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Videos
Tao of Creativity
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Five Element Chi Kung
Adventure into the realms of the Five Elements of Traditional Chinese Medicine with Kaleo and Elise. Enter the landscapes of metal (lungs), water (kidney), wood (liver), fire (pericardium/heart), and earth (spleen), meet their guardians, and tone their inner sounds to bring cleansing and healing. Learn their Chi Kung movements to stimulate their organs, meridians, and bodily tissues. Fathom the personal meanings of elemental influences and applications to your emotional well-being, to your creative self-expression, and to your dreams and visions for your life journey. calendar
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Tiger's Breath Chi Kung
Tiger's Breath Chi Kung (Introductory Sequence) connects you to heaven and earth, harvests Chi (vital life force), and promotes harmony on all levels, physical, energetic, psychological, spiritual. It works holistically on all facets of your being, from the organs and their energetic meridians, to the lymphatic, respiratory, reproductive, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, digestive, nervous, and craniosacral systems. It helps you to release stress, boost your immune system, develop strength and flexibility, and enhance centeredness and groundedness. It shows you how to cultivate, circulate, store, and transmit Chi for helping to heal self and others. It draws on the power of forces from the cosmos and deep wisdom of your own inner being. This introductory sequence is shown three times: first to connect with your energy aura and chakras; second to work with your muscles and joints; third to activate your meridians and vessels of Chi.
For details of this form, see Chi and Creativity: Vital Energy and Your Inner Artist, below on this page.
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Books
Faces of Your Soul: Rituals in Art, Maskmaking, and Guided Imagery with Ancestors, Spirit Guides, and Totem Animals by Elise Dirlam Ching and Kaleo Ching, North Atlantic Books, 2006
Foreword by Matthew Fox
260pp
"Faces of Your Soul takes you on a journey of inner adventure, sacred guidance, and self-empowerment. With this experiential, hands-on book you'll learn to manifest your own transformative process. Guided imagery leads you through a shamanic exploration of subconscious realms. Journal writing, art, and maskmaking give voice and form to your inner mysteries and hidden wisdom. Based on the authors' many years of experience as artists, writers, and teachers of the holistic process of guided imagery, qigong movement and meditation, and art, this book resonates with their unique blend of Eastern, Western, and nature wisdom."
In local bookstores or Amazon.com
(See excerpts below.)
"There is no other work which so eloquently speaks for the art and healing movement. It is rare that the holistic ideal of body-mind-spirit integration is so fully realized and so joyfully celebrated. In Faces of Your Soul, the Chings make connections between inner and outer; East and West; healing and spirit which can serve everyone from the beginning seeker of creativity and self-discovery to the most sophisticated visual and performing artists. In reading Faces of Your Soul we encounter powerful stories, powerful insights and powerful tools for transformation".
Michael Grady is chairperson of the Arts and Consciousness Program at John F. Kennedy University
"Overflowing with creative ideas, Faces of Your Soul is a wonderful collage of systems of healing knowledge and wisdom, integrated with art. There is nothing like this anywhere. The Chings are deep souls who have mastered a startling variety of therapeutic, artistic and spiritual traditions. Adding insights from their fascinating and poignant life experiences, many of which are exquisitely communicated in this book, they've created an amazing blend. The Appendix Gallery of Kaleo's stunning masks combined with Elise's profound poetry is a metaphor for the sublime effectiveness of this synergistic collaboration. Pouring their hearts into this project over many years, they've created something transcending an outstanding book, having the potential to guide many readers to life transforming experiences."
Randal Churchill is director of the Hypnotherapy Training Institute and author of Regression Hypnotherapy: Transcripts of Transformation and Become the Dream
Chi and Creativity: Vital Energy and Your Inner Artist by Elise Dirlam Ching and Kaleo Ching, Blue Snake Books, 2007
320pp
Inspire Creativity by Cultivating the Universal Energy of Chi
The capacity to create is part of being human - whether that means making art, writing, teaching, cooking for friends, gardening, giving a massage, nurturing relationships, or following a spiritual path. Nourishing and maximizing your vital energy, or Chi, is an essential part of fulfilling your human potential. Chi and Creativityshows you how to use a wide range of strategies to harness the power of and cultivate the inner artist. They offer an integrative process that includes exercises in Chi awareness, Chi Kung, art, journaling, guided imagery, and meditation, to generate inspiration, awe, and energy for living a creative life.
You will experience many explorations with Chi, such as discovering, cultivating, and transmitting Chi; five element alchemy; self-help acupressure; Chi Kung movement and meditation; and Taoist breathing techniques. Guided imagery invites you on journeys into subconscious realms, where inner wisdom, terrains, and guides await. Through art explorations, you give visual, tactile form to your discoveries. Many photos and illustrations in this book enhance your journey.
Chi and Creativity is an excellent companion for artists, writers, healers, massage therapists, meditators, teachers, psychotherapists, hypnotherapists, and seekers.
In local bookstores or Amazon.com
"A groundbreaking, transformative guide to open your healing energy and cultivate your personal growth. My hands tingle knowing what Chi and Creativity offers through practical exercises for enhancing your vitality and awakening your spiritual well-being."
Michael Reed Gach, Ph.D. is founder of the Acupressure Institute and author of Acupressure's Potent Points, Acu-Yoga, and Acupressure for Emotional Healing
"Chi and Creativity-an exploration into new frontiers through an authentic, modern-day shamanic practice. This book offers practices with far-reaching healing power for life enhancement. Elise and Kaleo Ching blend the healing aspects of Taoist internal alchemy, Chi Kung, guided imagery, and art. They demystify, reveal, and ingeniously combine esoteric teachings that have never been put together into one book."
Gilles Marin, is director of the Chi Nei Tsang Institute, and author of Healing from Within with Chi Nei Tsang and Five Elements, Six Conditions
Tao of Creativity: The Healing Arts of T'ai Chi, Art and Maskmaking, 9 Star Productions, San Francisco. 10 minute video. US $15
Greeting Cards. Set of 7 cards with images (masks and drawings) by Kaleo with corresponding poetry by Elise. US $18.
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Matthew Fox, is founder of the University of Creation Spirituality and author of Original Blessing, The Reinvention of Work, and Creativity: Where the Divine and the Human Meet
Adriana Diaz is author of Freeing the Creative Spirit
Jeremy Taylor, M.A., D. Min. is co-founder of the International Association for the Study of Dreams and author of Dreamwork, Where People Fly and Water Runs Up Hill, and The Living Labyrinth |
Condensed excerpts from Faces of Your Soul: Rituals in Art, Maskmaking, and Guided Imagery with Ancestors, Spirit Guides, and Totem Animals, and Tao of Creativity
:: Top of Page ::
The Universe Within
Meditation: Universal Spirit
Go to a serene place in nature and assume a meditative posture familiar to you. As your eyes gently close, let your mind receive the comfort of your haven. Feel the temperature around you. Let your feet spread over the soft welcoming earth beneath you. Let your spirit enter into the spaciousness of your inner being. Breathe softly, deeply. Do you smell a fragrance, hear a sound, see a color? Inhaling, allow your breath to enter your nostrils and glide up into your mind's eye. Listen to the sound, the vibration of your mind. Listen as your breath opens like a blossoming lotus, spreading, expanding, then pressing gently into the inner lining of your cranium and releasing. Ask the Universal Spirit for clarity and vision on your journey, and let go.
Let go, and the breath falls like gentle rain, the rain of Hawai'i, ka ua li'ili'i. Breath glides into your throat and descends into the spaciousness of your heart. What are the colors, the sounds of gentle rain as it falls in your chest? Breath expands, pressing gently into the cavern walls of your inner ribs, then softly releases. Ask the Universal Spirit for understanding and compassion on your journey, and let go.
Let go, and the breath falls like gentle rain, ka ua li'ili'i, through your body. What is the sound of rain falling into the ocean in your pelvis? What are the temperatures and textures as it descends deep within? Can you feel the embryo of creativity in the cavern of your pelvis? Hear its breathing? Can you feel your breath as it travels like a wave across the spacious ocean-a wave spreading-and pressing gently into the muscular walls of your pelvis-and then releasing, with kindness? Ask the Universal Spirit for abundance and creativity on your journey, and let go.
Breath falls like gentle rain through your legs, washing and cleansing, descending into Gaia, the mother. Can you feel her kindness and love? Pause now and enjoy her embrace.
As you inhale, your breath ascends. What is the fragrance of Gaia as it ascends lightly through your body and into the heavens? Exhaling, allow this fragrance to descend from the heavens. What is the sensation of gentle rain falling from the heavens, entering your body, cleansing and purifying, then flowing into the basin of your pelvis?
Your breath is soft as you inhale. Gratitude travels into every cell in your body. Breathe gently, then release the blessings of your mind, heart, and body into the world.
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Totem Animal
Guided Imagery: Meeting Your Animal
Process
Close your eyes and enter meditation. Your breath is natural, soft, fluid. It carries you gently into the lower world. You find yourself walking on a trail in the wilderness. It guides you to the entrance of a cave. Observe the opening of this cave and your surroundings. Enter the cave and notice its interior. You discover the tunnel leading into the earth. It feels safe and inviting and you descend into this tunnel. As you go deeper, be aware of your breath. Each breath takes you deeper down this passage. What does it smell like? The fragrance brings you deeper still, until you see a light at the end of this tunnel. Approach it and move into the light. As you emerge into the terrain of the lower world, feel your consciousness shift.
What is the setting in which you find yourself? You see a trail leading off into hiding. Does it move through the underbrush, around rocks, through sand dunes or mounds of snow, into the deep forest, between mountains? Where does it disappear? Follow it.
Along the trail, you find animal traces. Are they feathers, fur, or scales? Do you see pellets or scat? Do you smell the aroma of some animal's urine or rank animal body? Do you hear hooting or growling, sighing or screeching, purring or slithering? You see tracks. Are they the bear's-long, almost humanoid, but with the piercings of sharp claws? Are they the wolf's-doglike but so large and with front toes parallel? Are they the heart-shaped tracks of the deer, the webbed tracks of the river otter, or the winding traces of a snake? Follow these tracks.
In this world of the wilderness, your whole body and all your instincts are alive. You stop, sensing a movement in the distance. Do you freeze and watch silently like a deer or crouch down like a canine in anticipation?
The creature you have been following is coming toward you. As it nears, notice what sort of animal it is. Is it covered in fur, scales, feathers, or bare skin? Watch it carefully. See how it moves as it comes even closer. You can tell by the way it approaches that it is friendly. Feel its breath as you come face to face. Look deeply into its eyes. What do you see?
You understand that this animal is an ally. What attributes and powers does this ally have? It also has its own language, its own way of expression. How does it communicate to you-through movements, sounds, eye contact? What shifts do you feel as you bond with this ally?
You feel your ally's sense of loyalty and caring. It gives you a token of remembrance. What is it?
Ask your ally what signals you can use to summon each other. Perhaps it offers a certain sound to let you know it is near. Perhaps you have a name or song by which to summon it.
Thank your power animal and take your leave, knowing you will be in close contact.
Return through the tunnel, ascending the same way you came. Reenter the cave. You might want to etch your communication symbols on the wall of the cave. Emerge through the opening in the earth. Return along the trail through the wilderness until you come back into the room.
Journaling: Totem Animal
Journal about your experiences with your totem animal. Was its identity a surprise? What associations do you have with this animal? What special abilities are carried by its species? What are its animal ways that can help you with your own life? What are its obvious meanings and lessons? What are its secrets? What are the nuances of your relationship that make it an extremely personal one for you? How can you nurture your relationship? What were your token of remembrance and your signals for summoning each other?
Art: Totem Animal's Appearance
Now that you have met your animal ally, it's time to get to know it better. Take time during the following few days to draw or sketch it. Try different techniques.
You may want to draw the semblance of your ally. Draw it from imagination and memory or from a lifelike representation, such as a photograph. If your animal ally is accessible, go to a place where you can observe it-owls by night or early morning, elks at the refuge, reptiles at the vivarium, sea otters at the shoreline, big cats at the zoo, native wild animals at the local wildlife sanctuary.
As you dialogue with the animal through art, notice how this close-up relationship changes your awareness. Drawing a bald eagle-the arrangement of individual tail feathers, the slope of shoulders and breadth of chest, the talons in the feet holding a warm dead mouse, the curve of yellow beak, the stretch of narrow tongue, the shadows around the golden eye-allows an intimate entrance into the animal's life. Expressing through color, shape, and form its wild cry, the spreading of its wings, the joy of gliding on air currents, its wide view from above brings you closer to its world.
Unless you have been very closely acquainted with this animal before, once you have experienced this intimate interaction, your relationship will reach a new level of understanding and appreciation. This interaction nurtures a deeper appreciation: of the animal as an individual representative of its species; of the wild nature of the living earth; of the wilderness of your own inner being.
Art: Totem Animal's Energy
Another way to get to know your animal better is to explore through art its energetic being.
With an array of art materials before you, begin your process. You may want to express the energy, sound, textures of your ally.
Feel your totem animal. Do you want to bond with its power, its focus, its wild instinct? Do you want to express its fierce roar, its agility, or its speed? What colors, shapes, forms are inspired as the falcon veers and dives at 200 mph. for its prey, as the tiger pounces and plays with its cubs, as the wolf howls, as the otter swims? How would you convey the heat and danger of the fire-breathing dragon, or the galloping sounds of the unicorn, or the power of the talons of the owl as it crushes its prey, or the cuteness of the bunny? Look at the wonderful art materials before you. These are vibrant sticks of energy. The sienna dusty chalk pastel may feel like the desert wind that the golden eagle rides. The charcoal flakes and powder may feel like ashes that birth the phoenix. The watery Caran d'Ache crayons may feel like the slippery skin of the playful seal in water. The greasy, thick oil pastels may feel like the walls of the den of an animal. Mix them with massage oil and they feel like a slick pup emerging from its mother's womb.
You can put your hand into these textures of colors and energies and express the nature and instinct of your animal ally. Your hand playing with chalk, charcoal, or oil crayon will arouse your own animal instincts and allow you to bond more deeply with the animal.
:: Top of Page ::
Maskmaking
The Process of Maskmaking: Kaleo's Journal
The process begins as I burn sage, light a candle and call on the Universal Spirit for guidance. We set our intentions. Then I, the maker of your mask, honor you, the giver of the mask, as we enter into our inner dialogue.
Applying the Mask Mold
Ancestors watch over us as I apply plaster gauze to your face. I touch, listen and respond to your energy. I come from awareness of hands and fingers, heart and body, as I massage the wet warm skin of gauze onto your facial sculpture of flesh and bone. Our interaction is beyond physical. I feel your inner face as well as the outer one.
I, as maskmaker, question: What do you need? Your body gives me clues on what the experience is like for you - what sensations and emotions are arising.
You, as maskgiver, question: Can I still my body, still my mind? Can I surrender to the nurturing fingers, to the warm wet plaster on my face? Am I vulnerable? Am I afraid? Will I like the mold of my face? Will the mask reveal an ancestor?
Under the protective skin of plaster gauze, what images emerge from the silence and the dark? What images pass before my mind's eye?
We surrender to the muse of maskmaking. We are both mindful and present to this process. At some point as you ease into deep meditation, I feel the ancestors stirring within you, all those who have come before you spilling their energy over into this moment.
In time the mask on your face is complete, and it is time for you to emerge. Inhaling, you draw your breath into your abdomen. Exhaling, you settle into the comfort of the pelvic bowl. Then, inhaling, you draw your breath into your sacrum. You encourage your breath to ascend your vertebral column. As it climbs, the spaces between the vertebrae open and the discs begin to breathe. Your breath migrates into your throat and mouth, softening your tongue and chin. It now enters the space between skull and skin. As your breath expands gently, it presses your skin into the inner mask mold and separates the plaster impression from your face.
I encourage the shedding of this new skin by allowing it to peel gently the rest of the way. The mask reveals the wonders of the universe, your ancestors' legacy, the door of your heart.
Now it is time for you to commune with your mask mold. As you hold the plaster mold, it feels surprisingly light in your hands. Looking at it, you see your own facial sculpture in a new way, apart from the subtleties, colors, textures of flesh and hair, of eyes and lips, of changing facial expressions. Then you turn it over and see the impression from the inside: a surprise, like seeing your original face. Interacting with this mask is like holding and sculpting dried layers of your skin itself. You realize the mask captures the exact moment of your being at this time of your life. You realize that it reveals glimpses of your ancestors and of your descendants.
The removal of the mask inspires the shedding of inhibitions, the shedding of old skin. Then Chi Gung energy movement and guided imagery invite you deeper into the process. As you move and explore, you celebrate this experience of birthing.
The Alchemy of the Mask
The birthing continues with an abundance of natural materials, fibers, furs, beads, wigs, fabrics, bones, sculpting, drawing and painting supplies and a potpourri of colors as you continue your creative process.
You summon your muse through ritual and invocation. You invite the ancestors to join you. Their breath, your breath, moves to the rhythms of the present and the past. You sway to the sensuality of the mele (music) of Hawai'i or the ancient chants of Polynesia; or inhale the spiritual power of Africa; or smell the ochres, reds and siennas of desert tribes in the Southwest; or walk softly in the cool, wet silence of the Pacific Northwest; or bow before the ancient spiritual mysteries of China, Tibet, Japan; or pause in awe of the mystics of Europe.
You can see the transformation happening. You are the creator as your mask transforms into sculpture, painting, totem, attire for performance; raw materials into meaningful whole; self into Self.
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