What is it like to make a DVD presentation on a subject like Qigong? Read our experience on the making of Blossoms in the Spring and other martial and Qigong related DVDs in …
Both Sides of the Camera
August 4, 2010
July 29, 2010
Blossoms DVD has arrived…
Click picture
We are proud and happy to announce that the DVD version of Blossoms in the Spring has arrived and is now available. We could go on and on about it here but if you click the picture you’ll go to the page with all the details including its special introductory price. We’d love to hear your comments on the DVD and if you feel, as we do, that it is the perfect companion to our book.
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July 16, 2010
More Blossoming…
The new Blossoms in the Spring DVD is just about here, officially. Unofficially we will pre-print just a few to be offered at Narrye Caldwell’s newest Blossoms Seminar this Sunday, July 18th at Five Branches College in San Jose. We’re all very excited about this new DVD since it turned out so nice. And the very first ones, right off the disk, talk about collector’s items…
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February 21, 2010
Taoist Qigong from Wu Dang Mountains
We’ve added a new series of Qigong DVDs—the first we have presented directly from China! This series is with Taoist Master Pan Shao Zu and it covers many famous and some just fascinating methods. Mr. Pan shows his Taoist version of Eight Pieces of Brocade (one of the most famous Taoist Qigong exercises), I Jin Jing (from the Shaolin Temple), and many others such as Taoist Neck Exercises. Although these DVDs are in Chinese the English subtitles are comprehensive and make it easy to follow the teachings.
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January 8, 2010
Interview: with Narrye #2
Here’s the second part (the first can be seen below) of this three-part interview. Narrye Caldwell discusses her own experiences with Qigong.
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Interview: Taoism and Qigong
A frequent question that comes up for people learning and practicing Qigong is the relation of Taoism (Daoism) to goals and methods of Qigong. Here’s a seven minute interview with Ted Mancuso that will add some understanding on the common source for Qigong and Taoism.
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January 2, 2010
Interview: Narrye Caldwell on Blossoms Part 1
This is the first part of Narrye’s interview on the Gina Renee “Health Talk”show out of Monterey airing December 7th, 2009.
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December 24, 2009
Two Seminars for January
We’re starting off the New Year with a pair of Blossoms in the Spring Seminars in the Santa Cruz County area. The first is a school event for the students and friends of the Academy of Martial Arts, Santa Cruz.
The second, also on Blossoms in the Spring, is our first seminar in the Aptos area. This will be conducted by Narrye Caldwell L.Ac, co-author of the book of the same name. We have limited room on this one. For further information see Narrye’s clinic site.
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October 25, 2009
October 13, 2009
The Twitch of Anxiety
Not everyone knows it but there is often a lot of “standing still” in the practice of Qigong. That’s right, you just stand there without moving and, as you might guess, this can be difficult for people. Here’s a thought on one of the reasons for our antsy behavior.
We stand and we wiggle. (more…)
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October 12, 2009
October Warning: Don’t Sweat the Negative
There’s an expression making the rounds lately among beginning Qigong practitioners. Some times you will hear, “Wow, he just like dumped his negative qi all over me.” In a society like ours where some of these ideas are very new there is going to be a lot of slop-over at first. There’s no way around that. (more…)
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September 29, 2009
Sensations
You may be one of the lucky ones. Or you may just be crazy. If you practice diligently you will find that after some unknowable period of time you may indeed feel some hard-to-explain sensations, especially in your hands.
Here’s a little advice on how to deal with this and still not have to rearrange your entire life:
1. Don’t congratulate yourself. Don’t criticize yourself. You probably are not the Messiah returning nor are you dumb because “this took so long”. Remember, in the Qigong world, energy is normal and that’s extraordinary enough. Just accept it as gracefully as you can and go on. (more…)
September 26, 2009
Where is Consciousness?
Is there mind without consciousness? If you say yes you will be wrong. If you say no you will be wrong. How is this? Because you have give the answer too soon without having walked through the forest from one end to another.
We fool ourselves on this quite a bit. People often say such things as, “Words just get in the way. They are so much rubbish.” But they have never really examined how very difficult it is to think without words. You may imagine pictures and scenes to your heart’s content, but can you really think without the use of words? (more…)
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September 21, 2009
A Fast Four Hours
September 20, 2009: Santa Cruz, California:
The Academy of Martial Arts
A wide range of people and training came together to spend a few hours learning a very special approach to the practice of Qigong. Acupuncturists, nurses, Qigong teachers and people completely new to the art all convened on the Academy of Martial Arts to spend time together and to learn what seems a simple art of breathing. (more…)
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September 17, 2009
Qigong and the Moon
I’m moving soon. My landlady’s response to the news was the classic Buddhist/Taoist maxim, “well, after all, the only predictable thing in life is change.” We all know this, but somehow it keeps surprising us. The Chinese were masters of change. The I Ching (or classic of changes) is probably the most well known example of this mastery, but graceful observance of change is at the heart of all Chinese arts including medicine and qigong. The ancient Chinese were so attuned to seasonal change that they developed an entire set of qigong exercises based on two week seasonal adjustments called “qi nodes.” The practice was to do the new posture at the beginning of each two-week period to harmonize with subtle external shifts in the qi. (more…)
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