- Taken from Ron Timm’s talk, 6 Dragons Retreat, August 2024 -
Within the context of Qi Gong we do breathwork in the attempt to come closer to stillness. In this way we use it as a little trick. Most people wouldn't know what to expect. They might be especially surprised if they have done breathwork before. Not everybody is keen on stillness work and it is totally understandable. It may seem like there is nothing happening: you just sit there and breathe.
Different approaches to breathwork
The way we do breathwork is really bringing you towards stillness practice. It is a direct entrance. This is different from how breathwork is commonly taught, where you hyperventilate in order to trigger certain experiences. Doing so will not bring you to stillness directly. It could possibly bring you to stillness but only after the practice. This is how it is done: first you have a lot of turmoil, and then there is stillness.
This is not the Daoist approach but what has always been done: fighting the war that ends all wars. Because after the war, it is always peaceful. People are happy they survived. The nicest times are always after the war. There is a lot of celebration. The economy is prospering. People are willing to work hard to rebuild what was lost. But next to these benefits, there is a big downside to war, we don't have to talk about that. And every war was always done to bring peace. At least, that is how it's sold. We don't do this. We don't achieve stillness through turmoil.
Time and Depth
The core of the Daoist way of the water is Stillness Practice. It is also what water stands for: it stands for gathering, it stands for depth. Water is sinking all the time. The first practice you have to learn is how to sink the Qi. That is when we say you should relax. 'Relax' is for a lay person that has no clue about energy or Qi, and does not know how to ‘sink Qi’.
We say relax. Because when you relax, the Qi can sink down. Now, sinking Qi is much more than relaxing. Because your relaxation takes you from A to B, but sinking the Qi takes you much deeper. Into, you could say, deeper relaxation. Now, sinking the Qi, relaxing more and more and more, is the only way. This is our way to come into the system, reach its deepest layers. That is the Yin way. You are not breaking the system open, which is done in the fire ways. Here you just wait until it opens up. You knock on the door. And that's all you do.
Then the most important. You wait. You wait.
So time is the issue. And nobody has time nowadays. This is why there is no depth. And this is why everybody is suffering, the superficial life. If you don't have time, it is impossible that there is depth.
The exercise
So you knock on the door- this is what doing the exercise is, it addresses the Qi to a certain point. It brings you to the right place: the right street, the right number of the house, right in front of the door. The exercises take you there. They aim at something. And then your practice is just knocking on the door. Is there anybody? Is there anybody alive? If so, why don't you open up?
And you wait.
And most likely nothing happens. But you wait. And after you have waited, you knock again.
If nobody opens, you wait, of course. Wait and wait. Nobody opens, you leave. You return tomorrow. Yes? You understand that? That is the only thing you do. The knocking on the door. And the waiting. One time, two times, three times, one day, two days, three days, three months, three years. This is the practice.
Now, you don't, when you come back the second time or you knock the second time, you don't start banging on the door. BAM, BAM, BAM. Can you see why? What happens to the system? What happens if I do this? You get tense. You will not open the door. Definitely. You will push the furniture in front of the door and go into the cellar. Yes? This is what it does.
Working with a blockage
So don't break the door. And, of course, it's probably easily understood on a rational level. But at the same time the closed door makes you angry and frustrated, a blockage makes you want to break it. It is the energy caught within the blockage that will make you urge, force, fight, scream and shout. Do you get that? As you come in contact with the blockage, this is what you feel and so this is the work you will need to do. The waiting.
The exercises take you there. This is why in the very beginning of our curriculum, we have presence and awareness practice. Because you have to be truly present. First, you have to be at the door. The right door. That is an act of awareness: I'm here. And then you have to knock. It doesn't help you if you are there and do nothing.
However, when you are about to knock you have to see what your attitude is. If you then feel like: 'Whoa, I want to break this door! I want to break in! I want to kick, scream, shout, fight and force it!' Then you have to be aware of this: 'Wait a minute. This is just the energy of the blockage that already contaminates how I am feeling and acting, that is sucking me in.' You have to distance yourself a little. And it is not easy. Therefore, it needs presence and awareness.
Because otherwise, once it has you in its grip, it is very difficult. You will force things. You will give in to the urge. And in that way, you are not able to do the job. In fact, you reinforce the blockage. This is a little tricky as in this way you fulfill the blockage's urge. So it will grow.
Working with frustration
What does it take to come day by day, knocking on the door like this? Someone says it needs consistency, okay. That will take you a little on the way. Your consistency will make you go there day by day. It will not make the door open up though.
What does it take to go there day by day, knocking like this one time, two times, three times, not getting the funny idea to start banging on the door? Or just smash it? Someone says patience. Patience is a bit like consistency. It will make you go there for a year. Someone says trust. It's all good but it will not make the door open. And it will not make you go there for three or four years.
You stay in front of the door and wait. And there can be two things happening: you either want to break your way in, or you want to leave. That's what you want to do. You want to leave because you are afraid. You want to leave because you think it makes no sense. You want to leave because you have better things to do. Which is not true, but we think so.
The opening
So what would help you? The simplest thing, to help you stay in front of the door, knocking gently and waiting. In the end, it is compassion. Now, that takes you the longer way because you might start asking: who is knocking and who is on the other side of the door? Perhaps we don't know yet, but this is the inner work.
Here your rational understanding will not be enough. This is where we would need to talk about what understanding actually means. True understanding comes from the heart. But when we talk about compassion, love, empathy and so on, we often don't know where to pull it from and how to pull it off. So in the practice start with relaxing. If it grips you, when the urge comes, you can try: 'Oh, wait! Love and compassion and empathy!'. But if you don’t feel it that much- just relax. And you can always relax. At least that is what you want to learn here.
My only hope is that at least one moment, from time to time, you would relax and remember to breathe. You are then connecting to your breath: 'Oh, I'm breathing. I'm a living being.' And together with this, breathe into your belly. You are connected to your breath and to your belly, in stillness. This is what we do in the practice and what you want to take to your everyday life. It is in this connection that the door can start to open.
