Online discussion group for The Biology of Consciousness ebooks/online class series. Feel free to post and comment below! :)
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Edited: Jun 12, 2020
E-Books & Online Classes - The Biology of Consciousness: One Mind, Five Intelligences
E-Books & Online Classes - The Biology of Consciousness: One Mind, Five Intelligences
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Well, I have only one more recording to go!
Something I have noticed in myself and within my practice isa coming together of all previous lessons...starting with my first class of Chi Kung. The practice is beginning to flow as a natural extension of the infusion of the lessons...not sure if that makes any sense to anyone.
But I find it's just going on and my awareness of it...my connection to the practice and the intelligences is becoming somewhat automatic...
Eager for more!
Yesterday was my first day back to work...had all of my clients practicing smiling into their butts...it was the most fun! Very contagious...in a good way!! Everyone really SPARKED up...Fire intelligence!
Just finished the August Series....these were the things that stood out for me....smiling into your butt!! OMG...we had so much fun with that. My hubby and I were sun gazing and I took him thought that meditation. He hates the traditional mindfulness and other meditation forms that focus on quieting the mind, but this meditation was made for him...once he got the concept it was one big smile fest...for the rest of the day. Very sweet, very powerful! Thx G!!
The other thing that is evoked for me is the hours I spent as a child laying on the grass in the yard, or at the beach, sitting by a tree or a brook...all favorite pastimes for me. My mother always called me her pondering child. But, I was doing quite naturally just what the focus of the practice is...being, experiencing myself and the environment. I see the same thing in my granddaughter, she and I do it together often....this supports the truth that this is the way we are. We tend to think of nature and animals having that kind of relationship with their environment and that we poor humans with our big brains can't have that. But, we do have it and fostering it in this way brings all the connections into your awareness.... they are always there. The joy comes from knowing you're there and it'a always available to you!
Also, just to mention, when the day is sunny which is often in Arizona...I take my new clients out before their session and do a short 5 minute sun gaze with them! This way they have had the experience, so when it's their homework they will have the visceral experience to pull them along!
So glad I've been able to catch-up! These discussion and practice are building nicely on last March's classes. Blessing to all!
Also, Gilles thanks for the clarification on shamanistic practices....I see in the context that there is an essences of elemental forces, but the framework and alteration of consciousness decidedly puts it in a whole other arena. I am opposed to anything that tells a person, "I have the truth you seek", or the answers must come from the priest, shaman, medicine person etc..
Tao Touch leads us in guiding the client to find their own inner voice, healer...what's true and right for them. Blessings
Oddly the response I posted yesterday didn't seem to make it through. I was first introduced to Tao when I was in my early 20's...what I loved about it then and still, is that it is not dogma....or in anyway associated with religiosity, rules and regulations that foster guilt and shame.
The complexity and simplicity that Taoist understanding bring to our CNT sessions is there in action and interaction with the client. And of course in yourself as you practice.
The truth of it is in the reality fo what is. I'm finding the discussion groups helpful to reinforce and strengthen what I have learned previously.
PS: It was nice to see Taylor in the "fire" video!! Missing all my classmates from March!
Q: Would TaoTouch practices fall into shamanic understanding?
A: It all depends of what is your definition of "shamanic" and "shamanism".
Wikipedia's definition states: "Shamanism is a religious practice that involves a practitioner who is believed to interact with a spirit world through altered states of consciousness, such as trance. The goal of this is usually to direct these spirits or spiritual energies into the physical world, for healing or some other purpose. "
In order not to get lost in speculations and interpretations of terms from borrowed cultures, I rather use the English name that fits such a definition, which is "sorcerer" and "sorcery". Sorcery, sorcerers, and sorceresses have been properly demonized out of our civilization, both by sciences and religions, by being exclusively attached to black magic and the demonic world of spirit. Furthermore, our Western worldview made the whole spiritual world not only esoteric but completely virtual, legendary, and non-existent.
However, sorcerer, sorceress and sorcery have the same etymological origin as "source". The source of life, the source of existence, the source of consciousness. Sorcery then becomes the practice of investigating the origins of life and existence from the consciousness level, beyond the limits imposed by science and religions. The base of such practice is what is called alchemy, another demonized term, meaning the study of the origins and meanings of the elemental manifestations of the universe. In this aspect alchemy goes much further in study than chemistry, which is only restricted to the study of the physical aspects of the elements composing the material world. Alchemy, instead, explores the origins, the meanings and the consciousness attached to the components of matter as well as what life is about, all the way to the very source of existence.
In that respect, I would say, yes, TaoTouch practices fall under shamanic understanding. TaoTouch integrates the formulas of ancient esoteric monastic Chinese Taoist meditations and Chi-Kung practices into our contemporary Western belief system in a way that can be useful, beneficial, and functional in everyday life. In that fashion, TaoTouch provides a systematic holistic approach to medical Chi-Kung complete with an effective way to address pain, diseases, and mental and emotional distress.
But, also, no, TaoTouch is not a religion and does not require following a cult or specific rituals. Neither it is an attempt to imitate the esoteric practices of a foreign culture from a different civilization through make-belief and stolen rituals we commonly call shamanic or shamanistic practices. We don’t need to be in trance, to be in an altered state of consciousness or to take any drugs. We don’t need to change religion. We just need to pay attention to the wider spectrum of consciousness offered by our natural mind and to progressively develop our brain so our mind can learn better and expand freely outside of the restrictions and taboos imposed by our educational system, and to be able to express its full human potential. This is what happens naturally and progressively as we practice the TaoTouch healing disciplines. We heal ourselves from any disease by outgrowing within ourselves what prevents us from being truly human, in short, to be humane, to participate to the evolution of human consciousness, to reach happiness and share it with others, and to be able to fulfill our life purpose.
G. Marin
Just finished booklet #3....love the way it’s all coming together. Looking forward to wrapping up with the videos in order to be caught up for new sessions soon. I was curious about the reference to Kami. Found this reference in Wikipedi, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami to be helpful. Would this fall into shamanic understanding?
In booklet 2 page 26, Wood, Rational Thinking to the Rescue...I had an experience this past year the demonstrates this very topic.
A person who had committed to being available to me for something important, casually failed to show up, giving a flimsy excuse for her lack of follow through.
My connection to her was based on my subletting space from her. Consistently over the year lease, she was rude to clients, extremely negative and generally disregards or is simply unable to connect with others and “ read the room” so to speak. Through the year I felt little charge about her behavior, easily able to accept her limitations and minimizing my contact with her. However on this occasion the impact was meaningful to me and caused me a set back of precious time.
Initially I was very aggravated with her. Afterwards I ate a meal and laid down for a short afternoon nap. Immediately upon arising from the nap I was very conscious of the emotional charge and it’s meaning for me...I literally got right up and set about sending her an email to lay out my feelings and ...take a stand, so to speak. Ordinarily this is a challenge for me. But at that moment...I was flowing in my validated feelings, communicated my needs clearly and felt relieved on so many levels. It was as thought that situation was a catalyst for a larger healing! I credit this with my regular practice of Fusion over the past few months...it works, just as Gilles has illuminated! WONDERFUL!
I am delightfully having time to catch up with the video sessions and have just finished the first two videos. Having done the reading I love the way the video group sessions are pulling it together in the Fusion Meditations. I received much benefit from the Fusion class last Spring, these sessions are support my personal use of the Fusion techniques which I find very helpful in my practice.
hey gilles,
thank you for class today!
i am curious about the relationship and differentiation between "feelings" that are sensations (sensory neurons) and "feelings" that are emotions (is that stored and moved by the fascia?).
also, i am curious about how changing our breath can be a tool (conscious or not) to digest emotions:
i am noticing that my logical mind thinks: "i have emotions stored in my body in places where i dont want to breath to feel them" so then i "want to feel them in order to come to know them and digest them and live with more joy". is this kind of "intentional investigation of stuck places in my breathing and body" a helpful process, and can it be "fruitful" (develop maturity) to direct my attention/"meditation" this way? ...in a more drastic way - do heavy breathing practices like holotropic breathwork, rebirthing and kundalini breathwork all forcibly bring up emotions to be digested by forcing air into the lungs in ways our emotional bodies wouldn't want us to feel otherwise?
thank you for your consideration!
in this meditation approach... is it helpful, or not, to "visualize" the elements, and/or my body as the elements - such as "cloudy" water behind me moving through my earth filter body toward the sun in front and becoming "clean"? do these intelligences have different "feelings"/sensations/energy flows that we can perceive in our bodies - like cold water, warm sun, rising wood, etc - when we are "sitting" with each one of them?
thank you for class today and for answering my question about discipline/perseverance (a life-long "struggle", so far). regarding sunning....
my main obstacle to sunning is that i have consistent neck discomfort through my days, and tilting my head up for 1 minute, let alone 3, is unbearably uncomfortable for me (it seems) - especially in the summer. so, i am limited to sunning comfortably in the late afternoon when the sun is low (morning is not possible where i live).
questions: does sunning have to be done with my closed eyes looking directly* at the sun? can i sit/lay down, or another adjustment, to support my neck? do you consider sun gazing to have "the same" effects? also, any insights at the moment about alleviating the persistence of my neck pain in general, and when sunning?
Bonjour Gilles!
We’ve had cloudy weather here for the last four days (at least) and with all this crazy full moon energy I haven‘t been sleeping much at all. Is there an alternative to Sunning for times when it’s cloudy or even if you happen to miss the sun during the day and would like to do something at night?
Many many thanks,
Jennifer
Hi Gilles,
Any ideas on why our body doesn’t naturally »Sun » when we’re out in the sun? Why in order to get the benefits of the Sunning Meditation do we need to consciously drink in the sun? I can feel and see the difference in my nervous system and vision when I actively do the Sunning Meditation vs when I’m passively in the sun (because I don’t have/take the time to do the meditation). The difference is astounding.
Thank you again!
J
Hi Gilles,
Does the sun impart different qualities when one does the Sunning Meditation at different times of the day? It certainly feels as if it does.
Thanks again for the wonderful classes and meditations!
J
Gilles, you have said we need energy, maturity and support to heal. I had assumed you meant a support system such as friends, family, peers but in last Friday's class though you used the term "self-support". So you must be referring to our ongoing practices which strengthen us and develop chi (meditation, Buddah Palms, etc), or all the above?
By the way, your teachings in this series of classes have changed my life! SO appreciate you and David.
I assume all the Intelligences have their own frequency or vibration? As we work with our Intelligences and try to become more aware of them, or even direct or draw from a specific Intelligence to some degree, are there recognizable felt differences that have been broadly established for them?
Essential, Self, Eternal, Now, identity, all these are words that are pertaining to the Earth elemental force.
Which Intelligence would account for the Awareness that Eckhart Tolle refers to as the Essential Self? He, also, uses the words Presence and the Eternal Now. Sometimes he talks about dis-identifying from your thoughts to end suffering. Would this be Earth Intelligence he is referring to, or something else?
In the video on emotions and dreaming you speak of anxiety being water (around 1:05 mark give or take). In TCM school I always learned that worry was Sp/Earth and assumed that worry was just the precursor to anxiety which would also be an Earth disharmony. Does rumination/anxiety create dampness and that’s water invading the Earth? I‘ve never related the dampness of the Earth element to Water till now. Am I on the right track or am I missing the point?