Saddleback College Eastern Arts Club

Video of Shibashi Qi Gong set by Nik Simovich. http://youtu.be/uUy_VKfx8cU Video of Chen Family Style Old Form First Road by master Bosco Baek https://youtu.be/PQI-OhombQw Video of Chen Bing Harmony 13 Form by master Chen Bing https://youtu.be/xdcmzmVZv9M List of Chen Bing Harmony 13 Form Movements (PDF)... http://nebula.wsimg.com/e2bfd55be9f5a65e76a106a44ef483af See more

YOU ARE THE ALCHEMICAL ELIXIR The Internal Alchemists wanted to live forever on the basis of their own transformation. That means that they were the elixir of l...ife: all the materials were to be found within oneself. The body was the crucible. Bodily fluids were the waters. Effort was the fire. Sometimes, it’s tempting to get some new piece of exercise equipment, to try a new diet, or to find some new medicine. While there is some value to employing such things judiciously, we can get carried away. We think, if we only pay money to get something, it will be a shortcut. There are no shortcuts. To practice is to make something out of nothing. Or rather, it is to change yourself by sheer thought, dedication, and effort. By the metaphor of Internal Alchemy, it is to accept the body, mind, and spirit that are yours and to use them as the basis for your own goals. You cannot buy success. You cannot get transformation any other way. You can’t gain by taking. You can only gain by making. _________ Woodcut illustration of the practice known as Intercourse of sky (qian) and earth (kun) [trigrams] from Xingming guizhi (Pointers on Spiritual Nature and Bodily Life) by Yi Zhenren, a Daoist text on internal alchemy published in 1615. Wellcome Collection, London

LEARNING IS FOR SELF-DISCOVERY In a traditional Chinese martial arts class, you’re told to copy the master exactly. If you ask why, you’re told not to say anyth...ing. Just follow. Before I go on, let me explain the thinking behind this. Chinese culture believes in a classical ideal. The master is supposed to embody that. Therefore, a student should try to absorb the classical ideal as quickly as possible. Anything that interferes with that, including intellectualizing, should be avoided. If you were training in the old way, you and the master would be living together and practice would be at least all day long. In addition, you would live and travel with the master. It would be impossible not to emulate what was always around you. But most of us don’t have such privileges. We have to spend a lot of time training on our own. This is where repetition and breaking down the movements into small combinations is essential. While performing whole sets is important, you can’t improve without really working out all the smaller parts. The greatest challenge is to dwell on what is difficult for you. If you want to get good, there’s no other way. And how do you know whether you’re practicing right or not? You practice until you discover the right feeling and coordination for yourself. Is it awful to wake up each morning and vow to work on all that you cannot do? Yes. But the only legitimate way to get over your disappointment is to learn the movements until they belong to you. Then you’ll be on your way to being a paragon like your master.

Just a reminder that today is World Taiji and Qi Gong Day. Today at 10am start a routine and join the global wave of Taiji as it moves across the globe.

FOURTH MOON Ancient cultures tracked time by the moon and the sun. We have refined that process. Atomic clocks, for example, take the time that elapses during ...9,192,631,770 cycles of the radiation produced between two levels of the caesium 133 atom and use that to measure one second. Still, that’s in the service of meeting the definition of a year being one revolution of the earth orbiting the sun. Although there aren’t always exactly twelve moons to a year, the word month still alludes to the moon. You might say that the sun and the moon still define time to us, and that all our contrivances are in keeping with that. Philosophers have mused about time as well. The past is gone, and the future isn’t here. But what is here? Exactly how long is now? No one can define that. In the meantime, spiritual teachers urge us to be in the present. Is time a line? Or is it a circle, as the orbits of the sun and moon would suggest? Is the past gone? Or do we somehow revive it in our memory? Scientists say that we can’t remember the future. But they ignore how we prepare. Any parent who doesn’t envision their child’s future and move them toward that is not doing all that they can. Look at the moon. It’s called a new moon, but it’s always here, always present. We don’t know how many new moons there have been. We assume that there will be millions more. That new moon is analogous to each moment of awareness. It’s just on a different scale. The moon always returns as new, and yet each new moon is unique. So too are all our nows. That’s why we need to be present in each one. ________ Summer Begins (Li Xia) May 6 Grain Fills (Xiao Man) May 21 Dates according to Hong Kong time, eight hours ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. For more on the lunar Tao: http://dengmingdao.com/books/lunar_tao.php

Why practice qigong? 1. The most important is that qigong reduces stress, which may improve immune function, respiration, sleep, and decision making. 2. The bel...ief that you can better manage your own healthan aspect of self-efficacyis the opposite of helplessness and hopelessness. It improves treatment outcome from many diseases and is linked with health-promoting behavior. 3. Qigong increases resilience, the ability to spring back after a physical or emotional challenge. 4. Various studies, such as those cited below, demonstrate direct effects on the immune system. 5. Qigong increases compassion and sense of connection with the forces of life (qi). Kindness is highly contagious and increases the chances of survival for all. Here is a sampling of published research on the immunological effects of qigong. Acute Effects on the Counts of Innate and Adaptive Immune Response Cells After 1 Month of Taoist Qigong Practice https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26370102 Effects of Qigong on Immune Cells https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12856872 A Pilot Study of Qigong Practice and Upper Respiratory Illness in Elite Swimmers https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21598415 Qi-Training (Qigong) Enhanced Immune Functions: What is the Underlying Mechanism? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16040353 This information is provided as an educational service. It is not intended to substitute for the medical expertise and advice of your health care provider(s). Photo By Kenneth Cohen