My Teachers

joe-hing-kwok-chu-taoism-qigong

Qigong — the training of the Qi — is an ancient Chinese practice. It facilitates healing through training the mind to improve the body’s functioning. When my friend Joanna first introduced me to Dr. Chu, the day after my birthday in 1992, I knew nothing about Qi or Qigong. But after just a few lessons, I knew I’d practice Qigong the rest of my life. As I practice Qigong, I enter states of awareness with which my heart intuitively resonates. As I practice Qigong, my subjective experience of life deepens. Whenever I’m stressed, I remember Sifu Chu’s advice: “Practice Qigong. Shift your perceptions.”  Through heart-to-heart transmissions, his unconditional love, knowledge, and wisdom teaches me to simply let being be. July 2010, Sifu Chu honored me with an Empowerment Ceremony, authorizing further study of the Tao. Family and friends enjoyed our tea ceremony, a lion dance and a feast of wonderful food. August 2018, he authorized me to teach the Tao. I am so blessed with the depth of the teachings received.

Here’s an exercise Joe taught me.

Three Dan Tian in One – using the mind to direct the qi to target areas

Stand with feet shoulder-width apart. Keep legs straight but knees relaxed. Breathe deeply into the dan tian (three inches below the navel). Relax hands and arms, keeping them at the sides.

Fill the general dan tian with qi while breathing in. When you breathe out, just relax. Repeat the focus on breathing in and building qi until the general dan tian is full. Then move the qi between the other three dan tians as follows:

First send qi upwards to the middle dan tian, which is located on an imaginary line 1/3 of the distance from the Sea of Qi (one and a half inches below the navel) to the Gate of Life (a point directly across from the navel on the back). Take a few breaths there.

From the middle dan tian, send the qi to the upper dan tian, which is the point of intersection of a horizontal line drawn from between the eyebrows to the back of the head and a vertical line coming downwards from the point on the top of the head where the three bones meet. Again take a few breaths there.

Next send the qi back to the middle dan tian, and lastly down to the lower dan tian, located at the perineum (the region between the anus and the genitals). Again take a few breaths there.

​​Repeat the exercise, sending the qi up to the middle dan tian, then to the upper one, down to the middle again and to the lower one, again and again. As you get more experienced, just take one breath at each dan tian.

After you are good at moving the qi up and down to the three dan tians, coordinate the moving of the qi with the breathing and also with the movement of the eyes and the tongue, so you do the entire upward/downward sequence with one breath as directed below:

As you bring the qi upward from the perineum, slowly breathe in, raising the eyes upward, and touching the roof of the mouth with the tongue. This helps bring the qi upward. As you lower the qi from the upper dan tian, slowly breathe out, lowering the eyes and lowering the tongue from the roof of the mouth to the floor of the mouth. This helps guide the flow of the qi downward. Repeat these movements, inhaling and exhaling as smoothly and evenly as possible. Eventually the movement of the breath, qi, eyes, and tongue all become completely integrated.

The qi moves upward and downward, through all 3 dan tian, with one breath, inhaling as the qi, tongue, and eyes move upward, and exhaling as the qi, tongue, and eyes move downward.

This exercise may also be done sitting or lying down. Practice for 30 minutes daily, paying attention to the smooth and even movement of the qi through all 3 dan tians, coordinated with the smooth and even movement of the breath, eyes, and tongue.

Note:
General Dan Tian: 6 fingers sideways or 3 biological inches below the navel. A biological inch is equal to the length of the middle joint of your middle finger.

Sea of Qi: 3 fingers sideways below the navel or one and half biological inches below the navel.

Gate of Life: Directly across from the navel, between the two kidneys, (on the back). When drawing an imaginary horizontal line to the back on the spine, adjust it down a bit as the tendency is to identify the spot a little too high.

teacher-joe-chu-taoism

Judith Blackstone is is an innovative, experienced teacher in the contemporary fields of nondual realization and spiritual, relational and somatic psychotherapy. She developed the Realization Process, a direct path for realizing fundamental (nondual) consciousness, as well as the application of nondual realization for psychological, relational and physical healing. Her sensitivity to the subtle emanations from all living forms astounds, comforts and inspires me. I am also moved by her compassionate wisdom and skill in guiding each person’s natural unwinding of the body, heart and mind toward openness, towards realization. When we first met at Esalen in December 2007, I knew immediately that I wanted to study extensively with her. Her subtle precise nondual practices heal people psychologically, relationally and physically. Shifting from the fragmentation of subject-object duality to the unity of our essential being seems radical, but it’s possible. We can realize our own nature as vast, clear, unchanging, unbounded space. A Senior Realization Process teacher since 2018, I am deeply blessed, humbled and honored to share Judith’s work with others.

Judith describes Realization Process clearly in her beautifully-written books (see below) and in her workshops and trainings – and in the following excerpt from one of her blogs.

Realization Process is an integrated approach to psychological healing, embodiment, and spiritual awakening. It is a unique series of body-centered meditative exercises for realizing nonduality, releasing somatically-bound psychological patterns, and awakening the clear light of unified consciousness in the whole body.

In Realization Process, the radical openness of nondual realization is based on deep contact with the internal space of one’s body and access to the wisdom channel in the subtle core of the body. We therefore uncover a qualitative, authentic experience of ourselves as individuals at the same time as we transcend our individuality. When two people attune to nondual awareness together, they experience mutual transparency: a single expanse of awareness pervading them both as a unity. They also experience resonant connection between the essential aspects of their being, such as intelligence, love, and physical sensation.

Most approaches to nonduality focus on breaking through fixed conceptual patterns. However, the fixations that obscure nonduality are not just conceptual. There are also rigid holding patterns throughout one’s body, limiting our capacity for emotional responsiveness and physical sensation. The subtle core of the body is disentangled from these rigidities. When we access it, we can let go of our fixed patterns of self and other, so that they actually dissolve. Then we are open to the present moment, effortlessly, throughout our whole body.

The realization of nonduality makes life more vibrant, more impactful and often more pleasurable. By uncovering our fundamental nondual nature, we become authentic human beings, transparent and present at the same time.