QA with Bruce

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

Is it okay to combine the teachings from the programme and practice them at the same time, rather than individually?. I.e. Longevity breathing and sinking qi. Are there any potential problems created in doing it this way?
Thanks rebecca

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce
Thanks for all the stuff you sent in Module 1; I feel like a prospector who has struck the mother lode!
A question on the beginner’s chi gong exercise:
When I soften the backs of my eyes, my awareness expands to fill my body to varying degrees. Trouble is, as I relax to let my chi sink, I notice my alignments get out of sync, which prevents me from relaxing and sinking more deeply. My neck starts to tense up which tenses the lower spine to compensate. When I relax my lower spine, my spine expands upwards, correcting the neck problem, but then my chest rises. As I focus on letting my chest sink with everything else in place, the back of my diaphragm tenses up – and then the backs of my eyes tense up and round I go again! I think I am getting round this by connecting a relaxed inbreath with relaxation around the eyes but by this time my 45 minutes standing is up! Question is whether I should keep looping round like this or just rest my attention on softening my eyes and sinking my chi down to the bottom of my neck while pretty much ignoring the calls on my attention from my alignments?
Best wishes

Geoffrey

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

Thanks for good questions.

Many of the answers for Training Module 1can be found here:

http://www.energyarts.com/question-and-answer-sessions

Good practice,

Energy Arts Team 

 

[Anonymous]

Meditation question for module 2

Hello again,

I hope this will not be considered off-topic…
I’ve been meditating for some 10 years with a Binaureal Beats program called Holosync. It’s done wonders for me to get out of the mental “fog” that Mr Frantzis describes in some of his other programs, and gotten me out of chronic low-level depression.
I’ve experimented a lot with combining listening to the Binaural Beat tracks (which go down to deep Delta brainwave ryhtm) with either a standing or a sitting practice, and tried to link the mental states the soundtracks get me in with greater states of physical, energetic and emotional relaxation.
In the beginning this helped me tremendously to relax into better alignments in the postures but for a couple of years now I’ve stopped doing this combination as it feels like it limits my possibilities for exploring internal states with my own intent. In other words, it makes me sleepy and it hampers my practice instead of helping me get into it as it did in the beginning when I strongly needed to let go.
It still is very powerful as a meditation practice and I can still feel the progress in my daily life (even though the releases it provokes are often quite unpleasant on the moment).

I would like to know whether Mr Frantzis is familiar with Binaural Bears in general, with Holosync in particular., and what his take on this form of meditation is. I’d also like what he thinks of experiments like I’ve done, of listening to Binaureal Beats while performing Chi Gung, tai chi, santi, …

Thanks in advance,

Erwan

[Anonymous]

Greetings Bruce, Thanks for your wealth of knowledge, experience and commitment.
What is your experience with bulging discs having the ability to being healed? L2, L4, and L5 all have bulging discs. This has been a chronic condition since childhood (worsening from lifting heavy objects for too many years). There is also a minor scoliosis.
I have been practicing the Yang Style Long Form for over 20 years, and find that the nerves in the Lumbar will get aggravated by the practice at times. So I started researching alternatives and found your website and info on the different styles coupled with your experience with the Wu Style having a greater ability to heal the lower back. I started learning and practicing the Wu Style Short Form in November with Phil McKee.
Currently I am practicing both the Wu and Yang Styles, with more emphasis on the Wu based upon your assessment of styles. I am also practicing Energy Gates Qigong. Please give your opinion for what the focus could be, what would be beneficial, and any other tips and advice for the potential to heal this area.
Thanks much, Fern

[Anonymous]

When I’m working on something new, be it completely new or a new way of framing something that I already know to some degree, I have no trouble remaining mindfully aware and focused. However, once I’ve become fairly familiar with a particular practice, my bucking bronco of a monkey mind seems to take great delight in penetrating the gaps between my awareness and the increasingly familiar activity! Am I the only person for whom familiarity breeds a monkey mind, and how best can the problem be dissolved? I know I need to be sensitive to the first inklings of distracting thoughts, but that’s easier said than done.

[Anonymous]

In the Meditation section 5 of Module 2 you discussed the positive,neutral and negative emotions connected to some of the organs. Could you tell us the positive, neutral and negative emotional qualities associated with all five organs related to the five elements. Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce, I’m going though a very stressful time, a separation and probable divorce and experience an unusual sensation at the base of my throat at the level of the collar bone. The usual attempts to relax via ice/water/steam have been marginally successful. This seems different than the normal tension. Is this spot unusually sensitive to stress?

[Anonymous]

How do you know when you are ready to begin doing reverse breathing? Are there any recommendations for transitioning from regular breathing to doing mostly reverse breathing?

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

I really need help grounding my energy. My practice dissolves tension dramatically, but I find that I take on tension from other people, both close relationships and just out around town. I feel the energy of every room very intensely. With concentration I can dissipate the “charge” I feel in certain spaces, but it always feels like a huge challenge. What can I do to be as grounded as possible? How do these principals work when relating to others and taking on the karma and tension of other people?

[Anonymous]

Hello Mr Frantzis,

1. Is there a sign during the dissolving process when a blockage turns its state from water to gas?
2. Is the letting go from the gas more a kind of feeling or a visualization process?
3. I am also working on your bagua-mastery program. Is there a possibility that you sometimes relate the meditation processes to bagua stuff. That would be great.

Thanks very much and i am looking forward to hear from you.
Kind regards, Arnold

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,
A language question. What is the relation of tai ji as “supreme ultimate” to tai ji as a union of opposites? Are they different Chinese words? In another internet discussion folks are saying tai ji is the same as yoga or union.

[Anonymous]

Hi Bruce,

This is not something directly related to Module 2 but something I would value hearing some discussions about.

How can we teach tai chi in a way that attracts more people. I think it might need to be taught in a more dynamic way by all tai chi masters.

A high percentage of beginners quit tai chi before experiencing what we know has helped us. Tai Chi hasn’t gained the acceptance that Yoga has in the general population. It isn’t a fair comparison since people can attend a Yoga class and participate on their first day.

You and other teachers might have some insight. Should we teach the tai chi form only, or select some simple qigong ways of attracting those extra people and expand the exposure of Tai Chi.

[Anonymous]

From “The Power of the Internal Martial Arts”, pages 50-51: What are the “basic exercises”? The “warm-ups” are, I think, the 3 Swings and Cloud hands. If the basic exercises are not tantamount to the warm-ups, is it possible for Energy Arts to provide training in the basic exercises?
Thanks!
Jeff

[Anonymous]

Hello Joan, I’d be curious of what Bruce might say- and I don’t want to jump in, but just to add a random thought of mine (might add something)- I find that in Bruce’s teaching style of stairstepping- show a specific type of “neigung movement” (which is the next devel step for the group), then immed have people try and do it: usually in a partner exer, which he’ll direct one person to do (try) and the other to touch-feel and give fdbk (can they feel it actually or not?), swtich etc. and then expand that a bit…
This results in quickly (in the first class, even the first hour of the first class) those doing something that they haven’t previously done, in a slightly new way of moving/feeling.

---

At one pt an Access was via the “Commencement” (thus not only alignments, but also the Peng, ji, lu, an, then later- bend-stretch, then later breathing) -ie have that basic movement (hands raise and pt-poke fwd, then pull the drawer back towards their chest, and then sink the palms down (like pressing a ball down in a pool).. [to be clear the movement I mean] -and add a little something, which you sense the group could adopt without stretching too far (the subcon impulse as teacher is to show something that is a big-stretch for the group- “new” to wow, but too much a stretch and they won’t feel anything… thus often classes say, eventually you feel something]

So prev Commencement, but his Circling hands can be an access. So walk in the door- show how the hands “ChooChoo” wheel, a brand-new copies and you add a component to that… they should feel something new (?) and if so that seems to grab?
just a thought- I think as you say the Yoga or other accessible systems are because it is brokendown to instruction that gets people doing, and sometimes TaiChi is taught of “learn the form” (so students think “until” they’ve learned the “entire form” they haven’t really started)…

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