AROUND THE WORLD

 Death and transcendence practices, with teacher Juan Li

The experience of dying is usually thought as the end of everything. By contrast all the great spiritual traditions have been structured with continuity of consciousness at their core and preparation for death at the heart of their training.

The belief that at death everything ends is based on the assumption that the physical dimension is the only one and we are the physical body and nothing else. The materialistic view of life doesn’t take into account the subtle dimension of mind, where thoughts, feelings, dreams, and emotions take place. To break the spell of materialistic thinking, a common teaching in the Asian traditions is: “show me your mind, put it here on the table!”.

The physical dimension is one of forgetting; we forget why we are here, we forget life has a purpose, we forget who we are, we forget our dreams, we even forget where we put the keys we had in our hands two minutes ago. Death is the initiation into remembering who we are.

The most important day in our lives is the day of crossing over into the subtle dimensions. Is the day in which everything we have become determines how the experience unfolds. Death is the culmination of life and how we have lived. Since everything has a previous cause, death is the cause from where life manifests.

We fear what we don’t know anything about and fear of death is at the core of all fears. In this workshop we take on the challenge of illuminating the most important experience in our lives.

In this class we train in:

• Identifying the dissolution of the elements of consciousness as we fall asleep and at the moment of dying
• How to guide the consciousness to the experience of Original Mind
• The four stages of death and transcendence
• The signs the transition has begun
• What to do during the experience of dying
• How to assist someone to die
• How to guide the consciousness of the dying to the higher dimensions
• How to guide the consciousness of someone who is lost in the lower dimensions
• What to do in the days after someone has passed away

The time invested in this workshop can be one of the most important in our lives

Memory Nei Kung: Strengthening the bone, spinal and cerebral marrow, with teacher Juan Li

Memory loss is not only a brain phenomena. Behind all brain functions is the mind as the sum total of all habits, tendencies and decisions made at the personal and family level.

Sometimes in our family history decisions have been made of forgetting unpleasant or painful situations, traumatic experiences or reject anything which doesn’t correspond with our idea of how we believe we are. All imbalances begin at the level of the mind with the decisions we make, which in time, can become key factors in memory loss.

In Daoist medicine, all functions associated with short-term memory are under the administration of the kidneys. They also administer everything that is within bone such as bone marrow, spinal marrow and brain marrow. Long-term memory is under the administration of the heart. Ultimately, the kidneys and the heart are under the control of the Inner Guide who holds the entire life-plan.

In this workshop we learn:

• Some of the emotional causes behind memory loss
• Energy techniques to empower memory taking into account the inherited emotional patters
• Practices to heal the causes of forgetting which begin with forgetting who we are and why we are here
• Exercises to energize the hemispheres of the brain and stimulate regeneration
• Mantras to stimulate the kidney functions

Dream practice intensive, with teacher Juan Li

This dream practice intensive retreat will consist of three parts. On the first part we learn the fundamental elements for establishing a consistent dream practice. The second part focuses on healing practices during dream state. The third part trains in the sequence for crossing dimensions in a state of clarity at the moment of death and transcendence.

The first part of the dream practices develops the basic skills for establishing a conscious bridge between dimensions. The first part consists of:

• Clearing the obstacle of unconsciousness preventing development of dream state as a resource for self-development
• Clearing the obstacle of going to sleep tired which prevents clarity in dream state
• The emotional clearing needed for eliminating stress dreams
• Stabilizing mental clarity allowing dream recall to take place
• The foundations for developing lucidity in dream state
• The start of development of the Yin body of dreams
• Becoming aware there is continuity of consciousness beyond the dissolution of the ego

The second part in the dream practice intensive will focus on healing during dream state. The second part consists of:

• Developing a structure for healing the causes of illness not just the symptoms
• A series of sitting practices for transforming factors of self-rejection, guilt, shame and sustained anger behind serious health imbalances.
• Establishing the experience of Original Mind as the model of absolute health
• Establishing sleep and dream state as a space for healing

The third part of the dream practice intensive will focus on the practices for guiding the consciousness at the moment of dying and transcendence. The third part consists of:

• Finishing any pending cycles and clearing attachments before crossing dimension each day
• Becoming conscious of the dissolution of the elements of consciousness in the process of falling asleep
• Guiding the consciousness to the absolute experience of Original Mind as the elements of consciousness dissolve
• Developing dream state as a platform for guiding the consciousness of the dead to the upper astral dimension

The second and third levels of dream practice require a solid foundation in the first level. This dream intensive retreat is a great opportunity to train establishing what is called in the practices, “a path of transcendence” and counteracting the present tendency to assume we are the physical body and that when we die everything ends. As multidimensional beings, we operate only for a limited number of hours in the physical dimension, our true permanent dimension is the subtle one. The physical dimension is limited by time, the subtle dimensions are beyond time and therefore eternal. As the I Ching suggests, “abide by what endures”.

For someone who has not developed dream state as a resource for self-development, this is a golden opportunity to start charting “a path of transcendence”. For those with experience, this is an opportunity to go deeper into infinity.