Some of My Favorite Things
What to me gets more interesting all the time is practises that takes only a little time and effort to do but that gives great results, some felt instantly and some more over the long term. And since I was also always into eating and drinking and changing my state through ingesting substances, I have over the last 10 years or so become ever more fascinated about substances that give me more energy and well being and nurtures me at the same time without depleting my body like coffee, alcohol or other recreational drugs. These has been Tonic herbs mainly from the Taoist tradition, and most lately high quality teas.
Wild Ginseng
This is my favorite herb of all times and I feel my being becoming ever more entwined with this very special and spiritual plant medicin. Wild ginseng is very rare these days and it’s quite pricey. Wild ginseng contains a lot of yin (earth/water) energy that really calms you and help you restore and adapt very efficiently to any circumstances. Ginseng energizes the heart, lungs and spleen energy and enhances your experience of connection to all living things. It tonifies, sort of collects, energy in to your central channel and helps you keep it there. Even though Ginseng is used as, and thought of mainly as an herb that tonifies your chi energy, gives you more energy and improves metabolism and gives an overall sense of well being, the really high quality old roots has a very subtle and beneficial effect on a persons Shen, or psychology, personality and outlook of life. It makes you more resilient, more calm, more loving and helps your spiritual practice tremendously. It’s said that one shouldn't be using stimulants like coffee alongside ginseng as their effect is quite opposite; coffee sort of disperses our central energy, blasting it out to circulate in your outer channels so you experience more energy for a short time, but in the long term your central energy will be depleted. For health, longevity and well being it’s crucial to protect and respect this energy, and for me this lesson brought to practice in every day life over the long term as a great achievement of maturity and wisdom.
The Five Tibetans. (Video coming soon)
This set of excercises are done in synchronization with breath and take only around 10-15 minutes to complete. Some effects are felt right away after doing the exercises, a sense of more groundedness, presence and energy movement throughout the body and energy field, a sense of being more collected. The major effects come gradually and over time when the exercises are performed correctly every day. The most important thing is consistence, to really do them every day and keep at it for long term. Personally I have been doing the five tibetans now for around three years and I can see how they slowly and surely sculpt my body and energy, building and building ever slowly but surely. It’s ok to miss a day here and there but never miss two days in a row. You can find instructions on youtube or online and please take seriously the instructions to start with only a few reps and weekly increase the numbers of reps by two, personally I had to learn this lesson the hard way. An interesting concept of gradual, slow building that takes years and years to accumulate, but whose benefits are undeniable.
Rebounding
So this is the practice of jumping on a trampoline, or a mini trampoline you can use in your own home, or on the porch or outside on a flat surface. Rebounding is a great exercise because the movement effectively moves every cell of your body with very little effort. It creates a pumping movement on the cells that help their metabolism, gets rid of waste and brings in new oxygen and nutrients. For best results do it outside and breath fresh air while rebounding. The best rebounder is the Swiss made bellicon trampoline that has strong rubber bands instead of metal springs. This creates an extremely pleasant jumping experience, soft, smooth, fun and quiet. Rebounding really ramps up your metabolism for the rest of the day, even 10-15min is enough to create this effect. An other interesting effect of rebounding is the effects it has on your awareness and state of mind. It puts you in sort of a meditative state I usually start to notice after about 15minutes of rebounding. The mind gets more empty of thoughts, bodily awareness grows and there might be new, creative thought forms arising in the mind.
Sun Salutations
For years I used to do Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga every morning. After many years away from the practice I find myself doing Sun Salutations in the mornings again and being amazed by the results. The immediately warm my body up to the verge of a small sweat. They stretch my whole body effectively and makes blood and chi flow everywhere. They make my breath more whole and more deep. For the rest of the day I have stronger body awareness, especially my legs and breath. In the afternoons I many times feel some deeper emotions surfacing and being processed. So for now this is a practice I intend to hold on to for some time as it only takes around 20 min to half an hour each morning.
Organic, high mountain Oolong tea and Aged Pu-erh tea.
In Asia Tea is revered highly as a health enhancing agent and holistic medicin. This concept is quite unfamiliar for most of us westerners who grew up with Lipton teabags. Tea’s also been used spiritually and in ceremonial context because of it’s profound and rich effects on awareness and conciousness, that is when the tea is of high quality, organically grown, cured and prepared by traditional methods. In 2016 I decided to buy a small amount of High mountain organic oolong tea. I didn’t have many expectations and had really no Idea about how to brew it properly. After a few cups however I was amazed. The tea effected me greatly. It made me feel more calm yet alert in a relaxed way. I felt more grounded, positive and heart centered. My breath flowed more easily and I just felt really good all over, a very similar feeling to that of wild ginseng. Could this be for real? So I bought more oolong and had a nice love story the whole summer. Later I met a special brother at festival who was a real tea lover and connoisseur, and through him I found out about aged Pu-erh tea. The first one I ever tried was a tea from 1000 year old trees whose roots go down 30m in the ground picking up many rare and special elements from the earth. I could feel this tea slightly stronger, more dank and grounding with much wisdom stored in it’s essence.
Divine Healing Chi Kung. (Video coming soon)
This is an other set of energetic exercise that take only a few minutes to perform but whose effects you can really feel; they ground you, calm you and make you more present and heart centered, Its said that they work specifically on Lung and Heart energy.
