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Certification and Education

Universal Healing Tao Training with Senior Instructor Jon Weston – Day 2

July 11, 2017 by Dan Ma Leave a Comment

My second day of training with Jon Ashley Weston consisted of an overview of The Inner Smile, and learning the Microcosmic Orbit, Chi Self Massage, and the Six Healing Sounds. On the first day of training, he let me know that I could record our sessions, which is really helpful for me to remember the details about the concepts behind the practices. I apologize for the “beeping” noises, I was getting notifications on my vibrating phone. Full session: He taught me that The Inner Smile is always done first as it transmutes your energy into positive energy, which you don’t want to be moving negative energy inside you. The Six Healing Sounds are always done last to cool the body. The sounds release the heat, and the movements release the heat in the connective tissues. All the other practice go in between The Inner Smile and The Six Healing Sounds. I took the original audio from above and cut them into shorter files for easier use: Full Guided Session: The Inner Smile: Opening the Microcosmic Orbit (The Healing Light): Chi Massage: The Six Healing Sounds:

Filed Under: Certification and Education Tagged With: Training with The Professor

Universal Healing Tao Training with Senior Instructor Jon Weston – Day 1

July 6, 2017 by Dan Ma Leave a Comment

I had my first training day with Jon Ashley Weston, who is a Universal Tao Senior Instructor. I met him at the Mantak Chia PDX Workshop this year, as he was the coordinator for the event. In the 90’s he was the Head Instructor at Tao Garden in Thailand for ten years. He seems to have a good amount of history with Mantak as he was the Marketing and Construction Coordinator for the Tao Garden. He is a coauthor for a number of books with Chia. He also goes under the name of William U. Wei, and The Professor (Master of Nothingness). Perhaps you are getting the feeling that he is kind of eccentric. The Professor is on his way into retirement as he has some land in Southern Oregon where he has a mountain retreat/retirement home that he is planning to live in soon. My tuition  is helping to pay for the winterization of his retirement home. At the workshop that both Veronica and I went to, we met him in crutches as he had a terrible car accident in Thailand. Today I followed his instructions and opened his extremely warped yard gate to the inside of his backyard. I found three smaller units, so I had to call him again to figure out which one he was in. I tried opening the closest door which was locked, then going around to another side I opened the door to find him on a couch near the door of a small dwelling. He spent most of the two introductory hours talking about the Tao, his related life experiences, and Mantak Chia. We ended the session with a guided Inner Smile meditation, which was done a lot faster than when I practiced it. I feel fortunate to be learning from him given the number of years he has been involved with Grand Master Chia. I had mentioned to him that my father had taught me the postures of Iron Shirt, but none of ways of moving energy in around in the body through breathing techniques in Mantak’s version. The Professor made a distinction between “Iron Shirt” and “Iron Shirt Chi Kung”. I think I understand it a little more, but I doubt I will ever fully uncover the mystery of my father’s Iron Shirt and that of Mantak Chia’s Iron Shirt Chi Kung.   [expand title=”My notes for the day:”]
  • 4 levels of the UHT system:
    • Taoist Internal Alchemy Living Tao
    • Chi Nei Tsang Healing Arts Practices
    • Cosmic Healing Arts Practices
    • Immortal Tao Healing Arts Practices
  • 3 paths to enlightenment:
    • Prayer and worship
    • Good service
    • Tao
      • Knowledge
      • Wisdom
      • Understanding
  • Mind controls the emotional; emotion controls the body
  • Learn to reverse the roles: think with the heart, feel with the mind.
  • Monkey mind is the ego (action oriented)
  • Tao is the life force
    • Life has patterns
    • Prison is our 5 senses
    • Internalize VS externalize
  • Used a river analogy to describe the Tao
  • Slow life down with meditation
  • Organs are connected with the universe
    • Organs both create and store emotions
  • Taoism is a type of shamanism
  • Wu Wei VS Monkey mind
    • To go against the monkey gives fuel to it
    • To be passive it will take over
    • Indifference will bore the chimp
  • The goal:
    • Taoism: let go (and enjoy the ride)
    • Buddhism: detachment
    • Christianity: forgiveness
    • Science: surrender
  • 4 bodies in one body, ground the physical body and the rest will follow
    • Physical
    • Soul
    • Spirit
    • Light
  • Enjoy becoming and let go
  • 3 thinking centers
    • Mind: observation
    • Heart: consciousness
    • Abdominal: awareness
  • Mind as a tool
  • Ego is a parasite that needs energy
[/expand]

Filed Under: Certification and Education Tagged With: Training with The Professor

Mantak Chia PDX Workshop 2017 Review

June 29, 2017 by Dan Ma Leave a Comment

Veronica at the Mantak Chia workshop PDX 2017
The Mantak Chia PDX Workshop 2017 was a long awaited, three day Memorial weekend for us. Our great enthusiasm for the first day was met with utter disappointment and bewilderment as we could not find the class, other workshop attendees, or most importantly, Master Chia. We went home and moped around in confusion. Many hours later an instructor who teaches in Eugene, Oregon called us back. It turns out the coordinator of the event had changed the location and we some how did not get notified. After writing down the location for the next day, we went out to see a movie to help bring us back to neutral. After the movie Dan checked his messages and the coordinator left a very apologetic message. Apparently he got into a car wreck in Thailand and broke his leg. The next morning we arrived to the second day of the workshop. We were still enthusiastic, but we couldn’t help but feel a little jaded. We met the coordinator who had crutches. He apologized again and gave us a full six set of Chi Cards, which are cards that have a quick list of information to help with the Taoist exercises. The coordinator is also a senior instructor and gave Dan a special discount for private training lessons that will happen in July. Despite the rough start we were both grateful to have attended this workshop. Veronica thought it would be nice if we both shared our experiences in an informal conversational style. Dan: What was your favorite part of the workshop and why? Veronica: I liked the “wheels”, because it felt good…and the Crane-neck and the Turtle-neck exercises. Dan: Do you mean Turning the Water Wheel? Veronica: Yes. Turning the Water Wheel, Crane-neck, and Turtle-neck all helped undo the tightness in my spine. On the first day, when we were doing crane-neck, then turtle-neck, with spinal rocking in between sets, the chronic ache in my right shoulder was flaring up. This is a common problem spot for me, it’s where all my stress goes. I felt a little worried that it would get worse and I wouldn’t want to finish the workshop, but the next day the pain was totally gone. On the second day, Master Chia talked about how the qi will go to a problem spot like that and it will hurt, but it’s because that spot is being healed. Turning the Water Wheel is an exercise I want to do everyday. When I take the time to turn the wheels, I have a noticeable increase in energy for the rest of my day. After doing qigong for 8 hours a day on Saturday and Sunday, I had plenty of energy for the whole week. Dan: I really like the principle of Turning the Water Wheel in that you can harness your sexual arousal, multiply it, then energize other energy centers in your body, such as your heart or brain. Plus the rhythmical motion feels good on the spine. Veronica: Yea, in the workshop I didn’t really feel the sexual arousal part, but just the motion of the exercise felt really good for my spine and my shoulders. I still sensed some tingling of energy moving through my different “wheels”, too. When I practice this at home, I would describe it more like an energizing of my ovarian palace, not like full on arousal, and I can sense the energy moving through my body. What Mantak Chia said about how the kidneys store your life force is really interesting, too. Dan: I haven’t spent as much time on this exercise as you have. I have been exploring how to open up my Microcosmic Orbit, which you know was covered during our workshop. When I focus my energy at the sperm palace and the perineum, I can feel a tingling sensation. As I keep practicing I am starting to notice more sexual arousal coming from that area that is reminiscent of my pubescent years. Thinking on this makes me wonder if most of my sexual arousal of adolescent years have become more cerebral and less from my genitals. I haven’t really thought about where sexual arousal can come from–from your mind, your genitals, or from the devil! Veronica: Well, that’s the point that Mantak Chia is making. He talks about how we are sexually stimulated by media like advertisements that want to sell things to us, and how this method works. I never had a lot of instruction in my upbringing about what to do with my sexual energy, but I had creative outlets that I could transmit that energy to. Aside from that, my sexual energy was directed against me like the way Michel Foucault suggests in The History of Sexuality, meaning my sexuality is constantly being manipulated by images and propaganda. But, to get back to qigong, and where the energy comes from, I really appreciated how Mantak addressed the serious problems that can happen if one represses their sexuality. Did he mention if the sexual energy was related to the energy that we receive from Mother Earth? Dan: I don’t know if we receive sexual energy from the Earth…Mantak did say that we are born with 100% of Original force which is given to us from the Primordial force. 50% goes to the body and can’t be used, 25% goes to the kidneys for emergency use, and 25% goes to the sexual organs which can be transformed and multiplied for other uses. I know that we can root energy from the Earth, but I don’t know if that energy is different from sexual energy. I believe that there are at least two different energies, one that is yang and the other that is yin. Veronica: I don’t remember if it was discussed at the workshop, but I’m curious if yang energy comes from Earth through our feet or root chakras and yin is the “cosmic” energy that comes down through our crowns. Master Chia said that you can take your negative energy and let it flow into Earth, and that Earth composts that bad energy, turning it into good energy. The yellow energy from the Earth, he said, flows up through your feet and is associated with health, wealth, and longevity. This correlates with what I’ve been learning through In Sacred Balance, and their nature-based, feminine spirituality philosophy. Some of the guided meditations I’ve learned through In Sacred Balance begin by visualising the golden energy of Mother Earth flowing up through the soles of the feet. I find it very rooting and centering, which is also how Turning the Water Wheel feels. This earth energy is joined by the heavenly, or cosmic energy that makes our bodies a point between Earth and Sky. Mantak Chia called the heavenly energy “the father” and says that that energy gives us answers and blessings. He then briefly talks about different types of sexual relations that result in healing. This was toward the end of the last day. He described Soul Sex for emotional balance and harmony, Physical sex for healing, building energy, and mind energy and Spiritual sex to “delete your name from book of death & add it to book of life.” Dan: Yeah there was a lot of information to digest, which lead to more questions. Veronica: So, you’re embarking on your qigong certificate training with The Professor soon. How are you feeling about that? Dan: I am excited about it. It is another step closer to the idea of becoming certified for the Universal Healing Tao system. A good part of me likes the idea of supplementing our income with teaching. I also fancy the personal enrichment and accomplishment of certification. Another aspect that I have brought up in other articles, is that it feels like life is leading me down this path, but for what end I don’t know. I figure it is a good spiritual investment that is already beneficial in so many ways. [fruitful_tabs type=”accordion” width=”100%” fit=”false”] [fruitful_tab title=”Veronica’s workshop notes:”]
  1. The Gate of Heaven emanates infrared radiant energy
  2. 52 pulses develop before the heart
    1. The North Star pulse creates pulses on Earth
    2. Bruce Lipton – scientist / Taoist
  3. 434 years for North Star light to reach Earth
  4. North Star affects the pumps in the body
    1. Moonflower
    2. North Star
  5. North Star Practice (Healing Light Meditation)
  6. 3 pole stars (5,000 year cycle)
    1. Polaris (yang)
    2. Vega (yin)
    3. Thuban (neutral)
  7. 2012 tsunami tilt Earth axis 6 degrees
  8. Gnostic Christian research based on North Star
  9. “We’re getting a new boss and who cannot adapt with the new boss won’t make it”
  10. The orbit in the body affected by the North Star
  11. The pole have to change
  12. North Star & Nitrogen for proteins = combative people! Closed hearts
  13. Healing power of violet light
    1. Ultra violet biosignals
    2. Mercury burning creates violet light
  14. The Crystal Room (bai hui)
  15. Breathing into cranial & perineum diaphragm
    1. Inhale, exhale, hold (30 seconds minimum, 60 seconds maximum), commence breathing in gentle, small breaths and feel the cranium breathing
    2. When holding your breath, notice your diaphragm activate.
  16. Taking in the cosmic force. It comes to us as a spinning wheel or orbit. Energy spinning creates more energy. “When I spin my orbit I also spin my electrons”. Electrons come from oxygen, food, and cosmic force.
  17. Crane neck & turtle neck to open front and back microcosmic orbit
  18. Your gut is your battery, charge your battery! Stimulants over work your kidneys and wear them out.
  19. Your chi can thicken your aura and protect you from germs as well as change your household.
  20. The mesentery connects the intestines to the abdominal wall, this is the dan tian! Mesentery controls absorption, digestion, and elimination
  21. The Earth can take my waste/shit and turn to good energy. Yellow energy rises from the Earth, health, wealth, and longevity.
  22. The father/heaven gives blessings/answers.
  23. Sexual practice
    1. Soul Sex for emotional balance and harmony
    2. Physical sex for healing, building energy, and mind energy
    3. Spiritual sex: delete your name from book of death & add it to book of life
  24. Violet light has intelligence which is new born soul & spirit
  25. The fire that does not burn
    1. Heart fire
    2. Loving / compassionate fire
    3. Condense loving fire
  26. Chi stuck in breasts, massage to release and avoid disease, return energy to body
  27. Teenagers sexual energy book
  28. Everyone born with diff. Original / primordial force
    1. 25% stored in sexual organs
    2. 25% stored in kidney (emergency energy)
    3. 50% to become original force, for keeping you alive
  29. Original force keeps soul in body, when you die, stored energy in kidneys shoots your soul back to the source. Sexual energy is available for life force.
  30. One million dollar point (hu yin)
    1. A point of life that sends energy of the sexual area to the brain. Just in front of the anus. Press and contract. The center of the brain is connected to the uterus or prostate. Contracting and releasing the sex organs increases the blood supply & hormone circulation in the brain.
    2. Press on the hu yin and contract, breathe in, wave body up. Release point, release contraction and exhale, wave down, curving forward, round back, beginning with tail bone
    3. Orgasmic Teenagers
  31. Egg Exercise
  32. When you push down on perineum you feel crown activate. You will become aware of your uterus/ovaries and feel yourself, gently, breathing into your uterus. You will feel your uterus and Crystal Room pulse.
  33. Breast Massage: 1.5” around nipples
    1. Rub hands warm & ask for chi. Rub inwards 50 circuits then outwards 50 circuits 3 times for a total of 300 circuits.
    2. Pinch nipple & relax then spiral
    3. Milk line (8 nodes) connects all glands
      1. Humans used to have 8 breasts!
  34. Do the uterus contraction everyday to have healthy menstruation
  35. Mysterious gate (skete) female prostate (g spot) source of female ejaculation (ambrosia)
  36. Sexual organ detox massage
  37. Orgasmic woman:
    1. Orgasism:
      1. Clitorus
      2. Mysterious gate
      3. Uterus
    2. Contract uterus + breast massage
    3. Egg: you can use dental floss. Squeeze & pull. With fishing weight, move egg up & down squeezing. Training pubic floor power
      1. Jade can stock chi
  38. Orgasmic man:
    1. Stretch penis
    2. Rub from base to gland 50 times everyday contract prostrate 50 times then rest.
[/fruitful_tab] [fruitful_tab title=”Dan’s workshop notes:”]
  1. I like his life perspectives which are funny yet true
    • Dragon tail fart thing
    • Coca-cola burping
  2. Tree: falling w/o falling
  3. Spinal breathing
  4. Inner Smile
  5. Love vibration = love + sexual energy
  6. Tai chi Spinning
    • Inhale & contract perineum
    • Exhale & relax
  7. Northstar practice (Healing Light Meditation)
    • Northstar is the key to our Earth (yang star)
    • Vega is the new boss (yin star)
    • Microcosmic Orbit is affected by the boss star
      • It affects our pulse and energy
    • Thuban is the neutral star
    • Ultraviolet bio signals ‘ride’ on the spirals of DNA
    • Spleen captures yellow light
  8. Microcosmic Orbit
    • Infinity (the sign) warm/past small orbit
    • Eternity (8 sign) cold/future large orbit
  9. Mesentery organ directs absorption, digestion, and elimination
    • Was explained that it acted as the brain for the digestive system
  10. The Six Healing Sounds
    • Lungs
    • Kidneys
    • Liver
    • Heart
    • Spleen
    • Triple warmer
  11. Taoist Supreme Inner Sexual Practice
    • Soul sex
    • Spiritual sex
  12. Achemical light / Holy fire (Holy Spirit?) = Violet light + fire to transform sexual energy.
  13. Condense the fire:
    • Heart fire
    • Kidney fire
    • Tan tien fire
  14. Massage breast / testicales
  15. Love vibration brings these down:
    • Soul sex
    • Spirit sex
    • Primordial force
  16. We are born w/ 100% of Original force, which is provided by the Primordial force.
    • 25% to the sexual organs which can be used. You can transform this energy and multiply it.
    • 25% to the kidneys which is for emergency use.
    • 50% to the original force in the body, but can’t be used.
  17. Turning the Water Wheel practice
    • Move the sexual arousal energy to the tan tien, to the heart, then to the head.
  18. Million Dollar Point (Hui Yean) is yin energy which can’t be captured.
    • Press, contract, and massage everyday
    • Prostrate gland / Uterus orgasim
    • Water captures chi, but saliva captures a lot more
    • Always end with bringing the chi down to the tan tien. Heart and brain cannot store chi, but can radiate it out.
  19. Uterus & Scrotum compression
    • Breath into your uterus / prostate gland
      • The uterus and prostate gland connects to the center of the brain
    • Crane breathing
      • Rocking on your sit bones will move the rest of the body
    • Perineum breathing
      • Inhale, hold & push the energy down to the perineum, contract, relax
  20. Breast / testicle massage
    • Tessticle massage goes to my kidneys
    • Breast massage goes to the milk lines
      • 9 flowers (Eastern)
      • Milk line (Western)
  21. Multiorgasmic Women
    • Clitorus (1st gate)
    • Mysterious gate / g-spot (2nd gate)
      • Female prostate
      • Ejaculation (ambrosia)
    • Uterus (3rd gate)
    • Jade egg
      • Use dental floss
      • Can absorb the chi and gives it back
  22. Multiorgasmic Man
    • Stretch the penis
      • Oil up and rub the penis base to the head (50x)
      • Contract the prostate gland (50x)
      • Make sure the brain is activated
    • Chi Kung for prostate
    • The Recipes of Priceless Gold States
      • Men who are forty leak once every 16 days
      • Men who are 50 leak once every 21 days
      • Men who are 60 leak once every 0 days
    • 8 shallow (screw technique) 1 deep
    • Arousal & love, stop, relax, guide energy to kidneys
[/fruitful_tab] [/fruitful_tabs]
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Filed Under: Certification and Education, Event Reviews, Events & Workshops, Reviews

Meditation and Its Different Meanings

March 12, 2017 by Dan Ma Leave a Comment

When going back into my past to offer up an ideal of my childhood, I wish I could conjure up images of a secluded Buddhist temple on a high misty mountain, where kung fu training happens, and monks walk around great golden shrines chanting about enlightenment, and that I had been handed down the secrets of immortality by the veneration of the past. -But this was not my story. As a child, meditation was a time when I couldn’t bother my father. It was a small barrier of time when the door was closed. Our secluded temple, I mean our three bedroom ranch in Las Vegas, was home to immigrant parents from Hong Kong and a first generation American toddler (that’s me of course).
My father as a blackjack dealer
My dad was a blackjack dealer and my mother was a cocktail waitress at a casino. So far as I can recall, my memory keeps offering me up images of my father holding postures, partially unclothed, and sweating; they were brief glimpses of a practice that was intended to be behind closed doors. I didn’t know what he was doing in his underwear; I was told by mother that he was exercising and not to bother him. Once I was trying to spy on him through the crack between the door and the carpet; to get a better view I slowly opened the door to a small sliver, yet big enough for an eye to see. I thought I was doing some amazing ninja skills until he said, “No”, to which I responded by an immediate closing of the door. My mother kept a large collection of family photos that she stored in a big plastic bin. I always loved digging through them. There are a number of photos of my dad doing kung fu poses in Hong Kong. Later during my teens I started taking kung fu classes at a community college.
Dan acting out as a child
Despite my heart and dedication towards practicing, I felt that my skills were not where they should be. Our instructor was a burly ex-construction worker with a six foot something frame. With his long strong arms, I felt I needed an edge to survive his barrage of punches during sparring time. I remembered those pictures of my dad doing kung fu and asked him if he would teach me the meditation to make me stronger. He said that it would be hard and that I would have to do it everyday for 100 days. He also told me:
  1. No sex
  2. No drugs
  3. No alcohol
This is what kung fu and meditation does to an adolescent
I eventually broke two of the rules. In hindsight, I think the two abuses were a way for me to cope with being unpopular with the girls, or perhaps unpopular in general. I did maintain the great task of doing the meditation everyday for about three years, even when I was living in the dorms with a roommate in college. It must have been weird to open the door to see me standing in my underwear with my hands reaching out like I was hugging an imaginary person. I knew my roommate from high school; he was a good sport about it. Meditation during my formative years was largely about my ego and self esteem. I hoped that meditation practice would make me more confident. My father’s explanation about the meditation wasn’t in depth. I didn’t even know what the name was. He had said it was tai chi, but I took a tai chi class in college, and it had no resemblance to it at all. He taught  me the postures and the movements. He told me to put the tip of the tongue on the top of the roof of my mouth behind the teeth. I questioned if I was able to feel chi, but I kept practicing as it was an avenue to feel connected to my father and the exercise made me physically stronger. My father also told me that he paid a lot of money to learn it, so I felt obligated to keep up the practice. -plus it made me feel special. In my 30s I had stopped practicing the meditation. Life got busy and other interests grew. It wasn’t until 2015 when I was YouTubing at work, that I came across a video in where I recognized some of these postures that I had been practicing for so many years. It was an amazing moment for me. Finally, some answers for a mysterious practice that I carried on for years! I learned that this is known to many as Iron Shirt Chi Kung and had eight main postures.
  • Embracing the Tree
  • Holding the Golden Urn Yang
  • Holding the Golden Urn Yin
  • The Golden Turtle
  • The Water Buffalo
  • The Golden Phoenix Washes its Feathers
  • The Iron Bridge
  • The Iron Bar
There were some differences, most notably that there was a science to moving energy inside your body. Sadly, I could not share my new found discovery with my father. My father had passed away twelve years ago while I was in my graduate program, which I had to postpone to be with him during his passing. He had Hepatitis B, which gave him liver cancer. He stopped practicing his iron shirt for many decades, which I often wonder how he would have been if he hadn’t stopped. Now with this new information I started practicing Iron Shirt Chi Kung following the online instructions from Mantak Chia. Until this time in my life, I never realized how much Iron Shirt has been in and out of my life. When this meditation came back to me my body, mind, and spirit were not in a good place. Physically, my back was having a lot of issues that needed chiropractic work. My Sacroiliac Joint would get locked up during long hours of sitting or standing in front of a computer screen. My eyes started going near sighted and were often tired. Mentally and emotionally I was prone to being grumpy and tired. This often left me alone in bed all day. Spiritually I felt lost and life had been gradually losing its meaning. Meditation for me today means a source of salvation. This is one of the reasons why I started this website.

Filed Under: Certification and Education, Meditation Techniques & Experiences Tagged With: Iron Shirt Qigong

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