Heart of Being Courses

Heart of Being - CYCLE OF LIFE - WATER PHASEH

The annual series of five courses, The Cycle of Life, is based on the Oriental model of the creative cycle of life of the FIVE ELEMENTS or PHASES. This particular course focusses on the dynamics and reality of the WATER PHASE, the element associated with winter.

This particular Phase/Element relates to the YIN aspect of our being, as understood by Chinese mystics. Yin pertains to all things internal, hidden, essential, precious, mysterious and esoteric. Like the night, not much is visible in the realms of Yin, yet all that we are comes from the inner depths of our being as well as the Great Mystery. Many Daoists consider that Water is the most precious Phase of all, as it represents the "extraordinary", esoteric and spiritually alchemical dynamic of ESSENCE (JING).

The primary practice in this course is meditation and internal Qigong, (NEI GONG). We will look into the meaning and reality of essence in the 'Heart of Being' and Daoist contexts in order to comprehend this profound yet enigmatic paradigm. We can explore great depths within the realm of Water, in particular our Core and the origin of life; for, Water relates to the SOURCE (YUAN). All that is within us and throughout the Cosmos originates from the greatest of mysteries; the constant continuum of being, present from before time and space itself, what is called BEFORE-HEAVEN.

Our connection to this unified, infinite and eternal state of being, also known as The ABSOLUTE, is through our essence. To make it a reality in the here and now, we need to sink into the very core of our being and merge with it. Then we will emerge renewed and more in touch with our authentic self and essential nature.

We will be working with a range of approaches that facilitate a deeper connection with our core which is also closely associated with Essence. For, it is our essential nature and self that is contained within and represented by our Core. Qigong, breathwork, meditation, visualisation, reflection, enquiry, movement and bodywork techniques will be used within the Heart of Being framework to reveal the essence of our being and the true nature of our ORIGINAL FACE, as defined by Daoist mystics.

According to the ancient texts this most precious of treasures of Jing is found through spiritual wisdom. In our times we undertake such a journey using Classical Chinese energetic knowledge, recent therapeutic understandings, plus unique insights of the Heart of Being approach. These are combined to create a practical multi-layered mode specifically adapted for our modern living in our fragmented and frantic environment. In this course the space will be created to sink into our core being to become familiar with our essential nature and so connect to our innate truth and wisdom.