what direction do you face?

[el_tortugo]

Specificaly while meditating or doing forms/sets....

 

 

I thought of this while looking at Chia's crazy photoshop illustrations with the skull bones broken down to the elements, directions, planets and so on.

 

 

since then I have been facing south as this orients the skull with the directions and it seems to be doing somthing nice.

 

 

Also what have ya'll found with your skull joints? Any good intergalactic radio shows?

[Yoda]

what book is that in? I face east. I just experimented and that seems to be the best direction for me. I like your avatar, btw.

[Leo]

I've always faced east (especially w/ my background in western practices). I read one idea that if you face south (which would place your head in the north if you lied down) you would be magnetically alligned with the earth. But that same person said that the sun trumps the earth, so it is usually better to face the sun if it is daytime. Since I usually do my stuff in the morning, I continue to face east.

[voice]

There are reasons for facing each direction:

 

east for the rising sun

 

west because it is metal and lung and we begin later heaven life with a breath (the reason the 6 healing sounds begin with the lungs)

 

south because that is the direction of yang /the altar/ the emporer

 

north because at some point we become yang / the altar / the emporer

 

Primordial qi gong is so cool when the sounds are learned for it, because the sound for each of the 4 cardinal directions/energies is sung out and listened for in each of the four directions, nicely "blending opposites" (nod to Keith).

 

But, which way do I face? Whichever way feels right then, with no thought to theory because, as per above, different theories favor different directions.

 

Chris

[Yoda]

Chris,

 

Did I understand that correctly... that you can do the healing sounds while doing Winn's taichi for enlightenment/primordial chikung??? I'd love to try it. If so, do you do the sound when you face the particular direction or do you do lungs when you start/end on west and you just keep the sound going while you spin around.

 

The explanation could get complicated to unpack I suppose, but thanks for any thoughts.

 

Sounds wild!

 

-Yoda

[MatthewQi]

The direction of Tao

 

Where is Tao?

It is everywhere

 

To become overly concerned with direction is to miss the point yet by considering the 4 directions as well as above, below, and within one finds the point.

 

Matt

[Cameron]

I am not attached to it but I usually face east.

 

My guess is it's not that big a deal though.

 

Ken Cohen has alot about the power of the directions and meditation for seeking guidance from the 4 directions. Native American Indians call these spirits the " 4 Winds".

 

I haven't gotten into it but read Honoring The Medicine for more info on the power of the directions according to Native people.

[peter falk]

ya don't have to limityourselfto the four cardinal directions either. i like using northeast a lot--the direction of the unseen and eternal, the ancestors, transition between worlds. that's actuall from some native americans, but i find it works with daoist practices.

 

there's other directions too--sw, se, and nw. i find the nw and se can be full of negative enegry sometimes, but that doesn't preclude you form working with them. there could be resons for going there.

 

experimetn. have fun. tell us what ya find.

[voice]

Yoda,

 

The sounds that Winn teaches for PCK in the Sun-Moon Alchemy course (and maybe in the PCK audio course) are related to the healing sounds. There were Chinese sounds he'd learned for the 7 directions (nsew up down in), but they didn't work for westerners. So, he played around with finding root sounds that work nicely in a tonal progression.

 

The sounds are in order: ah ee oo ay ehh oh yu

 

They apply in order: ah (front - heart), ee (right side - spleen), oo (back - kidney), ay (left side - lung), ehh (bai hui), oh (hui yin), yu (center of cauldron).

 

At the end of the earth cycle you tone out from your cauldron in each of those directions, out towards the shen of those directions, at the end of the heaven cycle you listen at your cauldron to each of those directions in that sequence.

 

Chris

[Yoda]

Chris,

 

Thanks! I'll play around with it.

 

-Yoda

[el_tortugo]

what book is that in?  I face east.  I just experimented and that seems to be the best direction for me.  I like your avatar, btw.

7778[/snapback]

 

 

 

Its in Taoist Astral Healing.

 

I usualy faced east unless I faced some other direction for some random reason.

 

When I started Tai Chi I began hearing of facing different directions for different reasons. The only one I knew of for a while besides facing east was to begin with your back to the sun which can of course change throughout the day.

 

As I leaned different things different direstions would come up but usualy when it came down to it the direction doesnt realy matter.... I just like learning details and trivia and experimenting with their effects.

 

Another line of thought which seems a bit related are/is striking points and accupressure points changing thruout the day.... I am assuming dividing the day along the 12 big hours and according to the animals and elements of each hour.

I had the thought that directionality might change with the hours and in accordance to your condition.

 

 

 

and thanks on the avatar..... thats an actual photo of me.

[spyrelx]

I learned North is generally the direction to face. I believe Ken Cohen is a proponent of facing North as well.

 

Winn talked about facing east in the spring. He also wrote once that he's heard of facing every way except south. So I tend to avoid south.

 

I agree that it's probably among the LEAST things you should be worried about when you do chi kung or meditate. To me it's akin to wearing spandex when bicycling. Yeah, it may in fact lessen wind drag, but there's a lot more important things to focus on to make you a good athlete.

[sunshine]

And I wonder what matter it has if you are living more towards the north or south pole...

[DaoWaDiddy]

One of the things that I've been doing in conjunction with my Five Animals/Six Healing Sounds practice is to at least start each animal in the direction associated with the element represented - if I have enough space I will do the entire animal movement in that direction, otherwise I curve it as needed.

 

This has been working well for me as part of the set of associations for an element:

color

animal

sound

direction

positive and negative emotions

 

Something about the direction feels right...

 

Charlie

[sean]

To me it's akin to wearing spandex when bicycling.  Yeah, it may in fact lessen wind drag, but there's a lot more important things to focus on to make you a good athlete.

7856[/snapback]

Thanks a lot dude, I just spit my drink on my self laughing.

 

Sean.

[Yoda]

it's like what direction do you sleep in. You can find warnings about each direction. Mrs Yoda finally made me cave in and work with the room's feng sui thereby east it is. I was pulling for north, thinking it would give me a better sense of direction.

[peter falk]

To me it's akin to wearing spandex when bicycling. Yeah, it may in fact lessen wind drag, but there's a lot more important things to focus on to make you a good athlete.

 

yeah, but if ya suck, the only time you look cool is posing in your shorts.

 

and i wouldnt want ot discourage the ladies from wearing them......