Door V · Part Two · The Night: Of the Night That Lays the Soul Bare
«Darkness does not extinguish: it attunes».
Touch the door to open it.
Shooting Arrows to the Left and Right
My intention as I practice it: I aim with love, I release with truth.
The technical name of this form is Shooting Arrows.
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
- Walk to feel the space and find the right place to practice. Then make the common opening from the «Common Guide to the Practices»: sense, soften, and smile from the heart.
- Repetitions
- The choice, frequency and repetitions of each form are learned with the instructor.
- Closing
- After the repetitions you have learned with your instructor, leave room for the flow of Chi and for stillness. Finish with 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
«If I lose my way, I come back and say so»
As a personal gesture, recognize a yes or a no that you need to say. Look for words that express that boundary clearly and without deliberately wounding.
Seven days
Each day, recognize a yes or a no you need to say, and look for the words. 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
Remember a particular time when you needed company. Return for a moment to where you were. What was happening to you then? What could you say, and what was left without words?
If it was hard to speak, pause there. What did you fear the other person would think of you? Was there something in what you were living that was also hard to acknowledge alone?
You can begin by acknowledging it alone, without explaining it to anyone yet.
Perhaps you were able to ask for help. Perhaps you kept silent. Look at what happened afterwards and what you needed to receive in that moment.
You can write that first sentence and let it rest before deciding whether you want to share it.
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
«En una noche oscura,con ansias, en amores inflamada,¡oh dichosa ventura!,salí sin ser notada,estando ya mi casa sosegada».
The night of John of the Cross keeps me company as I remember three experiences, fourteen years apart from the first to the last. In them I slowly learned to recognize fear and to ask for company.
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«The book tells of an experience; it does not recommend it».
- 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.
- Bejuco tigre
- The name given to the vine used in the Sibundoy ceremony told in Door V, “the vine of the singers.” The book tells of an experience; it does not recommend it.
- Pa Kua (Bagua in pinyin)
- The eight trigrams of the I Ching. In the experience of Door V, the author pictures them as an inner compass: Li, fire; Kan, water; Qian, heaven; Kun, earth.
- Ren and Du
- Two meridians of the Chinese tradition: Ren runs along the front of the body and Du along the back. In Chi Kung they are linked with the circulation called the Small Universe.
- Tezcatlipoca
- A Mexica deity whose name translates as “Smoking Mirror.” In Door V he is mentioned in the explanation that accompanies the work with the mirror.
- Five Elements (Wu Xing)
- Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal, in the traditional Chinese model of correspondences and transformations. In Door V, the author links Metal with boundaries and Fire with purpose; these associations express his reading of the story.
- January 28, 2011
Sibundoy Valley, in the Upper Putumayo: the first night.
- January 2013
Santa Marta.
- June 2018
First retreat with the Abuela.
- October 13, 2022
Colorado: the second night.
- October 18, 2025
Sunrise Ranch: the third night.
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.
Of the Mirror Without a Face
«When the mask falls, the gaze learns to see».
Enter through Door VI«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