is the most famous Taoist method of Inner Alchemy meditation. It is part of One Cloud’s First Alchemy Formula, so it is foundational. The Chinese call it “the Small Heavenly Round” (xiao hou tian). It has other names, like Embryonic Breathing, Warm Current, etc. It was first written about over 2000 years ago to described a method of bringing sexual essence up the spine to recharge the brain.

I spent decades studying the many Orbit variations in China. I am confident my evolution of a version from the famous Taoist Wudang Mountain is the most powerful orbit method available. One reason I am so confident is because I’ve not only tested dozens of different orbit methods on myself, but also on thousands of Western students, and observed their positive response. I’m a spiritual scientist, and favor “what works now” over “what worked for someone else in the past”. I discovered the orbit method One Cloud taught to Mantak Chia had a serious flaw in it: you have to keep “efforting” and using your personal Qi and will (Yi) to circulate the orbit. If you drop your focus, the Qi stops flowing. This leads to students ultimately having a “dry practice” that they frequently abandon.

When you do a practice long enough, it reveals deeper secrets to you. Experimentation is at the very heart of the alchemical process. Inner Alchemy is just a way of describing our human power to speed up our evolution. Alchemy keep things simple by working directly with the 3 streams of the Life Force. Negative, positive, and  neutral; or yin, yang, and yuan Qi in Taoist language.

The Microcosmic Orbit was poetically known by Taoists as opening “the golden flower”. This gold flower blossomed after deep cultivation of light (Qi) crystallized into an internal feeling of a gold elixir. Essentially, this elixir is formed when our soul is made substantial. To make sure everyone opens their orbit, I teach a powerful combination of custom-designed movement form, Open Qi Flow in the Orbit Qigong, in combination with the sitting meditation Wudang Spinning Dragon Orbit. This meditation method was so powerful it was actually banned in China due to it being misused for psychic warfare. I show you how to avoid that pitfall, and teach it as a very heart-centering practice.

I call my variant method the Spinning Pearl Dragon Orbit. It’s my evolution of the highly secret oral-only Wudang Mountain spinning pearl orbit method that I used to teach. On my two trips to Wudang Mountain, I did not find anyone who knew this exact method – it may have been lost there due to adepts being scattered during the Cultural Revolution.

Two things are required to master this new orbit method: the mechanics of the method itself, and a transmission, which is essentially my helping you to feel it. The transmission, which I give on the second day of my workshop on Medical and Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1 & 2, involves inviting in a dragon spirit to inhabit and spin inside one’s personal elixir, or Inner Pearl. So you first need to know how to form that Pearl, and make it real. I reveal those methods as well.

But inviting a dragon spirit inisde one’s body? Dragons in Western mythology are generally regarded as extremely dangerous creatures. Most Western adults make them “safe” by not believing dragons are real. That is partly because their childhood power of imagination was beaten out of them by adults. The culture does that in order to make kids grows up into well-behaved social and economic robots.  Perversely, Western culture DOES believe in the Devil, as it wants you to sell your soul in exchange for a few creature comforts.

Why is Everything in Our Universe SPINNING?

I know for myself that dragons are real; they just aren’t “physical”. Like most spiritual beings, they live in the astral planes, invisible to ordinary sight. But pretend for the moment that “dragon” is a metaphor for a “natural spinning force”. Even the most nerdy scientist can observe that the spinning force is the dominant power in this Cosmos.

Electrons and protons spin around neutrons. The earth spins on its axis. The planets spin around the sun, the sun spins around the zodiac, and the zodiac spins around some hidden super-galactic center, whose mega blackhole spin is so powerful it swallows all gravity and light even as as it burps back out 100 trillion stars.

Electron microscope photo of egg & sperm. Photo fails to show the collective force of hundreds of sperm spinning the egg, readying it for implantation by the lucky sperm. There is a physically measurable burst of light emitted at the moment of fertilization.

Men and women spin around each other, in endless sexual play. When human sperm fertilize an egg, they must first gang up and get the giant (to them) egg spinning rapidly, so the incoming soul can “spin into matter”. So spin is the key to fertility (hint: if you’re having trouble getting pregnant, a spinning orbit may help). Spinning is THE process necessary at the moment of conception, beyond all the egg-sperm chemistry. The vibratory spin of your soul is your signature, so Source can track you. “All the world’s a spinning theatre”, to paraphrase a famous bard.

But how many of us ever figure out where that spinning force comes from? Or why there has to be a still space of “no spin” in the center of it? If you did, you’d get the Nobel Prize for figuring out perpetual motion. Nature is not stupid; it spins for a good reason. Some meditators foolishly dream they can stop the spin, but Creation seems to keep on spinning despite their ambitions to achieve an Absolute Emptiness. If you could capture the spinning force, you would have the greatest power in all Creation at your “psychic fingertips”. Hopefully you would apply this spiral power to spreading love, balance, and harmony.

For a lover of Tao, learning the Spinning Dragon Orbit simply means you are empowered to EFFORTLESSLY create deeper harmony and balance in your life. That’s my experience. You don’t need to effort with your everyday mind to cause the spin. The spinning Dragon force, once you get it going, is effortless, alive and intelligent. It naturally keeps spinning.

The Taoists call this spin the True Qi, or Original Yin-Yang force. Its balanced spinning Qi silently overflows into your health, your relationships, your career. It deepens your spiritual path by internally grounding you. It guides your destiny like an internal spinning gyroscope. The orbit supports your unique virtues and your soul’s natural loving presence to flow in graceful spirals out into your everyday life.

If you are into the yogic model, you know that “chakra” means “spinning wheel”. The Spinning Dragon Orbit method creates a Unified Super-Chakra whose spin embraces and balances all the other chakras simultaneously. I taught kundalini yoga for many years, and loved it. But I find that opening a single whole-body orbit is far more efficient than trying to “open” each individual chakra.

Or consider the metaphor of a car. Once you get it started, it drives wherever you steer it, at whatever speed you choose. The difference between a car and the Orbit is that now you are driving the “car of your Energy Body”, and the fuel source, the Life Force, is free and infinite. Your rate of internal spin determines how much Qi you will draw in from the greater field. You don’t need to pay for gas or new tires. The spinning Qi is a free gift from the Tao.

What could be more valuable than this? Do you treasure your personal Energy Body vehicle as much as you love your metal & plastic-molded automobile? Unfortunately, a lot of people treat their car better than they do their Energy Body. But it’s never too late to wake up and enjoy a life of increased spiritual power.  Are you open to receiving assistance from powerful, harmonious dragon spirits, and to effortlessly spin your Way to health and happiness?

Read the section below for more details on why this version of the Microcosmic Orbit is so effective.

I invite you to my live workshop in Asheville. The $144. cost hasn’t gone up in 20 years. Eventually inflation will make it virtually free. But don’t wait that long.

HOME STUDY ALTERNATIVE. If you cannot attend , consider importing these valuable practices into your home via DVD and audio CD at a half-price introductory price, with one year money back guarantee: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/product/qigong-chi-kung-fundamentals-1-2-home-study-course-audio-cd-dvd-ebook-2/

Why is the Spinning Pearl Orbit so Effective?

 

Micro-Cosmic Orbit Aids Self-Healing and Energetic Defense

Spiritually, the Micro-cosmic Orbit seals the physically etheric aspect of your Energy Body in a never-ending wheel of light. This protects you from squandering and leaking your energy – commonly called “stress”. It also opens up the 8 Extraordinary Vessels, which feed you refreshing Qi from the pre-birth field of energy. Many people have gotten powerful healing from this practice alone, often for chronic illnesses that modern medicine cannot cure.

One of the challenges thta every human faces is creating healthy boundaries between their inner personal space and what is happening in the public outer space. The orbit creates an energetic “buffer zone” between the two. This is a much more sane way to live, and it protects the delicate spiritual changes that need time to evolve within us before we birth them out into the world.

The orbit practice never grows old – the quality of the chi/Qi flowing in it just matures and feels more wonderful. I was practicing for over two hour this morning and marvelling at how profound this particular method is – something released that hadn’t before. Humans are ongoing works of art, and qigong and inner alchemy are amazing ways to energetically sculpt our life.

Orbit as Perpetual Motion

Even if you learned the orbit before, or learned a different method, repeated practice is necessary for most folks to get it deeply. The orbit meditation was likely patterned after the movement of the sun and moon, which chase after each other in Nature’s perpetual dance. Likewise inside our body the fire channel in the spine and the water channel in the chest chase after each other in a human version of perpetual motion.

        

L: Greek Ouroboros, snake (baby dragon) swallowing its tail is equivalent of Tao micro-cosmic orbit. (image: zarathus) R: calligraphy expresses the circularity of orbital Qi flow. Note the neutral space in the center = core channel of our personal Energy Body.
Six Reasons the Spinning Pearl Dragon Orbit  is so Effective

1. IT HARMONIZES ABOVE & BELOW. Tao Cosmology holds as one of its primary principles the correspondence between Micro-cosm and Macro-cosm. There is a famous alchemical maxim that sums this up nicely: As Above, So Below. The orbit links Heaven and Earth within our personal Energy Body.

This means that if we can get our Qi flowing in an orbit pattern locally – IN OUR BODY – that we will be in harmony with the flow of Qi in the larger BODY OF NATURE. Our body and nature’s body are mirror images of each other, a balanced micro-macro cosmic relationship.But if we are energetically asleep the forces in our subconscious can act out in wild and disturbing ways.

The Fire Path Orbit flows from our navel down into the perineum, the Yin Gate of Earth. Then it flows up the spine to the crown of the head, the Yang Gate of Heaven. On its continuous pathway between Heaven and Earth, Qi flows through key points that nourish our Human life – our sexual center, navel, solar plexus, heart, threat, third eye/pineal gland.

The Water Path Orbit runs the opposite directioin – up the chest, over the head, down the spine and back to the navel.

Both the Fire and Water paths embody a model of INCLUSIVE-NESS within a process of continuous CHANGE. That is a pretty good summary of the essence of following the path of Tao.

2. ORBIT CIRCULATES SEXUAL ENERGY, ENHANCES CREATIVITY

Historically, scholars believe the orbit may have originated over 2000 years ago in a sexual practice  described in ancient texts. This method was to bring sexual essence from below to nourish and enliven the brain above. This Spinning Dragon Orbit method penetrates into the “jing” or substance level much more so than orbit methods that rely on breath or visualization only. The spinning pearl literally digs into deeper levels of our Energy Body, freeing trapped creativity.

If you do this method, at some point the “above” feels full and it spontaneousl overflows and intiates a downward flow. In Taoist alchemy, sexual energy is the secret alchemical agent that is needed to stimulate and raise our vibration to a higher level. This orbit version blends all the hormonal energies and concentrates our sexual essence and blood, making it possible to more quickly transform slower, more habitual organ pathways that can dominate our personality.

3. ORBIT IS SHORTCUT TO BALANCE ALL YIN-YANG Qi FLOW.

The Orbit Meditation activates two primary deep channels in the body which help control the balance of yin and yang Qi flow. These two channels are part of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, which is best understood as the SOUL CHANNELS that flow into the 12 BODY-MIND ORGAN CHANNELS.

The yang fire channel in the spine is known in Chinese medicine as the Governor Vessel, and the yin water channel up the center line of the torso & chest is called the Conception Vessel. Linking these two allow our personality to effortlessly shift from spirit into matter and back. The Spinning Pearl Dragon Orbit creates the ability to shift between Jing-Qi-Shen levels more quickly. Jing-Qi-Shen is the continuum of awareness from substance (Jing) to subtle breath t(Qi) o broad field of expanded awareness (aka spirit).

These “8 Extraordinary Vessels” control the yin-yang balance of the 12 meridians that regulate the 12 vital organs and bowels. So by opening and nourishing the flow in the orbit, we in effect leverage the harmony between the fire and water channels to influence simultaneously all 12 of the organ meridians that govern our health and personality. So instead of trying to “fix” things on the outer level, we balance the flow of yin-yang Qi from within, on a deeper level.

4. UNIFIED CHAKRA MODEL. If you are a student of yoga, you might re-frame this to say that the Orbit is adjusting the flow of prana through all the chakras. So nstead of trying to “open” a particular chakra, you are opening the faucet so the Qi (prana) pressure is increased and flows like an unstoppable river through ALL the chakras. The Orbit thus creates a Unified Chakra that integrates all the other chakras into a single dynamic wheel of life.

5. ORBIT IS FOUNDATION FOR CULTIVATING ORIGINAL BREATH.

Our deepest human instinct is to search for our Source. The orbit open the inner space in which we cultivate Yuan Qi (Original Breath). iIt offers a stable yin-yang egg-shaped vessel, where our inner embryo of our immortal soul can mature.

A lot of students think that it’s enough to just balance out the flow of yin-yang Qi. This is generally the viewpoint of our personality, which is controlled by the tension between our left and right brain hemispheres.

Many have not yet awakened to the reality of a third kind of Qi that is NOT yin-yang polarized. It links us to our soul and over soul. It is known as Original Breath, or Yuan Qi. It is the energy of the Primordial Tao, the source of all creation’s many forms that we call Nature. The orbit flows around the center line of our body, exactly in between our left and right brains. In short, it grows our CORE SELF.

Once we have balanced the yin-yang or fire/water Qi flowing around our micro-orbit, we can take the next step and begin to cultivate and grow our Yuan Qi in the core channel. This is called the chongmai, or Penetrating Vessel. This Qi flows in the center of our body, running from perineum to crown. It’s also known as the taiji pole, the spiralling axis between heaven and earth.

The outer path of the micro-orbit around our torso creates the shape of an egg. When we cultivate our Yuan Qi, it’s like we are nourishing the yolk of the egg deep inside us. That is what Taoists call the Immortal Embryo. When we shift from the outer orbit pathway to the core channel, we graduate to a deeper level of internal alchemy, the science of re-birthing our soul and making it tangible.

6. SPINNING PEARL ORBIT IS PRACTICAL AND EFFORTLESS ONCE SET IN MOTION…

I first learned a very basic orbit method in1980 from Mantak Chia. It worked, but not perfectly. I have since tested on myself and my students dozens of different methods to open and sustain the micro-cosmic orbit. I’ve concluded the Spinning Pearl Dragon Orbit method is the most effective. I’ve been working with it for over 18 years, and have further evolved it, including how to invite spinning Dragon Qi into it to make it more effortless. I taught this orbit method to Mantak Chia in 2011, but haven’t seen that he grasped the superiority of it.

I’ve also integrated the Dragon Orbit into the One Cloud’s system of water & fire internal alchemy. It kicks the alchemical process into super-high frequencies and speeds up one’s progress. It is like graduating from “dial-up” to “broad band” internet – easier, faster, and more fun.

ASHEVILLE WORKSHOP. I invite you to come to participate in a live transmission of this practice in Asheville this Oct. 21, 22, and 23. The week end is the same price – $144.-  that I charged since 1997,  twenty years ago!

Register for Oct. 21-23 workshop on Orbit: 828 505 1444.   info.healingtaousa@earthlink.net

Workshop location and daily schedue is below.

If you cannot make it, consider getting my Medical and Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1 & 2 home study course so you can practice at your own speed at home. Discount offer is below.

Even if you’ve learned other versions of the orbit from other teachers, I encourage you to study this version live or by home study. It will change the trajectory of your Qi cultivation pathway, which is Taoist “energy-talk” way of saying it will change your life.

————————-

1. September 22, 2018 (Sat. eve) Asheville, N.C.   7:15 – 9:45 pm

FALL EQUINOX CEREMONY with White Dragon of the West

Wu Wei Music Concert +  QIGONG & MEDITATION  (RSVP needed!)

 

 

Free, open to all, at our home.


Come explore the wonderful harmony and feeling of balance at Fall Equinox. Yin and Yang are at a crossing point, opening a portal into the space for LETTING GO. This is the time to let your personal Energy Body sink deeper into Earth. This connects us to the metal or White Dragon Spirit of the West. This Fall “metal” energy can be captured and put to work in our life, and prepares us for the rebirth at Winter Solstice.


Please arrive by 7:15 pm. (allow 20 minutes drive from downtown Asheville)



7:30 – 7:50 pm. Wu Wei Music Concert. WE create the music infused with the Joy of Spontaneity. Led by my 4 year old musical wizard son Emerald. 🙂 Bring your own or borrow from my large collection of instruments.

8- 8:30 Fall Equinox White Dragon ceremony + Metal Element Qigong



Set a Clear Intent. Come prepared! Think about what you want to LET GO. Articulate your Intent in advance! The White Dragon is the aspect of Mother Earth’s psyche that controls the Metal/Gold element. It is connected in our bodies to lung/large intestine functions, the fall season of nature releasing Qi back into the earth, preparing for the deep yin of winter.



This powerful Equinox Ceremony aligns our authentic personal self with the holy cycle of Nature, followed by a short break. Then two silent sitting meditations in total darkness on the Yuan Qi (neutral force that forms between yin and yang at this moment of equal day and night). Participants must stay for one for both sittings. All are welcome to stay later to celebrate this moment of Deep Harmony.



The sitting times approximate (chairs available):



1st sitting: 8:45 pm – 9:45 pm

2nd sitting (optional): 10 pm – 11 pm



Light refreshments afterwards. This event is very popular, so RSVP early.  Those who are leaving early (after first sitting) need to park at the top of the driveway (bring a flashlight).


Email for RSVP and directions:  You have not entered an email address for this shortcode.



                                 

Inner Smile is a universal image in art, It expresses the open heart of our soul.This fun evening is part of a weekend workshop, but is open to the public and can be taken separately. I encourage everyone taking the weekend to attend Friday evening s well.

——————————————————–

2. Oct. 20 – 21, 2018 (Sat/Sun): Asheville, N.C.  9am – 6 pm



Medical & Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1 & 2



with Michael Winn and his wife Jem Minor

Smiling Buddha


Inner Smile is a universal image in art.




Cost: $144 for weekend. $90. for one day.


Day 1: Inner Smile, Five Animals Qigong, Six Healing Sounds, Taoist qigong & alchemy theory.


I will facilitate the Inner Smile with a transmission of that frequency of unconditional acceptance at the soul level. This is one of the most important and simplest self-cultivation practices you can learn and apply simply to daily life. Increased peace, self-love, and acceptance of others are the reward, with secondary benefits of healing all kinds of illness that is stress-caused.



Visit http://www.healingdao.com/ckf1.html#top (Fundamentals 1 page with full  benefits & description of practices, testimonials, etc.)



Day 2: Guided Micro-Cosmic Orbit with Dragon Power, and custom Orbit Qigong.


This famous Tao meditation unifies all dantian energy centers/chakras into a flowing whole. Process is made simple and physically tangible with the powerful “Open Qi  Flow in the Orbit” movement qigong. Chi transmission is given to help you open Qi flow spiraling in an orbit around your torso.


Includes oral transmission of the powerful Wudang Mountain “Red Dragon” internal method of circulating the orbit (NOT taught in overseas Universal Healing Tao curriculum).

 

THE WUDANG MTN ORBIT IS THE MOST POWERFUL & EFFECTIVE ORBIT METHOD I’VE FOUND – during my 38 years search. Included is my method of invoking spiralling Dragon power into the orbit meditation to amplify its power and effortless Qi  flow.


Good for self healing, spiritual centering and balance of all yin-yang meridians of body, and balancing blood and chi. The orbit is also the main pathway used for cultivating spiritualized sexual energy as you progress in your practice.

Wudang Mtn. Red Dragon Spinning Pearl Orbit trains us to crystallize an Inner Pearl that matures into our Inner Sage. Grow your own inner reliable spiritual guide.


More info on Fundamentals 2 (Orbit): http://www.healingdao.com/ckf2.html


These two days are packed with powerful practices that can make major shifts in your health and energy level. They are Lifetime Treasures, simple enough to easily share with family and friends.



Workshop is open to everyone. This course is THE main pre-requisite to Fusion, Healing Love, Kan & Li. This is the best course to begin with, but also suitable for advanced adepts or people from other traditions wishing to go deeper or investigate this system.


Register by email:

or call 888-999-0555 (in USA only)

or (864) 419-4502 to speak with Zach, office manager

 
Cost: $144. Review: $90.


New location (very serene, near a river & forest!): If you need a ride, we will help.

The Center Within
130 Center Ave
Black Mountain NC 28711
 
Directions from DOWNTOWN Asheville:
 
1. Get on I-240 East (3 min)
2, Stay left as hiway forks, take I-40 East to Black Mountain
3. Take exit 64 Black Mtn (14 min)
4. Turn left at bottom of ramp. Go .4 mile on NC-9 N.
5. Cross train tracks; take first right onto Sutton Ave.
6. Sutton Ave curves left to become S. Ridgeway Ave
7. Pass Roots & Fruits Market-Cafe. After 500 feet, turn right onto Center Ave.
8. Go 600 feet on Center Ave; go straight at stop sign.

Center Within is on your right. Park.
Enter doorway at far left of building, by wheelchair ramp.

Contact: info@HealingTaoUSA.com  or call 888 999 0555.

Full refund if cancel one week in advance, 50% refund if cancel by Friday midnight Oct. 20.  No refunds once class begins.

Cost: $144 for weekend. $90. for one day. Extended payment plan available.

Yin-Yang Dragons Guarding My Living Room

Home would just not feel like home without a couple of Dragon guardians protecting the central cauldron of transformation.

Blessings on Awakening Your Inner Dragon Spinning Qi,

Michael Winn

“Who takes Heaven as his ancestor, Virtue as his home,
the Tao as his door, and who becomes change — is a
Sage.” — Chuang Tzu, Inner Chapters

“The Tao is very close, but everyone looks far away.
Life is very simple, but everyone seeks difficulty.”
— Taoist Sage, 200 B.C

Register online for on Healing Tao University,
the largest Tao Arts & Sciences program in the
West with 15 week long summer retreats featuring “chi kung”
(qigong) and inner alchemy (neidangong) training. For
more info, see http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Or visit http://www.HealingTaoUSA.com to receive free Inner Smile ebook.

Healing Tao USA    •  Asheville, NC 28803  •  Tel. 888.999.0555  •

Souls of China: read this book! (review)

Topic: TaoNews
Author:

Healing Tao USA

Chi Flows Naturally

by Michael Winn
HealingTaoRetreats.com / 888-750-1773    •    HealingTaoUsa.com / 888-999-0555
Sept. 6, 2017

This fabulous new book takes you inside the experience of ordinary Chinese folk as they seek to re-grow their spirituality after the challenges of communist suppression. The battle between traditional spiritual beliefs and modern economic-scientific belief is a universal theme that Westerners also face. Here it is lived through Chinese eyes by perhaps the most astute China watcher today – who is himself a practicing Taoist and qigong lover. Full book review below.

 

Fall Schedule of Tao Events in Asheville, N.C.

 • Sept. 23: Sat. 7:30 pm. Fall Equinox White Dragon Ceremony (free): LET GO

• Oct. 20: Fri. 7-9 pm.  Inner Smile evening (free)

• Oct. 21-22:    Medical and Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1 & 2: 6 Healing Sounds, 5 Animals Qigong, Mt. Wudang Red Dragon Orbit

• Nov. 18-19:   Primordial Tai Chi for Enlightened Self-Love

• Dec. 9-10:    Qigong Fundamentals 3 & 4: Internal Qi

Breathing & Bone Rooting – prevent or heal chronic illness and clear ancestral issues

• Dec. 23: Sat. 7:30 pm. Winter Solstice Black Dragon Ceremony (free) GO WITHIN

Note: Healing Tao USA Forum has restored 20 years of archived posts, now easily searched. Stay in the flow of “the know”: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/forum-h

Dear Lovers of the Deep Truth of Your Way,

People often ask me, “What is the best book on Taoism I should read?”Mostly I tell them NOT to read books. Tao is hard to put into words. Time is better spent practicing movement qigong and inner alchemy sitting meditation, starting with the simple Inner Smile. That if they don’t have a teacher, read my free ebook on my homepage (Way of the Inner Smile: Tao Path to Peace and Self-Acceptance). In short, I tell them Tao is about “reading” your own inner nature, by attuning to the Qi flow that underies all biology, psychology, and spiritual awakening.

Of course, there are a few excellent books “about” Taoism that offer insights. Daoist Body Cultivation by Livia Kohn (Ed., with a chapter on sexual energy cultivation by me). The Taoist Body by Kristofer Schipper describes ritual alchemy principles beautifully.

Installments of my forthcoming 5-part online training, Primordial Tai Chi: Way of Enlightened Self-Love will soon start coming out. They will clarify Tao Cosmological Qigong and help Westerners grasp how Qi = Love. Both “divine love” and “Original Breath/Yuan Qi” are highest cultural values.

Meanwhile, I tell folks to read my website FAQs, peruse old Chi Flows Naturally newsletters, and my Articles Page for information that is not in any books.

But now it’s 2017.  Awareness of Taoism/Daoism has grown in the West, both amongst adepts and scholars. And 2017 looks to be like a bumper crop with TWO truly “must read” books that raise the bar of excellence in different ways. One is coming out in November 2017: Dream Trippers: Global Daoism and the Predicament of Modern Spirituality, by David Palmer and Elijah Siegler (U. Chicago Press).

It uses my China Dream Trips (which the authors attended numerous times) as a springboard to compare views of Western Taoists with Chinese Daoists in religious garb/temples, as well as hidden Wandering Taoists. I’ve read an advance copy.  The authors are brilliant – and ruthless – in exposing the reality and superficialities of a wide range of modern seekers of the Way, East and West. To be reviewed later this year.

The other “best in class” book of 2017: The Souls of China: The Return of Religion After Mao, by Ian Johnson (Pantheon, 455 pp). Why is it a “must read”? See my full review below.

Also, don’t forgeNTSNt to read my energetic take, based on inner alchemy, of what really happened during the Great Solar Eclipse of Aug. 21.

 Feel Free to Contact Me – I love hearing from you!
 CONTENTS

The Souls of China – Book Review

There are many reasons The Souls of China is a “must read” for serious seekers of the Way. It fills a major gap in in the knowledge base of most Western Taoists: what is the attitude about religion in China amongst the ordinary folk, including those who practice Dao /Tao today? (Note: I use Dao, favored by scholars and mainland Chinese, and Tao, favored by the Western public, interchangeably in this review. They are pronounced the same).

The majority of Western seekers of eastern religion will never make it to China. Even if they do, they still must read this book. I’ve been to China 20 times, read hundreds of books and articles on Taoism, and was amazed at how much I learned. Ian Johnson speaks fluent Chinese and spent the better part of a decade roaming the countryside and living amongst different religious groups. He relentlessly unearths and brings to life the spark of deep spiritual fervor that never died, despite the communists concerted attempt to suppress religion as the “opiate of the masses’ (Karl Marx’s famous phrase). By now, they realize the best they can do is manage this deep impulse to explore the divine so that it doesn’t derail the Party, and in some cases profit from it.

Johnson has the unique ability to gracefully “embed” himself in local life and report on the most intimate details of what is going on behind the “face” of the Chinese. Instead of a fly on the wall, Johnson is a fly on the inside of the inscrutable Chinese mask. What are their true feelings, their core spiritual values? This is not something a casual traveller to China can easily discover.

Souls is also unique in the wide scope of culture and history of China that is woven into the gripping personal narratives. It is so skillfully done you don’t even realize you just got a Masters Degree in the evolution of multiple religions under “scientific” communism. It not only covers Taoism, China’s indigenous religion, but the foreign Buddhism, Christianity, and Islam as well. As a practicing Taoist, this rounded out my viewpoint as to the commonalities and differences between Taoism and other religions.

I saw more clearly how the Chinese are playing out their version of a global drama over changing paradigms. Spiritual views across the planet are being challenged by the on(slaught of science’s “empirical materialism”. The issue is not communism vs. capitalism; it’s about spiritual belief vs. scientific belief. It’s a cosmological battle to capture the hearts (ineffable soul) and minds (sensory, survival-driven self) of ordinary citizens.

In China, the difference is that the main Taoist actor in this play and concepts like Qi has been deeply embedded in Chinese culture for millennia. Daoists in China have traditionally had a dispassionate neutral-scientific-eye that naturally observed the flow of Qi in nature. They also had an openness to accepting and incorporating change rather than battling it. That’s why there have been no religious wars in China, due to the Tao of Openness.

The vast breadth of China’s unfolding cosmological drama is combined in Souls with a flow of powerful detail that is magnificently poetic. He evokes a feeling of really “being in China”, being in their bedrooms, temples, caves, house churches, graveyards. One of my favorite characters is known by locals as the “Yin-Yang Man”,  a rural fengshui and Taoist burial ceremony expert who carries on his family tradition going back many generations. He has a troupe of singers who know all the traditional Taoist ritual songs to calm the living and assist the dead. An eerie midnight scene of re-burying an ancestor in a different corner of a family plot reminds us that feng shui was originally a graveyard art. The change of burial direction brings in a different element (quality of Qi) to improve the destiny of the living.

2009 Tao Confernce inside the Communist Holy of Great Holy Halls. Rachel Sun, my translator, in foreground.

I first met Ian Johnson at an international conference of over 1000 Taoists in Beijing’s Peoples Great Hall (where the Communist Party holds its congress) in 2009. We quickly became friends. I presented a paper that overlaps one theme of his book: Daoist Qi Science vs. Western Science: Which is More Real? (https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/articles/daoist-qi-science-vswestern-science/)

In the 1990s Johnson helped run a charity to rebuild Daoist temples. In 2001 he won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the suppression of Falun Gong, a movement combining simple Daoist qigong movements and an unorthodox Buddhist fundamentalism. Johnson has reported from China for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and is considered by many to be the most saavy Western reporter in China today. (I list links to a couple of his interesting aricles on Taoism in China in a section below on his favorite books on Tao).

The Souls of China is his major lifetime work, and in its genre is unlikely to be surpassed by anyone. Souls is very different from an academic exploration of the multiple religions trying to rebirth themselves in the modern age of science and communism. It’s really about the soul of China itself, struggling to re-discover its moral compass after a half century+ of being bombarded by slogans and materialistic propaganda.

Anyone who has done business in China knows that this crisis in ethics is very real. It’s OK to screw people and get ahead. The result of China’s current spiritual struggle will shape its national identity. Like attracts like; a nation of corrupt screw-thy-neighbors will end up getting screwed. Anti-corruption campaigns have begun, but the jury is still out. The outcome of China’s quest for spiritual integrity will ultimately determine its destiny as a rising superpower.

                      My Interview with Ian Johnson in Asheville

Ian Johnson passed through my hometown Asheville, N.C. this summer, and we had lunch to discuss what is clearly his magnum opus. I asked him to which religion he felt closest, of the five covered in Souls.

“My natural affinity is with Daoists”, Ian replied. He shared more detail to his description in Souls of a inner alchemy seminar he attended with Wang Li Ping. “Wang.clearly has high achievement. But he is terribly disorganized as a teacher, which was challenging. The two students of Wang who wrote his famous biography, “Opening the Dragon’s Gate”, were at the seminar. They told me they plan to re-write the book, to make it less magical, more about spiritual science. They regretted making Dao cultivation seem overly mystical. That it’s really more about systematic practice.”

Souls has a very lovely description of one of Wang Li Ping’s Daoist meditations to expand one’s Third Eye to embrace the space beyond the body, one layer at a time. It is detailed enough that someone with experience in meditation could practice it from this book. But this is just one of many jewels strewn casually throughout The Souls of China. Daoism gets the most coverage in this book, which is appropriate, as it is the only religion indigenous to China.

It is the tapestry of the daily lives of ordinary Chinese folk (laobaixing) seeking deeper meaning, woven together with the broad strokes of Chinese history and culture that makes Souls so unusual. Most seekers of Taoist wisdom form their impressions of China from ancient texts like the Tao Te Ching and the I Ching. It is difficult to connect these classics to the reality of modern Chinese spiritual life. This creates a lot of armchair spiritual-romantic Tao philosophers with little ground in the realities of China.

The Souls of China brings to life the spiritual threads of local life that have survived the brutal suppression and limitations placed upon religion in the last 65 years of communist rule. The stories are filled with small joys and tragedies. He quotes local poems and proverbs that have been part of the backbone of the common will to endure hardship for millennia.

Ian Johnson’s Souls of China vs. Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth

In a way Souls is an interesting bookend to The Good Earth, a classic novel on peasant life in the 1920’s written by Pearl Buck, the daughter of a Christian missionary. This book was my introduction to China at age 12. Some historians feel it was influential in getting the US to back China with an airlift in the 1040’s. A family struggles in the novel to hold onto their land in the face of devastating floods of Mother Nature. 100 years later, the struggle is to hold onto the “earth” of China’s very soul, amidst a flood of political and scientific change coming from Human Nature. The same humble and deep spiritual will to endure hardship is present in both.

Johnson spends extra time sharing Chinese religious beliefs through three families he lived with. The Ni family in Beijing makes an annual pilgrimage to a Buddhist temple of Our Lady of the Azure Clouds. The Li family in Shanxi practices a form of folk-based Daoism, led by the Yin-Yang Man. A group of Protestant Christians in a house church in Chengdu is led by a charismatic preacher willing to openly confront the secret police and government.

He also shows that even communist leaders have a spiritual side. Souls reveals the fascinating details of how the current President Xi of China, as a young cadre working in a remote area, helped a Buddhist temple get government support to re-build. As the temple grew, the economy of the entire town flourished around it. Did Xi secretly study Buddhism? Not exactly. But he developed a lifelong friendship with the head abbot, and had deep conversations with him.

Ian Johnson has an unusual skill set. He is part poetic wordsmith, part historian, part cultural interpreter, part adventurer who loves off-the-beaten path, and is part just spiritually curious for his own advancement. These are melded into a vibrant unity by a story-teller and ethnographer with the persistence to dig deep beneath the surface to get to the true essence of the lives of ordinary spiritual seekers in China. The depth of respect he shows for every person portrayed in Souls is a humbling spiritual accomplishment in itself.

Get Ian Johnson’s amazingly rich immersion in China’s modern spiritual life for a mere $15. (hardcover, half-price on Amazon) – it is truly a bargain. Reading The Souls of China is an experience, not mere information “about” China. It offers invaluable new ground for any serious seeker of the Way.

To order from Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=souls+of+china

 

The Great Solar Eclipse of Aug. 2017

There was a lot of hoopla about the Great Solar Eclipse on Aug. 21.

I love eclipses, but for a different reason than the novelty or spectacle of it.
Eclipses for me are about opening a radically new space of Creative Freedom.
Much of the commentary focuses on how amazing it is that the sun and moon match each other so perfectly, given their huge difference in size and distance. That is quite amazing.
But that is not the important thing about eclipses. What actually affects us is alignment of the gravitational centers of the sun, moon, and earth.
                            
Eclipses are regular “re-calibration” and re-alignment of the sun, moon, and earth centers of gravity.
Alignment is what shifts consciousness. Gravity – both physical and spiritual – is what connects the core of our being to others beings. Taoists would also define as natural beings the sun, moon,and earth.  Nature is ALIVE, not dead chucks of matter or burning gas. When these natural beings align, they affect human beings living within their gravitational field.
In the higher Tao inner alchemy formulas, I’ve developed an “internal eclipse” meditation. In alchemy, we charge up energetic spheres, a.k.a. “pearls” and “chi balls” INSIDE our personal Energy Body.
If these spheres are attuned to the frequency of the moon and sun and earth, you can create an internal eclipse by aligning these charged up spheres within your core channel.
So I did this “eclipse meditation” during the Aug. 21 outer eclipse. This created a very deep harmonic resonance (called “gan ying”). In effect, it allowed me to “eat” the solar eclipse, energetically.
What did it “taste” like? What is the result of internally amplifying the gravitational alignment between sun, moon, and earth?

Most viewers focus on the sun-moon alignment in the sky above. They are watching from their eyes/head. They are looking up, not inward. They are completely unaware of the participation of the earth’s center of gravity in this eclipse drama.

Vesica Pisces: during this eclipse the Sun and Earth energy field embraced the moon in the center, opening up a neutral space “inside” the moon. When we humans consciously align our personal Energy Body with the eclipse process, it clear our own inner psychic space.

When I watched from my whole Energy Body, I saw that what was really happening was the Moon wss being embraced by the gravitational centers of the Sun and Earth. Like a father and mother embracing their child, the Moon Child was positioned at a special energetic mid-point between its parents. In sacred geometry, this embrace by two opposite forces opening up a third space is called a vesica piscis.
Gurdjieff used to call the moon the “daughter of the earth”. He noted that its job was to sweep our planet of its psychic negativity, so we could awaken every day to live with a reasonable degree of “freshness”.
This matches the Taoist notion of the moon possessing metal/magnetic qualities. The Chinese don’t see a “man on the moon”. They see a rabbit in the moon, symbolic of an alchemist doing transformational work within its lunar cauldron.
What happens during an eclipse is that a “post-natal void” is created by the triple alignment of sun-moon-earth. Things go dark, but we’re still in the daytime / manifest mode. Birds and animals go a little crazy as their navigational magnetic field is neutralized. The matrix is temporarily erased, there is no fixed grid for us human animals to navigate either.
                                        
This means the eclipse clears our psyche of its normal programming, including its past traumas and emotional negativity. If we are open to it, we can create a brand new reality – without any of our normal resistance – during the peak of the eclipse. That’s why astrologers associate eclipses with technological breakthroughs.
In this Aug. 21 eclipse, since it’s main path was across the USA, I felt it was clearing space in our national consciousness to so Americans could make some kind of quantum creative leap. A leap that would be radiated by us to the rest of the planet.
Cosmic process purified the moon between the fiery sun and watery’s earth centers of gravity. This is basic water & fire Taoist alchemy: couple polarities to create a higher level of neutrality, which then converts into something brand new.
What will creatively emerge? It’s too soon to say for the national or planetary collective. During the eclipse I focused on some cutting edge green technology projects that I am working on, that are close to fruition.
Stay tuned, and I hope to be making announcements when these manifest.
Here’s the most interesting image (a composite, time-lapse photo) that I’ve seen taken during the Aug. 21 eclipse.

Panoramic Eclipse Composite with Star Trails
Image Credit & Copyright: Stephane Vetter (Nuits sacrees, TWAN)
Explanation: What was happening in the sky during last week’s total solar eclipse? This featured little-planet, all-sky, double time-lapse, digitally-fused composite captured celestial action during both night and day from a single location. In this 360×180 panorama, north and south are at the image bottom and top, while east and west are at the left and right edges,respectively.

During four hours the night before the eclipse, star trails were captured circling the north celestial pole (bottom) as the Earth spun. During the day of the total eclipse, the Sun was captured every fifteen minutes from sunrise to sunset (top), sometimes in partial eclipse. All of these images were then digitally merged onto a single image taken exactly during the total solar eclipse.

Then, the Sun’s bright corona could be seen flaring around the dark new Moon (upper left), while Venus simultaneously became easily visible (top). The tree in the middle, below the camera, is a Douglas fir. The images were taken with care and planning at Magone Lake in Oregon, USA

(If you want to subscribe to this free Astronomy Picture of the Day, see: http://apodemail.org)

 

Equinox White Dragon Ceremony Sept. 23 – PLEASE RSVP

Dear Lovers of The Spiraling Dragon Force of Nature,

The season of GOLD, aka “metal”, is again upon us.

If you are in the Asheville area, I invite you to attend the Healing Tao USA Equinox ceremony at my home (free event).

The ceremony starts at Saturday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 pm. The exact equinox is Sept. 22, Friday 4 pm EDT. But it’s a big slow moving celestial event. Sat. is more convenient.

Good to wear an item of white colored clothing if possible, it generates a more intense frequency of metal Qi. Driving directions will be sent to those who RSVP. Just hit reply to this newsletter.

Think about your INTENT for this metal cycle: what do you want to LET GO of in your life? Everyone has some kind of “resistance” to something. This ceremony will you let go of it.

These Dragon ceremony can accelerate your innate power to manifest whatever truly serves your soul. I feel they were essential in manifesting my perfect current partner and child.

Was manifesting them a coincidence, or the result of a series of powerful rituals, done with powerful groups of people, at powerful moments in time and in a sacred space? The answer to me is clear: rituals with focused intent help us concentrate Qi, which evokes a response from the larger Qi field.

If you are NOT able to attend in person, please remember to create your own ceremony at home.

 

 

 

Ian Johnson’s Top Taoism Book List & article links

My Healing Tao USA forum just had its huge archives activated on my new website. These were posted by the 20 million+ visitors in the last 20 years.

FORUM: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/forum-home/

I mention this because it was so easy to type in “Ian Johnson” and get all the posts about him pulled up instantly. Here are my top choices:

————————–

Nov. 10, 2010

note: The NYT author Ian Johnson gives a reasonably good list of books. I would have included Daoist Body Cultivation and Internal Alchemy (both edited by Livia Kohn), and a few others, but that’s me. – Michael

Where to Begin: Five Best Books about Daoism

November 8, 2010 in Books, Where to Begin by The China Beat

By Ian Johnson

With all the attention to Confucius and Confucianism, it is easy to forget how important other philosophical and religious traditions have been in shaping China’s past and influencing its present. Ian Johnson helps rectify this imbalance of coverage with “The Rise of the Tao,” a long essay in the latest issue of the New York Times Sunday Magazine that highlights the significance of the Daoist revival and introduces readers to an abbess who is part of this resurgence of belief. As the very first journalist China Beat ever interviewed for the site (and someone who took part in a China Beat-sponsored dialogue at UC Irvine on covering the PRC and Germany during a tour to promote his latest book, A Mosque in Munich), we turn to him now for suggestions of five things he’s read—by academic or non-academic authors—that have helped him think about Daoism:

There’s been an explosion of Daoist studies in recent years as we realize how China’s only (if you exclude Confucianism) indigenous religion underpins so much of the culture and politics of the past 2,000 years.

The problem in this field, as in many others, is there’s been the usual deep specialization but not too many efforts to synthesize and make the fruits of academic research available to a wide public. This is compounded by the fact that many academics use different terminology for the same phenomena—if they can’t agree on the terms, how can outsiders understand it? Thus people talk about “popular religion,” “folk religion” or “common religion” for the broad swath of beliefs that form the Massif Central of Chinese religion, out of which Daoism, Buddhism and other systems arose. But which term is better? No one can agree. Maybe this is normal for a still-young field but it’s sometimes frustrating.

But don’t be discouraged, arguments are the spice of (academic) life and the field has produced many interesting books. Before I offer them, let me dispense with two really obvious kinds of books: the key philosophical works and the one-volume intros.

Everyone knows about the Daodejing and the Zhuangzi, so I’ll let you explore which version of these texts you prefer. Burton Watson does a great version of each and Red Pine (more on him below) does a super version of the DDJ. If you want more on the basic philosophy, the slam dunk must-read is Disputers of the Tao by A.C. Graham, one of the finest works on ancient Chinese philosophy.

I’m also going to get this list down to five books by forgoing one-volume intros. These are invaluable but are a bit too easy to include. The two best ones here are Daoism and Chinese Culture by Livia Kohn, the grande dame of Daoist studies, and James Miller’s Daoism: A Beginner’s Guide (aka Daoism: A Short Introduction). Both books give reliable overviews from early philosophy to the development of organized religion and modern practices.

Finally, a note on spelling. In my New York Times article, the copy editors insisted on using “Taoist,” figuring it is a loan word that has already been anglicized. And in fact many of the books listed below use “Taoist” or “Taoism” because publishers think that most readers still recognize this. But an increasing number of people use the more pinyin-conform “Daoist.” I’ve decided personally to go with “Daoist” but use whichever you like best.

With these fiddly comments out of the way, here’s my list:

1) Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits by Bill Porter, aka Red Pine. This funny and lively book by the eminent translator is an eye-opener because he finds real hermits living in China’s mountains and also conveys the ideas that inspires them. Some of the hermits are Buddhists but this is a bonus because we learn how close the two religions are when practiced by real masters.

2) Taoism and the Arts of China by Stephen Little. This accompanied a path-breaking exhibition on Daoist art curated by Professor Little, which makes clear the huge influence Daoism has on the arts. The book is beautifully illustrated and really one-of-a-kind. Unfortunately it is out of print and rather pricey but most libraries should have it.

3) Taoism: The Enduring Tradition by Russell Kirkland. This slim volume by a veteran historian of Daoism grapples with many key questions that ordinary readers or students of Chinese religions will have, such as if it’s valid to speak of a difference between “religious Daoism” and “philosophical Daoism.” At times he delves perhaps a bit too deeply into the historiographical battles in the field but like Paul Cohen’s Discovering History in China, Kirkland provides an engaging and illuminating discussion of the field and its arguments.

4) Seven Taoist Masters: A Folk Novel of China by Eva Wong. My academic friends will rip me for including a book published by Shambhala and this has the publisher’s usual disregard for basic sourcing (like which version of the novel is Wong using?) but it’s a really good read and gives a lot of basic information on how one of Daoism’s two main sects, Quanzhen, was formed in the Yuan dynasty.

4a) I said I’d get this down to five and I will by including this novel as a (more serious) alternative: The Story of Han Xiangzi: The Alchemical Adventures of a Daoist Immortal by Yang Erzeng, translated by Philip Clart. This is the story of one of the Eight Immortals, Han Xiangzhi, a historical figure who became deified. Unlike Wong’s book, it’s state of the art and has a very useful introduction. The novel is longer and not as catchy as Seven Taoist Masters but is much truer to the original, containing poems, digressions, multiple narrator viewpoints and so on. It also serves another function by showing how many Ming-era novels have not been translated into English.

5) The Taoist Body by Kristofer Schipper. An ordained priest and patriarch of modern Daoist studies, Schipper’s book reflects his fieldwork in 1970s Taiwan and shows how Daoism is intertwined with local society, with priests performing rituals to help people through good and bad times. His description of a ritual—creating a space in heaven in front of the temple, summoning the gods—is excellent. This book is probably guilty of overgeneralizing about one form of Daoism but if you want to understand the religion at its grassroots level, it’s great.

Finally, as my final cop-out, let me relegate this to a post-script: For fun, I’d suggest borrowing from the library The Taoist Canon: A Historical Companion to the Daozang, edited by Kristofer Schipper and Franciscus Verellen. This is a three-volume set that gives a short synopsis of each of the 1,500 texts that make up the Daoist Canon, or Daozang, a Ming-era compendium of Daoist texts. It is a towering work of academic achievement, taking 30 years to complete and involving dozens of scholars in numerous countries. It makes it possible for the first time to get a sense of just how rich Daoist religious practice really is. The book is also a real pleasure to flip through, illustrated with fascinating prints and drawings. You’ll find all kinds of works, from alchemy and meditation, to medicine and ritual, all clearly explained by leading scholars. Obviously this is meant as a reference tool but like the OED, it’s easy to lose oneself in this rich, esoteric landscape.

————————

Ian Johnson on the Rise of the Tao in China (an inside glimpse of temple building crazy atop Mao Shan, famous Taoist mountain in eastern China:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/07/magazine/07religion-t.html?ref=magazine

 

Moment of Empty Stillness In a Taoist Temple

                                             

 

Blessings on the Way of Re-discovering Our Soul,

Michael Winn

“Who takes Heaven as his ancestor, Virtue as his home,
the Tao as his door, and who becomes change — is a
Sage.” — Chuang Tzu, Inner Chapters

“The Tao is very close, but everyone looks far away.
Life is very simple, but everyone seeks difficulty.”
— Taoist Sage Mo Tzu, 200 B.C

Register online for on Healing Tao University,
the largest Tao Arts & Sciences program in the
West with 15 week long summer retreats featuring “chi kung”
(qigong) and inner alchemy (neidangong) training. For
more info, see http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Or visit http://www.HealingTaoUSA.com to receive free Inner Smile ebook.

Healing Tao USA   •  Asheville, NC 28803  •  Tel. 888.999.0555  •  www.healingdaousa.com

 

Great Video: Joys of Sharing Qigong – 6 min.

Topic: TaoNews
Author: Michael Winn

Chi Flows Naturally

HealingTaoRetreats.com /  828 713 2996   •    HealingTaoUsa.com / 888-999-0555
 

   

VIDEO LINK:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pdd2oNRGAb0

Don’t miss this great new video: Joys of Sharing the Healing Tao. This 6 min. vid is a jewel – Healing Tao instructors talking about what changed in their life as a result of sharing skills like Qigong and inner alchemy. Very personal, but profound sharing from the heart.

A lot of people are bored with their job and their life. If deep energy work and connecting to Source is something that excites you, consider becoming a Healing Tao instructor. If you want to feel a genuine re-birth, and smile like the joyuful baby in this photo – we’ve got a Way to help you on that path.

How do I get CERTIFIED? Consider starting with a summer retreat.

1. June 16 – July 18, 2017:  Asheville.N.C. Five Weeks of TAO SUMMER RETREATS.To register: http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com. Save your spot online with $150. deposit. Call Registrar (Rachel) at 828 713 2996 or email:  summersupport@earthlink.net

2. Visit https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/workshops/become-a-certified-instructor/

You will love becoming part of the Healing Tao family. We accept international memberships. Read about the benefits. But the new video that I produced for the Healing Tao Instructor’s Association says it best: feel the joy of watching people Wake Up, and Feel the Healing Qi.

 

 

Are you ready to DIVE into the Tao this summer?

Winn.Tao.DivingPool

Learn from top Qigong, Tai Chi, meditation & healing masters!

Join the largest and most diverse Tao arts community in the West!

julia
Rachel Harding, Registrar
Call her for help!  828 713 2996

Prefer email?   summersupport@earthlink.net

Plan to arrive 2-5 pm the Friday your retreat starts

  • 21 years successful history
  • Everyone welcome – beginner to advanced
  • Great people, good food, high energy – at a low cost!
  • Only 35 minutes from Asheville Airport (AVL)
  • Get Certified in Tai Chi, Qigong, Energy Healing!

  • Weekly Tuition only $550. – an incredible value!
  • Discounts for multiple retreats, Jr/Sr., foreigner, early payment. instructor.
  • Visit website for details on each retreat.
  • Select ONE retreat per week.
  • Commuters welcome.

To book, visit http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Note that we have TWO new instructors on the Healing Tao USA faculty. Both are fabulously talented teachers and we welcome them enriching our offerings this summer.

Mary Ellen Derwis in Week 4 is teaching Chi Nei Tsang 2: Chasing the Winds.

Ertic Sbarge  in Week 5 is teaching Tai Chi & Bagua: Fusion of Internal Body Mechanics, Qigong & Meditation.

 

Week 1: June 16 – 21, 2017 (Fri-Wed)

MichaelWinn.jpg1a. Medical & Spiritual Qigong Fundamentals 1- 4 + Summer Solstice Ceremony
by Michael Winn

Week 2: June 23 – 28, 2017 (Fri-Wed)

Michael WinnMinke de Vos

2a. Healing Love: Taoist Sexual Secrets
by Michael Winn & Minke de Vos
Steven Sy2b. Fusion 1 Emotional Alchemy + Iron Shirt 1 Rooting
by Steven Sy

Week 3: June 30 – July 5, 2017 (Fri-Wed)

Steven Sy 3a. Tai Chi Qigong #1 Rooting + #2 Fast Energizing Form
by Steven Sy
Michael Winn 3b. Inner Sexual Alchemy (Lesser Kan & Li)
by Michael Winn
Jampa Stewart 3c. Chi Nei Tsang 1: Deep Organ Massage
by Jampa Stewart

Week 4: July 7- 12, 2017 (Fri-Wed)

Andrew McCart4a. Fusion 2 & 3 Macro-Orbit + Iron Shirt 2&3 (Bone Marrow Washing)
by Andrew McCart
Michael Winn4b. Planetary & Soul Alchemy: Awaken Our Inner Sun (Greatest Kan & Li)
by Michael Winn
Steven Sy4c. Deep Healing Medical Qigong Form
by Steven Sy
Mary Ellen Derwis4d. Chi Nei Tsang 2: Chasing The Winds
by Mary Ellen Derwis

Week 5: July 14- 19, 2017 (Fri-Wed)

Andrew McCart5a. Tao Yin + Primordial Qigong
by Andrew McCart
Michael Winn5b. Heaven & Earth Alchemy: 3 Pure Ones & Heart of Humanity
by Michael Winn
Eric Sbarge5c. Tai Chi & Bagua: Fusion of Internal Body Mechanics, Qigong & Meditation
by Eric Sbarge

Solar Tao radiance comes every summer!

 

 

Blessings on the Radiance of Qi in your life!

Michael Winn

“Who takes Heaven as his ancestor, Virtue as his home,
the Tao as his door, and who becomes change — is a
Sage.” — Chuang Tzu, Inner Chapters

“The Tao is very close, but everyone looks far away.
Life is very simple, but everyone seeks difficulty.”
— Taoist Sage, 200 B.C

Register online for on Healing Tao University,
the largest Tao Arts & Sciences program in the
West with 15 week long summer retreats featuring “chi kung”
(qigong) and inner alchemy (neidangong) training. For
more info, see http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Or visit http://www.HealingTaoUSA.com to receive free Inner Smile ebook.

Super Qi Summit 9 TOP MASTERS May 26-29

Topic: TaoNews
Author: Michael Winn

Healing Tao USA

Chi Flows Naturally

by Michael Winn
HealingTaoRetreats.com / 888-750-1773    •    HealingTaoUsa.com / 888-999-0555
May 15, 2017
 

 

Tao is the cosmic process or “Way” of self-arising, infinite flow of Qi (= subtle breath). Qi takes form as Cosmic Self-love (= wholeness), and creative free will (= dance of Yin-Yang energies). Qigong includes the art and science of healing humans using this omni-present, omni-potent Breath of Life.

Inside Chi Flows Naturally:

2017 TAO Summer Trainings: choose your highest path NOW!

1. Super Qi Summit at Omega May 26-29, 2017. Details below. Register online at: https://www.eomega.org/workshops/super-qi-summit?source=fweb.winnm.ws

2. June 16 – July 18, 2017:  Asheville.N.C. Five Weeks of TAO SUMMER RETREATS.To register: http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com. Save your spot online with $150. deposit. Call Registrar (Rachel) at 828 713 2996 or email:  summersupport@earthlink.net

FEEL FREE TO HIT REPLY and RESPOND. I love hearing from you!

Dear Lovers of Summer Fun & the Tao of Self-Healing,

There are many things you can do with your summer. One wonderful choice for this Memorial Day weekend is to attend the second Super Qi Summit at Omega, jusnorth of New York City in beautiful rolling hills.

I taught at this event two years ago, and it was a powerful learning experience for everyone, instructors included. It’s a smorgasbord with delicious variety of Qi flavors. My newsletter on this event, titled “Super Qi Summit Report: How Attain Tao?” is at: https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/articles/super-qi-summit-report-how-attain-tao/

This year we have nine top masters, specialists in different areas of Qi cultivation, all presenting on the topic of Qi Healing. After listening to the nine present, there are breakout mini-seminars where you choose your favorites and train a bit deeper.

Omega is big, there is no shortage of space for last minute signups. The weekend is a bargain for all the Qi power and inside information, distilled from a lifetime of Qi Cultivation.

I am often asked: should I do the Super Qi Summit, or take a retreat in North Carolina. My reply: you’ll be a big winner whatever you choose. If you are seeking to WIDEN your exposure in the realm of Qigong, go to the Summit.

If you are interested in drilling DEEPER on a Qi path you’ve already chosen, take a week long retreat in North Carolina on that topic. There are fifteen retreats to choose from.

Here are the details on the Super Qi Summit.

For detailed schedule of this 3 day weekend, or to register online, visit:

https://www.eomega.org/workshops/super-qi-summit?source=fweb.winnm.ws

Healing Ourselves, Healing Others

Cultivating, storing, and expressing qi—the vital energy of life—leads to improved health and overall well-being. This special Super Qi Summit brings together modern masters with profound expertise in healing. Each master shares insights and practices to help you enhance your own well-being as you also empower your ability to help others.

Conceived and curated by Michael J. Gelb, the Super Qi Summit is designed to allow participants to benefit from the synergy between each of the presenters who together bring more 300 years of experience to the Summit.

Through simple movements, guided visualizations, and breathing exercises complemented by inspiring lectures, discussions, and group healing sessions, you come away with stronger, clearer energy and the practical means to help yourself and others.

Whether you are just starting to explore qigong or tai chi, or have been practicing for years, these healing practices require no equipment and can be done by anyone in any physical condition. No previous experience is necessary. Anyone who wants to experience enhanced life energy and well-being is welcome.

Scholarships are available; see Holistic Studies application at eomega.org/scholarships.

The TEACHERS

Ken Cohen, MA, is a renowned grandmaster of qigong and tai chi with nearly 50 years of experience. A former collaborator with Alan Watts, Cohen is author of The Way of Qigong, numerous works in both English and Chinese, and more than 200 journal articles on spirituality and health. kennethcohen.com

Michael J. Gelb

Michael J. Gelb is author of 14 books, including the international best seller How to Think Like Leonardo da Vinci. A pioneer in the fields of mind-body integration, creative thinking, and conscious leadership, he is a sought-after speaker and consultant on creativity and innovation for organizations globally, including DuPont, Genentech, Merck, Microsoft, and Nike. michaelgelb.com

Robert Peng

Robert Peng, author of The Master Key: Qigong Secrets for Vitality, Love, and Wisdom, is the founder of Elixir Light Qigong. He uses his spiritual powers and healing abilities to help and teach people worldwide. robertpeng.com

Minke de Vos

Minke de Vos is a Tao Tantric artist and founder of Feminine Treasures cultivation, Silent Ground retreats, and Tao Tantric Arts teacher trainings. As a Senior Universal Healing Tao instructor and Medical Qigong Master Therapist, she has been practicing and teaching qigong full time for more than 30 years. silentground.com

Michael Winn

Michael Winn has been a key figure and pioneer in promoting qigong and Taoist meditation in the West since 1980. He was a two-term president of the National Qigong (Chi Kung) Association, USA, and chairman of the Healing Tao Instructor’s Association of the Americas for nine years. He has taught nationally and internationally in Europe, Asia, and South America. healingtaousa.com

Lorie Eve Dechar

Lorie Eve Dechar, MAc, is an acupuncturist, artist, alchemist, and author of Five Spirits. She teaches a multidimensional approach to healing with her patients, as well as with students at the Tri-State College of Acupuncture in Manhattan, the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Toronto, and at conferences and workshops in the States, and abroad. anewpossibility.com

Roger Jahnke

Roger Jahnke, OMD, has practiced Chinese medicine clinically for more than 25 years. Author of two best-selling books, The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi, he is director of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi. IIQTC.org

Mingtong Gu

Mingtong Gu, founder of the Chi Center, is a qigong master who offers the ancient teachings of Wisdom Healing Qigong for contemporary times. Trained at the largest qigong hospital in China, where he helped people with major physical and emotional challenges, Master Gu leads retreats and workshops nationally and internationally. chicenter.com

Robert Tangora

Robert Tangora teaches Wu style Tai Chi Ch’uan, Spinal Chi Kung, Push Hands, Taoist meditation, and tai chi sword publicly and privately to experienced practitioners. He teaches Yang style Tai Chi Ch’uan privately to practitioners with substantial experience only. He also is certified as a senior level instructor in the Wu Style Short Form.

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Please note that there is a special schedule for this course:

FRIDAY
4:00 p.m.–7:00 p.m. Check In (Rooms available after 5:00 p.m.)
7:30 p.m.–7:50 p.m. Welcome & Orientation
8:00 p.m.–10:00 p.m. Workshop
SATURDAY
8:00 a.m.–8:45 a.m. Commuter check-in (if not checked-in the previous evening)
9:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Workshop
2:15 p.m.–5:15 p.m. Workshop
SUNDAY
9:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Workshop
2:15 p.m.–5:15 p.m. Workshop
MONDAY
9:00 a.m.–Noon Workshop
Noon–1:00 p.m. Check Out

The above schedule is subject to change at the discretion of the faculty.

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The Super Qi Summit is the brainchild of my friend Michael Gelb.

I reviewed Michael Gelb’s book, Creativity on Demand, in my newsletter. It focuses on the importance of cultivating Qi in order to liberate and empower one’s creativity. This is very useful to re-read:  https://www.michaelwinn.qlogictechnologies.com/articles/creativity-sexual-qi-lifes-secret-sauce/

Tao is the TREE of Life (very cool painting!)

 

 

Blessings on the Efflortles Flow of Qi in your personal Way!

Michael Winn

“Who takes Heaven as his ancestor, Virtue as his home,
the Tao as his door, and who becomes change — is a
Sage.” — Chuang Tzu, Inner Chapters

“The Tao is very close, but everyone looks far away.
Life is very simple, but everyone seeks difficulty.”
— Taoist Sage, 200 B.C

Register online for on Healing Tao University,
the largest Tao Arts & Sciences program in the
West with 15 week long summer retreats featuring “chi kung”
(qigong) and inner alchemy (neidangong) training. For
more info, see http://www.HealingTaoRetreats.com

Or visit http://www.HealingTaoUSA.com to receive free Inner Smile ebook.