Flying Bulldog

When in doubt, or angst, or on the horns of a quandary -- create art. Here is a nice little collage a fellow Qi Gong student, Leslie Huddart, made this election season. I thought ya'll would appreciate it.
Enjoy the cathartic work of talented friends,

Bp

Jingui Golden Shield Qi Gong -- demonstration, Questions and Answers, Feb. 13th

From the Jingui Golden Shield PDX blog:

On February 13 at 7:15pm there will be a free talk and demonstration about Jingui Golden Shield Qigong. The talk will be brief, less than 45 minutes or so. After which, I will start the training for those that are interested in signing up.

Classes are open to all and observing a class is always welcome. If you can't make the talk, feel free to come to class on any of the listed dates or contact me with any questions.

Looking forward to seeing you all there.

The location is HealthQuest upstairs from the Center for Natural Medicine at 1330 SE 39th Ave. just north of Hawthorne. Here is a mapquest of the location.

Maybe I'll see you there,

Bp

Report from Institute Headquarters -- Golden Shield Qi Gong

I haven't talked about my Qi Gong practice much, because there isn't a lot I can say that conveys the experience of it. It's subtle, and strange, and hard for me to put into words. The effects are obvious, but the practice itself is quiet and personal.

For those of you who haven't seen the original postings, I practice Jingui Golden Shield Qi Gong. Originally it was a guarded temple-style Qi Gong, held only by a few adherents at a time. Now it is taught openly in the United States. Dan Pappas is the instructor for the Portland chapter of the Jingui school. He's an approachable and encouraging instructor for the students here.

There are martial applications for this practice, namely the ability to be protected from physical harm to the body. These are benefits of the beginning levels of the practice, but not the primary focus. Primarily the results of practice are a healthier, more resilient constitution, and a greater amount of sustained energy throughout the day. I can definitely vouch for that, pulling ridiculous hours during the school term, and yet not getting dragged down nearly as badly as I used to. I've almost stopped going to acupuncture to help me deal with the bad conditions I create while in school -- not eating right, not sleeping enough, and stress. I didn't intend to stop going, it just kind of faded from lack of need. Or, to be more accurate, lack of catastrophic need. I could always use some acupuncture, just like I could always use some bodywork. It's never a bad day for a massage.

O.K. the room is warm enough to start training, I'll be back with ya'll tomorrow. I have a great animal to introduce for the Random Biological Tidbit that two of my BBC-o-phile friends turned me on to.

Enjoy your winter break, such as it is,

Bp

Morning muse -- blog audience

[Using "muse" as a verb here, not a reference to my blazingly talented photographer friend in Victoria Canada]

Mother of The Wife emailed yesterday that she's just loving the blog and would be commenting often if she could figure out how to keep her computer from getting intestinal problems every time she clicked the "comments" link (It's probably a pop-up blocker Mum). My own mother wrote this morning to say that she's sending a link to some friends in So Cal because we share similar interests -- lower environmental footprint, closer to the land, still living urban, etc. I know that there is a 12-year-old eldest-sister of 6 out there who reads this as well, which really worried me at first since I consider this barely a pg-13 publication. I can get a bit paralyzed thinking about who might stumble across these thoughts.

I promise not to get actually paralyzed, or get too vanilla, or lose my humor just because I'm overthinking who may be reading this. I'm positive the father of that 12-year-old knows how to use site blockers should he decide it necessary, and that if I fart onscreen in front of my mother in law she'll just leave the room and come back later. I have no idea who might find the RBT's interesting, or the confessions of an Old Geezer on Campus, even. But thinking about these things isn't my job really, and I just need to remind myself of that sometimes.

So far this morning I've resisted the inevitable batch of Donut Queen donuts that T. hunts and gathers every Saturday morning, drank some hot water to warm my stomach up before Qi Gong practice, and will now proceed to the basement to "kick my own ass." This is what my Qi Gong practice is lovingly referred to by The Wife and T. now, since they know one portion of it involves striking certain acupuncture points. I'll get to that and report back later -- possibly about The Luddites' genius rural business, or some random whiff of science news that comes my way.

Ps: I've also received some kind emails from tea companies asking if I'd like to get some samples and review their products here. I appreciate the kind words, but I have some serious product loyalty when it comes to tea and will be continuing to give a gratuitous monopoly to The Jasmine Pearl Tea Merchants and Black Dragon Teas (writeup to come when the new teas arrive) in this regard, as I love these folks and their teas rock.


Enjoy your internet publications,

Bp

Golden Shield training update -- Cue Rocky theme

I was determined to continue practicing my Qi Gong this morning, as I had missed 2 days in a row. My Golden Shield instructor, Dan Pappas, had suggested that since I was training in the basement and it was a bit chilly down there, to do jumping jacks or jump rope or something to warm up before I started. I borrowed T.'s jumprope and hit the driveway -- that's when the Rocky theme started up. Who else jumps rope but boxers, really?

I proceeded to the basement and set up, starting in on the breathing parts of the practice. The song was still going in my head, but I was determined not to get flummoxed by it and just to train through. As I started in to the meat of the training, it occurred to me that this is like training to be a superhero. I remembered back to a conversation I had with Squirt (Doctor Octagon's 7-year-old son).

"Superpowers aren't real tho."

"Oh I wouldn't be so sure about that."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm just saying, people can do more amazing things than you might imagine. [although I didn't cite any examples, I was thinking of Tibetan Monks who practice Tum-mo, & Parkour practictioners running up and down walls] You would be surprised at what people can do."

I couldn't let him get too rigid at such an early age. It doesn't take much reading in Taoist or Buddhist or Yogic literature to find accounts of remarkable feats by people. Of course over time the stories get inflated, but I've seen some amazing things in my short life already, so I figured I'd just stick a doorjam in his mind to keep it from getting too closed.

Many remarkable feats are from Qi Gong practitioners.

So I kept training, and the Rocky theme never really went away. I feel all buzzy and perky now, despite having less sleep than anyone else in the house.

This part of the practice is really like giving yourself some sort of bodywork treatment -- like when a massage therapist practices Tapotement. It feels like I am giving myself acupressure -- and really that's what's happening. It is a trip too that this practice uses a tincture, topically applied. I've read about Taoist practices using herbs in many forms, but none I have practiced so far ever prescribed them. Pretty cool really.

Going to be a beautiful day in Portland, ya'll have a good time now.

Bp

Jingui Golden Shield Qi Gong, it's what's for breakfast.

I've started up a new Qi Gong practice. Qi Gong basically translates as "energy work." The most common form of Qi Gong in the U.S. currently (well, technically a subset of Qi Gong) is Tai Chi. This practice is common to see here on the West Coast, and especially in Portland. Plenty of people in the parks moving slowly and gracefully.

Good Buddy Jonathan Schell, acupuncturist extraordinare, turned me on this teacher coming in to our area with a Qi Gong that he was very interested in. The practice is Jingui golden Shield Qi Gong, and the instructors name is Dan Pappas, he has his own Blog. He's a cool guy, easy to talk to, and very approachable. He's very smiley, which at first confuses Portlanders who are just creeping out of their dens from a long grey winter. But I'm used to it, as most every Qi Gong practitioner I've ever worked with was also smiley -- it's part of the practice actually. Smiles set meridians in the face into a healthy position, etc etc.

SO -- I'm going to clear a spot where I can face South and do my thing. Get all healthy and shit. Ya'll have a Saturday now, ya hear?