ebook img

Tao of Letting Go: Meditation for Modern Living PDF

180 Pages·2009·21.81 MB·English
by  
Save to my drive
Quick download
Download
Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.

Preview Tao of Letting Go: Meditation for Modern Living

TAO OF LETTING GO MEDITATION FOR MODERN LIVING THE TAOIST WATER TRADITION PASSED DOWN BY LAO TSE ; t DENVER PUBLIC LIBRARY IBSIflirjyjtt FRANTZIS AUTHOR OF THE CHI REVOLUTION Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2012 http://archive.org/details/taooflettinggomeOOfran TAO OF LETTING GO Other Books by Bruce Frantzis Relaxing into Your Being (TAO Meditation, Volume I): Chi, Breathing and Dissolving Inner Pain The Great Stillness (TAO Meditation, Volume 2): Body Awareness, Moving Meditation and Sex Chi Gung The Chi Revolution: Harness the Healing Power of Your Life Force Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body: Chi Gungfor Lifelong Health The Power ofInternal Martial Arts and Chi: Combat and Energy Secrets ofBa Gua, Tai Chi and Hsing-I Tai Chi: Health for Life; Why It Works for Health, Stress Reliefand Longevity Dragon and Tiger Medical Chi Gung Instruction Manual TAO OF LETTING GO MEDITATION FOR MODERN LIVING Bruce Frantzis fBLUE SNAKE BOOKS BERKELEY. CALIFORNIA TAO of Letting Go: Meditationfor Modern Living Copyright © 2009 by Bruce Frantzis. All rights reserved. No portion of this book, except for brief reviews, may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise— without written permission of the publisher. Published by Energy Arts, Inc. Publications, P. O. Box 99, Fairfax, CA 94978 Distributed by North Atlantic Books, P. O. Box 12327, Berkeley, CA 94712 The following trademarks are used under license by Energy Arts, Inc., from Bruce Frantzis: Frantzis Energy Arts® system. Mastery Without Mystery®, Longevity Breathing® program, Opening the Energy Gates of Your Body™ chi gung, Marriage of Heaven and Earth™ chi gung, Bend the Bow™ spinal chi gung, Spiraling Energy Body™ chi gung, Gods Playing in the Clouds™ chi gung, Living Taoism™ collection, Chi Rev Workout™ , HeartChi™ and <?k^s? *** ® North Atlantic Books is part of the Society for the Study of Native Arts and Sciences, a nonprofit educational corporation whose goals are to develop an educational and cross- cultural perspective linking various scientific, social and artistic fields; to nurture a holistic view of arts, sciences, humanities and healing; and to publish and distribute literature on the relationship of mind, body and nature. Editing: Heather Hale, Energy Arts, Inc., and Anne Connolly, North Atlantic Books, Inc. Interior Design: Lisa Petty, GirlVibe, Inc. Cover Design: Rick Snizik, Snizik Marketing and Design, LLC. Copyediting: Nancy Riccio, Plateau MediaWorks, Inc. Illustrations: Michael McKee Back Cover Photo: Guy Kowarsh Printed in the United States of America PLEASE NOTE: The practice of Taoist energy arts and the meditative arts may carry risks. The information in this book is not in any way intended as a substitute for medical, men- tal or emotional counseling with a licensed physician or healthcare provider. The reader should consult a professional before undertaking any martial arts, movement, meditative arts, health or exercise program to reduce the chance of injury or any other harm that may result from pursuing or trying any technique discussed in this book. Any physical or other distress experienced during or after any exercise should not be ignored and should be brought to the attention of a healthcare professional. The creators and publishers of this book disclaim any liabilities for loss in connection with following any of the prac- tices described in this book, and implementation is at the discretion, decision and risk of the reader. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Frantzis, Bruce Kumar. The tao of letting go : how to meditate / Bruce Frantzis. p. cm. ISBN 978-1-55643-808-0 1. Meditation-Taoism. I. Title. BL 1 923 .F74 2009 299.5' 14435--dc22 123456789 Peter Schultz Printing 14 1 3 12 1 1 10 09 5 1 3 1 CONTENTS DEDICATION 1 1 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 1 FOREWORD 1 INTRODUCTION 17 Why Meditate? 1 7 Integrating the Experiences of Your Life 1 8 What Is Meditation? 19 Lao Tse's Tradition 2 Balancing Expectations 21 An Education about Your Inner World 22 CHAPTER 1 : The Water Tradition of Taoist Meditation 25 Inner versus Outer Wealth 25 The Water Tradition 26 Balance, Then Compassion 27 The 70 Percent Rule 27 Old View for the New World 28 Accepting the Here and Now 29 The Dissolving Method 30 CHAPTER 2: Breathing and Body Awareness 33 The Stress Response 33 Longevity Breathing 34 ^ Personal Practice Session 1 35 <&&? Author-guided Practice Session 1 35 Becoming Present 36 Physiology of the Breath 36 The Internal Organs of the Body 37 ^ Personal Practice Session 2 38 Greatest Transformative Benefit with the Least Effort 38 ^Author-guided Practice Session 2 39 CHAPTER 3: Body Alignments for Sitting Meditation 4 Physical Mechanics 41 Find Your Alignments 42 6 TAO ofLetting Go Know Thy Kwa 46 The Solution: Stretch and Keep the Kwa Open 48 Exercises to Stretch the Kwa 49 ^Author-guided Practice Session 3 53 Sit Well, Be Grounded 53 CHAPTER 4: Blockages: Recognizing the Four Conditions 57 Strength 57 $£& Personal Practice Session 3 59 Tension 60 g^ Personal Practice Session 4 61 When Something Doesn't Feel Quite Right 63 ^ Personal Practice Session 5 65 Contraction 66 g& Personal Practice Session 6 66 ^Author-guided Practice Session 4 67 Putting It All Together 68 gj^ Personal Practice Session 7 68 The Present Is Freedom 72 Make Time Anytime 73 CHAPTER 5: The Dissolving Method: A Process of Letting Go 75 The Eight Energy Bodies 76 Nervous Tension 77 Letting Go into Happiness 77 Outer and Inner Dissolving 79 Letting Go Externally and Internally 80 ^ Personal Practice Session 8 82 ^Author-guided Practice Session 5 83 Let Go, Chi Flows 84 ^ Personal Practice Session 9 85 CHAPTER 6: Deepening Your Dissolving Practice 87 The Value of Outer Dissolving 87 The Value of Inner Dissolving 88 What Should I Let Go Of? 89 Cutting the Root of an Agenda 90 Applying the Mind's Intent 90 Beyond Past, Present and Future 91 71 5 Contents 7 ^ Personal Practice Session 10 92 Beyond Ordinary Conscious Thought 93 (§£ Personal Practice Session 1 1 94 v£K Author-guided Practice Session 6 95 Freedom Is Space 95 CHAPTER 7: The Descending Current of Chi: From Heaven to Earth 97 Targeting Specific Blockages 98 Your Intuition Is the Guide 99 ^Author-guided Practice Session 7 101 Penetrating the Core of a Blockage 101 CHAPTER 8: How to Train the Monkey Mind 1 03 Calming the Monkey 103 Distraction after Clearing Blocks 104 ^&?Author-guided Practice Session 8 1 05 Dissolving a Psychic Itch 105 CHAPTER 9: Dissolving Emotions and Shock 1 09 Feeling Emotions below the Surface 109 J^ Personal Practice Session 12 1 09 ^Author-guided Practice Session 9 111 Letting Go Begins with Your Intention 1 1 1 The Courage to Practice 1 1 2 Dissolving Shock 1 12 CHAPTER 10: Dissolving Fog and Depression 1 1 Deceptive Internal Dialogue 1 16 Face or Happiness— It's Your Choice 1 1 Depression Is a Black Hole 1 1 8 ^^Author-guided Practice Session 10 118 Oh, You Think Life Is Fair?! 119 CHAPTER 11: Ten Thousand Agendas and the Greatest Poverty in Existence 1 2 Formulating an Agenda 121 ^Author-guided Practice Session 11 123 The Beast of Greed 1 23 Loneliness 1 23 The Antidote to Greed 1 24 1 1 1 8 TAO ofLetting Co CHAPTER 12: Anxiety: The Disease ofthe Modern Age 1 25 The Energy of Overwhelmingness 1 26 ^Author-guided Practice Session 12 1 26 The Mentality of an Overachiever 1 27 Find the Joy that's Already Here 1 27 Perfection in Imperfection 1 28 Finding Space with Clarity 1 30 CHAPTER 13: Anger and Frustration as Agendas 1 3 Don't Wait for an Explosion 1 3 ^^Author-guided Practice Session 13 132 When Everyone Is the Enemy 133 ^ Personal Practice Session 13 1 34 Denial Is Anger's Partner 1 35 CHAPTER 14: Fear as an Agenda 1 37 Confronting the Fear of Not Existing 1 38 Dissolving Fear as an Agenda 139 ^Author-guided Practice Session 14 141 Spacing Out and Internal Fog 141 Unexpressed Fear 142 Bodily Fear 142 The Three Aspects of Fear 1 43 The Root of All Fear 144 CHAPTER 15: Pain as an Agenda 1 45 Physical Pain 145 ^Author-guided Practice Session 15 147 Becoming a Mature Human Being 147 The Pain of Thought 149 <g&Author-guided Practice Session 16 150 Emotional Pain 150 <S&Author-guided Practice Session 17 151 Loss of a Loved One 1 5 &&>Author-guided Practice Session 18 153 Other Kinds of Loss 1 53 Dissolving Your Pain 153

See more

The list of books you might like

Most books are stored in the elastic cloud where traffic is expensive. For this reason, we have a limit on daily download.