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“Remember Unity until you forget separation.” From The Diwan of Shams i Tabriz, by Sufi poet Rumi. (From Desert Wisdom, Neil Douglas Klotz).

Wholeness. Unity. Divine Source. Oneness. Pure Consciousness. God.

Are we seeking, or are we being? The glory of the universe, of the divine, is in front of us and inside of us at every moment. We are inspired by teachers, by books, by courses, by poetry but at some point in time, with intention for allowing, for opening, we come into stillness, into the moment, and allow connection. Allow connection.

Yes, we need tools to get there. Yes, we often need teachers, and for sure we need teachings. But even then, at some point, we even then drop the teachings. The teachings create the boat to cross us to the other shore. But we need to know when to get out of the boat and walk onto that other shore.

Put down your books and blogs, your courses and communication devices, and go out.

Find a place that calls to you and allow the Earth and the Divine, the Oneness, the Wholeness, the Unity to hold you and tell you that you are not a seeker, you are a practitioner of life on a path to Unity. That path begins with stepping out of the boat and onto the shore. You may tie the boat, and return for provisions and navigation materials, those teachings that will help you find your way. But take that step, be on that other shore. Trust. Be.

Transform doing to being.
Remember Unity, until you forget separation.

I am still floating on a cloud of gratitude, amazement, and inner smiles. At the temple where Thich Nhat Hanh is staying, his root temple, I ran into Sister Chan Khong. She was surrounded by a few young lay women getting their pictures taken with her. I recognized her instantly as I had just finished reading her book about her life as an activist for children, families, and peace for Vietnam. She and Thich Nhat Hanh (along with many others) worked tirelessly for peace and freedom of religion. My eyes met hers for a moment, and they were so kind and knowing, it was like being greeted by an old friend. A few moments later our driver asked if I could have my picture taken with her. She asked me “you know who I am?” I said “yes! I just finished reading your book!” “Learning True Love?” she said. Yes…I thanked her for her profound work–for me, she is the total rock star of engaged Buddhism. Sister’s face is peaceful, sweet, and oh so beautiful! I am still in awe that this moment in time was gifted to me. This was such a chance encounter, I had no idea she was even in Vietnam.

Afterwards, spent some time offering incense at the pagoda, walking the grounds, and then chatting with a monk in the gift shop who had spent a month at the Deer Park monastery in Escondido. H and I meditated for a bit in a little pagoda by a pond, enjoying moments of flowing light on trees reflected off the water. Breathing in I am calm and peaceful, breathing out I smile. Breathing in I am so grateful for sharing a moment with an amazing human spirit, breathing out I know we share and connect through the same source, the same ocean of light. I bow to the light in you that is the same as the light in me.

Grateful for magic, and the privilege of this travel pilgrimage. Thank you for journeying with me!

Last night amidst our sightseeing we happened upon a small temple on a busy street that was clearly under renovation, but inside it was full of people (I just noticed women in light blue robes) doing prostrations. I wondered if the practice was earth-touchings from the Beginning Anew practice of the Thich Nhat Hanh communities. I learned of this and so much more from Sister Chan Khong’s book Learning True Love. I don’t know if I felt the book was so good because I’m immersed in Vietnam, but I gobbled it up like the luscious fresh fruit we get so much of here, so thirst quenching! She was a huge part of Thich Nhat Hahn’s evolution of engaged Buddhism. Very impressive woman!

Here is a link to beautiful readings done before prostrations to honor Mother Earth. The teaching is to choose one to read and then practice. My intention is to use these readings before Qigong practice, and/or as morning and evening prayers. The intention is to honor the Earth with love and being in the moment, in communion, with Her.

So, dragonflies. As we toured the Citadel in Hue the last few days, there have been waves of dragonflies overhead. And today, the cicadas were amazingly loud, almost like those crazy smoke alarms. Nature! Happy Equinox and full moon!

Day 1, SFO. “We should all be grateful for the beauty of this world, but more, we should take the trouble to get off the bus of life and put the soles of our feet to the soul of the world and see those sacred sites with our own eyes.” We are leaving the beauty of our home, the proximity of family and friends, and are heading out to put our feet on the soul of a whole different world on our same planet. My intention is to honor the land, the food, the people, the spirit of place and to sink in and connect with the energy field of healing for that which and those whom still suffer from wars, violence, disrespect, and disenfranchisement. Off to Vietnam!

Saigon/Ho Chi Minh City Day 6: “Breathing in I know I am breathing in. When you do this, the energy of mindfulness embraces your in-breath, just like the sunlight touching the leaves and branches of a tree.” Thich Nhat Hanh. I love this imagery!

Traveling as pilgrimage is not as easy squeezy as I had hoped. One can get swept away in plans, hubbub, excitement and exhaustion. Qigong movements and meditations are always a part of my day, though sometimes abbreviated; thankfully that’s a constant. Beyond that, my intention was to read from TNH you are here each day and to revisit my pilgrim intentions upon arising. But it wasn’t until this morning that I remembered! Goal: Fewer photos, more sinking into moments. Staying with a moment a second or two longer. Small steps, but leading to more living as ceremony. Whilst paying homage to Thich Quang Duc, the Buddhist monk who self-immolated in the 60’s to protest brutal treatment of Buddhists by Diem regime, I set my phone aside for a moment and dropped in to the chi field, connected with my heart, and the moment became a prayer rather than a sight to see. Remembering to drop in more often as we travel will be an overarching intention. Breathing in I know I am breathing in.

I am so honored to bring to you this conversation with Cathy Toldi, Buddhist Priest in the Soto Zen tradition, lover of life, nature, and called by the Earth to speak as Priestess Raven to bridge our understanding of who we are as part of the natural world. Cathy has been practicing Zen at Warm Jewel Temple since 1987. She studied with her root teacher Katherine Thanas for 25 years, receiving the precepts in 1995 and priest ordination in 2005.  Vision quests have also been part of her life’s journey, connecting her with Raven, mountains, desert, and the depths of earth spirit.

I met Cathy when she rented a room with us for a few days while she tended to the final chapter of her yet to be published book. She wrote on our front porch until it got too hot (around 11:00 AM), and then continued on indoors. She speaks fondly of being embraced by the Sierra to the West and the Whites to the East, inspired by the grandeur of our little place in Chalfant. It turns out she is also a professional facilitator for non-profit and community groups and has co-authored the book Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. We prevailed upon her to facilitate a board meeting of our local environmental action group, Inyo350 and it was a memorable and wonderful meeting. We look forward to welcoming her back to the Eastside this year!

Good article by Cathy in Lions Roar             Enjoy the conversation!

In the Beginning NDK Podcast….During an extended standing meditation at a Chi Center retreat with Master Mingtong, the Our Father/Lord’s Prayer started chanting within me. I grew up Catholic, so all those prayers and even some in Latin are part of my cellular nature–though somewhat dormant at the moment, so it was kind of surprising. The prayer was interesting and lovely except when I got to what seemed like harsh words, like trespassing and evil. Those words didn’t seem right to me, did not seem to have the same energy as the rest of the prayer, the intention of the prayer. I talked about this with my wonderful roommate at retreat, my chi buddy, Carolyn, and she asked if I knew the work of Neil Douglas-Klotz (NDK). I had not then, but I am immersed in his work now! Neil took on the task some years ago of learning the Aramaic language (as well as Hebrew and others)–the language that Jesus (Yeshua in Aramaic) spoke in, taught in, dreamed in–so that he could directly translate those words for us today. The direct translation of the words of Yeshua is a beautiful, energetic, cosmic teaching from a beloved and enlightened being, role model, teacher, prophet, mystic, savior, friend. In the podcast below, Neil finishes our conversation by sharing The Lord’s Prayer in Aramaic. Such a gift!

I was honored to interview Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz for my In The Beginning podcast . I gave my podcast this title after reading some of Dr. Klotz’s work about our place in the caravan of time. We think of our lives as just existing in the present, but we are connected in time–not only to our ancestors and the ones who will come after us, and to the beginning of time, not just in this linear movement of time, but in a cyclic time frame as well. We are connected by Source, by light, by sound, by vibration. We come from the same Mother/Father, Birther of the Cosmos.

For more information on NDK, check out his website The Abwoon Network. Abwoon is the first word of The Lord’s Prayer–translated directly from the Aramaic as Mother/Father, Birther of the Cosmos.

Click here for the interview.

From The Abwoon Network website: Neil is best known for his work on the Aramaic Prayer of Jesus (“The Lord’s Prayer”), shared both in his books as well through the body prayers with music that have spread around the world in the past 32 years (a form called the Dances of Universal Peace). The Abwoon Network website shares the work of Dr. Neil Douglas-Klotz and his colleagues and students on Native Middle Eastern spirituality, peacemaking and ecology, including work on the Aramaic words of Jesus, Hebrew and Native Middle Eastern creation mysticism and Sufism. The website is a collaboration between the Edinburgh Institute for Advanced Learning in Scotland, UK and the Abwoon Resource Center in Columbus, OH, USA (see “About Us“).

 

In the Beginning….My first podcast is finally ready! A huge shoutout to Erik Leitch, my first guest. Here’s the link to the audio interview stored on my google drive. The picture referred to in the interview is below. This is the image Erik showed at a Rotary meeting that inspired me to talk with him about the beginning of the universe. The picture shows what the sky and the light all around us would look like right now if we could see that part of the spectrum. It’s the light left over from the Big Bang, 13.7 billion years ago. Wow! This is what I picture now between my hands when I do lachi, when I imagine my body filled with and surrounded by light, whenever I do qigong and whenever I can remember (grocery shopping, post office, walking, etc.) This has changed my practice and my life. Enjoy the talk!

Human beings raised voices and vibrations of hearts and minds–the government took notice to begin to heal its egregious wrongs to children and families at the border. The Executive Order is not the solution,  so we keep our voices speaking up for justice and compassion. Voices, sounds, vibrations are powerful. They are much needed to heal bodies, minds, spirits, nations and worlds.

As we are learning in our Wisdom Healing Qigong Sound Healing class, ancient sounds and vibrations can heal from the inside out. As we heal ourselves, we heal the world. We heal the world because we come to realize and to experience the true oneness of all beings. When we know we are connected, we treat each other with dignity, respect, and love. We bow to the divine in each other (Namaste).

Below is a summary of the two organ systems we introduced last week (from Sound Healing Technologies by Mingtong Gu, The Chi Center):

Kidney System: includes kidneys, bladder, adrenal glands, reproductive organs, bone marrow, cells, ears, teeth, bones and stem cells. When chi is flowing, we are cautious (but not fearful), alert, mindful, gentle, determined and kind. Blockages appear as fear, shock, fright, hatred and ignorance. The energetic pattern is visualized as going from stuck or frozen, like ice, to beautiful, flowing water. We act instead of react, creativity abounds. These sounds are are effective for healing hormonal, reproductive and skeletal issues.

Digestive System (Pancreas): includes stomach, pancreas, intestine, colon, mouth, skin, flesh. When chi is flowing, we are thoughtful, open, centered and grounded. We embody equanimity. Worry, pride, and arrogance are results of blockages of this system. We may have difficulty digesting food, energy, and/or information. These may either be symptoms of or the cause of blockages. The energy pattern of this system is spiral movement, in and out. When making the third sound, feel as though you are singing a song.

This Wednesday we’ll discuss the Liver/Purification System and Lungs/Respiratory System, and engage in the full Sound Healing practice. As mentioned in class, it’s best to practice the whole 5 Organ Sounds together, as they all work together as a system. If you only have time to do a few, at least acknowledge in gratitude and light each of the other systems. Or, if you want to spend more time focusing on one system, that’s great, and also do the sounds for the others. The order is important, the handout in class has information about that. Haola!

Few would argue that sound and vibration have a significant affect on our emotions. Media people know this with expert precision. Think of sound tracks and Foley effects in movies and commercials. If you take away scary music and just watch the scene, usually not so scary! And we put on music at home to give us energy, to quiet us down, to feel groovy and centered, etc. So it makes perfect sense that sound and vibration can impact our emotions. Wisdom Healing Qigong (WHQ) Sound Healing uses the sound and vibration from our own voices to focus directly into our organs to heal on many levels, among them the physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual layers of our organ energy systems.

This WHQ Sound Healing practice comes from ancient Taoist texts. We don’t

know how Taoist monks came up with these specific sounds for the 5 organ systems, but we do know they didn’t have TV, movies and the Internet. 🙂 They had time to practice and study and experience their bodies, hearts and souls, consciousness and sometimes enlightenment. As we strive in our busy lives to keep stress at bay, make a living, parent our kids, keep relationships healthy, etc., most of us don’t have the same laser focus on consciousness that Taoist monks did.  But we can use the gift of these teachings from the ancient ones to heal ourselves, others and the world.

In our first Sound Healing class (6/13/18), we focused on the Heart. As we make the sounds, we visualize the heart as a red rose, or any kind of flower, opening, allowing energy to flow deeper, clearing blockages. We visualize the energy pattern of the heart as expansion and gathering. Easy to imagine, as the heart is continuously pumping, contracting and expanding. The emotional qualities of the heart are things we know–love, happiness, joy, connection, fulfillment, wisdom, sincerity, openness, peace. The secret to happiness is not to try to do things to get happy, but to allow energy blockages in the heart to release and transform. Blockages in the heart can manifest as anxiety, depression, cruelty (sometimes especially to self), hatred, and greed. How do we heal? We open and allow transformation through sound healing, inner smile, and other qigong and healing practices. It’s not easy to just “let go” of blockages. It takes commitment and time.

Healing and transformation are most effective with a daily practice. If time is limited and you only have time for the heart sounds in a day, do briefly acknowledge all the organ systems after you sing with the heart because they all work together–a simple internal smile and gratitude to our beautiful, hard working systems is all it takes in a pinch.

This coming week (June 20th), we’ll study the Kidney and Digestive Energy systems and then practice the sounds for all 3 organ systems we will have learned so far.

True cardiovascular health is not just about physical fitness, it’s about deep contentment with one’s life and destiny.  Happiness and love are often associated with the Heart representing a state of peacefulness. Stress or lack of self-expression can directly impact this organ’s function. TCM World website

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To study WHQ Sound Healing, contact the Chi Center for online courses or purchase the Sound Healing booklet and DVD/download from the Chi Center store. Or come to my classes in Bishop, CA. Both would be extra great! Click on the Classes tab of this website to see when offered.

The physical effect of sound has a great influence upon the human body. The whole mechanism, the muscles, the blood circulation, the nerves are all moved by the power of vibration. As there is resonance for every sound, so the human body is a living resonator for sound.
Hazrat Inayat Khan, Sufi Master

One of the three main practices of Wisdom Healing Qigong (WHQ) is a sound healing practice. When WHQ was developed by Dr. Pang  (known as Zhineng Qigong in China), Sound Healing was an advanced practice (Level 3). Master Mingtong Gu’s experience has shown him that many of us in the West are in immediate need of this deep emotional healing, and so he is offering sound healing to beginners (Level 1).

WHQ cultivates the mind’s capacity to direct chi (energy) toward an uplifting of the whole human energy system–one mind/body/heart/spirit. As we practice and consciously choose to transform, we shift from automatic responses to life’s challenges to wisdom responses.  These work together in a holistic pattern–as we learn to make healthier responses, we further integrate our mind, body, heart and spirit. As we integrate, we build our capacity to change our responses. This gets into the whole 3 A teaching (accept, appreciate, activate) that is at the heart of qigong practice. But I can tell you from personal experience, transformation from automatic responses to autonomous wisdom takes time and practice! I’ve had a qigong practice for four years, and a similar Pema Chodron practice for many years prior to that, and it’s still hard. You have to make a conscious choice to be on this path, and Sound Healing is a practice that can help you hold true to this commitment.

For example, the other day I was in a “bad” mood. Okay, part of our journey is to not label things as “bad” or “good,” but simply to see them as part of our journey. We choose how to respond.  Anyway, I was in a bad mood. I considered the 3 A’s, but it’s so hard to accept when I feel that way. I wanted to resist the “bad” feeling, to somehow get into a better mood. So I quasi-accepted and then tried to figure out a chi-ful response. I tried Haola chanting to myself. When you are with another person and on vacation, it’s hard to just go into isolation and practice. At least, that was my excuse, and I stuck to it! I gave up pretty quickly on the internal chanting and chose instead to eat a bunch of chips and drank some red wine. Not a very chi-ful response! But guess what? I didn’t totally fail the lesson. Later, I took a look at my response and said, “Hmm, I think I need to get back to Sound Healing.” So I made a commitment to a Sound Healing gong: daily practice for 100 days. I’m now well into my second week! The air will be starting to cool in September when I finish, and it will be a solid habit in my day.

Sound Healing is my anchor, my grounding practice, that bridle when my emotional well-being is a runaway horse. I think the next time I am challenged by a “teaching mood,” I can say to my beloved, “Dear, my body/mind/heart/spirit needs some Sound Healing. I’ll be back with you in 30 minutes.”

So what is it about Sound Healing that is so powerful? As a part of cultivating our minds to direct our energy, we need to be on the path toward emotional grounding. The Taoist, traditional Chinese Medicine, and Qigong teachings all say that our organs are not just physical entities, but also organs of energy. As energy systems, each absorbs and transforms our emotions. Energy can get stuck in these systems. For example, we often live in chronic stress. Stress that is not dissipated or transformed gets buried until there is a conscious unblocking or transformation of this energy. Sound Healing for the Five Organ Systems is a practice that uses sound and vibration from our own voices to allow chi/energy to flow freely throughout our body/mind/heart/spirit. We can let go of stress– or whatever emotion has been affecting our internal alchemy. Powerful!

In our Sound Healing classes over the next 3 weeks, we will be learning the simple practice of healing with the sound of Haola. In addition, we will chant the Essence Mantra and learn the three sacred sounds for each of the five organ systems. These sounds access the deep energy within and help us create new, healthy and stable emotional patterns. We’ll start with sounds for the heart–such a beautiful place to start! We’ll send love, hugs, light, smiles, and gratitude to our hearts through our own voices and the ancient sounds from Taoist texts. We will learn which organ systems relate to specific emotions. If you choose this path of transformation, you will take with you a daily practice that will allow you to choose a chi-ful response when life sends you lessons. If you eat chips and drink wine instead, you can make a different choice next time! We learn. We practice. And we keep learning.

Wisdom Healing Qigong Sound Healing
Wednesdays June 13, 20, 27
9:00 – 10:00 AM
Imagination Lab, Bishop, CA
621 West Line Street Suite 204
Donations accepted

If you cannot make these classes or desire more in-depth Qigong Sound Healing, check out The Chi Center online classes and store (for an e-book and audio downloads).