Winter Newsletter

Here comes Winter with her dark white tree-clawed sky, and when better to renew friendships? Bringing the Courage of Autumn to the Wisdom of Winter with remembrance, reconciliation and peace-making, celebrating Kris's 70th at our Winter Gathering on 5th December, bring food to share, a song to sing and a heart of light. Candlelight Meditation and feasting from 5.30 pm at 68 Great Eastern Street.

Meanwhile, exciting pre-hibernation things to do: A Shiatsu Open Evening followed by Intensive Immersion, and a Taoist Step 1 followed by ... Step 2! And, early days yet but bookings in already for Tai Chi Winter Intensive, Tao Yin, Taoist Shamanic Healing in January, and a Valentine Weekend for Couples in February (a few spaces left, see below). Come on by!

All the info on what you like - see you there!

Cool links to connect you with what's what, where and how:

• 19th November Jade Circle Level 2 with Anamarta
• 24th November Zen Shiatsu Free Open Evening with Kris and Marta: no need to book, come on by and learn about the Zen approach to Shiatsu
• 27th & 28th November Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1: Harmony of Yin and Yang, the first experience of Taoist Alchemy: transforming stress into vitality, awaken healing light.
• 29th November to 2nd December Shiatsu Intensive Immersion with Kris and Marta, four days of the Art of Gentle Healing, leading to Certificate in Practical Shiatsu and your first steps on the Way of the Helping Hand - watch video
• 1st December Special Jade Circle Level 1&2 together! with Anamarta
• 5th December Winter Gathering for remembrance, reconciliation and peace-making, candlelit meditation and feasting
• 11th & 12th December Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 2: Greater Harmony of Yin and Yang with Tanya and Matt. The next step on the Taoist path: motivation, increasing confidence; managing that special energy
• 8th & 9th January Tai Chi Winter Intensive with Chief Instructor Matt Lewis: learn the form and applications
• 22nd January Tao Yin Yoga with Matt: like Yoga? Love Tao Yin! Like Chi Kung? Love Tao Yin!
• 28th thru' 31st January Taoist Shamanic Healing with Kris Deva North
• 12th & 13th February Valentine Weekend for Couples with Kris and Anamarta (places left for just four couples)
  

Christmas Shopping? The Taoist Book Store has opened at Amazon.co.uk, with titles on Meditation, Martial Arts, the Art of the Bedchamber, a whole section on books for Taoist Women, Healing (including a Shiatsu Reading List with discounts for students with the NUS-extra card - see Student Union below), and individual categories for Taoist authors. Browse with a click here

27th & 28th November Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1: Harmony of Yin and Yang. The first step, the first experience of Taoist Alchemy: transforming stress into vitality, awaken healing light, leading to:

11th & 12th December Step 2: Greater Harmony of Yin and Yang: Motivation, increased confidence; managing energy: a workshop in Taoist Alchemy for individuals and couples.
There are excellent savings to be made by signing up for both these courses together. More info on this, plus course content, with a click here.

'Taoist Medicine Wheel - Tao of the Shaman Part 1' available here in full colour illustrated pdf (you can see the Chapter-list.) Weekly serialisation on the Taoist Blog here. This week's Chapter (6) is I Ching, the Book of Change, contributed by Guillaume Bouteloup.

For the full Taoist Calendar click here

Watch the Iron Shirt Chi Kung video;

Sale of Books and special savings on Resource Packs for Steps 1 to 4, Tai Chi, Chi Nei Tsang, Jade Circle.

Join us for the Winter Gathering 5th December 5.30pm for remembrance, reconciliation and peace-making: bring food to share, a song to sing and a heart of light. Candlelight Meditation and Feasting from 5.30 pm at 68 Great Eastern Street.

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November Newsletter Universal Healing Tao

Air cools as nights draw in and thoughts turn like leaves to warmer times past or future, hopes and memories of good turns done, friendships lost and found, of magic childhood moments getting into warm ironed pyjamas in front of the fire...
A Taoist autumn is to let go the melancholy of season's change, grow courage to face winter, and smell the sunshine on those rare bright days that skymark this time. One such lit up the half-marathon when we gave shiatsu to the Capital runners: it was a real thrill to hear their appreciation on the radio. The week before we were at the Mind Body Soul exhibiting the art of gentle healing, meeting new people and making new friends.
And now, hooray for Amazon publishing three e-books: Taoist Medicine Wheel, Finding Spirit in Zen Shiatsu and Taoist 4Play Shiatsu Secrets for Love, that people can download for really a very small sum to read on (the beach?) their Kindles, iPhones, iPads, Androids, Blackberries ... when I first went to school we wrote on slates; paperbacks had just been invented, credit cards not even a tinkle in a banker's eye, and keys were made for locking. Now we can go anywhere in the world and spend money by tapping numbers on keypads - scary!
Talking of years, our Winter Gathering on 5th December will be a celebration of Kris's 70th and an occasion for remembrance, reconciliation and peace-making. We would love to see you there.

We close the Year opening doors to new experiences in Shiatsu and the Tao. Come on by!

All the info on what you like - see you there!

Cool links to connect you with what's what, where and how:

• 3rd November Jade Circle Level 1 with Anamarta
• 8th November (- 20th December) 'Chi Kung for Health and Vitality' with Tanya in North Wales
  
• 11th November Zen School of Shiatsu Assessment-Training Day
  
• 19th November Jade Circle Level 2 with Anamarta
• 24th November Zen Shiatsu Free Open Evening with Kris and Marta: no need to book, come on by and learn about the Zen approach to Shiatsu
• 27th & 28th November Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1: Harmony of Yin and Yang. The first step, the first experience of Taoist Alchemy: transforming stress into vitality, awaken healing light.
  
• 29th November to 2nd December Shiatsu Intensive Immersion with Kris and Marta, four days of the Art of Gentle Healing, leading to Certificate in Practical Shiatsu and your first steps on the Way of the Helping Hand - watch video

Click for Kris's ebooks on Amazon including the latest 'Taoist Medicine Wheel - Tao of the Shaman Part 1'
Also available here in full colour illustrated pdf (you can see the Chapter-list.)
Also serialised on the Taoist blog with, so far, Ch1 From History to Mystery, 2 Comparison with other Traditions, 3 Evolution of the Medicine Wheel, and coming next, Chapter 4 The Five Elements.
A paperback version 'Taoist Shaman, Practices from the Wheel of Life' co-authored with Mantak Chia, is due out soon published by Destiny Books.

27th & 28th November Foundations of Taoist Practice Step 1: Harmony of Yin and Yang. The first step, the first experience of Taoist Alchemy: transforming stress into vitality, awaken healing light, leading to:
11th & 12th December Step 2: Greater Harmony of Yin and Yang: Motivation, increased confidence; managing energy: a workshop in Taoist Alchemy for individuals and couples.
There are excellent savings to be made by signing up for both these courses together. More info on this, plus course content, with a click here.

For the full Taoist Calendar click here

Watch the new Iron Shirt Chi Kung video;

Sale of Books and special savings on Resource Packs for Steps 1 to 4, Tai Chi, Chi Nei Tsang, Jade Circle.

Congratulations to Mariela Taskova, the first Associate Instructor in Bulgaria of Grandmaster Mantak Chia's Universal Healing Tao System . Mariela did her first training at the London Tao Center with Kris Deva North. Well done Mariela!

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Taoist Medicine Wheel - Tao of the Shaman

On the publication of the Taoist Medicine Wheel Kris Deva North offers this overview of Taoist Shamanism

My interest in Taoist Shamanic practice began with that 1998 interview with Master Mantak Chia at the Tao Garden:

"A group of Aryans was shipwrecked on the China shore thousands of years ago. They did not die, nor have children, and became known as the Shining Ones. They taught shamanic practices, including the protective circle, calling the elements, ecstatic journeying and flight, power animals and tutelary deities or guides.
"With the rise of Buddhism shamans were persecuted, like witches in the west. They continued their practices in secret, without the use of drums, rattles, robes or other articles of the craft to identify themselves. The saying goes ‘you cannot tell a sage by his clothes.’ They were also known as magicians, wizards and sorcerers.
"Magic is like religion. It can be of great benefit, or cause great harm. In Taoist magic as in the Tao, there is no judgement - we are all responsible for ourselves. As long as you do not harm another being, you are free to do what you want."

My studies and research over the years since show that some of the old shamanic arts flourish today under the shield of Chinese Medicine, most practitioners unaware of the magical connections.

From its shamanic roots, Taoism rose to become the official religion of the Imperial Dynasties. It is the foundation of most Chinese art, of the Traditional Chinese Medicines we know today as acupuncture and herbalism, of Chinese Astrology and Divination, of Tai Chi Chuan "the Supreme Ultimate" combining meditation and martial art, and of the esoteric sexual practices taught to the Emperors by their female advisers to form the basis of Taoist Alchemy: the quest for immortality.

Outside of the Imperial Court Taoism evolved as the folk religion, the Old Ways common to many First Nations, a way of mystery and secrecy, with rites, rituals, and initiations. A notice stating ‘There is an altar in this house’ was a sign of a safe haven for the travelling Taoist during the Buddhist persecutions. The tradition has been maintained to this day to show the location of a Taoist household or temple.

Barefoot healers, pre-Taoist shamans, wearing red headbands, wandered naked and were subject to fits, a characteristic particularly of the Siberian but also known among shamans of other traditions.

The shaman, as ‘mediator with spirit’ is chosen by spirit and called by humans when healing practices such as herbs, massage, acupuncture or allopathy have failed. If the sickness prevails, Shaman finds out from Spirit what healing the soul needs for the body to be whole again. Everything is a gift and a blessing, for everything is Love, and gratitude and thanks must be given even for hurt and pain. Then harmony can be restored between soul and body.

Practitioners of shamanism can be susceptible to suffering afflictions of spirit in this earthly dimension. I personally know two people, one an acknowledged practitioner and the other a young boy recognised by his teachers as having shamanic power, who have an extremely difficult time living in the "normal" world themselves but through their spirit-connection are able to help others. This of course is where modern-day Taoist practitioners have the advantage of the Healing Tao system to protect themselves from depletion and contamination.

Families and priests, sources of the great Schools of Taoism with their ideological and geographical differences, practiced Shamanic Taoism as local cults. The simple philosophy, or Tao Chia, expounded by Lao Tsu in the Tao Te Ching c600 BCE had become Tao Chiao, religious dogma, by 2nd Century of the new millennium. The ‘Do-It-Yourself’ principles of Taoism were competing with Confucianism’s reassuringly strict codes of behaviour for all situations. After another thousand years the Complete Clarity school sought to return to the untrammelled simplicity of the original practice.

Interesting comparisons between Taoist and other shamanic practices:

Worship by Smoke: the Native American "peace-pipe" equates to the Taoist practice of burning incense, with the smoke rising as a prayer to Heaven. The Taoist has the additional feature of the ash falling as a prayer to Earth. The Taoist also uses the ash to establish other "altars" such as when the student leaves to start their own practice; they take a pinch of the accumulated ash from the mother-altar.

Purification by Sweat: here is a common thread running around the world among First Nations in the cool-to-temperate latitudes. Native Americans with their Sweatlodge, North Europeans with Sauna and the Taoist Hot Tub Immersion all share the sweat-detox practice, social as well as ritual in nature.

Symbolic Sacrifice: common to all traditions with varying relationships between symbolism and reality, from the killing of the Corn God at the end of the harvest in North America and Europe, to the ritual breaking of bones until death in the Siberian tradition, to the burying of slaves at the temple corner among the ancient Hawaiians, crucifixion and ascension for Christians etc etc. The suffix name -ti for the Emperor implies a meat sacrifice reflecting the killing of the old one when his son reached puberty. The shamanic blood-sacrifice traditions of ancient China were modified in religious Taoism: the scriptures were written on parchment, which is made from lambskin, a lamb being killed only once but thereafter each time the priest reads the scriptures he evokes the spirit of the sacrifice.

Ecstatic Flight: Whereas the early Taoist practice culminated in ecstasy, the shamanic practice began thus, using it to launch into the celestial or lower realms. Other traditions perceive the Taoist practice as more familiar with the Heavenly path than the lower worlds. True, Taoists begin with the celestial realm then use its light to illuminate the dark places below.

Bone Spirits: all traditions practise "changing the bones", the cellular crystalline structures capable of transmitting and receiving energy-waves: the first radios were crystal-sets. Mantak Chia teaches bone-changing through the Advanced Iron Shirt practice. In Hawaiians cooked off the flesh and preserved the thigh-bones (the location of the bones of the last king who died 100+ years ago is still kept secret.)

Initiation: common to all traditions and the Taoist are as testing as most. Overcoming obstacles the Initiate gains knowledge of her or himself and learns secrets of the craft. Through Initiation the Shaman learns the power of Spirit, using it to understand the illusion of fear and physical limitations of discomfort and fatigue. After the Ordeal of Initiation the Shaman is reborn to take his place in the Community and returns to the Outer World

The Shaman is the Healer in the community and, particularly in the Taoist tradition, is known only to the community, unknown in the Outer World. This secrecy stems from the days of persecution. As Healing Warrior, the Shaman mediates with, or combats, Spirit, by taking into her or himself the energies, to heal and to seal.

For more information and a Chapter List of the book go to: Taoist Medicine Wheel - Tao of the Shaman 1
I plan to serialise extracts from each Chapter over the coming weeks, so watch this space! Meanwhile, you can buy the pdf from Universal Healing Tao UK and an e-version for your Kindle or iPad from Amazon.

Jade Goddess and Alchemy of Man visits in October

Saida Desilets (Teachings of the Jade Goddess) and her partner Sol Sebastian (Alchemy of Man)are known for their popular and well-attended seminars.
Anamarta has worked with Saida in the past, and says "I highly recommend this seminar to all women who want to learn or continue to learn more about the Jade Egg holistic practice and delve into their feminine in a profound and at the same time comfortable way. I attended Saida's seminars a few years ago, and I found it so worthwhile, definitely an inspiration for my teaching."
Sol's work is new in the UK and we feel especially pleased to be hosting him. Both Saida and Sol are giving a talk at Alternatives of St James's Piccadilly on the evening of Monday 4th October. We will be there selling Saida's book Emergence of the Sensual Woman and CD, and Jade Eggs, and you can find out more about the subject, times etc, and book your place for the talk at Alternatives web page (below). (I don't know if you've ever been to one of the Alternatives events at St James's in Piccadilly - great atmosphere, talking about Taoist practice in church!)
Their programme here at our London Tao Centre runs from Friday evening 8th October through Sunday 10th. Saida will be teaching her 'Living your Bliss' workshop for women at the Centre, and Sol teaching 'Alchemy of Man' close by, a venue within easy walking distance. Beforehand, Anamarta and Saida will co-facilitate a Jade Circle on Wednesday evening, 6th October. Click to email Anamarta for more about this.
We are really looking forward to hosting these two outstanding Taoist teachers and very much hope you can take the time to come on by and learn something new and interesting: why not take a look at the links with all the info:
Saida & Sol at Alternatives 4th Oct
Saida's Workshop for Women 'Live Your Bliss' 8th to 10th Oct
Sol's Workshop for men 'Alchemy of Man' 8th to 10th Oct

See you there!

All the best

Kris & Anamarta

Universal Healing Tao UK

The Tai Chi Retreat and Summer Training camp

The Tai Chi Retreat and Summer Training camp: well, we all shared the weather - as you see from the clothes! ! It was kind for the sweat-lodge on the last evening and packing up on the final morning. Before that, whatever the weather-gods threw at us, everyone turned up to all the sessions, learned a lot and came out with some great skills, as well as new friends and a deepened practice. Plus a bonus: a sense of 'the English at play' if you know what I mean (and if not - think picnics in the rain, windswept beaches, stiff upper lips.) Afterwards our gracious host, Sue Hix at the Rosewell Centre, wrote 'Tea, cake and pancakes always taste better after a little hardship.'

Now we're looking forward to Andy Fretwell's Enlightenment Qigong at the weekend, followed by Healing NLP Practitioner training on Monday, (both indoors at the London Tao Centre!)

Tai Chi Retreat and Summer Training Camp

Sleeping under the stars, (in your tent!), community cooking round the camp-fire, learning new things, meeting new people ... and five days of fantastic Tai Chi ... 10th to 15th August. Look at the fun we had last year:



Its only £197 for the five days, Tuesday pm to Sunday lunchtime - learn more and sign up!

Iron Shirt Chi Kung new video

Mantak Chia's system of standing Chi Kung (QiGong) Meditations presented by the London Tao Centre. Monday evenings, 6.30 to 8pm and in Step 1 of the Foundations of Taoist Practice. Kris Deva North and Anamarta share different interpretations of Iron Shirt Chi Kung by Universal Healing Tao UK.