Shaking, Bouncing, Swaying, Writhing, Convulsing

Todd on The Tao Bums has rekindled my interest in shaking qigong, or in this case more accurately bouncing qigong. I really got a lot out of Michael Winn’s spontaneous “shaking the tree” practice found on one of his Chi Kung Fundamentals videos, but never did it routinely. Also, I realize in retrospect I was imposing a preference for flailing about wildly in all directions and I had a sort of strange hidden desire to suddenly tap into some kind of latent genius dynamic twisting, twirling, leaping qigong form buried in my nervous system. Pffft. :) When that wouldn’t happen in 5 minutes I got bored. heh. But the way Todd taught me is a lot more like a simple meditation. Basically you just bounce vertically up and down and pay attention. That’s it. Sometimes I am still drawn to throw in a little twisting or undulating, but the core practice is just the bounce. It’s great because you can do it for as little or as long as you want. I’m just going to tack on a few minutes of bouncing before my AYP meditations.

Sp I did a little more research today and found a cool variation. The Tantric Tailbone Piledrive! :) Check it out:

Via Umaa Tantra

[…F]irst place your mind in your tailbone, and try to “feel” from those nerves. Then…

For skeletal shaking, do *not* swing the tailbone forward and backward, which increases fluidity, not solidity (those pelvic tilts or “tucks”are a totally different exercise, used to open up the sacrum).

Instead, the knees joints do not move horizontally as they bend. They stay in the same place. To get the right feeling and motion, stand and place your toes and knees up against a wall in front of you, and raise and lower your butt a few inches, keeping the knees touching the wall as you bend them. Now bring yourself off the wall and move the same way during the exercise.

Think of your spine like a heavy pile driver, going deep into the earth as you accelerate your tailbone downwards a few inches, stopping suddenly while keeping the body loose and relaxed, so that it feels like your bone marrow keeps traveling downward through the bones for an instant.

Breathe deeply and naturally throughout, and recover upwards with minimal acceleration after each downward drop. The spine stays perpendicular to the ground at all times (no “forward-backward “humping” motion).

…

I’m also inspired to finally pick up Jan Fries book, Seidways: Shaking Swaying Serpent Mysteries which details the practice of shamanic convulsive trances as a powerful tool for self-transformation. (I really enjoyed his other book Visual Magick.)