Ratu Bagus and The Shakers of Bali

[Sahaj Nath]

my love of shaking practice is kind of old news at this point, but i finally uploaded the full Ratu Bagus DVD to youtube. it's a difficult DVD to get your hands on, so i figured it was time to go ahead and post it.

 

maybe it will inspire some folks to give shaking practice a try. these folks shake for 6 hours each day at the ashram, in 2-hour sessions. that's HARD CORE! i don't get down quite like that, but the benefits that they report are beautiful. transmission from a master is always good, but it's not a necessity for this practice.

 

 

anywho, here it is. enjoy.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBs9yr5tSfE

 

[wilfred]

wow these folk are taking shaking to the next level! the chi kung warm up (pre-meditation practice) i've been taught has some shaking down in it and i find that part to be immensely useful. helps opening up, bringing the chi online and loosens the charge for people with a lot of stuff coming up. a good shake then refining the energy by bringing it back down to finish the warm up off. will definitely check out the video, makes sense this is an actual practice...

[Sahaj Nath]

wow these folk are taking shaking to the next level! the chi kung warm up (pre-meditation practice) i've been taught has some shaking down in it and i find that part to be immensely useful. helps opening up, bringing the chi online and loosens the charge for people with a lot of stuff coming up. a good shake then refining the energy by bringing it back down to finish the warm up off. will definitely check out the video, makes sense this is an actual practice...

 

exactly. when i was a student back in the day, i learned shaking as just a part of the warm-up. it was pretty cool when i was able to introduce my master to shaking as its own practice, especially given that it induces spontaneous natural flow movement if you do it long enough. he was kind of blown away by it.

[Sahaj Nath]

the video is basically an advertisement for the Ratu Ashram, which is why it focuses so heavily on transmission. the reason i overtly stated that transmission is not a necessity is simply because far too many people focus on using the perfect or exact technique rather than recognizing that it's an art. as soon as you turn it into an overly specific set of protocols, you're sure to kill the magic.

 

i recall a couple of years back when some folks were discussing the benefits of "rebounding" here in the general discussion. people seemed to get all caught up in believing that they needed to purchase a trampoline in order to do it right, as if rebounding were somehow uniquely different from just bouncing in place or shaking practice.

 

so my hope is that people will watch the video and focus more on the parts where it shows how everyone moves differently, where it says that nobody's ever going to come up to you and tell you you're doing it wrong, and where it talks about how YOU are actually HEALING YOURSELF.

 

the highest technique is to have no technique. to greet each session freshly, allowing the body-mind to express anew. to approach with a sense of wonder or amusement, with no expectation of how it will turn out this time.

 

OR

 

just find what's comfortable for you, stick to that, and see how it goes!

[freeform]

There's a difference between just shaking, and shaking as a result of energy movement. Once your shaking is driven by energy instead of mind, the shaking becomes almost effortless - that 6hrs goes quick

 

Have you had the pleasure of meeting Ratu, Hundun?

[Sahaj Nath]

no, but it sounds like maybe you have.

 

 

never really had any interest in meeting the guy, to be honest. i'm just grateful for the inspiration he's given me. both he and Bradford Keeney have had a major impact on my relationship to the internal arts. i would love to thank them both some day, but i'm probably not going to fly somewhere to do it. *shrugs*

Edited March 14, 2015 by Hundun

[freeform]

Yeah - Ratu is great. His dancing is wonderful too!

 

The 'shaking' is at the root of many good systems. I just don't like calling it shaking, as the movements quickly develop into a whole gamut of movements.

 

You don't have to go as far as Bali to see teachers that work with spontaneous movement either. Many 'closed door' students in daoist schools are introduced to it through transmission. Although these days it's not so 'closed doors' anymore.

 

Edited March 15, 2015 by freeform

[freeform]

Shaking is great, it'll get stagnation moving, get blockages moving etc, but the biggest transformational effects come from spontaneous movement - autonomic movement some call it.

 

Rather than shaking your body, you tune into a vibration already happening inside - tuning in, giving your attention to it feeds the flame so to speak. You tune in, and then surrender and allow it to move you. I feel it strongest in my core channel these days - all I need to do is move my awareness there and it's like a guitar string vibrating, humming - I just watch that and this vibration takes over my body.

 

Although I tend to shake a lot less these days - there's a subtle almost imperceptible quivering all over my body and I tend to start making undulating movements. It changes constantly and many times I'll start to move in quite particular ways - someone once commented that I was doing Bagua movements (I didn't know that's what it was!) Another time when a teacher was transmitting, I suddenly started doing these steps and moves that seemed unusual - apparently I was doing movements from a form he'd been teaching another group just a few days prior (not a form I was familiar with at all). So the energy body picks up things way beyond our conscious awareness - it's best not to have any preconceived notions of how you may move each time.

 

It may be worth looking into TRE (trauma release exercise - I think). The way they go about it is start off with stretches that kinda stress certain muscles which in turn start to shake, at first it's just muscles shaking from strain, but if you focus (diffusely) and surrender into it, your energy body recognises this as an opportunity, takes control and starts to move you - that's when you get the proper spontaneous movements from qi.

 

Oh and treat this lightly - playfully - remember that spontaneity is fun, light, relaxed.

Edited March 19, 2015 by freeform

[Edward M]

Hey Hundun, thanks for posting this.  I've been reading your posts about shaking and tried it the past few days.  I noticed two things, once you tune into the energy and let go, either the energy dances you, OR, if you go deeper, it becomes spasms like an epileptic fit.  

 

This has also been happening when i do my seated meditation since i started the shaking.  It feels good, one becomes more alive.  

 

I find the shaking/trembling initiates from the area between the navel and sternum. 

 

Thanks again for putting this out there for us!!