Qi Dao

Qi Dao is a style of Tibetan Shamanic Qigong that was ostensibly spread from Tibet to Russia via Mongolia during the time of the Mongol Empire. Although its origins are rooted in the Tibetan Bön tradition, its presumed original Tibetan name Tsa lung Trul khor is commonly replaced with the Chinese term Qi Dao today. Both Tibetan and Chinese names indicate that this is a practice associated with energy arts, as Qi and Lung generally mean "breath" or "energy."
Qi Dao was allegedly cultivated in Russia for hundreds of years by the family of the current lineage holder Lama Somananda Tantrapa Rinpoche. According to his accounts, during the Stalin era, his grandfather was forced by the authorities to share some of his martial arts and Qigong skills with the elite units of the Soviet KGB and to serve as one of personal body guards. Lama Tantrapa also had to apply some of his Qi Dao skills while serving in the Soviet Special Forces as well as rehabilitating from several serious injuries and more than one near-death experience. After being recognized as a Tulku and becoming a member of a secret society of Bön practitioners, he suffered from persecution by the authorities and even kidnapping prior leaving for the United States as a refugee in 1995. Lama Tantrapa attributes his decision to seek a religious asylum in the US to the advice he received from the Dalai Lama during their meeting in 1993.
Although Lama Tantrapa became the lineage holder of Qi Dao in 1990, he continued his studies of other styles of Qigong, healing and Martial Arts, because Qi Dao does not proscribe but rather encourages learning and comparing multiple approaches in terms of their efficacy and applicability to different situations. As most previous holders of the Qi Dao lineage contributed to the continuous evolution of this art by gleaning from various wisdom traditions and other sources, so does Lama Tantrapa maintain a steady regimen of learning from the top experts in many related disciplines aspiring to weave new threads of knowledge into the fabric of Qi Dao. He claims to have met with and learned from a number of respectable Qigong masters (i.e. Duan Zhi-Liang, Mintang Xu, Mintong Gu, Wen Wei Ou, Zhongxuan Wu, Jianye Jiang, Effie Poy Yew Chow, Bruce Kumar Frantzis, Roger Jahnke, etc.) and various well-known teachers (i.e. Moriteru Ueshiba, Junsei Terasawa, Lama Surya Das, Ponlop Trinley Nyima, Namkhai Norbu, Sakyong Mipham, Stanslav Grof, Carlos Castaneda, Ted James, Arnold Mindell, Michael Hall, Tom Brown, Jr. and many others who contributed their insights into this art).
Due to the expanding popularity of this traditionally esoteric art, its practitioners and enthusiasts can be currently found throughout the former Soviet Republics, as well as several other countries in Europe and Asia. After the establishment of Academy of Qi Dao in 2000, Qi Dao has been mostly taught in Portland, Oregon where Lama Tantrapa resided until July 2006, when he moved to Guam, USA for two years to write and publish his first two books. Hundreds of students have also attended his workshops in Honolulu, Seattle, Los Angeles, San Francisco Bay Area, Chicago area and Boulder, Colorado.
Similarities and Distinctions
Qi Dao differs from both Tibetan Yantra Yoga and Chinese Qigong, because it contains no forms to perform or postures to hold. It rather emphasizes development of so-called Harmonious Culture of Movement, to which may be attributed some of the extraordinary abilities many Qigong masters are anecdotally known for. According to the ebook entitled The Art of Being in the Flow by Lama Tantrapa, "Instead of repeating the routines of Qigong forms or memorizing some obscure tenets of Tibetan Medicine, Qi Dao trains its practitioners in 'the art of being in the flow' by experiencing energy directly through exploring movement, meditation and body awareness."

Similar to the practice of Trul Khor working with the six chakras (energy centers in the human body) and associated six realms of existence, Qi Dao addresses body-mind as an indivisible organism considering energy as both a metaphor for the interface between the body and mind as well as the unifying medium. Qi Dao applies this approach to the six main branches of Qigong: Daoist, Buddhist, Tantric, Confucian, Therapeutic and Martial Arts. Unlike most styles of Chinese Qigong that tend to belong to one or sometimes two branches, Qi Dao claims to not fall under any of these categories, but rather to dwell at the Shamanic root of the "Qigong Tree" as it follows the traditional Shamanic system of the elements of nature rather than the Chinese Five-Element system. The main focus of Qi Dao practices is on "being in the flow" of Qi instead of cultivating, manipulating or directing it to particular parts of the body (i.e. energy meridians) as proposed by most styles of Chinese Qigong.
Qi Dao constantly reminds its practitioners to remember, "Since change is the most constant thing in the universe, the flow is always different from one person to another and from one moment to another. This means that to copy the master’s movements or other actions is to grasp the form of the master’s experience rather than the essence. Such imitation would not enable anyone to be in the flow, because being in the flow implies being in one’s own flow, not in someone else’s flow." As an alternative, the practice of Qi Dao promotes an attitude encouraging its practitioners to be in the flow of life as it unfolds moment by moment. Practicing Qi Dao supposedly enables its adepts to become truly authentic by learning to surrender to the flow and allowing it to guide them in whatever way it flows. This is based on the presumption that energy flows according to the resonance following the path of least resistance.

Qi Dao approach to the movement arts and bodywork is also deeply rooted in the archetypal field of human consciousness, also referred to as inner nature. It allows this true nature to reveal itself spontaneously through the fluid and natural movements of the physical body. With practice, the practitioners learn to perceive the energy flowing through the body and simply go with the flow, which brings forth a profound sense of harmony and well-being. After experiencing and anchoring that feeling of being in the flow, the practitioners learn to pay attention to the whole spectrum of spontaneous processes occurring in their energy fields, including their bodies and consciousness. Entering an altered state of consciousness, aptly coined “Qigong State,” offers them an opportunity to suspend discriminating logic and judgmental reasoning. In such a meditative mental state, the practitioners can be more aware of their true nature and receptive to its guidance directing them in the process of natural healing and spiritual awakening.
Harmonious Culture of Movement
This term was coined by Lama Tantrapa in order to express the idea that Qi Dao does not merely teach certain moves or poses, but rather helps develop a special culture of movement that can be applied to every sphere of life. This harmonious culture of movement is based on a number of principles of body alignment and kinesthetic awareness that the beginning students are invited to test in order to gain a first-hand knowledge of them, rather than just understand them theoretically. This non-dogmatic, experiential approach is supposed to assist the students with becoming fully conscious of their choices as to the ways they move and hold themselves all the time. Developing the ability to feel resonance with certain directions of energy flow of ways of action supposedly empowers the students to constantly navigate through life moving "in sync" with the ebbs and flows of Qi.
Some of the principles distinguishing this culture of movement from others, allegedly less harmonious ways of moving the body seem to include:
· Moving parts of the body by engaging the whole body in motion
· Moving with circular, non-stop motions, rather than linear, jerky ones
· Projecting energy using the waves flowing from the center of the body to the limbs
· Utilizing gravity, momentum and centrifugal force to move with the least energy expenditure
· Using the torque of the torso and leverage of the limbs to maximize the effectiveness of movements.
During the first phase of learning the preliminary practices, the beginning students explore how to apply their newly awakened energy awareness to promote a natural and effortless state of being. This state facilitates balance, which is only possible with the alignment of all parts of the body and mind. They further learn to maintain the integrity of the organism at all times and to facilitate wellness and a healthy lifestyle by finding harmony with the flow of energy within and around their bodies. The hallmark premise of Qi Dao is “being in the flow of life within the same temple all people inhabit - the human bodies and their energy fields.”
Further Qi Dao studies reportedly incorporate many practices similar to Tui shou, Qinna, Shuai jiao yet more graceful and efficient, as well as acupressure, hypnosis, meditation and Dream Yoga.
Empowerment
The most characteristic practice of Qi Dao called empowerment is supposedly a practice enabling a practitioner to intuitively experience the flow of Qi through awareness of movement and all other senses. A special initiation into the practice of empowerment utilizes guided meditation and visualization to facilitate the perception of the flow of the universal energy as a process of manifestation of a dream, through which the Dao (unmanifest reality) appears as manifest reality. Due to the conditioning of the human mind to pay attention mostly to the outer forms and appearances of things, rather than their inner essences, special Qi Dao training may be required to develop the ability to enter so-called "Qigong State" that facilitates such heightened energy awareness.
The practice of empowerment, which forms the foundation for most of the advanced Qi Dao practices, can be described as a meditation on the movements that spontaneously follow the flow of the energy field that is imagined as an energy ball that can be held between the hands. Instead of moving the energy ball as they please, though, the Qi Dao practitioners learn to let this field of energy move them in any spontaneous and unpremeditated ways. As Lama Tantrapa explains in his book entitled Qi Dao - Tibetan Shamanic Qigong, "Dream being can be considered both a noun and a verb. The practice of Empowerment is like being in a lucid dream, knowing that everything manifests the way it should and enjoying the ride."

Qi Dao Coaching
According to originator of this methodology, Lama Tantrapa, Qi Dao coaching is distinct from both Qigong therapy and Qigong teaching. Generally speaking, Qigong therapists usually diagnose and treat diseases by applying various ways of manipulating their chients' flow of Qi or dissolving the blockages that restrict the flow according to the tenets of the Oriental Medicine. This type of healing is mainly based on the presumption that the therapist knows better what the client needs than the client him or herself. However, Qi Dao maintains that nobody knows exactly what is good and what is not for us, moreover, it dispenses of "good" and "bad" judgments altogether. That is why the main focus of Qi Dao coaching is on seizing the learning opportunities presented by any experiences without perceiving them as problems. Accepting any condition as an opportunity for learning, rather than struggling against it, actually allows the client to grow stronger, wiser or, at least, more adaptable. The Qi Dao coach is mostly concerned with motivating and empowering his clients to flow with their experiences instead of fixing them as though there is something wrong with them. Being in the flow can also be viewed as a state of consciousness (or perhaps a process) that naturally brings about wellness and well-being without any therapeutic interventions or manipulations. This approach is based on one of the foundational principles of Qi Dao stating that “people usually heal when they are ready to heal,” which is one of the few principles most health professionals agree about.
Qi Dao coaching is also remarkably different from teaching Qigong. When thinking of Qigong instruction, most people tend to think of doing Qigong forms or practicing certain breathing and meditative techniques; however, unlike most Qigong styles based on forms, Qi Dao has no forms to repeat and hardly any techniques to memorize. Instead, it invites the practitioner to experiment with his or her energy awareness that may lead to recognizing certain principles (which are not cut in stone but instead considered to be guidelines) and exploring their applications in various spheres of life.
Qi Dao coaches are trained to regard their clients' current process as their natural flow of life without trying to impose any ideas of what is right or wrong. Integrating the transformative power of Qigong with the most empowering coaching methodologies allows the Qi Dao coaches to offer their clients freedom from judgment and expectations, being totally attentive to them and motivating them to learn from their own experiences. When Qi Dao coaching sessions are conducted over the phone or Internet, they may begin with learning to recognize the flow of the client's life, including all the details of his or her current condition, as valuable resources that may be of help in learning to live his or her dreams. The Qi Dao coach may assist the client in developing a clear vision of his or her dream, which often makes it much easier to manifest it. The client's task is usually to learn focusing his or her attention on the energy of the dream he or she aspires to live, in order to find the energy within his or her being that is in resonance with that dream. The mere fact that he or she has such a dream indicates that he or she already has some energy resonating with its manifestation. The main question the Qi Dao coach might ask the client to ponder upon may be, ”How would you need to be in order to tune into this energy and make it your driving force that would empower you to manifest and live your dream?” Finding the most congruent way of being that way is supposed to bring about manifestation of the client's innermost dreams and aspirations.
When done face-to-face, Qi Dao coaching also appears to provide some assistance in uncovering the client’s psychosomatic issues through the use non-invasive touch and slow movement, as well as the practice of energy exercises. Qi Dao coaching can be used to address the physical manifestations of the client’s myth of identity while allowing him or her to be intuitive and free of forms. By testing for energy resonance with any substance, behavior, or thought form, it opens the client to the inner guidance as to any issues, including health and lifestyle. Such testing can show clear distinctions between the resonance and lack thereof providing an opportunity to discover the synthesis between the current and dream states using the energy field imagery. The practice of Qi Dao offers a consistent way to implement those insights in the client’s daily life by promoting natural body awareness and facilitating alignment and strength. Furthermore, the Qi Dao coach is supposed to be a role model for love, energy awareness, and lucidity enhancing the client's ability to sense the flow of his or her own energy and to be in the flow, which spontaneously brings about the sense of well-being.

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