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I won’t know for a while whether I’m really getting glimpses of the shen phase or not, but I wanted to record some of the early signs that I’ve experienced and where they seem to fit into the overall scheme of Bagua.
The topic of shen or spirit is closely related to stability and chaos. The study of shen is really the deepening understanding of the tai chi space. IMO, you can’t work on this without having a well grounded foundation in neigung. You essentially need a level of mastery of the 16 part neigung before you can “enter the gate”. The shen phase starts to get more obvious as the upper tan tien “opens” up.
In the chi phase, you find the tai chi space and begin learning how to “play” in that space. This is where your mind learns to connect to and manipulate chi. In the shen phase, this ability moves to a significantly more subtler and powerful level. In the shen phase the chi aligns instantly and completely. There is a sense of chaos: a complete loss of control where all of the energy channels align and commit.
You can’t control this. You can control the setup and your intention but once it is started it is going to go and there is no stopping it. I’ve heard Bruce talk about this state on several occasions but I never understood what he was talking about.
It finally makes sense to me why the Taoist have been so selective and secretive with this arts: spirit is equally capable of compassion and destruction. If you don’t have a genuine sense of balance and compassion who knows what you will create. Anyway, this complete sense of commitment is a form of emptiness and the sequence starts to fall into place: jing, Chi, shen, wu, Tao.
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