Weight Balance Challenge - Special Meditation

How did the intro steps go? Did you find it easy or hard to love yourself exactly as you are right now?  Were you able to work out any issues in this that you wouldn’t mind sharing?

In changing our Mindset so that we really love and work with our bodies, we can actually tell our body what we need it to do and then expect that to start happening.  Ok, there is a little background info to understand here.

First, when we tell our body out of love what we need it to do, this has a completely different energy that demanding, begging, or talking down to.  “Body, I love you so much. We’re going to be working together to balance our weight differently than it is right now and I would adore your help with this. You have some incredibly important work to do on your end and I appreciate your grasp of the details. Thank you!”

It’s very interesting that when we speak out of love in this way, who are we that is saying this? It’s us, but we’re connecting to our Higher Self also, and there’s an energy of power associated here.  Whenever we completely feel love – gratitude – appreciation and we speak or act within this feeling, we are connected to our Higher Self.  The feeling it part here is very important.

Here’s an easy, fun meditation to work with over the next few days. Doing this right before bed can be really nice! But do it whenever you have a quiet moment.

1. Bring your attention to your heart center and consciously breathe here, as if you are inhaling and exhaling from your heart center.
   
2. At a certain point, your breath will naturally slow, and this signifies that physiological changes are starting to take place. Enjoy the slow softness of your breath.
   
3. In the slow breathing, start to feel love for yourself.  Allow the feeling to grow until you feel your entire emotional state shift and expand.
   
4. Consciously radiate this feeling of love coming out of you beyond your body, into the space that surrounds you.  Can you fill the area or room with it?
   
5. When we do this, our brain waves literally change.  You may feel as if you are experiencing a slight altered state that is extremely light and clear.
   
6. In this state say to yourself “Subconscious Mind, I direct you to begin right now doing what is necessary to change my weight.”  You can tweak this sentence to fit your own words as long as you speak directly to your subconscious mind and tell it exactly what to do – in a state of love.

Let me know how this goes – I’m excited for you to try it! And it’s so much fun to see what your subconscious mind knows you need and starts to do for you. 

Weight Balance Challenge - Introduction

What this is:  We are going to blend a variety of real-life natural techniques found in Oriental medicine that work.  This is going to be done in steps that allow us to experience and integrate genuine changes into our daily routine that bring us into a more balanced state of being.  Through mindset, reaching a higher vibration, caring for and moving our body, and using gifts from the Earth like herbs and crystals, we are going to have FUN shifting into our natural weight and feeling absolutely wonderful about it.

What this is not:  This is not a New Year’s Resolution.  It is also not a diet.  It is not a quick gimmick to lose 5 or 10 lbs then gain it right back.  If you’re looking for an external source to change you, there are plenty available out there.

How to participate:  Over the next few weeks I’ll be posting specific items and ideas to work with, so make sure you Like my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/TouchOfTao/) and watch for them.  I’ll also re-post everything here on our blog in case you missed it, or so you can come back to it anytime.

These will be actionable items that you’ll need to play with and actually do.   I like to make things flexible enough to allow them to fit your own unique preferences and ways, because all of this has to work from you and through you.  It’s you that is changing you – not me or anyone else doing something to you. You create your own beauty from within, and all of the upcoming activities will help that come out.

Ready? The first item to work with is Self-Love.  In order for all of this to work as fluently as possible, we need our bodies to feel incredibly loved – no matter what - and invite them to work with us. 

This may take some inner work, because often if we want to change our weight we don’t like how we are right now.  Really look at the self-talk you have going on inside about this.  What do you think about yourself and how your body looks?

If you already say “I love myself exactly as I am right now. I’m beautiful and perfect!” then keep doing more of that.

If you say anything at all like “I’m too fat. I’d look good if I lost 20 pounds. I look terrible.” Etc. etc., then become very aware of exactly what you are saying.  You’ll need to add a disclaimer at the end.  You can make up what works for you, but it needs to be something like:  “I’m too fat. But I totally love myself anyway.”  “I’d look good if I lost 20 pounds. But I completely love myself right now regardless of my abundant weight.”  “I look terrible. Well I love my terrible looking self so much it doesn’t matter what I look like!”

I think of our inner self-talk like talking to a child.  How does a child respond that is told he/she is too fat and looks terrible?  It’s not a good feeling.  Usually it’s a heavy, energetically damp feeling that weighs down morale and slows down the energy flow.  This can directly translate into a slower metabolism.

If we tell a child “You’re beautiful! You’re perfect! I love you so much!” and we mean it deeply and genuinely – now we’ve got some amazing energy to work with and we can be motivated and play and love what we create within.

So start today – right now - and look at your inner self-talk about your body and weight.  Wherever you think or say something negative, imagine you are talking to a beautiful innocent child and change it around.  Add a disclaimer, or apologize to your body, forgive yourself, and think/say a better thought filled with unconditional love.  This takes commitment and practice, so keep doing it until it’s so natural the love you feel for yourself becomes emotionally palpable.

I’d love to hear your comments and experience with this, especially if it will help someone else who can relate or is having a hard time.  Thanks! Have fun & be creative with this.

PS: Throughout the challenge if you feel like you need one-on-one personal assistance please call to make an appointment with myself or the other amazing practitioners at the Oriental Healing Arts Center.  Your success means a lot!

Natural Therapies for Anxiety

Natural Therapies for Anxiety
Acupuncture & Herbs
Massage Therapy
Energy Healing
Meditation – QiGong – Tai Chi

See video at end -
Anxiety: Frankincense and Energy Work

Approximately 38 million Americans suffer with chronic anxiety or depression with one out of eight adults currently taking antidepressant medications for these symptoms. While these medications can offer support and benefit on certain occasions, there are many people that do not respond well to this form of treatment. What happens when you need to try something else?

Natural therapies can offer tremendously helpful support in healing the root causes of this epidemic. This approach is much more comprehensive and much less invasive to the brain than using SSRI medications. Oriental medicine looks at the whole mind-body-spirit, and treats on all 3 levels.

Acupuncture

Practiced for over 2,500 years, acupuncture is a branch of Chinese medicine that treats the energetic level of the human body/mind. Did you know acupuncture is usually a profoundly relaxing experience that establishes a deep quality of restoration and balance to the central nervous system? Many people report a pleasant feeling of an altered mind state, floaty, dreamy, or sleepy after treatment. This feeling tends to stick around for a few hours after the treatment and becomes a more continuous experience with repetitive treatment.

Acupuncture works by balancing the flow of Qi, or internal life force, in the body. Energetically, anxiety is considered a byproduct of weakened Qi in the heart or kidneys. Other symptoms such as low back pain, heart palpitations, insomnia, irritability, or nightmares commonly accompany the anxiety and are naturally included as part of the treatment.

Chinese & Western Herbs

There are a number of Chinese herbal formulas that can work wonders for anxiety disorders. Here is a brief list of formulas an acupuncturist may use to treat anxiety followed by several common Western herbs that can be easily found at your local health food store:

• Peaceful (or Calm) Spirit
• Salvia and Amber
• Heavenly Emperor's classic formula
• Free and Easy Wanderer – one of our favorites!
• Suan Zao Ren Tang
• chamomile
• valerian
• lemon balm
• passion flower

Massage Therapy

Many people have found Massage Therapy to have a wonderful effect in relaxing the body-mind and re-integrating a sense of peace and calm into the nervous system. Regular massage, which we suggest either once a week or every other week for about one season, trains our body to attain and maintain a strongly serene state. It can become much easier to avoid or release the feelings that anxiety brings on.

Energy Healing

Many people find light touch/no touch energy healing helps them to reach a mind state that is so relaxed it becomes a mentally transformative experience.  In this altered state, it can feel like floating, energetic sensations throughout the body or in focused areas, and simultaneously being in a deep sleep while being aware of not being asleep.  Medical QiGong Energy Healing uses the same energy pathways as acupuncture, and externally re-balances energy (Qi) flow to assist in healing symptoms.  The therapist helps the energy of your heart and kidneys communicate harmoniously again so that deep healing can occur.

Meditation – QiGong – Tai Chi

Many people find meditation, qigong, and tai chi to be their most powerful allies in healing anxiety. With regular practice of various breathing techniques and tai chi postures, people often feel that they have much more control over their anxiety and that it need not run their life anymore. These practices can be direct gateways to the rest and restore mode of the nervous system. On a deeper level, they can help us forge a spiritual connection with our lives that instills an unshakable sense of trust and safety in the workings of the universe. 

From a holistic perspective, our symptoms are never random. There is always a reason why they creep up. In the case of anxiety, it is helpful to disengage from our personal feelings about it and look at the bigger picture. What is the anxiety telling us about ourselves and where we are at in life? Is it a warning sign that something is amiss and needs to be acknowledged or changed? In any regard, the practices mentioned here can offer a profound level of support in getting to the root of the problem and inducing a gentle course in a new direction of calmness and insight.

Qigong

QIGONG

Qigong is a powerful system of healing and energy medicine from China. It is the art and science of using breathing techniques, gentle movement, and meditation to cleanse, strengthen, and circulate the life energy. The word Qigong is made up of two Chinese words. Qi is usually translated to mean the life force or vital-energy that flows through all things in the universe. The second word, Gong, means accomplishment, or skill that is cultivated through steady practice. Together, Qigong means cultivating energy, it is a system practiced for health maintenance, healing, increased vitality, and a tranquil state of mind.

The documented history of qigong goes back approximately 2,500 years. Chinese archaeologists and historians have found references to qigong like techniques that date back at least 5,000 years. 

There are many different qigong’s, you can learn how to grow and move the Qi in your body to help heal organs and disease. You can learn how to project your Qi to help heal other people. There are qigong’s for high blood pressure, weight loss, osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, fibromyalgia, boosting your immune system, and the list goes on! When I was in school we practiced qigong or tai chi every day twice a day. I experience many benefits from this practice, from my own emotional and spiritual healing, to strengthening my body, and such an increase of energy that on the days where I would go to school all day then go to work until 4am I felt better and had more energy then on the days where I slept in and only went to work!

Qigong is highly effective as a stress management tool, decreasing daily stress, boosting the immune system, improving balance, helping the cardiovascular system, lowering blood pressure, increasing strength, flexibility and balance by bringing Qi to the muscles, bones and tendons. 

Qigong is generally a safe practice. For people that are very weak or may not be able to stand there are seated qigong’s that can be practiced. It is best to learn qigong from a qualified qigong practitioner. 

Towards the end of school we all had individual Traditional Chinese Medicine treatment plans based on each of our own individual issues and needs. Part of the treatment plan was that we had 3 qigong’s that we did that benefited our individual issues. Different qigong’s help move the energy along the different meridians in the body. In Traditional Chinese Medicine the theory is that the body contains meridians, these meridians are pathways in the body which the Qi flows through. It flows through every body part, tissue, and organ.

The first of my qigong’s was the microcosmic orbit meditation. It raises the energies contained in the lower energy centers and cause them to rise up into the higher energy centers in the heart, brain, and crown. By doing so it helps to transform and refine the energies both of our physical body and consciousness, resulting in improved physical health, greater mental and emotional balance, and for those that wish, access to deeper levels of awareness and spiritual insight. I found this qigong meditation to be very relaxing and would also do it before I went to bed to help quiet my mind. 

My second qigong was joining fire and water. Water (lower dan tian) represents the kidneys (will power and core energy) and fire (your passion, your fire, your spark) the heart. This qigong is good for depression, low energy, and anxiety. I did this qigong because I had some stagnation in my lower dan tien and my kidney Qi was not rising to my heart center very strongly, I also had some things happen in my past that caused by heart center to close up, this was a great qigong for moving the energy between the kidneys and heart.  

My third qigong was gaze of the tiger. One of the meridians this qigong works is the pericardium, the pericardium is the heart protector. This is one of my favorite qigong’s, I find that while I’m doing this qigong I go into a very meditative state, I feel very peaceful and content. 

Qigong was one of my favorite practices I learned while going to school, although I really loved everything I learned! It was funny, some days you’d get to school and think “man, I don’t feel like doing qigong today”, by the time we got done you’d always be so glad you did it! If you were kind of grumpy or sleepy you would feel happy and energized afterwards. And it was amazing how the energy in the room would change after doing qigong!

Empower Yourself to Heal with Instant Tai Chi

Protective Energy
Tai Chi Chuan, an Internal Chinese Martial Art, is practiced for the protective energy it provides. Not only does it teach self defense, it makes the immune system stronger and more protective, creating a positive effect on our health.

Natural Spirituality Beyond Dogma
Translated as "supreme ultimate fist", a personal practice of tai chi chuan provides many benefits for the practitioner. These benefits can be physical, emotional, and spiritual.

In the realm of spirituality, tai chi offers the benefits of a natural type of spirituality that goes beyond any sort of dogma or religion. If you feel your life and health are already well, tai chi is a life-enhancing practice. It will make you better and stronger at whatever it is you do.

Tai Chi Heals Diseases
Also, research has shown tai chi chuan to:

- Cure high blood pressure
- Heal type II diabetes
- Ward off dementia
- Improve and prevent osteoporosis
- Decrease cardiovascular incidence
- Improve brain function
- Enhance quality of life with almost any illness

Whether you are a physically fit athlete or a person with health challenges, tai chi has something to offer you.

Tai Chi Energy Travels Through the Body
Instant Tai Chi offers the very essence of tai chi in a two hour workshop presented by one of the best instructors in the world.

The essence of tai chi can be described using the energy of the body. How this energy travels through the body is a parallel to how a person lives their life. It travels two ways: 8 distinct movement patterns and spontaneously.

How it travels is determined by the dynamic quality and the abundance of the energy.

Instant Tai Chi
This workshop will focus on these two concepts of tai chi: the pattern of energetic movement and how to move the energy dynamically and abundantly.

If you want to heal, if you want to be stronger and better, if you want a dynamic life, if you want abundance...this workshop is for YOU!

Link to Qi Dao Newsletter

This is a link to "Qi Dao", a great on-line newsletter filled with research and articles on Tai Chi, QiGong, and other Taoist topics. Contributers are some of the top international names associated with the Taoist arts.

Of note in this issue: How to structure Tai Chi and Qigong practice into your daily life.

Enjoy & please share!

http://www.wishus.org/newsletter/Qidao_0609.pdf

Great Idea Ritual

I need a really great idea, so I'm going through my ritual:

1. Set intention.
2. Drink 1 drop of Iris flower essence in water - I love the way it stimulates creativity!
3. Turn on good music (tonight it's Prince MPLSound & ethnic drumming)
4. Do Tai Chi for an hour or so - gets the energy flowing and unblocks everything
5. Dream and see what happens, I know it will be fabulous!

Good night.

UPDATE: 6/11/09
After doing this, over the next week I had 3 incredible ideas - more than I expected and EXACTLY what I needed!

Anxiety & Tai Chi

By Lao Shih Clint Seyer

What is anxiety? Anxiety is an excess condition arising from our internal relationship with external affairs. Anxiety is the uneasiness caused by our acquired insecurity of the unknown based on past experiences. A pre-anxiety state is initiated when the mind focuses on unfavorable “What if...” outcomes of a future interaction, desire or event. The thought of “What if...” becomes “charged” with emotional distress from internalized emotional trauma of past experience. When a thought becomes emotionally “charged”, it inflames a sense of urgency to the “What if...” thought, making it appear more real. This charged reaction generates a sense of insecurity (threat). This mental/emotional “perception” signals the body to constrict into a hyper-alert survival mode (tension) resulting in the physical manifestations of anxiety. When these energetic psycho/emotional/biological elements fuse we experience a fully manifested state of anxiety (energetic excess).

Anxiety trademarks include: overall muscle tension and constriction, quick shallow breathing, stomach upset, “butterflies” or nausea, obsessive thought, hyper-sensitivity, headaches, high blood pressure, perspiration or cold sweats, nervousness, emotional withdrawal, irrationality or irritability and in extreme cases “panic attacks”. Simply put, a condition of anxiety is initiated when the mind focuses on what could happen and not what is happening. Over time, this pattern becomes our primary template of internal response to external interactions, desires and/or events. When this occurs, anxiety becomes a chronic disharmony that will diminish our quality of life. However, we have a choice of how we feel and respond. We can re-invent our response patterns through the time-proven oriental healing arts.

The tonic to prevent or alleviate anxiety lies in intervention, education, re-training internal patterns and mindful awareness. Intervention may include massage, herbal support, and counseling. Opportunities for understanding life’s energetic principles are available through workshops at the Oriental Healing Arts Center. Re-training of thought, emotional and lifestyle patterns can be learned through Tai Chi, Qigong and meditation classes. The community at the Oriental Healing Arts Center invites you to explore the many avenues for positive intervention, education and training available.

Tai Chi and Qigong cultivate self-empowering practices we can use to defuse the spiraling cycles of anxiety. The anxiety cycle begins with a consciousness of uneasiness heightened by emotional distress, manifesting in physical tension that focuses the mind on the heightened uneasiness adding more emotional charge and creating more tension. While anxiety is a normal response to uncomfortable situations, unchecked it can become self destructive to one’s desired goals. Finding ways to manage anxiety through internal intervention offers many rewarding opportunities for enrichment, success and satisfaction in life. Tai Chi and Qigong cultivate the profound mental and physical skills to alleviate anxiety in the student.

The first intervention is awareness which is a primary benefit of learning Tai Chi and Qigong. We can not take action for self care if we do not realize we need self care. It is common to underestimate or ignore our stress levels. These practices effectively elevate the mind’s sensitivity to one’s state of relaxation or disharmony. Students cultivating awareness can intervene earlier and more effectively to defuse anxiety through acquired Tai Chi and Qigong relaxation techniques.

As anxiety’s internal tension manifests, the student is trained to respond with slow, deep, mindful breathing that is essential to the practices of Tai Chi and Qigong. The breathing techniques are not simply “taking a break”, but a specific, focused and intentional technique with a predictable outcome of relaxation. This occurs because the mind can only focus attention on a single conscious thought in any one moment. When the mind focuses internally on slowing and “lowering” the breath, the engaged mind quiets. This detaches the consciousness from the “external” distress and enhances biological events that encourage a state of relaxation. The spiraling energetic excesses of anxiety begin to reverse.

As the agitated mind/body state eases, the Taoist arts student has several options to further restore calm within. One option is mindful detached observation and release of mental/emotional/muscle tension. Another is Qigong; a discipline of coordinating mind, breath and simple movement and posture. Tai Chi provides a series of whole-body meditative movements in harmony with the breath. With these options, the mind calms, the body relaxes, and emotional charges subside. This allows one to observe difficult circumstances with a receptive, quiet mind rather than drown in escalating mind chatter. This ability to quiet the mind, invites clarity, inspiration and insight and with it; empowerment. With practice, students develop new, healthy stress-response patterns that bring calm, confidence and opportunity to personal challenges.

These mindful and empowering disciplines are mastered through Tai Chi and Qigong training. As the student internalizes these arts, life becomes easier, more fulfilling and harmonious. As successes grow with practice, the mind and body respond more easily and quickly because they work and have for millions over countless centuries. My tai chi/qigong students often comment on their increased sense of confidence, enjoyment and self reliance from their training. They cultivate skills that offer an alternative to stress, anxiety and crisis thinking. Learn to be comfortable in the uncomfortable and create opportunity over your anxiety.


Clint Seyer
ewolf@gci.net
907.333.7192

A Life in Harmony for anyone

My name is Clint and I am quite content being Clint. As with most of humanity this has not always been so; to enjoy your life and find peace within it. I teach Tai Chi and have a profound appreciation for the patient cultivation of rising beyond drama, disease, misfortune and self doubt. I am not young, 53, yet I am not old nor will I be. Yet in the fire of our youth we know pain, heartache, longing, emptiness that we immerse in the crucible of ruined passion, self medication, tyrannical mental imprisonment or its corrupt twins of self destruction and obsession. We strive for goals (possessions) to satisfy our drives, our desires to "feel" fulfilled; family, wealth, appearance, and status. I suggest it is not the striving or obtaining these things that cultivate the inner love of self. It is the simple joy of "being" yourself and not the "feeling" within that sets one free. Feelings are energetic light shows of the internal essence. A content inner self expresses as a loving, insightful manifestation of life. 

Tai Chi is an art of gentle discipline over time. A journey of patience and revelation that generates will, self appreciation and strength, slowly over time. It is truly an internal art manifesting outwardly in awareness, agility, patience, compassion, health, flexibility (mentally emotionally and physically) and self love. It is a harvest worth the elegant effort to self care. Ask yourself where does love come from if not within? How can we show compassion if we do not nurture the inner fields within from which it arises? Love is a jagged facade of poisoned wine if love offered requires external compensation. As a teacher I have seen students (mine and others) flourish under the cultivation of tai chi and qigong. They are genuinely more happy, authentic and real. Self love is essential to a life of harmony for everyone. These arts can take you there.