Door XI · Part Three · The Center: Of the Spiral of the Saints
«When the soul remembers its orbit, it stops walking: it begins to turn».
Touch the door to open it.
The Sacred Tree Spreads Its Branches
I received this practice together with the image of a tree: its roots, its growth, and the passing of the seasons.
An image to keep you company: firm at the base, supple in the crown.
The book describes this form step by step. The description accompanies learning with an instructor and, afterwards, helps you remember the movements.
«I have decided not to teach these arts to anyone under eighteen». Common Guide to the Practices.
- Opening
- Sense, soften, and smile from the heart.
- Repetitions
- The choice, frequency and repetitions of each form are learned with the instructor.
- Closing
- When you finish, let the breath find its calm. Give room to whatever repentance and gratitude may appear, recognizing your bond with nature. Complete the common closing at the lower Dantian and the facial massage.
- Care
- If a movement causes pain or dizziness, stop.
To carry into the day
«I am in my orbit»
A personal gesture for this door, independent of the school’s exercise:
- Soles on the ground; one hand on the heart and the other on the navel.
- Notice the breath and the touch of your hands on your body. You need not direct the air or imagine it traveling a circuit.
- If a brief smile comes, let it.
- Close by saying a phrase of your own. Mine is: “I am in my orbit.”
Seven days
Each day, with one hand on your heart and the other on your navel, say your phrase. Then mark the day.
0 of 7 days
«If something does not serve you, let it go». What you mark stays on this device.
Write from there
If you can, write on white paper with a graphite pencil. If you don’t have them at hand, write here and then print your notebook.
What you write here is neither sent nor saved: it is erased when you close the site or reload the page. Print it before you leave, and read your journal again often.
More about this door
«¡Oh noche que guiaste!¡Oh noche amable más que la alborada!¡Oh noche que juntasteAmado con amada,amada en el Amado transformada!».
I wrote about what I had lived fifteen days later, on the second of November, in Las Vegas. This story grows from those notes.
St. John of the Cross · Dark Night of the Soul · Ascent of Mount Carmel · Spiritual Canticle · Sayings of Light and Love
St. John of the Cross in the book- Sinew Metamorphosis (Yi Jin Jing)
- A series of exercises of the Shaolin tradition, distinct from the Eighteen Hands and the Eighteen Arts. From it come the forms chosen for Doors X, XI, and XII: The Immortal Cleanses His Eyes, The Sacred Tree Spreads Its Branches, and The Immortal Touches the Sky.
- Abuela
- The name the author gives Dr. Clarissa Pinkola Estés, author of Women Who Run with the Wolves, with whom he worked in the Heart of the Wounded Healer circle.
- Lower Dantian (also spelled dantien)
- “Field of cinnabar”: a center in the lower belly, in the energetic language of this tradition. In the book, attention returns there before the closing facial massage.
- The Three S’s
- Sense, soften, and smile from the heart: the common opening of the practices. Not to be confused with the three moments of a session: opening, activating the Chi, and closing.
- October 18, 2025
Sunrise Ranch, at seven in the evening.
- November 2, 2025
Las Vegas: he writes about what he lived.
The full story is in the book.
A letter every month
Once a month, a short letter from Sifu Carmine «Tony» Colarusso, in Spanish, English, or Italian. You can unsubscribe from any letter.
«You can read one door a week, or stay longer in the one that asks for it».
How to walk through the doorsBack to the thirteen doors