Stillness-Movement Neigong Review - June 2013

[yulongbr]

Hi !

 

I read this forum for many years, but this is the first time I write.

 

I’m doing it now because recently I have decided to participate in a workshop and the reviews I read here were fundamental to take that decision. So, it’s time to contribute.

 

My first contact with Michael Lomax’s teaching was when I bought his DVD, Gift of Tao I (GOT I) a couple of years ago. At that time I was looking for some standing moving qigong to complement my quiet sitting. The first time I watched the DVD, I did not like it. The form looked very loose to me and I put it aside. My mistake!

 

 

More than a year later, after I read the positive reviews on this forum, I gave it a shot and practiced it. The first time I practiced I felt a huge difference in the “air” around me. I was intrigued by the effects and I ordered his e-book from amazon. The first part of his book deals with his experience in shamanic practice and the second talks more about Daoist practice.

 

I felt connected with the main points about the Daoist practice and it was very close to what I’ve learned about the traditional method of cultivation in China.

 

1 – Stillness (exception for the spontaneous movement)

2 – Emptiness of the mind (letting go of the mind)

3 – Gentle gaze at the Dan Tian

4 – The opening of the channels should be a natural process.

5 – No real results will come without putting in much time & effort.

 

Even it is written in the book that this method requires an initial transmission, I started to feel very different while I was reading the book (a faraway metallic sound in my ears during the day, real focus on practice etc). Right away I started practice it, since it was not too different from my silent practice, the only exception was the hand position and no special breathing.

 

Making a long story short, I was looking forward for his next workshop, but I was unable to attend last year in Finland or the distance one early this year. I attended his last workshop in US, last June.

 

Here goes the Workshop Review:

 

The workshop was held in Springfield, Missouri, on June 22, 23 and 24 (Clinical day optional), at one of the Holiday Inn Hotel.

 

I arrived a couple of days earlier in the city and Michael was very thoughtful and sent me some indication for restaurants that I might like (I mentioned to him before that I like Asian-spice food) and requested his student to make contact with me. I had the opportunity to interact with 3 of them before the workshop, ask questions, hang out, dinner etc. They are very nice people, as all of the others students I interacted during the workshop.

 

Sometimes you go to a workshop and you see the students fighting between them, gossip about each other etc. I interacted with almost everyone and I felt like I was with family and friends. I mention it, because for me it says a lot about the teacher and also about the system.

 

The first day of the workshop started 9:00 am. I was the first one at the room and I can say the energy field inside it was very clear. It was very different from the rest of the hotel.

 

Michael and the rest of his students arrived and the workshop started in a very casual manner. He gave everyone a sandalwood soap, lectured a little about the effects of a few plants and how good they are to clean the energy. He made a lot of jokes and the vibe there was very good.

 

After that we started some warm-up with isometrics and a couple of the 8 pieces of brocade. One of his senior students was invited to demonstrate the GOT I, while all the others should follow.

 

Before the workshop I practiced GOT I from the DVD for about two months and it was great, but what I experienced there was fantastic. We were doing it much slower than the DVD, each movement was practiced for a long time while Michael and some of his senior student was correcting the rest. After a couple of movements you could feel the energy field changing even more, I was sweating a lot, all my pores seemed to be open.

 

After a little break to drink some water, we started to practice GOT II in the same manner. It is hard not to be amazed about those exercise. They are very simple, yet so powerful. The final sequence (Sequential Energy Center Activation, Balancing & Restoration) before the closing is the most powerful set that I’ve ever practiced. For me it is even better than GOT I and the rest of GOT II. Every time the energy descend, it gets stronger and stronger.

 

At the end of the morning session we did GOT III. I’ve never seen it before, so most of time I was trying to understand the movements, while Michael gave some hints about the energetic aspects. Even so, I felt the effects immediately.

 

Break time for lunch and then we did the stillness-movement practice for about one hour and forty minutes of sitting. Michael gave the group the transmission and this was the most intense part of the workshop for me. At the end I felt that was in some vast and soundless place. You see the hotel workshop room, but you do not feel you are there. Weird!

 

The first day was so intense to me that later that night during dinner, I had a hard time dealing with the energy inside of my body. After I eat, it started to calm down.

 

The next day before the workshop, I practiced the stillness-movement in my room. After a while my head naturally dropped a little and from nowhere the spontaneous movement started (I did not have any spontaneous movement during the transmission). I consciously stopped it, I was a little scared but it started again. Sometimes clockwise, sometimes counterclockwise, just right and left etc. I finished my practice thinking “WOW!!! What happened?”.

 

The second day we started with GOT I, II and III and it was also very energizer. Before we went outside to do practice with the tree, Michael requested their senior students to talk a little about their experience with the system and the healing aspects. Without any apparent reason, I felt a strong urge to cry like a baby. Their testimonies were beautiful, but the urge was not related with what they were talking, but with something that I do not know. I hold it until the class was dismissed and then I went to restroom to cry. Michael and one of his senior students were there and they approached me very gently. Michael put his hand on my chest, talked with me and I felt a great relieve after that.

 

After lunch we had more GOT III, demonstration about Daoist Medicine and one more sitting session with transmission. It was Rock n Roll all over again.

 

The third day we learned and practiced Medical Qigong on each other. I have a pain in one of my fingers from a stick fight, when I used to practice Kali-Silat. After the treatment it was much better, about 70%. One of the students felt a great relieve on hers hamstrings and you could see in her face how impressed she was. At the end we learned Daoist Medicine and was time to say goodbye. I’ve never thought about do healing, but the material was a great eye opener.

 

It was a terrific workshop and I look forward to join the next one. I have been in China a couple of times practicing sitting meditation and I’ve never been able to experience such high energy in only two days.

 

Michael is not only a powerful and accessible teacher, but a very cool guy.The energy he brings is really powerful. The feeling I have after practicing it, is quite different, is like being in a vast space, empty and soundless.

 

 

 

[Ish]

Great to hear from you again and very nice testimony!

[RiverSnake]

It was a cool workshop. Glad you had fun as well.

 

My 2 cents, Peace

Edited July 11, 2013 by OldChi

[Enishi]

Break time for lunch and then we did the stillness-movement practice for about one hour and forty minutes of sitting. Michael gave the group the transmission and this was the most intense part of the workshop for me. At the end I felt that was in some vast and soundless place. You see the hotel workshop room, but you do not feel you are there. Weird!

 

I love this description, it dovetails with my own experiences at workshops and when practicing on my own.

[yulongbr]

Yes, it was real fun.

 

3 weeks after the workshop, I still have a very strong feeling of what I received there, even so it is not so powrerful as when we practice in group with someone running around us, squeezing the field.

[yulongbr]

[Ya Mu]

yulongbr

Thanks for the review!

 

Yes, Gift of the Tao is an amazing movement system. As you have discovered It is the ENERGETICS of the system that makes the difference. We are a bit closer to releasing Gift of Tao III on DVD. Perhaps even by the end of this year!

 

The medical qigong is also beyond description although we do try. This type of therapeutics is the medicine of the future! Future's Medicine Today!

 

Yes, what happens at the workshops is definitely beyond words but you do a great job of description.

 

You were a joy to have in the workshop. Thanks for taking the time to travel so far from another country to attend.

 

Also thanks to everyone who attended, taking time from your schedules to contribute to these energetic sessions, and special thanks to all the out-of-country folks from Brazil, Great Britain, and Canada. I know it is difficult to fly so very far to attend these events. I felt we ALL got a huge boost from this session!

[yulongbr]

I'm looking forward for the next workshop.

[Brian]

Amazing how much travel-difficulty surrounded this workshop! But that's a topic for a different thread...

 

I think yulongbr's observations mirror those of many attendees of Ya Mu's workshops -- I know they closely parallel my own experiences!

 

Hope to see y'all again at the next workshop.

 

Light

[Ya Mu]

I'm looking forward for the next workshop.

 

Amazing how much travel-difficulty surrounded this workshop! But that's a topic for a different thread...

 

I think yulongbr's observations mirror those of many attendees of Ya Mu's workshops -- I know they closely parallel my own experiences!

 

Hope to see y'all again at the next workshop.

 

Light

And that is September 28,29,30 in Springfield, Missouri

[Green Tiger]

Can't believe I missed this until now! What a great review. Was wonderful seeing you again. I hope you got some sleep on your flight home.

[yulongbr]

It was great to see you again. I had a lot of fun hanging out with the group, specially Sunday night ! Dr. Peppers never more !

 

I had good sleep on the flight.

[Cat Pillar]

Yeah, I missed this review as well!

 

Saturday night was indeed fun, you impressed me, sir.