How to establish spiritual presence through Somatic posture work.

I’m reading Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starret and Glen Cordoza (affiliate link) in this book the author explores the fundamental movements needed to maintain good posture while moving. It brings up a relevant point that posture isn’t a static experience or condition, but rather something which is ongoing and ought to be maintained while moving. How does that translate into practical terms?

If I am exercising or lifting an object, I should do my best to maintain good posture. I want to pay attention to keeping my back straight and in a neutral position in order to optimize the performance of my body, while maintaining my health. I’ve been doing this very activity more mindfully as a result of my martial arts studies, but one aspect I think is worth considering is also the psychological and spiritual aspect of paying attention to posture.

When I sit or stand, in the past I have had the tendency to slouch. I never really thought about it until it was pointed out to me, but when I started paying attention I noticed not only how I felt physically but also how I felt emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. Focusing on my posture altered my experience. I began to feel more confidence in myself as well as more connected to both my internal qi and the qi around me. What this illustrated for me was the importance of doing posture work to cultivate states of experience which elevate my identity and my interactions.

I also have noticed this same effect when I focus on my posture as I move. My movements are more confident and focused when I pay attention to and integrate good posture into the movement. Initially as I’ve done this work, I’ve had to really focus on getting my posture right, but as my consciousness integrates good posture into my stance and movements it becomes more and more of a natural part of my being and expression. The result is more confidence but also a deepening of my spiritual power and presence.

Why would good posture make a difference in one’s spiritual presence?

Good posture allows us to align our body physically and physiologically within ourselves but also our environment. On the emotional level it allows us to expand our presence and this translates over to the energetic and spiritual level. When I maintain good posture I move and show up with confidence and presence. This occurs on multiple levels.

What all this work with posture is demonstrating is that something we take for granted, such as posture, can play an important role on multiple levels of our being. Making the effort to work on your posture can have many benefits, provided you are willing to consistently do the work to change and then maintain correct posture in all situations.

A recent healing experiment

One of the areas of magic that I find most fascinating is healing work, especially the healing work that is challenging and can't be resolved right away. Currently I'm working on an injury my wife had received years ago from a car accident. She experienced really bad whiplash that damage one of her nerves and ended up getting a Titanium plate inserted into her neck. Nonetheless her neck is consistently sore and tense, as is her upper back. It's the kind of challenge I like because I know it involves some detailed work that doesn't deal with even just the physical issues, but also underlying energetic and emotional issues.

I've been working on her for the past few weeks and we've already seen some changes in her energy level and in her muscles, in terms of the stress and tension that is in them. And not surprisingly, I've also helped her work through some emotional tensions that have been locked into the tension and stress she's feeling, including working some of the trauma of the accident that she hadn't faced.

My techniques have included a combination of Taoist massage and energy work, as well as using energy techniques of my own invention. I massage her neck lightly with the tips of my fingertips, while also pushing energy into her neck in order to start dissolving the tension. I pull out unhealthy energy and then replace it with healthy energy, using a pulling technique I've come up with. I've also synchronized our breathing while I'm doing, to put her into a mild meditative trance that allows her to focus on any emotions that come up as I'm working on her. Consistent work has made her muscles much looser, but I'm careful about it, because I am working with her neck and there's ten years of pain and tension that I'm dealing with.

While I'm working with her, I'll sometimes bring up impressions I get from the work I'm doing. A Few days we talked about the accident and how she felt afterwards as a result of impressions I was picking up. This proved to be helpful for her, allowing her to release some of her anger and fear from that experience.

Initially when I worked on her, it made her neck hurt more, which makes sense because we were starting to release both physical end emotional toxins. She's noted that after I work on her there is a release of physical toxins. We're making slow progress, but I figure if I consistently work on her I'll be able to get rid of the majority of the trauma over the next month.

Some insights into Taoist inner alchemy

I'm reading Qigong Meditation: Small circulation by Yang Jwing-Ming. I'm finding this book to be really useful in further refining my understanding of Taoist energy work, particularly on one issue which concerns the retention of semen. If you've read any of Mantak Chia's work, Chia argues that it's absolutely essential to retain the semen during sex in order to avoid losing your energy. I've never been fully satisfied by Chia's explanation, mainly because I haven't fully understood the correlation between the loss of semen and the loss of energy. However in Yang's book this correlation is explicitly explained in a manner, which explains what the issue is, and also adds a further step to the process of refinement. Yang explains that when the semen is full the hormones stimulate the brain and generate sexual desire, which in turn energizes the person...and that the goal of the inner alchemy is to actually transform the semen into Qi (or raw energy) Having sex too frequently can deplete the amount of semen available to convert into qi, while not having it too frequently actually slows down the production of semen...so it seems having a somewhat active sex life is actually important for the inner alchemical conversion process.

When the semen is turned into qui, it can then be used to nourish the body. In fact, what is called marrow washing is essentially a process of taking converted qi and using it to heal/regenerate the body.

The explanation offered does provide some insight into how Taoist inner alchemy works, and specifically what the function of semen is for the energy work being done by the male (though you rarely find much written in regards to the female). I'll be sure to update readers further as I continue reading and/or trying out the techniques in this book.