How to use Qigong to adapt?

Educated play with a child's mind

Uncovers the perfect person

That resides within

Each of us.

Look to see what clothes your heart wears,

Find the rhythm of life and dance with it.

Whatever you create will be good enough.

-Sifu John A. Fey

Transformative movement is movement designed to transform the person who plays it.

The history of transformative movement has been going on for many millennia. For example, in the tradition of Arts I play, we still engage forms and practices such as Ching Shen Nui Gung that go back to when the Chinese first started writing well over 4000 years ago! Transformative movement has been utilized in every continent and region worldwide. It seems clear that early in human development, we realized that by blending imagination, movement, and breath, we could enhance our connection to ourselves and our environment. Transformative movement was basic survival in the form of dance, ceremony, and ritual to regain and restore balance, clarity, and health within people, communities, and the land in which they lived.

We are human. Not much has changed in our biology over the millennia. A host of changes in day-to-day life have always caused imbalances in the body, mind, and spirit. ( forthwith known as bodymind) However, they all have one thing in common- How is our bodymind reacting to the changes? These changes are both emotional, physical, environmental, and structural challenges. A cultivator would think of this wholistically as the quality and movement of Qi, and practitioners have noted that some of these changes have predictable cycles. The idea behind this is that we are intimately connected to and part of the world around us. We live in a very complex system of systems that moves in predictable cycles, and our bodyminds can have predictable responses. If we respond and blend our actions with some of these changes, we become healthier and more at ease because we are not at odds with our environment. Practitioners even have a Calendar called a Tung Shu to help navigate these changes that have subtle and some not-so-subtle influences on our health and well-being.

What are some of the forces at play that affects our Qi that the Tung Shu and transformative movement address?

Solar Cycle 24 months

Lunar Cycle 5 Season Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth

60-Year Cycle 12 donated by 12 Animals and five energetic types. As I write this, We are in the Water Tiger Year.

The I Ching is another predictable cycle of change; It is a model of understanding change that consists of a combination of 6 lines, either Receptive or Expressive, which outline the way changes occur and the quality of that change. These cycles can be viewed from the Macro to the Micro. This observation of change is Old! So it can be a little archaic in its imagery. Regardless, it can be beneficial, like axel grease, for the mind to deal with complex cycles of change and how you fit within those changes.

The Tao Te Ching is also a signal that cycles.

The flux and flow of Coherent and In Coherent Qi is likewise a predictable and recurring cycle. Again, this has to do with the usability of Qi for us humans. Some days there is Qi that is easy to access - some days, it is too choppy or disorganized to be helpful.

The New Forest (1-10) is a Cycle mirrored within us and the natural world around us.

There are more!

We also have our own personal cycles of living life that affect our vital energy and zest for life - our very own habits of thought and action that affect how we experience life.

Then we have the day-to-day details of things that affect our lives.

Transformative movement came along for our survival as a species.

We have always existed in a very complex system of systems. There are forces large and small affecting us all of the time. Some affect all of us; some affect just us. The point here is that Cultivators of old noticed that if they moved, breathed, and engaged in visualization in specific ways at specific times, they could better transform themselves to blend with the flux and flow of all the changes affecting them. By engaging in transformative movement, they could adapt to a world where survival depended upon creative adaptation! Are we so different now? The transformative arts at Taomatrix.life comes directly from these traditions. The New Forest ® Arts are steeped in these traditions and come from Sifu Fey's vast experience of the Internal Arts.

So How can I use these Arts to increase my ability to react in a complex world.

You can first learn New Forest Qigong

Then, you can play New Forest 5 Element Qigong

You can play Yin Fu Ching included in New Forest Qigong

You can play Silk Weaver or Ba Tuan Chin also included in New Forest Qigong

You can look for the Cultivator's Calendar daily info on the Home Page or @taomatrixarts on Instagram.

Remember play have fun and smile!