The Great Stillness

by FRANTZIS, BRUCE

• ISBN13: 9781556434082
• ISBN10: 1556434081
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2001-08-13
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

This is the second volume of a two-book series that peels away the metaphors and explains the living traditions of Lao Tse's water method of Taoist meditation. The main focus of the book is to explain inner dissolving its major mediation technique which helps people overcome deeply bound negative emotions, deepen their spiritual and psychic development and develop balance and compassion.The Great Stillnessis one of the few books that discuss the Taoist traditions of sexual chi gung and meditation. It is the only book that includes detailed instructions and illustrations for the moving meditation practice called Circle Walking that was developed in Taoist monasteries over 4000 years ago. This volume advances the breathing lessons taught in volume one:Relaxing Into Your Being.

Author Biography

Bruce Frantzis is a Lineage holder in Taoist energy arts and author of seven books including two books on TAO meditation. He studied healing, martial arts and meditation in China, Japan and India for 16 years with most renowned chi masters. Bruce has taught over 15,000 students, certified over 300 instructors worldwide and worked as a chi gung tui na doctor in Chinese clinics helping to heal over 10,000 patients. His company, Energy Arts, Inc., recently released his first complete meditation course, The TAO of Letting Go. Frantzis teaches chi gung, internal martial arts, TAO meditation and energetic-healing therapies in America and Europe. To learn more visit EnergyArts.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction	13	(1)
The Taoist Emphasis on Health and Longevity	14	(2)
Meditation for Healers	16	(1)
Meditation for High Performance in Martial Arts and Sports	17	(3)
Decision Making and Intuition	20	(1)
Death and Dying	20	(2)
Meditation for Realizing Universal Consciousness	22	(2)
Meditation as Experiential Knowledge: The Cornerstone of Inner Learning	24	(3)
Making Your Body Conscious	27	(16)
Feeling versus Visualization	29	(2)
The Way of Liu: Reconnecting with Your Internal Environment	30	(1)
Why Does Taoism Focus So Much More on the Human Body than Many Other Spiritual Traditions?	31	(3)
Focus on a Special Topic: The Taoist View of Reincarnation	32	(2)
The Difference between Using the Body to Liberate Consciousness and Wanting to Feel Good	34	(3)
Making the Body Conscious as the Gateway to Universal Consciousness	37	(2)
The Role of the Central Nervous System	39	(1)
Peak Experiences, Consciousness, and the Central Nervous System	39	(4)
Focus on Practice: Taoist Internal Breathing	41	(2)
Moving Meditation Practices	43	(30)
The I Ching's Method of Moving Meditation: Circle Walking	47	(1)
Methods of Stepping	48	(4)
Walking in a Straight Line	52	(5)
Walking in a Circle	57	(7)
Changing the Direction of the Circle	64	(4)
Finishing the Meditation	68	(5)
Focus on a Special Topic: Ba Gua Spontaneous Movement	69	(4)
Sitting and Lying-down Meditation Practices	73	(20)
The Sitting Practices	75	(1)
Body Alignments for All Taoist Sitting Practices	76	(8)
The Way of Liu: Thoughts on Sitting Positions for Meditation	81	(3)
Taoist Sitting Meditation: Using the Breath, Vibration, and Ultimately the Mind to Awaken Internal Sensations	84	(5)
The Lying-Down Practices	89	(4)
The Inner Dissolving Process	93	(36)
The Outer Dissolving Process and the Inner Dissolving Process Compared	95	(2)
The Relationship between Mind and Blockage	97	(1)
How to Dissolve Inwardly	98	(13)
Focus on a Special Topic: How to Dissolve Downward	109	(2)
Experiences Often Encountered while Resolving the Successive Layers of a Blockage	111	(5)
What Might Happen along the Way	116	(2)
Outer and Inner Dissolving Compared for Ease of Practice	118	(2)
The End Result of the Dissolving Process	120	(2)
Whole Mind Concentration and Distraction	122	(7)
Dissolving Blockages in Your Physical, Chi, and Emotional Bodies	129	(22)
Dissolving Blockages in Your Physical Body	132	(1)
Dissolving Blockages in Your Chi Body	132	(2)
Dissolving Blockages in Your Emotional Body	134	(2)
Three Methods for Releasing the Emotions	136	(4)
The Emotional Dissolving Technique and Its Implications for Astrology	140	(4)
Focus on a Special Topic: Dissolving Shock	141	(3)
Emotions and Emptiness	144	(1)
Taking Personal Responsibility for Doing Meditation	145	(3)
How to Prevent Problems Arising from Meditation	148	(3)
What Is Taoist Sexual Meditation?	151	(22)
Focus on a Special Topic: How This Material Was Learned	155	(1)
Energetic Intimacy Is Not Based on Length of Relationship	155	(1)
Why the Taoist Practices Must Be Successively Learned One by One	156	(2)
Sexual Chi Gung	158	(9)
Focus on Practice: Finger Rolling	160	(5)
Focus on Practice: Using Tofu to Develop Hand Sensitivity	165	(2)
The Nature of Yin and Yang Energy	167	(6)
Focus on Practice: Transferring Sexual Energy around Your Body	171	(2)
Taoist Sexual Meditation Techniques	173	(16)
Shifting the Yang Fire of the Eyes	175	(1)
Physical Foreplay	176	(4)
Focus on Practice: Tongue Strengthening for Kissing and Oral Sex	179	(1)
The Problem of Sex, Nerves, and Stress: Taoist Remedies	180	(1)
Partner Dissolving Exercises	180	(4)
Focus on Practice: Meditative Partner Techniques to Reawaken Tired Sexual Nerves	181	(3)
Spiritual Practice Is Different from Entertainment	184	(1)
The Complete Package Includes Both the Wonderful and the Frightening	184	(1)
Advanced Taoist Sexual Meditation	185	(4)
The Way of Liu: The Master Liu Hung Chieh and Sex	186	(3)
Internal Alchemy	189	(20)
What Is Alchemy?	191	(1)
Alchemy and Emotions	192	(4)
Three Tools of Internal Alchemy: Dissolving, Visualization, and Sound Work	196	(5)
Internal Alchemy and the Recognition of Universal Consciousness	201	(4)
Stillness and Internal Alchemy	205	(4)
The Way of Liu: My First Day of Meditation: Does Meditation Change after You Are Enlightened?	206	(3)
EPILOGUE Back to Balance	209	(6)
APPENDIX A Sitting in a Chair for Meditation	215	(14)
The Mechanism of the Problem	217	(3)
The Solution: Lift, Stretch and Do Not Close the Kwa	220	(2)
Excercises to Stretch the Kwa While Sitting in a Chair	222	(5)
Should One Foot Be in Front of the Other?	227	(2)
APPENDIX B Sitting on the Floor for Meditation	229	(10)
What Causes Knee Pain During Prolonged Cross-Legged Sitting On the Floor?	231	(2)
Releasing to Stretch a Muscle is Different from Pushing to Stretch a Muscle	233	(1)
From the Ming Men Point, Simultaneously Open Your Body Equally Up and Down to Protect Your Knees, Hips, and Lower Back	233	(1)
Do Not Force the Knees to Bend or Drop; Rather, Release from the Kwa and Hip Sockets to Protect Your Knee Ligaments	234	(2)
Should the Left or Right Leg Be on Top?	236	(2)
Sitting On a Cushion on the Floor	238	(1)
APPENDIX C Frequently Asked Questions about Taoist Meditation	239	(24)
APPENDIX D Energy Anatomy of the Human Body	263	(2)
The Main Energy Channels and the Three Tantiens	265