A couple of people in my classes have asked what to do when, while doing the Qigong or Zhan Zhuang, the energetic internal process is too much? This is a really good question, and for some people it will make complete sense, while others will have no clue what we are talking about, as we…
Tag: Qigong
Zen Embodiment Bare Bones Conversations: Episode 2 Laura Cleveland
In this episode with Zen practitioner Laura Cleveland, we hear her story, what brought her to Zen, and about her time at Tassajara. In the second half we discuss topics such as: Why would a young person go to a monastery, feeling energy in zazen, accessing the tanden, as well as what drew her to…
Zen Embodiment Podcast Episode 1 Genryo Bradley Jones
I have begun doing these simple conversations with fascinating people about Movement, Meditation, and Internal Process. Here is the Zen Embodiment Podcast Episode 1 with my very good friend Genryo Bradley Jones. Genryo Bradley Jones went from a punk rock skateboarder to a Rinzai Zen Monk. Now he is a husband and a father. We…
Wuji: Beyond Good and Bad
This post is about something I was trying to talk about in class the other day. When we meet a realized teacher, we see that they are living beyond good and bad. We observe that part of their liberation from suffering is that they are not constantly a slave to the mind’s grasping after…
Internal Process Incomplete Recommended Reading List
I’ve been teaching these Internal Process classes for the last few months. I put together a very incomplete reading list for the people joining the class and in the group on Facebook. These books have been helpful to me in my internal process work. I’ll add to it over time. Please suggest books in the…
Deeper Dimensions of Non-Directed Body Movement
I have written about Non-Directed Body Movement before. As I have been teaching more classes lately online, and we’ve been doing it together, I’d like to give a bit more detail of how it helped me and still helps me to go deeper into my process. I hope it gives some of you permission…
The Importance of Feeling Qi in Qigong
I’d like to occasionally share little snippets of what comes to mind while practicing in hopes that it might inspire others. When doing energetic practices such as Qigong, I want to emphasize how important it is to feel the Qi. We must find our own way to engage with this energy. It is not…
Zhan Zhuang: Qi Flow and Emotional Molting
If you have not read my previous post about Zhan Zhuang, I recommend it before reading this one. This post further describes how to engage with Zhan Zhuang. When doing Zhan Zhuang (ZZ), after we have warmed up and done Wuji for five minutes, we put our hands in a certain position, like for instance…
Zen Students Burning Process: Words of Encouragement
Lately I’ve been doing a lot of Zhan Zhuang, and as I do it, memories of energetic insights, of struggles and specific leaps in practice have been coming back to me from my first couple of years in Zen training. I think describing some of that feeling will be of value to some training people…
Zhan Zhuang, Standing Like a Tree
One practice that really helped me in the beginning to go deeper into my zazen, and continues to keep me healthy in my life every day, is a type of Chi Kung first introduced to me in the monastery by a fellow training person. It is Zhan Zhuang, “Standing Like a Tree” and it involves…
