Peaks WeBlog

When I first met my teacher Tseng, Ching ying, she looked at me and said “You can not go to the mountain.” She continued, “You are of this world, you must serve humanity.” When she put my arm on a red pillow and lightly touched my wrist with her fingertips, I felt a subtle energy travel up my arm to yin tang, my third eye, and she said “I know you, I don’t need to take your pulse anymore.” 

 She agreed to give me acupuncture, but only when her husband was at home at night. Her husband, Bruce, was going to medical school at the time and would get home late in the evening. She would sing the pattern of treatment in Chinese before each treatment. The sound of her voice had a very special quality and even though I couldn’t understand the words the songs haunted my dreams for years. It seemed to trigger very old memories that I could not quite remember, I had dreams of being Chinese and heard the songs “fengchi, quchi, Zusanli”

 Her two youngest children were born while they lived here in Richmond. After dinner the family would gather in a circle and put the toddler in the middle of the floor, “Kepeisa! ” baby show!” The toddler would be the center of attention and everyone would laugh and shower love on the little one while they played or performed. The warmth of the family, the gathering of everyone together at the end of the day, the one chi, was what was deemed important. We had enough good food for everyone, a warm place for the baby show, what else did you need? The stress of everyday life melted away.

 One night when my teacher’s youngest child [at that time] was about 6 months old he started crying and she passed him around the circle to each adult in turn. This was the early 80’s and I was “Mister-Mom” to my daughter Holly who was two when I began acupuncture treatment and then studied with the master. I had learned to send the chi to my hands from years of Pa Kua Chang practice. I found I could pacify my daughter when she was an infant by sending the chi to my hands and holding her. It worked every time so when they passed me the screaming baby I sent the chi to my hands and held him with my right hand on his lower back my left hand on his neck. He stopped crying immediately and opened his eyes a little wider than normal and gave me a “knowing look.”

Amy jumped up from her chair and exclaimed that the baby recognized me from a past life! That meant I was family, and not just gungfu family, I was made a part of the family! I had never been so honored, the warmth and healing energy of that family was a blessing. Many people felt healed after just coming over and sitting on the couch & speaking to the master. Her house had a very special vibe.

 On several occasions she told me I was her brother from a past life and because of this connection she agreed to teach me. Her children still refer to me as “Uncle Wilson.” That is one of those times in life when you look back and recognize a fork in the road and you took one path and not another. I chose the this path because it had heart, you could feel it in her house, at dinner, in the treatment room, in the circle clapping, watching the baby show, this path, this Dao, had heart.

 She picked the American name Amy Ballon and began to try to learn more English at this time. Amy told me to come to her house every day at 3 o’clock for acupuncture treatment. The first day I arrived a little after two to be sure I wasn’t late. I interrupted her meditation hour, something I never did again, but this time she led me in and then resumed her meditation. I joined her. it was wonderful, to this day there is nothing so special to me as the times I got to meditate with her. I still keep 2-3 in the afternoon for meditation when I am home. At 3 o’clock she opened her eyes and said in a low voice, “Who taught you to do the meditation?”

I told her I read a book about TM and taught myself when I was 13, and really found that it was what I had been doing ever since I was much younger and had no words for. Her eyes turned to slits and she shook her head, “So strange.” she said

 Besides extensive acupuncture treatment she gave me lessons in Chinese language, culture, calligraphy, and cooking. After I had gone through the whole course of treatment she had me go back to my daily gungfu practice and she took my pulse after I did each form. She advised me in my internal practice and corrected my energy body in each form. She also demonstrated her gung fu on numerous occasions.

To be continued

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by Wilson Pitts

 Amy always stressed “half-half,” balance, so we will attempt to balance the Eastern and Western answers to your questions.

  1. You say to steam the vegetables, why shouldn’t I eat them raw?

In Chinese terms the raw fruits and vegetables have the cold energy. In other words, it takes energy from your body in order to digest them and this reduces the amount of nutrition you can absorb from them. Eating raw fruits and vegetables introduces this cold energy into your body where it first effects your stomach and then can go in to become stuck at the sight of an old injury or in a joint, leading to pain and stiffness in that area of the body. Cold energy tends to go down and effect the lower portions of the body while preventing the chi from going down which produces symptoms of stomach and intestinal upset, especially diarrhea, and low back and knee pain.

 In Western terms many of the vegetable’s most essential antioxidant nutrients are locked inside their tough walled cells. For instance, eat a raw carrot and your body will absorb about 4% of the cancer fighting carotenoids, however if you cook the carrot for a little while you can quadruple the amount of carotenoids your body can absorb. You get five times more absorbable iron from cooked broccoli than from raw. The first thing they teach you in mountaineering is to melt snow with a stove before drinking it, because if you eat snow it takes energy from your body to heat the snow up and you will dehydrate faster. The same thing is going on in your body when you eat raw vegetables.

 Here is Amy lecturing about Chinese Dietary Therapy at the University of Richmond last year.  http://youtu.be/XFjrXlSgHww

2. My husband has terrible back spasms and pain but he refuses to take any more pain medication or muscle relaxers. What can he do to at least help ease these symptoms without taking drugs?

 The easiest and most effective home remedy is to get a heating pad and some cold pressed castor oil and make a compress. Do not use the heating pad without the oil as it can dry out your blood and cause even worse pain. Lay on the warm compress for 45 minutes once each day for 3 to 5 days. This is an Edgar Casey remedy that really works well. It drives cold and stuck energy out and relieves inflammation.

 Now, to improve the problem in the long run, or at least to effectively manage the pain, stop eating fire or cold energy foods because this extreme energy gets stuck at the site of the injury and this is the cause of the pain and spasm. Drink ginger tea and cassia tea, exercise until you break a mild sweat each day, and treat any constipation problems because this really makes back problems worse. It is also important to keep the abdomen trim and the muscles there in good shape. Acupuncture can definitely help, channels indicated are Du Mai, Stomach, Kidney, and Gallbladder. 

3. What do you recommend for type2 [adult onset] diabetes?

 In Western medicine, diabetes is caused by a lack of insulin. Insulin helps to escort sugar (nourishment) into each cell. The up and down blood sugar levels stress the body. Insufficient insulin results in starving cells and sugar backing up into the blood. Too much insulin damages arterial walls.

 In Chinese medicine, diabetes is called Wasting and Thirsting Disease. It is said to be caused by a collapse of the Yin. It may involve the Kidney, the Stomach, or the Lungs. Chinese herbal medicine can be extremely effective for type 2 (adult onset) diabetes. There are several key points that must be addressed to successfully treat adult onset diabetes holistically.

 Eating consistently, by the clock, is the first key to dealing with diabetes. This prevents bouts of hypoglycemia, which burn the pancreas out. A warm energy, low fat, high nutrition diet is really important. Take GTE Chromium picolinate everyday as supplement.

 Lose body fat, this is really important, fat blocks or slows the flow of chi through the body, thus leading to the collapse of the yin. This “collapse of the yin” means the body’s ability to take in nutrition and replace the “fuel” that is burned up in the fire of metabolism. This ties directly to the other important step to be taken and that is getting enough exercise. The diabetes patient must exercise until they sweat everyday. Bone soup is helpful with weight loss for diabetics. 

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By Wilson Pitts

The Gao, Yi Sheng  Pa Kua Chang method is a unique educational system that operates on multiple levels and is far more than just a martial art. This system is used to teach integration of the whole person, physically, and energetically. It stresses health and wellness, and is also a method of character building. These are the building blocks of a strong fighter, and they are just as necessary for building strong, healthy, families and communities.

Snake is the first house of the Gao Pa Kua system. It is called the House of Light and it is the foundation for learning the rest of the system. The goal is total body /mind coordination which brings glowing good health. The most basic human process is to walk or run and this is why the most basic practice in Pa Kua is to walk the circle. Many different spiritual rituals around the world involve “walking in balance” on a sacred path and this practice is no different.

The movements are divided into two methods, pre-heaven and post heaven. The pre-heaven practice is circle walking and the changes of direction. This is the mystical path of the shaman [ling] and is a type of yoga practice that works with the fundamental shapes and the coiling and uncoiling of the body. The Spirit of Guidance works through these forms to balance the chi and teach the practitioner. This cannot be forced, you have to put in the time and the work, but at the same time you have to let it happen.  In Gao, Yi Sheng’s own words “Pre-heaven Pa Kua is for strengthening the body.”

The forms represent the process where the work of bringing the heart and the mind into coordination can occur. The energetic balance point of the body between the extremes of hot and cold is warmth. You need to have a direct experience of this warmth, of this balanced chi, to be able to feel and direct it through the other forms. Direct experience of your chi helps the beginner to avoid the verbal trap of projecting their imagination onto the practice and thereby remaining one step removed from it. When you have a direct experience you can trod the path of the other forms with confidence and the whole undertaking has a trueness that is invaluable. This one of the most important aspects of a beginners training that they need to truly understand. This art is huge and can be time consuming so you do not want to waste time practicing one step removed [language about language] from the actual experience.

I have had a life-long interest in different masters attempts to combine the Neijiaquan in different ways, from Sun, Lutang to efforts made at the Central Kuo-shu Academy in the 1920’s. I think that Gao’s collaboration with Wu, Ming Hsia to create the hybrid form that Chang, Jun feng ended up taking to Taiwan is one of the most interesting. They were asking the questions about combat that martial artists have been vexed with from ancient times and answering them in their frame of reference of these Chinese internal arts. On Taiwan Chen, Pan ling and Tao, Ping siang, among others, had extensive training in all three arts and combined elements of them in different ways.

The post heaven practice is a set of eight linked linear forms for each of the eight houses. I n Gao’s words “Post heaven is for protection.” It is a comprehensive systemization of fighting techniques that uses elements of Hsing-I and Yang style Tai chi on a Cheng, ting hua style Pa Kua frame. Chang, Jun feng said that the very first post heaven technique of the first house, Kai kua [to open] is the most important technique of the entire system. This technique most clearly illustrates the basic principles of root, circularity, and extension which are used throughout the entire system. When you can root the opponent’s force they float, and then you can execute the coiling and uncoiling [circular and extending] techniques effortlessly. This method generates astounding power and is a direct expression of the luminous energy developed in the pre-heaven changes.

See Wilson demonstrate Kai on YouTube- http://youtu.be/wNCzkZVuw-g

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I mentioned (in my post from 1/25/10) that during times when I was unable to practice a form (Tai Chi or Pa Kua), that I contemplated it. This is a difficult thing to explain, because Wilson says that you can’t really understand the internal arts without DOING them.  Lots of people read and study the texts, the culture, the history, the philosophy, but without doing the form and experiencing your own chi move, you are not getting the essence of what the internal arts are about.  If we just study or think about it without experiencing it, our thoughts turn “it” into whatever we imagine it to be.   Nothing, and I mean nothing, is the same as becoming aware of your own chi, really feeling it, and the only way to do that is to maintain a diligent practice.

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Well, I was practicing Pa Kua and Wilson was giving me body work and, with the exception of some knee pain, things were going well. And then my entire life changed.  Again.——–This had happened to me before several years prior, when I was learning the Tai Chi Knife Form.  I loved it, but before I was halfway through, I felt an undeniable need to make major changes in my life.  I made them, but whew!  Such changes!  It took everything I had to get through them.  I had nothing left to give to lessons, but I maintained a study.  Even when I didn’t physically do the form, I contemplated it.  (This is for another post.)  ——–Gradually I got my feet beneath me and grew stronger.  I was so excited to have Pa Kua lessons!  I’ve been drawn to Pa Kua since I first heard the name.  I barely got started before another wall of change crashed down on me.  It needed to happen, even though I might have have argued otherwise, if I’d known it was coming.——–Now, more than seven months since my last post, I’m just getting my feet under me again. I have to say, these experiences have given me a nearly overwhelming respect for the internal arts.  Chi is a powerful force.   I lived most of my lifetime without knowing what it was.  Now that I’m learning to unblock and to nourish it, it’s starting to do what it’s supposed to do, which is to flow free and strong.——–The experience is very much like breaking a dam.  Unblocked chi, like water, is powerful.  I’ve been knocked for a loop in every conceivable way.  The landscape of my life was stripped clear, and though it was painful, I am stronger.  I’m feeling more alive and confident than I ever did before.  I know myself better.——–Now it’s time to start over, yet again.  I’m realizing there is a lot of starting over in these arts.  I understand now that there is never a point when I will “have it”.  I must have patience, above everything.——–So I will begin again very, very slowly and much farther back.  I’m not looking to break another dam anytime soon. If it happens, it happens, but good grief!——–I know I need to get in much better physical shape.  Then perhaps this time around I can avoid having knee pain.  I need to practice with the intention of rehabilitating old injuries, or at least accommodating them.  I’m not young, or an athlete.  I must accept who I am.  And I need to continue nourishing my chi.  (Look for my upcoming post on my experience taking a medicinal tea, prescribed by a TCM doctor.)——–I love Pa Kua, and if I am strong enough, I will learn more.  To begin, I’m going to get in shape and do some abs.  Wilson says strong abs increase the fighting spirit. I’m starting with the Total Gym, and I’ll work up from there, with Wilson’s guidance.——–All I can say is, learning to unblock chi and not hiding from the truths I learn about myself is no joke.  But I’m so thankful to be having the experience.

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Invest in Loss Integrating your neigung practice with Push hands  by Wilson Pitts

The body mechanics/ form is one aspect of Taiji training, the internal/spiritual aspect is the other and it is subtler and harder to talk about. They are both natural and have to be balanced and combined for best training results. 

If all of your mental focus just goes to body mechanics then you are on the outside looking in. This leads to pushing and pulling and it tends to degenerate into a test of strength and technique if not outright wrestling, in other words an external martial art contest. Big guys tend to win and the training doesn’t tend to go anywhere in Taiji terms. The internal seems foreign if you are stuck with an external perspective.

We grow up as children on the outside and so it is our default mode. Understanding this natural state of affairs, the training has to be changed to overcome the habits of childhood, which are to pit strength against strength, speed against speed. In Taiji training this is accomplished with the measure [4oz.of pressure, one to three inches of forward movement] and the adaptation of the torso method as a training tool. Now the focus must go inward, take strength out of the play and focus on your chi.

 It is not just words in a book, without a teacher to give certain experiences then you have to have faith enough in the principles to respect and abide by them rather than just give them lip service. This internal, yin, aspect of Taiji is based on Taoist meditation adapted from Wudang shan and Hua shan. Sink your chi to your center in order to make him float using no strength and touching him with only 4oz. of pressure. When he floats he feels like he doesn’t weigh anything and he is easily moved with the slightest push.

I would recommend that you learn a nei gung practice, Yang style Taiji is based on the formula called “turning of the wheel of law” but you need to go through the Taoist formulas in order starting with Fusion of the Five Elements followed by Kan and Li. The wheel of law is an advanced Kan and Li practice. Taiji ruler neigung is also very useful for developing the soft gung in your arms.

Combining the meditation with push hands is another matter. It requires like minded practice partners who will agree not to resist/ wrestle. To get the competitive aspect out of partner practice you have to consider yourself as a baby in Taiji terms. The baby has to be fed, not beat up or resisted with strength. Now, feed each other and develop an environment where you can be soft enough to use the internal, it is very subtle and you cannot develop it in a hard/competitive atmosphere. My teacher used to say you have to imagine you can do it first, before you can actually do it. Hard style people scoff at this idea. The training partner has to knowingly do things wrong, stiffen their arms, lean on you etc so that you can learn to do things right. Listen and learn when they float, you have to practice with this spirit of cooperation and feed each other the baby food to gain the experience of feelings. The atmosphere needs to be one of research, not competition and ego.This is an old learning method the Chinese called “investing in loss” and it is the key to learning this skill set. Take the strength out of your play and focus on your center and go from there. In reality when you can sink your chi you don’t need body mechanics or squatting.

Ideally you combine good stance and body mechanics with the internal for maximum effect. At this point you can use it against uncooperative tui shou partners. There is push/pull, yang/yin but when these are balanced there is a third force, the empty force, the mysterious force and this is what Taoist inspired martial arts are all about.

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Cooking Class - Jack Erhardt’s Notes

Winter Stew

4 cups of water (at least)

1 inch of ginger, as big around as your thumb

1 piece of garlic

4 chicken drumsticks

1 small-medium sized winter squash

1 cup of prewashed kale

1 head of broccoli

3 carrots

1 tbsp of soy sauce and white pepper to taste

1 summer squash

Cook in crockpot for 3 hours- start on high to bring it to a boil and then turn it down, add water as needed.

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Cooking Class - Jack Erhardt’s Notes

What are the five flavors of Chinese cooking?

Spicy, sweet, bitter, salty, sour

What is the recipe for brown sauce?

Cover the bottom of pan with ginger, 1 tsp of dark brown sugar, equivalent soy sauce, add white pepper to taste

What is the recipe for turkey burgers? Describe how to do it.

Make brown sauce

Open package of ground turkey and slice out burger sized portions until the pan is full.  Use a spatula to press the burgers down to squeeze all the excess water out and to flatten them so the flavor is allowed to permeate all the way through.

What is the recipe for Jerk chicken? Describe how to do it. What makes it different?

Make brown sauce, but with a little more white pepper

Put chicken breasts in pan and sear both sides on high heat while spooning the sauce over them.

Bring down to medium heat, cover with pan and let sit for 20 minutes.

Bring back up to high heat and reduce down the sauce by pouring it over the chicken until all of the sauce has cooked away.

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by Jack Erhardt————I just treated myself to a peach yogurt cup after lunch and realized something I’ve never quite been able to put my finger on before.  Peach is a food with energy considered to be hot, as are raspberries and tangerines.  The parallels between the three are few.  All are hot, peaches and raspberries both are hairy, but overall I noticed that despite their radically different flavors they all shared a similar aftertaste.  Now a kiwi (cold) is also hairy, is fairly citrusy, but lacks that slight taste held by peaches, raspberries, and tangerines.  Could intrinsic energies hold a sway over the flavor of a food?

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by Jack Erhardt————Different foods have different energy properties about them.  These energies being cold, cool, warm, hot, and expanding.  Different people also have different body types.  While warm foods are fine to eat for everybody, certain foods should only be eaten by people with compatible body types.  For example someone with a hot body type would do well to eat a snack composed of cherries (warm) and raspberries (hot).  But that same person would be unwise to eat cherries and pineapple (cold).   Most food’s energies change when cooked.  Raw vegetables would be considered cold, but if they were steamed they would be considered warm and good to eat.

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