Taoist Healing Imagery

Description

Seven advanced visualizations utilize ancient Taoist imagery to build self-awareness, unity of mind and body, and ultimately: enlightenment. While healing with imagery is relatively new to the West, its use in China dates back to Taoist texts from the 3rd century BCE. We learn that these healing techniques induce what modern brain researchers call an alpha-theta state, where the unconscious comes to consciousness, and the mind reaches a blissful clarity. They are rarely taught outside of China today. Ken Cohen (author of Chi Kung Meditations) gives exact instructions on correct postures, breathing, attunement to nature, mental states, and flow of internal energy. Meditations include: Tan Tien Breathing-stimulates the internal reservoir of energy; Three Tan Tiens-inner contemplation of your energy centers; Dragon and Tiger Meditation-to increase the level of vitality in the body; Golden Light Solar Meditation-absorbing chi or life energy from nature. Review: a gift of relaxation & renewal - I'm not a new age-y person, but the visualizations on the cd helps me relax anytime, anywhere. It would be a good gift for a stressed out friend or family member because you get powerful images & a hypnotic voice to calm & balance yourself anytime. Towards the end I find the planet meditations a little far fetched & am not able to relate to them, but this CD is like a cook book, you have several different recipes (visualizations) to choose from & focus on your favorites, you don't need to do everything. The basic intro, breathing, dantien focus, & colors are what make this CD highly valuable to me. While obviously not meant to be used in the car, it is possible to get some benefit from listening with eyes open while driving. Review: Guided Meditations/Visualizations - This tape is almost entirely Taoist energy visualization practices--with little theory. The author has other books etc. which presumably cover the theory. There are quite a few different techniques included on this cassette. Some have similar features to kundalini yoga & Rosicrucian exercises but are quite dissimilar to Reiki. They are much closer to Tibetan Buddhist completion stage practices with prana, bindu, drops, etc. than any of the others IMHO. Exercises include breathing techniques, sun/moon/stars energy attunement, chakras (with a different terminology & different colors/meanings for the planets), etc. The overall intent is a "flowing with the forces of creation." i.e. the Tao. I cannot tell (without considerable practice to see definitive results) how efficacious they are, but their similarity to known practices infers their usefulness. The tape is well presented & well recorded. I was delighted to be able to learn a bit more about Taoist practices. I hope you will also.