There are seventy thousand Jedi knights in Australia. Four hundred thousand in England and Wales. In New Zealand, Jedi is the second most popular religious affiliation, ahead of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, and most everything else. So concluded the official 2001 census in each of these countries.

It is unclear how many respondents were serious about their Jedi faith, but their governments did not take them seriously. Tallies were ignored or reclassified, and citizens were threatened with fines for providing “false or misleading” information.

So it is forbidden. Religions may not originate in movies–at least not in movies of Star Wars mediocre quality. But with the unprecedented critical and commercial acclaim of the hit film Inception, some of the formerly irreligious are reportedly inspired to worship again.

Let’s take a (mostly spoiler-free) look at Inception’s spiritual and religious themes:

• Dom Cobb once offered his skills in service to the rich and powerful. Having failed to satisfy them completely, he placed his own life in danger. Cobb now lives in exile.
• Cobb has money and power of his own, enough to guarantee worldly comforts, but it does not satisfy him. What Cobb truly desires, and would give everything to achieve, is a reunion.
• Reunion seems unattainable. Nevertheless, Cobb is inspired to take a leap of faith. There is no proof that the work can be done, but he is finally resolved to try.
• In order to complete his task, Cobb must first enter an extremely deep state of relaxation. Through his prior education and training, Cobb knows that the seeds planted within this state will bear fruit in normal waking life.
• Within this near-death experience, Dom Cobb finds himself under attack. Some of his attackers are projections of his own subconscious mind, and others originate elsewhere. These demons manifest themselves within a dream state, and although they are not “real”, they are nevertheless capable of thwarting his progress.
• Cobb has prepared himself well for the challenges that lie ahead. With the support of his teachers and companions, he is now capable of entering dreams within dreams within dreams.
• Cobb is not the owner of these dream worlds, he is only a temporary inhabitant. Nevertheless he can access extraordinary powers and privileges within them, because unlike most of the natives, Cobb fully realizes that he is asleep!
• At the same time, Cobb is fully awakened with respect to individual dream worlds, which he is therefore capable of entering and leaving at will. The sensation of jumping back into the real world–or the realer world, or perhaps the merely different world–is similar to leaving free fall.
• Cobb discovers these worlds can be seductive. Although he enjoys visiting them, even for decades at a time, he never feels quite as comfortable there as in his old home.

Does this sound like the foundation for a new cult religion? Or, do you think it sounds like a religion that already exists?

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Introduction

• Qigong (chi gong) is most often understood as a set of active exercises, guiding qi (chi) energy around the body through intention, movement, and sound. It is less well known that Qigong incorporates rigorous courses of standing and seated meditation. These active and passive, external and internal modalities are mutually supportive.
• One of the first goals of Qigong meditation is to reach a deep level of quietude within the mind and body. Sustained quiet allows a student to perceive increasingly subtle objects and movements inside their body.
• In a quiet meditative state, relationships and correspondences that were previously hidden or overlooked, become clear and credible. In other words, meditation allows for biofeedback training without the need for electronic biofeedback instrumentation.

• Portions of Wu Xing, the Chinese five-element theory, are patterned after these relationships. Students of meditation and martial arts are often surprised to discover that Wu Xing is not merely a poetic concept or metaphorical diagram. Wu Xing has literal application and predictive power.
• Traditional Chinese Medicine recognizes that chronic emotional imbalance affects organ function. Each of the five emotions–anger, joy, anxiety, sadness, and fear–is associated with a pair of Yin and Yang functions (“organs”). Due to their heightened sensitivity, some meditators and Qigong practitioners can perceive this relationship immediately and directly.
• When an advanced student drifts too far out of balance, they may immediately feel a sensation in the corresponding organ(s). This is not a creative visualization or a theoretical belief–it is as real, and sometimes as unpleasant, as hot coffee spilled in your lap.
• Consequently, these students quickly learn self-discipline. This level of gongfu (kung fu) automatically aligns the practitioner’s immediate interest in avoiding pain, with their longer-term aspirations for emotional stability and tranquility.
• Emotional balance is the foundation upon which more advanced Qigong and meditation practices are built. It is also the foundation of a pleasant, empathetic and rewarding life.

Diagram courtesy of Spiritual Science Research Foundation

Steps

1. This gongfu skill is primarily a result of attaining a quiet and emotionally neutral meditative state, and remaining within it for a sufficient length of time.
2. Any exercises that increase your internal sensitivity, or your ability to sit quietly and comfortably for an extended period of time, will likely speed your progress. These exercises include Taijiquan (and other martial arts), zhan zhuang, and the Taoist Six Healing Sounds method.

Warnings

• The efficacy of meditation is not dependent on your “belief” in it. However, assertive dis-belief is a distraction and a form of noise, and it will prevent you from remaining in the quiet state. Trying to feel or impose these relationships, rather than waiting for them to reveal themselves, may also prove counterproductive.
• The particular form of insight described above is helpful, but not necessary for emotional self-regulation.
• There is no exact timetable for any meditative achievement. Fortunately, there is a clear difference between reaching, and failing to reach the quiet state in which gongfu is built.
• Real internal gongfu is rarely found amongst teachers of “internal martial arts.” Do not expect them to provide any guidance or expertise in this area, except perhaps to foolishly claim these skills do not exist.
• Do not discuss these matters in mixed company. It will lead to ridicule at best, and at worst, involuntary psychiatric treatment. Although this is still an early stage of accomplishment in Qigong, it is already well beyond the current understanding of mainstream Western medical science.

More Information

• Chi Gong 101: How to Feel Your Chi Energy
• Qigong books and DVDs
• MeditationExpert.com – Techniques and Advice

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In his new book, The Intuitive Warrior: Lessons from a Navy Seal on Unleashing Your Hidden Potential, author and retired Navy SEAL Michael Jaco describes how he channeled the challenges he faced in military training and combat toward aligning his body and mind. With the two working in unison, Jaco remained calm and positive in extremely stressful situations. When he retired, Jaco then used these techniques as a civilian to enrich his everyday life.

Through personal accounts of real experiences, Jaco explains how the challenging situations he endured as a member of one of the most elite Special Forces units in the United States taught him to control his emotions and tap into his intuition. Using these capabilities, he enhanced both his mental and physical strength. In The Intuitive Warrior, Jaco says that anybody can develop the perception and awareness skills that he learned and employ them to achieve a more fulfilling life, whether seeking to improve job performance, personal relationships or physical shape.

Michael Jaco answers a few questions for Martial Development readers in this exclusive interview…

With more than two decades of service in the elite Navy SEALs, you have earned the right to describe yourself as a warrior. How do you prefer to define the term? (Do you think it should be reserved for those in the military, for example?)

A warrior is an archetype or ideal example of what all of humanity must go through at some point. So I feel the term warrior is not exclusive to those that actually serve in the military; it can and will apply to everyone at some point. I feel there are different levels or stages of a warrior. In the beginning stage, we fight either for real as in combat, or figuratively against our inner egoic self, for what we feel we must protect. The higher levels or stages that a warrior goes through are less about self and more about serving others. I feel that the most advanced warrior is one that has an inner calm even when faced with the most stressful of challenges and has learned to tap their inner knowing or intuition at will.

The history of martial arts is seasoned with reports of extraordinary intuitive or psychic skills. They are often dismissed as exaggerations, if not outright frauds, by members of the martial arts and scientific communities today. How have your friends, acquaintances and co-workers reacted to the personal stories you recount in the book?

Do SEALS have a different perspective on this topic than the general public, which is apparently biased towards doubt and ridicule?

Science is actually proving intuitive and psychic skills today through Quantum Physics, and as a martial artist progresses to the higher levels of being a warrior they will experience these abilities. Actually, my friends and colleagues were the ones that had me come forward and start sharing my intuitive skills more openly. I was quietly working these skills for a while, keeping everyone out of danger at just the right times, and my colleagues took notice and asked me to openly relate my intuitions. “If you know attacks are coming, we want to know!” they would tell me. So I have a reputation in my community as a security contractor now, and people are very open to my intuitions, and in turn others are opening to theirs as well.

A former lawyer I worked with, a very analytical person, was least willing to accept my intuition. I had predicted two attacks in a row, each one week in advance. I had told everyone the day, time and place very accurately, even describing the vehicle that the attackers would be in, and the description of the attackers themselves. Then I predicted another: a suicide bomber would attack the residence we were in. This very analytical person was the first to move out, hours before the attack came, and said: I don’t believe what you’re doing is real, but I’m going to listen. I can work with this kind of attitude, and after a few months this person was actually picking up on attacks himself. His new-found intuitive abilities also began to transform his work and he was far more successful and happy in his job as a result.

“By fine-tuning my intuition as a Navy SEAL, I was able to predict and avoid attacks to protect myself and my fellow soldiers.”

The SEAL teams and special operations forces in general are, by nature, pushing the boundaries of possibilities. The intense training and desire to accomplish missions opens the door to intuitive abilities. There is an unspoken knowing of intuitive abilities in some guys, but many special forces warriors have spontaneous awakenings to these skills at certain times throughout their careers. Since the release of The Intuitive Warrior I have been approached by many who have excitedly told me of their own experiences (that they have unfortunately never shared with anyone before).

After retiring from the Special Forces, you developed a “Hell Week” training course for civilians, to help them simultaneously develop physical endurance and awaken their intuitive abilities. What were your students required to perform on day one?

The course was held in a very remote area of the Pocono mountains of Pennsylvania. We had several streams that burst right out of mountainsides on the 15,000 acre property. The setting was idyllic, and perfect for meditating and conducting the type of training that I had dreamed of doing, when I was a SEAL Chief in charge of conducting Hell Week evolutions at Basic SEAL training.

We began the day prior to Hell Week, which would start late at night with classes on brainwave states and meditations designed to build a point within the student that they could go to under stress. This afternoon of training would help them transcend the rigors of their upcoming training. This intuitive training was a very great key to the overwhelming success of the Hell Week as compared to a regular SEAL training class.

Around 9 PM, myself and the instructor staff (that I had personally trained and worked with for several months) began the training by waking the students from their tents with bullhorns, shouts, confusion and shock. They were given physically demanding calisthenics and sprinting evolutions in mud for several hours. They were then taken to one of the mountain streams for cold conditioning. The mountain streams were around 39 degrees which is anywhere from 20 to 40 degrees colder than what an average SEAL Hell Week would experience. This is where I would ingrain the brainwave state that would allow them do impossible things throughout the week. They spent over an hour in and out of the water. The times in the freezing mountain stream were extended progressively longer and would be longer throughout the week. After this evolution I took them on a long walk through the dark forests and mountainsides. They were required to carry a heavy thick long rope that they had to work together to move. At certain intervals throughout the rest of the night and into the following morning, I would stop them and do races with large stones, and have them run and swim in a small lake on the property. These were timed evolutions and the losers would get extra calisthenics.

The whole next day was filled with evolutions that would make them think under stress. For example, I had a Sayoc Kali knife fighting master instructor that taught them 9 count knife templates that had to be learned under different kinds of stress, such as performing the template on a log over a stream; the group had to do strenuous calisthenics and runs if they performed it incorrectly. The rate that they learned these templates was amazing. Towards early evening, a Native American friend of mine came in, and we ran a three hour long warrior sweat lodge under extreme heat. After this, we were back out into the cool mountain air for another hour of cold water conditioning. This was followed by more walks into the dark forested mountains, with the group’s giant hawser line strung out from man to man.

So this was their first day, and I was quite frankly very impressed with their performance. We would go on to do steadily far more intensive nights and days for the rest of the week. I attribute the ability of all the students to perform at levels far above what a normal SEAL training class would go through to the fact that we had taught them how to tap their intuitive abilities under stress and then we all worked them to the point where they had to continually tap it on a deeper and deeper level to continue with training.

Did those students who successfully completed the course, report or demonstrate enhanced intuitive abilities? Such progress is usually attributed to years, or even decades; but under ideal circumstances, can it really be measured in weeks and months?

It was actually measured in hours as they were performing at exceptional levels right at the beginning. The instructors that were helping me run this training were very gifted at creatively pushing people beyond their limits. When I was a SEAL instructor I was renowned for being able to conduct very demanding training evolutions. All of us knew the advanced abilities that students will exhibit if they are working in an intuitive state so we constantly kept up the pressure to keep them there. All the students completed the course–which is rare in any Hell Week civilian course. Even the one at SEAL training has only had one or two classes with no quitters in its entire history.

You theorize that humans need to first reach a certain level of maturity, before they can access their intuitive skills. Is this an individual, or a collective maturity? Do you think we are any closer now than we were 400 years ago, when Galileo was imprisoned for making statements “false and contrary to Scripture”?

Intuition is already prevalent in small children. It is the societal, educational, governmental and religious pressures that take this natural born gift away from us. We can open ourselves to intuition and all of the expanded abilities that it will ignite within us, if we are simply open to the idea that it is already inherent within us. I strongly feel that humanity as a whole is having a spontaneous awakening to intuition. The Mayans have spoken of this in their cyclic time calendar, which points to our time for a quantum leap in the evolution of the human race.

Your time as a SEAL trainer included periods of intensive hand-to-hand combat study, upwards of 300 hours per month. Do you have any favorite drills, techniques, lessons or principles to share with other martial artists?

One of my favorite drills was the multi-fight drill, where we had up to 20 attackers coming at you at one time. You would disable the fighters, and as you moved on the disabled attackers would revive and get back in the mix. Over the three minute period we would conduct this drill you had to remain in an intuitive state, or you would be quickly overwhelmed.

I also enjoyed grappling that taught me how to internally use my skeletal structure and relax out of some of the anaconda grips that some of my physically gifted colleagues could apply. I believe that all martial arts have something to offer everyone if they are open. I have studied many different styles and can say that they all taught me something useful either about fighting styles, or more importantly about myself as an evolving warrior. My favorite style to this day is Sayoc Kali which I feel deeply develops the intuitive side of a warrior in conjunction with the physical.

Any advice for those who are interested, but unable to suspend their disbelief in the power of intuition?

If you can at least have an open skepticism like the analytical lawyer I described above then you will benefit peripherally from intuition. Intuition is trying to come through to us throughout our lives, but we often discount it to our detriment. Ever have those moments that tell yourself that you should have listened to your inner thoughts but didn’t, and caused yourself a lot of anguish because you didn’t? That’s intuition trying to come through.

The next time you are thinking about your loved one or a close friend and the phone rings and it’s them, know that you just had an intuitive moment. That can be how it begins for you, but only if you are open. Once you are open, then the information and abilities start coming through.

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John Chang was a practical joker. I had been on an elevator with him one evening along with twenty other people. The elevator was a glass-walled unit that ferried people up and down the floors of a shopping mall; there was a steel railing all around that people rested their backs on. We were going out to eat that evening at a local restaurant on the top floor of the mall.

Suddenly a burst of current pulsed through the steel backstop. Women screamed and everyone pulled away, suspecting a short circuit. John pulled away too, as I had, but I needed only one look at the barely suppressed grin on his face to realize what had really happened: He had sent a pulse of bio-energy through the railing!

Serious training in meditation, qigong, or kundalini yoga is long, hard, often boring, and sometimes downright bitter. Yet when a student reports their discovery of an exciting fringe benefit, such as heightened or extrasensory perception, certain other members of the community are quick to scold them.

“Pay no attention to such things,” the lecturer instructs. “They will only distract you from the ultimate goal of cosmic union.” Well, maybe so, and maybe not, but in the meantime, I think it is important to keep one’s sense of humor intact.

“In the old days,” Rolling Thunder said, “things happened all the time that would be pretty strange to see today. Our grandfathers used to tell of big gatherings–council meetings and festivals–when they were kids when chiefs and medicine men would get together and play around a bit. Of course, I’ve always said the powers are not to be misused–they’re not for personal use or for show–but long ago when there wasn’t the competition and confusion that there is today, the old chiefs and medicine men used to have a little fun just among themselves.

“Some old chief, for example, might take a stick or something and throw it over in a bush and then he’d bet the others that they weren’t sharp enough to see which bush it had landed in. Of course someone would go look and it would be gone, or way over in some other bush. He’d keep throwing things into the bushes and one one would find them. He’d be moving them, see?

And then some old medicine man would come up and play dumb. He’d say he figured he had pretty sharp eyes, and the chief would throw a stone way off in some bush. It would land somewhere in the distance and right away he’d move it from that spot. The old man would run out there while all the others laughed; but the old man would be moving the stone as he ran, right back to where it landed. Then he’d come back with the stone and all the sticks and everything that had been thrown into the bushes, exclaiming they’d all landed in the same spot, and everyone would roll with laughter. Of course it was all a game they were putting on, kind of like keeping in shape.”

Now I open the floor to you. Please share your favorite practical jokes, related or unrelated to kundalini or martial arts.

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Through this intensive practice, you progressed rapidly. What experiences and events marked this progress? In what manner was your brain “transformed”?

The first energy transmission I had from Master Chunyi Lin was this flash of light (while my eyes were closed)…very bright, and my whole body filled with this amazing deep bliss. (Chunyi Lin was first healed by Yan Xin and later studied with Yan Xin’s teacher!) When Chunyi Lin walks into the room, you can immediately feel the whole room fill with this magnetic bliss energy.

One day, after a Spring Forest Qigong Level 2 class, Chunyi Lin stared through my body at my right kidney, and I felt this amazing laser bliss right on my kidney. By that point, I knew that Chunyi Lin had profound healing energy.

At the guild meetings, Chunyi Lin would stand in the front of the auditorium and I would see this bright yellow orb of light shooting out of his head.

“I moved 9 times looking for a quiet place, but mundane energy imbalances always intruded…I felt like I had come back from the dead and only consciousness was real.”

As the bliss and electromagnetic energy increased with more and more full-lotus sitting, I realized that there was water flowing from my brain! It was like an electrolysis converting the hydrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere into water through the electromagnetic fields of my third eye. Water poured into my belly, and I realized that this must be the “ambrosia” [described in neidan training manuals]. The top of my skull got soft, and amazingly it started pulsating with electromagnetic energy.

Does the full-lotus meditation posture have any special significance?

Chunyi Lin states that 20 minutes of full-lotus yoga or padmasana (with the ankles up on the thighs, legs crossed, left leg first and right on top) is worth 4 hours of any other meditation practice—if you want to see whether someone is an energy master, just see how long they can sit in full-lotus.

Through my own research, I discovered that yin and yang were originally music ratios—nonwestern music, which uses complementary opposites. (It’s very abstract reasoning, but something I had discovered from my music training while in high school.) I verified that 2:3, the Perfect 5th is Yang and 3:4, the Perfect 4th is Yin. The specific source is in my master’s thesis, “Epicenters of Justice” (2001) which is readable freely online. In short…

Nonwestern music healing works by transducing sound through natural resonance of frequency, to create ultrasound which ionizes the serotonin in the stomach. The more you listen to the source of sound, which is pure consciousness, the more electromagnetic chi energy is created; finally it turns into shen (spirit light). The full-lotus is a tetrahedron—pyramid power—which is composed of eight 2-3-4 triangles.

“I gave my car away. I began eating meat, and dumpster-diving for food. My focus in life was no longer activism; it was qigong.”

In Western science, the equilateral triangle requires the irrational number for geometric magnitude, but in music ratios of complementary opposites–from Pythagorean harmonics and Taoist yin and yang—the full-lotus pressure creates frequency resonance for turning matter into energy. Since the tetrahedron most efficiently creates the yin-yang ratios, the energy creation is fastest there.

How have these experiences affected your outlook on life, and your relationships with other people?

I started having precognitive visions in my full-lotus meditation, but I also was extremely sensitive to the energy imbalances around me. I desperately wanted a quiet place to meditate. I researched intensely all the monasteries around the world, and various other spiritual gurus and masters. I thought that if only I could find a better environment, then I could deepen my meditation. Amazingly I could not find a teacher who seemed on the level of Chunyi Lin—his ability is truly rare.

I moved 9 times looking for a quiet place, but mundane energy imbalances always intruded. I continued taking classes, but not at the same intensity of practice on my part. I stopped my special diet. I felt like I had come back from the dead and only consciousness was real.

My degree was over, and my funding was gone. I gave my car away. I began eating meat, and dumpster-diving for food. My focus in life was no longer activism; it was qigong.

I had no choice about it, and I still am trying to adjust. My experience was similar to that of Wang Liping, who was told to move back into society after his training (in the book “Opening the Dragon Gate“)…only I didn’t make the transition successfully. Ha ha.

I continued my research intensely, “reverse-engineering reality” by comparing science with my own experiences. I discovered some amazing things about the vagus nerve transducing serotonin and anaerobic bacteria. I discovered, by accident, what I call the “O at a D”: psychic mutual climaxes with females.

When Jim Nance, Chunyi Lin’s qigong master assistant, asked me to help him write a book on his training, Lin stated that the spirits would not like this. It seems controlling, but Jim Nance completely respects this, and even mentioned to me that it’s better to not post on the Internet.

Do you have any advice to offer those who are interested in qigong, but unsure quite where to start?

Chunyi Lin

The exercises that Chunyi Lin teaches are extremely simple and yet very effective. The “Small Universe” Level 1 CD is the same as the “Microcosmic Orbit” that Mantak Chia teaches. That is also the focus of the book “Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality”. Chunyi Lin has stated that the Small Universe is the foundation practice and can take you to the highest level. “Taoist Yoga” explains these steps in detail.

Anyone can practice the small universe—a paralyzed man in England healed himself just after the first session! I wholeheartedly recommend his Spring Forest Qigong meditation practice.

Enjoy the energy is my advice.

I’ve spent a lot of time online answering questions from readers, and I’ve posted on many forums to seek critical feedback, knowing that my peers are my greatest critics. So I’m always happy to learn from any readers, and enjoy learning about their qigong experiences as well.

Drew Hempel’s book, “Trance Songs: How to Make Love to the Universe”, is available at Lulu and Amazon. Drew currently blogs at Natural Resonance Revolution.

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Drew, how were you first introduced to the ancient art of qigong?

I first discovered Taoism back in the 1970s, in first grade. My best friend at the time was adopted from Korea. He told me he always got his lunch from “Tao Foods” [a local grocery store], so that made me wonder what it was about.

Later, in 1995 I noticed a flyer posted to see qigong master Effie P. Chow, a Chinese master who lives in San Francisco. Immediately I wanted to go, but I was also skeptical of New Age gimmicks. I actually called to request a lower entrance fee, and amazingly I was told I could get in half price.

So Effie Chow was your first teacher?

My girlfriend joined me at the seminar, at St. Catherine’s University. Effie P. Chow had us make an energy ball. I could feel this strong electromagnetic resistance between my hands. Effie projected chi at people walking towards her, and she said that she could be attacked by huge muscle men and it wouldn’t matter—even though she’s a little lady, she could sense their energy and then redirect their energy, adding it to her own. My girlfriend remained skeptical.

As everyone was leaving, this big female security guard wandered in, wondering what was going on in here. She then stated that the fuse blew for the room behind us! (Hardly anyone heard this—it wasn’t staged or meant for any audience.)

After further researching qigong, I traveled to San Francisco to see if I could meet with Effie P. Chow again. I stayed with my Chinese high-school friend who had moved out there. Effie P. Chow was not readily available—at least at my budget, of next to no funds!

I returned home, and I kept researching the issue. By 1998 I was taking Yan Xin qigong with the Chinese community at the University of Minnesota. Again I felt strong, blissful heat from the meditation practice.

Later on, I attended a talk from a Tibetan monk—a lama meditation master. I realized I had this headache from concentrating hard, listening to his amazingly profound lecture, only it was focused on the very center point of my forehead. It didn’t hurt, it was just a strong pressure. I was really psyched.

Did you learn from other masters too?

The Chinese produced a government documentary called “Yan Xin, Superman,” showing Master Yan Xin giving chi healing lectures in stadiums filled with thousands of people. (Yan Xin has tested his qigong with the help of nuclear physicists and other scientists.) The dialogue was all in Chinese, but the people in the room translated for me.

One of my Chinese fellow students was really serious. When I ran into him on campus, he told me to continue practice in secret. His roommates didn’t know about his practice…but I could FEEL electromagnetic fields emanating from his body!

Why did he advise you to practice in secret? How did you expect people to react, if they discovered your active interest in qigong?

Serious meditation is anathema in our culture. People react to the energy. It is a transformative experience, based on the philosophy of existing within a larger consciousness containing yourself and others.

I’ve had a wide-range of reactions to my practice: people ecstatic with joy, total strangers thanking me. (It’s important not to stare while in a trance, sitting in full-lotus. Ha ha.)

Meanwhile, back at the U of MN, my housemate told me she had studied qigong with a local man named Chunyi Lin. I was intrigued, but she didn’t offer more information and I didn’t think much of it.

Later on, that same man made a presentation to my graduate class in spiritual healing (which incidentally was taught by a Jesuit priest).

Many qigong instructors make incredible claims about their abilities. What led you to believe that Chunyi Lin was a genuine master?

I had previously read Effie P. Chow’s “Miracle Healing from China”, plus many other books. I could feel Chunyi Lin’s energy right away, and could compare it with my previous experiences.

In 1999 I took his Spring Forest Qigong Level 1 course. When Chunyi Lin walked around the class, he shook his fingers at you while you were doing his simple standing exercise. There was no touching, but my body filled with bliss and I saw this amazing light. When my beautiful girlfriend picked me up, I had to admit to myself that what I had just experienced was a deeper love than anything I had experienced before.

Not until 2000 was I able to study qigong intensively with Chunyi Lin. Since I was on a special diet, and practiced several hours a day while reading and meditating, things progressed rapidly. By the end of the year, I had transformed my brain and had experienced many paranormal phenomena.

Your training included a special diet?

Diet is the most difficult aspect of practice, after emotional blockages. In the book “Beyond Telepathy“, Dr. Andrija Puharich argues that potassium enables a proton magnetic momentum—a plasma. I read elsewhere that chloride is the negative ion while potassium and sodium are slightly different positive ions. So basically, you are ionizing your body by not eating salt…I had to figure this out from experience and then my own research.

Initially, I was skeptical about a no-salt diet, but I read that vegetables would provide me with enough sodium. In fact, salt is mainly needed to counteract the acid from grains (“bigu”, the energy feast, means literally “without grains”). Just to be safe though, I used Braggs Soy Sauce, which is a vegetable sodium salt substitute.

Did you have to rearrange your schedule to allow this intensive training? How did you support yourself and pay your bills during this time?

In 2000, I was working at Clean Water Action for 10 hours a week, and living just a mile bike ride from work. I was a part-time graduate student at the University of Minnesota, completing a self-designed masters degree through the Liberal Studies Program. My father paid for my school, and provided $500 a month for books and living expenses. I devoted my master’s degree to volunteering in sustainability activism.

There I organized a campaign to divest $1.5 million from Total Oil, since they used slave labor in Burma. Later, I focused on the University’s clothing contracts with sweatshops, achieving the goal of having the University join the Workers Rights Consortium.

This work was very intense, and I experienced firsthand amazing corruption at the highest levels of power. So I dropped out of school; I could not agree to accept a degree after directly experiencing the hypocrisy of society.

I eventually readmitted to finish my degree, on the condition that I would do my final self-directed research by taking qigong classes with Master Chunyi Lin, through a community college. (This was formally supervised by the chair of the African Studies department, as a study in non-Western non-dualism philosophy.)

I lived right next to a cooperative food store, so I had the finest (salt-free, vegetarian) diet and I was able to focus all my attention on reading and researching meditation. I ordered rare books through the University’s inter-library loan system, used the University database for research, and stayed in my room to practice Spring Forest Qigong exercises many hours a day.

I read Mantak Chia’s work, and I read “Taoist Yoga: Alchemy and Immortality”. I read spiritual and religious books from India and Thailand.

I also had a car at that time, so I would drive to the Spring Forest Qigong classes and retreats. I attended the Spring Forest Qigong guild meetings, where the students meet once or twice a month to practice healing on each other.

Continue to interview part 2…

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Excerpted from Beyond Biofeedback, a record of Elmer and Alyce Green’s research on theta brainwave training, which they describe as an accelerated form of meditation.

When Jack Schwarz was in his early teens, he saw a stage hypnotist enter a self-induced trance and then push pins into his arm while he talked about the power of mind to control pain and bleeding. Jack had the normal response to pain until he saw that demonstration, and then, for no particular reason, he knew that he would be able to do the same thing. He got some pins and tried it, and sure enough he could turn pain off. What a conversation piece, he thought.

Jack said that at first he never tired of amazing his friends. He developed a cocky attitude, in spite of the fact that he had not had to develop his skills, but “woke up one morning and found all the diplomas were on the wall.” He could stop pain, stop bleeding, influence people through hypnosis, remove pains in other people by putting his hands on them and thinking about the pain going away, and could often “guess” other people’s thoughts precisely.

We did not make a focused effort to interrogate Jack when we began the laboratory work. As with Swami Rama, we asked him to tell us what he would like to demonstrate. Dale and Alyce wired him in the same way we prepared college-student subjects in other research. When he sat down in the experimental room he produced an envelope with two 6-inch steel sailmaker’s needles. He said he would push the needles through his biceps and demonstrate bleeding control.

Jack was wired to record the behavior or a number of physiological variables that gave indications of stress reactions: heart rate, breathing rate, galvanic skin response, skin temperature, and brain waves. While we were adjusting the equipment near him, one of the needles rolled off the board on which his hands were placed and fell to the floor. As I picked it up I realized that we had not sterilized the needles, and I asked if he wanted me to do anything about it. He said, “No, I often sterilize my needle by putting it on the floor and rolling it under my shoe.”

Before Jack began pulling the needle out of his arm, I decided that it would be useful for the record if it were demonstrated that Jack could bleed in a normal way. It had occurred to me that otherwise, even if Jack repeated this demonstration a hundred times, we really would not know whether he had control of bleeding, or merely a peculiar skin condition.

In order to control bleeding, it is necessary to control a normally unconscious process. All yogis who demonstrate unusual powers of self-regulation apparently have achieved a kind of coordination between conscious and unconscious. In effect, I decided to interfere with that coordination. Just as Jack was preparing to pull the needle out of his arm, I interrupted him and said, “Jack, tell me, is it going to bleed now?” He looked quite surprised and uncertain, like a man balancing on one finger when someone said, “Are you going to fall now?”

Jack said, “I don’t think it’s going to bleed.” But when he pulled the needle out, it bled freely. The photographer put down his camera, and he and I began mopping up the blood with paper tissues. Bleeding was continuous for about ten seconds, and then I heard Jack say very softly, “Now it stops.” Much to my surprise, the hold in the skin that I was dabbing closed up as if drawn by purse strings. It took about one second to close, and not another drop of blood appeared.

We were very much impressed, and I said to Jack, “I am glad to see that you are normal and can bleed, and can also stop bleeding. How about doing it again, but this time don’t bleed at all.” There was a pause. Many seconds went by, and I began to wonder if I had said something wrong, when Jack said, “Okay, I’ll do it again.” He pushed the needle through a different place in his arm, and allowed it to remain buried in the muscle for a half minute or so. Though I squeezed his arm, no blood came out when the needle was removed.

When the test was concluded we talked for awhile, and I asked Jack why he had paused so long before he agreed to do the second demonstration. He said he wanted me to understand that he did not force his body to do any of these things. He asked it to. He had to ask his subconscious and want for an answer. When it said “Yes” to him, he said “Okay” to me.

Faith, Hypothesis and Transcendental Knowledge

Attitude is a critical feature in biofeedback training, because volition is influenced by what one believes (although the psycho-physiological principle itself is entirely independent of what people do or do not believe). This fact was first brought to our attention by John Seaman Garns, who phrased it, “Mind operates under its own conception of itself.”

The average person was in a bind until the advent of biofeedback training. Consider some examples. One woman, who with the help of a biofeedback machine was learning to warm her hands, asked, “Do you have to have faith to operate this machine?” Our answer was that to begin with faith was totally unnecessary, because the machine is a faith enhancer. No more faith is required to learn to operate it than to learn to drive a car. We do not have to believe or have faith that the car will turn to the left if we turn the steering wheel to the left. All that is necessary is to try it. Then we know.

There seems to be a hierarchy of effectiveness of psychological states with respect to self-regulation of physiological processes. The hierarchy might be arranged as follows: to hope, to hypothesize, to believe, to know—and biofeedback makes it possible to leap the entire distance at once.

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For more than seven years, Genshin Fujinami dressed in white from head to toe while covering the backwoods trails of Mount Hiei in one of the world’s most grueling feats–a punishing quest that combined starvation, isolation and the equivalent of a lap around the equator.

For 1,000 days, rising well before dawn, Fujinami embarked alone, rain or shine, on his journey, running or briskly walking more than 50 miles–that’s almost two marathons–each day as the trial neared its climax. Along with his white robes, his only gear was a pair of straw sandals, a long straw hat, candles, a shovel, a length of rope and a short sword.

The rope and sword weren’t for survival. If for some reason he could not complete his daily trek, he was to use them to kill himself.

“I would have chosen the rope over the knife because it’s faster and cleaner. But, fortunately, it rarely comes to that,” Fujinami, a stout man with a shaven head, said at a small temple deep in the mountains. On the wall behind him was a scroll with a painting of Fudo Myoo, his guardian god, who normally is portrayed with a fearsome scowl, a raised sword and a backdrop of leaping flames.

Fujinami said the time spent on the trails is spread out over seven years not because of the rigors, but to allow for time to reflect. “You learn how to see your real self. You learn to understand what is important and what isn’t.”
[Continued at The Seattle Times]

Marathon Monks documentary by Journeyman Pictures

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What do you have? A long list of responsibilities and interests, including but certainly not limited to karate (or other martial arts). You have a desire to maximize the benefits of your practice, while minimizing the costs. And you want to know when, if ever, you should quit your kata.

Simply put, you can justifiably quit when the costs of practice exceed the benefits. Here are a few of the potential, proposed and actual benefits of kata training.

Benefits of Kata Practice

Kata as a Memory Aid
The most frequently cited justification of kata is as a mnemonic device. The kata serves as a living dictionary of fighting techniques and sequences. Repeating the kata daily ensures that the student will not forget any of these movements.

When to quit: As soon as you can afford to buy an instructional DVD. Just watch the DVD whenever you forget your kata.

Kata to Provoke the Stress Response
According to one school of thought, students should use kata practice as an opportunity to visualize the heightened physical and emotional state of combat. By artificially triggering the biochemical “fight-or-flight” response on a regular basis, the student will become comfortable operating under its otherwise debilitating influence.

When to quit: Once you understand that this approach is completely backwards! Mental and emotional stress is a self-imposed limitation, and the study of martial arts should be eliminating such limitations, not reinforcing them. Hopefully, you will reach this understanding before the chronic artificial stress has injured your health.

Kata as Activity-Specific Fitness Regimen
Fitness is relative. Every activity, including martial arts, places its own unique demands on its participants. Excellence demands a unique blend of strength, speed, flexibility and concentration; and without regular maintenance, atrophy is natural and unavoidable.

When to quit: As long as you wish to improve your performance, or just to remain in peak condition, you cannot quit. Nor can you profitably replace your kata with a general physical fitness routine.

Kata as a Health Maintenance Exercise
A surprisingly large percentage of health problems can ultimately be traced to poor circulation. Carefully executed kata help restore full circulation: not only of blood and bodily fluids, but also of attention. When employed as preventative medicine, the manner of kata practice is more important than the individual techniques chosen.

When to quit: After you have learned a more effective method for maintaining mind-body health and wellness.

Kata as Doorway to Altered States of Consciousness
If meditation is a profound stillness, then what is a “moving meditation”? Although this phrase is tossed around rather carelessly these days, it accurately describes the state of pure formless awareness that a martial artist can access through dedicated form practice. Many students never experience these states, because they require a sacrifice of intention, and because they do not make any logical sense.

When to quit: Once you can enter this state directly, without a need for kata repetition.

What other benefits of kata/poomsae/taolu/form practice have you experienced? And when would you be willing to abandon them?

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“What is the best book or DVD for learning zhan zhuang?”

My zhan zhuang background

My formal introduction to zhan zhuang (standing meditation) was provided by “Michael”, a master of Taoist self-cultivation methods. With his expert guidance, and my previous years of training in the martial arts of karate, aikido, wing chun, xingyi and BJJ, I was confident in the direction of my practice.

Within Michael’s xiu dao system, zhan zhuang prepares the body and mind for the demands of seated meditation and neigong practice. At the first level of training, students are to hold the standing postures from one to three hours daily. I followed his instructions, to the extent that my schedule and willpower allowed—all in addition to my ongoing martial arts study.

During the occasional period of intensive training, I practiced upwards of 40 hours per week, with standing meditation as a major component. And in my free time, I read much of the English-language material written on the subject.

Having met Michael and other genuine masters of their arts, I held no illusions regarding my own level of mastery. I did, however, believe that I knew how to train properly.

Ten seconds, six inches

Some years later, a wing chun friend introduced me to “Stan”, a third-generation master of Wang Xiangzhai’s Yiquan. I asked Stan for a critique of my posture—the posture I had refined over hundreds, if not thousands of hours of dedicated effort.

He observed for three seconds or so, before giving his reply. “Your zhan zhuang is upright, but incorrect. It is ‘wing chun’ straight, not ‘yiquan’ straight.” With a few minor physical adjustments, Stan fundamentally altered my experience and my understanding of zhan zhuang. Thanks to his input, my standard is higher, and both the health and martial benefits of my practice are greater.

Before I met Stan, my standing meditation already exhibited all the salutary qualities you would read about in a book, or hear in a DVD lecture. It was “relaxed”, “aligned”, “expansive”, et cetera.  At the most basic level, such gross physical and energetic descriptions are helpful, but at a higher level they are worthless; the description is not a prescription. The issue is not whether, but how precisely to relax—and it will not be settled by words, by references to a shared experience that you do not already possess.

How do you learn zhan zhuang from a book? In my experience: you don’t…at least not well. If such books inspire you to take the next step, and locate a good teacher, then they have served their purpose.

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