Omega II: Visiting with the Sages
Day 2 - Morning Session - Part 5

by Alisa Joaquin

At that point, Heidi Singh broke in. She had a few more points to say regarding death and then she wanted to hear Rob's comments. One point that she stated was that Death could be its own transformation. She stated that we've all had the experience of people who died and that it was amazing to her that she had been called in (Heidi is a Buddhist Minister) in regards to a man who was dying (she did not understand why she was the one called in at the time, but she did go). He was a catholic and a very good person. She mentioned that the man near the end was reading the Tibetan Book of the Death. She then mentioned that the family wanted somebody to do a meditation around the bed which they did. The one thing that she had been amazed at and she mentioned this was that there was such an aura of peace in that room where the man lay dying (the man died about two days later). She stated, "I don't think any Zen Master could have had a better death. And all I could think of afterwards, I've since become very close with the family. They are like my own family. It was interesting because as I left there, I thought 'What do they need me for. He's teaching us all how to die.' It was the most extraordinary experience. Just utter utter peace. Complete peace.

She then related another experience when her father passed away. I thought of my own father and when and how he died. My father died right after doing something that he loved, square dancing. I also thought of being at the wake (or viewing a the funeral home) and when I touched his body. It was cold and lifeless. In that instant I know that my father was not there. I understood death to be, not the end, but a transition into the next life, a letting go if you will. He had gone on to a better place. She then went on to mention her husband. Her husband is a physicist and he said to her once, "We're all terminal. We just don't know when." She thought it was rather funny, but it's really true. She then asked Rob about his experience with the Shaolin tradition.

It came as a surprised to me and I am certain to many others that he was not a Taoist or

Buddhist, but a Christian adding with that statement, "...with a sense of humor." He stated that was a really interesting question (in regards to death and when it is time to die), "How do you know, when you are a Master of Kung Fu? And the answer to that is you die relaxed." As a Christian he said, "I would hope for forgiveness and that Christ will be my friend. What more do you need. I'll forgive anybody do me wrong, no problem. For me, that's a very affordable pathway to eternity. Makes all the sense in the world to go that route. And I certainly don't point my fingers at anybody. Every church that I've ever spoken with, those Irish Prodestent or Catholic-Prodestent arguments, those type of things, I've never bought into any of that. To me, my church is in my heart. I just try to be. . . as honest as I can be with the world. I think the bottom line of so many religions is being helpful to the world and being kind hearted. And choosing positive energy. There are two types of energy, positive and negative. One is love and the other is fear. I mean if you can eliminate those fears, that's I think our struggle. Our life-long struggle that we deal with., burying issues or the problems we muster up. And when we get to a point that we can accept ourselves, I believe we are in the right track. We'll all make proper choices. As far as dying, I'm sure of whether I'm looking forward to it or not. There's a lot I want to get done in the mean time, you know. While we're here I think we should celebrate life and be as helpful as possible with each other. Love our families. Enjoy it while we got it, right now. There's plenty of time for that. Once that happens, you know. Why rush now, we got work to do. We've got things to do, positive influences to make, bills to pay. That's my ideas."

At that point, Arnold had us take a bathroom break and from then on, we did our practices until Noon. After our break, we went right into the exercises, the first being clearing of the body. We did the Chi scattering exercises that we learned last night. We started first by doing pulling down the heavens (doing three of those) followed with the counter swing, and we did that for a few minutes. He instructed that when we relax more, we feel more. He then stated that we need to pay attention to those different areas that we are holding tension. He wanted us to pay attention to how that might transform. The next cleansing exercise we went right into was dropping the post. After doing that for a few minutes we right into our favorite cleansing exercise, the trembling horse followed by another set of pulling down the heavens. We were then ready to go onto the next set, some warm up exercises for the body. We were again releasing any tightness we were feeling. Arnold stated that the Chi never passes through any tightness or soreness in the body. We raised our hands up and pointed our palms toward the heavens, which is called supporting the heavens. He stated that even if we do these exercises, they are Qi Gung. After doing that we lowered our arms and began doing another exercise, this time allowing the energy to come through the feet by opening the shoulder joints by rotating them and relaxing them. Arnold stated that your body works like a conduit for heaven and earth energy. He said that the heavenly energy above you and the earth energy beneath you, both work in the human realm thereby effecting your body, your thoughts, your emotions, your spirit. He stated that you are acting as a conduit to allow the energy to work through you, above you and beneath you. We then rotated our wrists and elbow joints. Then we loosened up through the waste area by tapping on the front of the body and the back of the body by swinging our arms around loosely. You would tap the body in the area of the navel and on the back opposite of the navel on the spine. (I've done this before where I've also shifted my weight from left to right.) This is the ying yen (uncertain of the spelling) area or gate of life and by tapping these areas you are accessing the lower dantien (energy center). He stated that your feet should be parallel, toes pointing forward and your weight should be dropped below the knees, acting like the roots of a tree. (That does not necessarily mean that your body will be lower, but your knees may be slightly bent.) They call this one knocking at the gate of life. We then put our feet together and placed our hands on our knees. We then circled out knees to opent9 he joints in our knees. He recommended that we keep a gentle pressure on the knees so the energy would be more connected through the legs, to the feet, and through the ground. For the ankles, we shifted our weight to rest on one ankle and then just rotated one then shifted did it on the other side. He again recommended when you do an exercise where you are balanced on one foot, you keep the knee slightly bent and the weight settled on that one foot where you anchor the foot like a tree root going into the ground. (By bending the knee, you have more support and you are not using your hip to balance which can throw you off balance.) After doing the warm-up exercises, set ourselves into the wu ji posture and we did a pulling down of the heavens. We then did an accessing of our body, feeling the energy flow throughout, searching for blockages. Even going as far as feeling the energy flow through the inner organs. We did this for a minute.

Afterward, he was pleased that we retained what we learned the night before. He stated that the kidneys are responsible for short-term memory and the heart, long-term. He stated that when the heart and kidneys get a good night's rest in a beautiful, good Fung Shuei, a good meal, your energy starts to center itself back to it's health.

End of Day 2 - Morning Session - Part 5

Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2001.
This personal account cannot be reprinted or sold in any other form without strict permission from the author. It is being distributed here solely for your enjoyment.

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