Dragon & Tiger Qigong
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Meditation & Gods Playing in the Clouds Retreat Releasing Into Space: Presence, Openness & Spontaneity
Oxford
Retreat
January 11th - 15th 2020
- The Meditation aspect of this course is free (see below for
details)
- Please
Book as early as possible to facilitate planning
"Ice to Water"
Over the last few years we
have been working with developing continuous presence and awareness, and slowly relaxing these as we release
the tensions from our energies - thoughts, feelings, sensations.
This largely corresponds to
dissolving from "ice to water", where we practice gradually relaxing from a more fixed sense of
self holding on to relatively fixed ideas and fairly charged energies, to being more present, open, relaxed
and responsive in the flow of life.
"Water to Space"
We will continue to clarify and the above process both sitting
meditation and in Gods Playing in the Clouds
Qigong (more on Gods below).
As we began last year however, we will
focus on relaxing into the “space” or openness of the mind, corresponding to dissolving from
“water to space”.
This refers to fully releasing the attaching of our sense of self to
the flow of the contents of our mind so that we can come to perceive the mind itself, the openness or
“space” in which the contents of the mind arise and move which illuminates these contents with
totally relaxed, effortless presence and awareness.
Effects:
This describes moving from basing our presence, awareness and lives in conceptual
understanding, habits, beliefs and their associated energetic shapes, forms, moods etc, to relaxing into the
present openness of the mind and living within that openness, without solidifying again into control, habit
and conceptualisation, i.e. back to "water and ice".
Enabling this shift requires some
unexpected relaxing of fundamental assumptions in order to allow this natural presence and spontaneity to
arise more easily and operate with continuity, without which we tend to shut the possibility for openness
down.
The Retreat:
We will approach this
through sitting meditation, reflection and key partner work to provide clear contrasts between basing ourselves in our habitual, more fixed, conceptual
approach to ourselves and the world, and a more relaxed open presence in the world
We will also make
use of Gods Playing in the Clouds Qigong.
Working
with Gods will give us a break from sitting and enable
us to open the body and its energies also. We will use Gods to open, relax and release all our energies,
working with our fluids, energy, dissolving practices and
spiralling practices for those familiar with them, both to
release any particular energies we would like to release, and to ease our way into releasing into
openness.
On this last note we will work particularly with releasing the energies of the "right and left channels" into the "centre channel" so that we become more aware of the inherent
spaciousness of all our energies, and how our energies manifest from and in that spaciousness. This
clarifies and empowers our basis in openness in life as a whole
Attendance
& Prerequisites
- You can attend day 1, or 1 + 2, or 1+2+3, etc up to all 5 days of each
retreat. The longer you can stay, the better
- All are welcome who have at least one year’s experience of
dissolving practice, and two terms’ qigong experience at Oxinar, Clearwater Qi Arts, or equivalent
(email me if in doubt). You do not need to know the movements of Gods Playing in the Clouds
- Depending on who joins, those new to Oxinar may be sent an audio class
or two, which will be made available on booking. In this case, the information and techniques contained
in it will be assumed in my teaching so that we are all on the same page and the whole class can
progress together
The teacher, Gio Maschio, has been running regular retreats since 2004 and teaching
for nearly 25 years, focusing on self-healing and meditation. He is one of BK Frantzis most experienced
students certified to teach all Energy Arts subjects, has studied with a number of other teachers and
masters, and is founder of the Qigong for Acupuncturists course at the UK's largest college of Chinese
medicine. He also hosts Bruce's yearly retreats on qigong and meditation in Oxford
Booking & Discounts:
I am treating this retreat as 50/50 meditation / qigong, and will
not be charging anything for the meditation aspect. I am therefore charging people
only 50% of the usual fee, to cover expenses and some pocket money for me. If you would like to contribute
to the meditation aspect of the course, you may do so by donation, thank you. Consequently, there are no
other discounts or early bird payment date for this course.
However, please book asap to
facilitate planning venue bookings, meal bookings etc. Thanks!
Payment:
£40 per day
If you cannot afford the full fee but would like to
attend please email me
Venue:
South
Leigh Village Hall a beautiful, light, warm hall with large private
garden in a quiet village just north of Oxford, with free parking available.
If you don't have a
car, lifts will be available from Oxford town centre from other participants at the event, contact me if you
need a lift
Food:
For the weekend we will be
going to Worton Organic Farm for an excellent lunch in a beautiful, nearby, natural place. This will need to
be booked in advance!
Other days, there is a good gastro-pub in South Leigh itself, two minutes walk
away.
People can also bring their own supplies, we have a kitchen and fridge
available
Timing of the Days:
10.30am -
6.00pm. We may vary this a little depending of what attendees prefer
PLEASE EMAIL ME TO BOOK THE RETREAT - letting me know how
many days you will attend or to discuss anything
Keep very well!
Gio
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