The following excerpts are of Taoist Lineage Master, Bruce Frantzis recently speaking about Longevity Breathing yoga on September 5, 2009.

       長 夏

Long Summer

The fifth season is late summer or Indian summer. The Chinese call it Long Summer (chang xia). Its element is earth. The Chinese element 'earth' 土 (tu) holds the same place as the Hindu element ‘akasa’ or space. It is that which holds and contains everything. It is the bedrock which allows everything else to be. It’s primary function is integration. By holding everything it allows all of the apparently separate things of existence to recognise their non-difference.

Taoist Lineage holder Bruce Frantzis recently taught a weeklong retreat "Longevity Breathing Yoga:  Meditation From the Inside Out" in the San Francisco Bay Area.  There were a few Hatha yoga instructors who participated in learning these ancient teachings from China, and as I've been discussing in recent blogs, Longevity Breathing Yoga allows the practitioner to work from the "inside out", utilizing a different approach than most forms of Hatha yoga. I had the opportunity to interview one of the yoga instructors in attendance about her experiences and overall impression of the practice.  

            長之道

The Dao of Lengthening

The period of three months of summer are called luxuriant flowering.
The chi of Heaven and Earth mingle.
The ten thousand things bloom and bear fruit.
At dark to bed, early to rise.  Do not tire of the sun.
Keep that which is of the heart/mind from anger.
Allow the finest things to flower fully.  Allow the chi to leak (sweat).
Act as though you love the outside.
This is the summer compliance of chi
(and) the cultivation of the Dao of lengthening.
To oppose these principles injures the heart.
(Consequently) Autumn will bring intermittent fevers
(and) there will be little to offer one's gathering,
and the Winter solstice will bring grave disease.
(Nei Jing Chapter 2)

Pandemic woes do not just affect people with eroding personal economies, but those who are poor, uninsured and already chronically ill. As Jane Brody recently wrote in the New York Times, fear of a new flue pandemic is eroding into panic, with the media fueling that fear.

Her article raises an interesting issue: why is this threat overwhelming us and diverting our attention so strongly from the other threats of chronic illness “that threaten millions of lives.”

"The Slippery Slope from Fear to Panic"

Last weekend Energy Arts participated in the NYC Yoga Journal Conference and I was surprised by the number of yoga students that vocalized how much tension they had in their lives and were actively seeking out something to lessen it.  Whether or not their current yoga practice is addressing that issue for them is unknown, but what we students and instructors at Energy Arts know is that Taoist practices, including Longevity Breathing yoga, do offer a direct way to deal with the tension in your life.