As you continue to develop the skills of Listening/Feeling (Ting Jin 聽勁) with your whole body and Being, you will arrive in the stillness aspect of fascial tensegrity. Considering that 80% of your somatic sensations and embodied sense of self, actually happen through your fascial membranes and interstitial filaments, you will now begin feeling any distortion in the fascia and collagen matrix around and throughout your skeleton.

For the first few months of practice, Bone Marrow Purification is an unwinding and releasing process. As stillness and completely embodied presence become familiar, the real practice begins. The process from here is a life long journey that travels on two feet. One foot moves forward through Yi Nian, a highly focused and interactive state of attention and Zi Ran, releasing what is untrue while rediscovering your authentic self. The other foot moves forward through complete Clarity and Tranquility (Qing Jing 清靜) of your Heart/Mind/Sentience (Xin Shen).

This is the beginning of Chan/Zen. A primary motivation in the development and application of the Yi Jin Jin.

The Practice

In the system that I teach, this part of the training involves both standing, seated, and lying Qi Gong, breathwork, and meditation practices.

The standing practice revolves around a form called Daoist Heavy Hands.

This form can be used for developing Iron Palm and Iron Body skills as well as for restoring the tissue matrix and some deeper fields within the Meridian network (Jing 經) of your deeper Connective Tissues (Jin), Bones (Gu), Marrow (Sui), and Brain (Nao).

In Daoist Practice, and in Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), terminology is less literal than in English. The concept and imagery of cleansing your Bones and Marrow, has more to do with the depth of your meditation, and the decades of move from Self Awareness to Non-Self, from being Enlightened to Non-Being.

Standing or sitting still, becoming present to your skeleton and the most efficient way to settle and release completely, is one of the best ways to cultivate Yi Nian, or the meditative capacity to begin the greater Spiritual journey.

From a scientific point of view, this kind of practice and the load on your bones can refine, not only the collagen matrix of your bones (healthy bones are 26% collagen), but also your bones’ overall physical resiliency to shock. This can happen because extended standing, as well as axial (along the bone) and torsional (twisting) load on your bones increases the production of Osteocalcin – which reduces the risk for many age-related health conditions, increases fertility (especially in men), cognition, longevity, and of course, measurably strengthens your bones.

In Daoist practice, there is an observation that Yang (Mind) transforms into Yin (Body). The opposite is also true. That can be seen on the level of the Dao or Universe. It can also be seen as a reflection of Nature and Life. In the natural world, the lives and shapes of trees and animals (and everything else) are determined by the climate and weather. In a similar way, your conscious state, your mood and emotional fluidity or ‘stuckness’ can determine some important qualities of your life and your meditation practice.

On a more subtle level, your state of Being (Yang) has a shape. Like a magnetic field. In the West this relates to the recently discovered bio-magnetic field called your Heart Torus. If Yang becomes Yin, then it follows that the deepest levels of refinement of your meridians Jing 經 are determined (and limited) by the refinement of your conscious state and the volume of traume and distress you have experienced in your life.

This is why the Yi Jin Jing process includes, and is completed through, the most meditative, nuanced, and internal aspects of Qi Gong called Nei Gong.

Nei Gong training often begins after the completion of, or after the first year of, the Yi Jin Jing system of cultivation.

Yi Jin Jing is a Lifelong Practice

The way I was taught, it takes three years of practice to completely integrate all aspects of the Yi Jin Jing system. Integrating a Nei Gong practice can help in many ways, but is not necessary.

Each year, the process begins in the Spring, and each part of the process takes more involvement, and the supporting practices become more important. As the seasons move into Winter, the focus shifts towards Bone Marrow (mind/Body) Purification.

After a few years of practice, the amount of effort and intensity becomes less and less physical, and much more about how coherently you experience your Inner Landscape, how deeply and slowly you breathe, and how profoundly you can enter into complete coherent interactive and meditative embodiment.

Although the Muscle Tendon Transformation can give you almost unbelievable strength, speed, and power, the long term goal is to sustain a pain free meditation posture for many hours almost every day.

Although the Bone Marrow Purification can help you release your deepest holding patterns and help rejuvenate your Jing (Essence), the long term goal is a depth of meditation, clarity, and a ‘profound beyond profound’ tranquility that causality itself falls away.

$2247

$1497

The Yi Jin Jing practice can improve many aspects of your life!

Each of the Eight Bridges (above) can support your personal health and your ability to support others.

If you are a clinician, therapist, teacher, or another kind of health care professional or coach, or an experienced Qi Gong or Martial Arts practitioner, this 8-month journey of improving the strength, tone, and elasticity of all of your connective tissue will give you some unique and ancient resources. For the rest of your life.

Join this rare opportunity to learn authentic Shaolin Qi Gong and expand your horizons, on the inside and out.