Door VIII · Part Two · The Night: Of the Face That Inclines
«Surrender is not upward, but inward».
Touch the door to open it.
The Butterfly Dances from Flower to Flower
Its reference is Butterfly Dancing in Front of Flowers.
The intention of this practice is to find ease in the joints, openness in the chest, and lightness, accompanying the movement with the breath.
An image may keep you company: feel your arms light, as if the air were holding them, just as the wind holds the butterfly.
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 the last cycle ends, stop the movement and leave room for the flow of Chi and for stillness. Gather the Chi in the lower Dantian and conclude with the facial massage of the common closing.
- Care
- If a movement causes pain or dizziness, stop.
To carry into the day
A personal gesture for this door, independent of the school’s exercise:
- Seated or standing, incline your head a little down and to the right, and stay in that inclination for a few breaths. It is a gesture of acknowledgment, not of submission: as when one greets an elder.
- Bring your attention to your chest and notice the breath without changing it.
- Then feel the places where your body rests: your feet on the ground, or your hands on your legs.
- Raise your head again, slowly. There is no need to feel anything in particular; it is enough to look straight ahead once more.
On the mountain I had heard “you are ready”; at the office no one knew.
Seven days
Each day, incline your head and stay that way for a few breaths. Then mark the day.
0 of 7 days
«If something does not serve you, let it go». What you mark stays on this device.
More about this door
«Porque en darnos, como nos dio a su Hijo, que es una Palabra suya, que no tiene otra, todo nos lo habló junto y de una vez en esta sola Palabra, y no tiene más que hablar».
John of the Cross places these words within a reflection on visions and revelations. For him, God has given Himself fully in Christ. I read the passage as an invitation not to make the extraordinary the measure of my faith.
This door tells of what I saw one night with my eyes closed. Afterwards I had to find a way to live with it on returning to the 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- Eighteen Jewels
- The Chi Kung series to which The Butterfly Dances from Flower to Flower belongs, the exercise chosen for Door VIII.
- Chi
- Vital energy, in the spelling of the author’s school (qi in pinyin).
- La Montaña Azul
- A retreat center in the mountains of Costa Rica where the author practiced with his master; the mountain of his mother’s dream (Doors II, VI, VIII, and IX).
- 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.
- August 30, 2007
La Montaña Azul, Costa Rica: his first retreat with Wong Kiew Kit, six weeks after the Bogotá workshop.
The full story is in the book.
A letter every month
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Of the Sun That Turns Two Ways
«When the light learns two paths, the heart grows still in the middle».
Enter through Door IX«You can read one door a week, or stay longer in the one that asks for it».
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