As I mentioned in my earlier post, Chi-Gung is the most profound science I applied in my life; hands down! I am a life long athlete that had tried every program, technique or regiment existing on the planet, and one thing for certain, I wish someone would have turned me on to Chi-Gung much earlier in life. In the attached short video, Dylan gives an articulate, short presentation providing a specific exercise known as palms raised to heavens triple burner, a moving meditation exercise for mobilizing, circulating, balancing and storing of energy. This exercise is simple but very effective, coupled with the earlier post Intro into Chi-Gung“Energy work”, will provide the new practitioner with a great foundation to work with. Watch the vid and read the article, once you put into practice you will be very grateful you did! The exercise seems a little slow and boring in comparison to many western exercises, but don’t under-estimate the power of the subtle and spiritual energy gained from Chi-gung practice.
Chi-Gung is for everyone
The awesome thing about Chi-Gung, it’s for everyone! Healthy, sick, young and old, everyone can enjoy the health benefits from practice, and you do not have to belong to a specific religion or be a martial artist to do so. Set aside all the dogma and give it a try! Just thirty peaceful, meditative minutes a day and you’re on the way 🙂 Hope you enjoy, like and share the video so others can catch the opportunity too. Thanks for stopping by! Namaste, love & peace.
And the not so heavenly 🙂 View all things with a grain of salt, because it just may be shaped or reshaped by a photoshop artist. Enjoy this video presentation showing how easy it is making the not so perfect seem just a little more so.
Growing up in the heartland of America gave me a close and personal experience of the agriculture industry, especially the mass production of animals like cows, pigs, and chickens. For many years I was told that it was necessary for humans to consume animals in order to live, we needed the protein and other nutrients consumed by these animals, and it was all part of the natural process. I spent many hours on farms, ranches, and feedlots watching these animals, and the one thing that really caught my attention was how intelligent and loving to each other these animals are and how one species, like a pig, would accept, live with, and sometimes care for an animal of another species. It was difficult indeed, especially if you generally like animals and even made a few of them pet friends. In order to facilitate my diet I simply just put it out of my mind, every time the thought or TRUTH popped up, I justified by thinking it was the natural order of things. Also, I knew many of my friends and their families relied on this industry for money, making it even more difficult to change one’s perspective or opinion on the subject. Simply put, I lied to myself and anyone else opposed to the industry. Now many years later and no longer living in the midwest I have found it much easier to take an altruistic view on the subject. Also, I’m not as concerned about stepping on toe’s; not as if I am the whistle-blower on the subject, Hollywood has done much of that with movies like Fast food nation. Anyway, it could not be avoided as I went introspectively with yoga and meditation, it was impossible for me to continue to ignore my experiences on the farms. The flood gates opened and all the dirty little secrets resurfaced. I was reminded of the neglect, abuse, and torture of these animals, as well as the nasty feeds and injections that are used. And don’t even get me started about the way workers of the feedlots, slaughterhouses, and packing plants, are treated and grossly underpaid in comparison to the workers with the same jobs forty to fifty years ago. I could also write a book about examples of the bad karma experienced by many people I knew that were associated with this industry as well. One thing for certain, it did not take much to convince me to try alternatives with my diet.
Let us set aside any moral questions at this moment and ask one question: Is it necessary to kill animals in order for humans to survive? Well, that’s easy to answer. NO! Not only are there many vegans and vegetarians living as proof, but there are athletes that train and compete at a high levels without any animal proteins or animal bi-products (as seen in the attached video) and most likely have an advantage over those that do consume animal flesh. For myself, it was a question of dead energy (cooked animal flesh) vs live energy (raw or uncooked foods) and raw meats just does not sound all that appetizing to me. And of course my moral obligation as a cultivator of creation is equally important as well! I was going to post some videos of my current level of athletic training to give a visual account of my progress since going vegan but the vegan fitness stars in the attached video beat me too it 😦 Actually, I had some slight hang-ups from yoga and was not quite as far along as these guys, and more importantly I wanted to get family and friends to enjoy the benefits of the vegan diet: more mental & physical energy, efficient digestion, low nonessential fats, and good karma 🙂 Step it up, Go Vegan!
This particular recipe is used by a group of vegan athlete’s that train rigorously on a daily basis. The chocolate smoothie has numerous beneficial vitamins & minerals (energies) to facilitate an extremely intense workout regiment (My main course meal everyday). With that said, if this recipe can provide a pro athlete with ample energy, then imagine what it can do for someone who would like to trim a little off the belly, or someone who simply wants to add a little snack treat without stressing about it. Whether youre training for competition sports or just wanting to add a new treat to your diet, I think you will enjoy this healthy and delicious recipe. In effort adding some diversity I like to mix up the ingredients and quantities a little, and this chocolate smoothie is no exception. For the sake of having a base to start with I will give quantities, but I rarely measure any of the ingredients anymore; a splash of this and a splash of that to get the desired taste and effect 😉 You will need a blender and a stick to fight off those sneaky buggers that come running every time they hear the blender. I hope you enjoy!
Single serving portions:
1 Banana
1/2 – 1 cup spring water ice (the more ice and milk the more watered down effect)
1/3 cup Hemp milk ( or almond, coconut, or soy) sometimes I use all of them.
1/3 cup of Almond butter
1/3 cup of Organic peanut butter
hefty tbl spoon of unsweetened cocoa (experiment to get desired chocolate taste)
1 tbl spoon of oraganic blue agave
I throw in a splash of Vega One brand- all in one nutritional shake mix, to get a little added protein (optional of course)
Depending on my activities for the day I usually can make it the entire day off this one smoothie, a veggie fruit juice, and water.
Chi-Gung: Energy work
shamanistical 