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Pagan 101

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DragonsFriend:
There is a one liner for that but I am going to assume that you don't eat a large meal or drink a lot of fluids right before Tai Chi.
This would be easier to discuss if I could see what you do and how you do it. Let me ask you some questions:
Are your cleansing breaths done with abdominal breathing or using your chest?
Are you using the third Chakra as the center of Chi?
What thought process do you go though in centering and grounding?
Have you spoken to your Senei about this?
The answers will help me to better understand what is going on.

earthmuffin:

--- Quote from: DragonsFriend on October 15, 2015, 02:35:09 PM ---There is a one liner for that but I am going to assume that you don't eat a large meal or drink a lot of fluids right before Tai Chi.
This would be easier to discuss if I could see what you do and how you do it. Let me ask you some questions:
Are your cleansing breaths done with abdominal breathing or using your chest?
Are you using the third Chakra as the center of Chi?
What thought process do you go though in centering and grounding?
Have you spoken to your Senei about this?
The answers will help me to better understand what is going on.

--- End quote ---

I have breakfast and tea about an hour before but it is light.
For cleansing breaths, I try to do full breaths so abdominal plus some chest.
No, I use the lower dan tien as the center of chi.
The thought process I use is to think about chi sinking from my upper body (solar plexus or higher) to the dan tien and into the soles of my feet. My abdomen naturally relaxes as I do this but this is also when it feels too full.
During class we do chi gung warm ups during which we bring universal energy in from all sides. We ground and center at the beginning of each repetition of the short form. We bounce on our heels a little at the end of each repetition to ground excess energy.
I haven't asked my teacher yet-- I will miss class this weekend but will try to remember to ask him next time. There's often a lot of talking right after class (everyone could hang around for long time after picking his brain) so it is easy to forget to get questions answered.

DragonsFriend:
Most of us tend to hold our abdomen in and the muscles tend to stay tense. Relaxing them might "pull" a bit but it sounds like you feel more discomfort than I would expect from that process. I will withhold any further comment until you talk to your teacher. I would not feel that contradicting your teacher would be ethical.

earthmuffin:
Just thought I would update as I made it to Tai Chi class today. I did ask my teacher about my issue and he wasn't sure. He thought it could be muscles not being used to it and he recommended that I do standing meditation. I have a hard time finding a comfortable position for that though. But he's exceedingly nice so offerred some time when I have extra time to would work with me on various energy exercises/problems privately.

Today we did this one Quigong exercise involving massaging the ears and then cupping them. The resulting energy rush to the head was pretty intense and I wasn't sure I liked it. I think maybe part of my issue is that I am finally not totally energetically shut down so I am more sensitive to energy now, but I am not used to all the sensations involved so some things are uncomfortable.

Lucinda:
Hello! Going back to DragonsFriend's original question, I haven't been able to find a Pagan 101 class locally but did manage to find a basic magic class. Have only been to two sessions so far. The teacher covered some basic Pagan beliefs (colored through her Asatru path), how to cast a circle, how to shield (wish this had been further explained), how to focus intent into an object, and a little astral travel. It's been pretty interesting so far, but I'm still hoping to find a class more about the path(s) than the craft. It's exciting for this newbie, however, to be in a room with other Pagans that are willing to share insights and take questions.

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