The Presencing(sm) Process

The Art of Being Present: Saturday, August 14, Olney Yoga, Olney MD tantricqigong@aol.com

Learn to make the most of each moment in your life!

Do you admire those who say “carpe diem” and reach for all the gusto that life has to offer? Ever wonder how you could learn to extract more meaning and enjoyment from your life?

All too often, we live our lives in anticipation of the future while subconsciously repressing unpleasant aspects of our past. We shuttle back and forth between past and future, robbing ourselves of our life and re-creating old patterns of being.   As Einstein once said, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result!”

Through the Presencing Process for Enlightenment & Freedom(sm) we can release patterns, which no longer serve us and create our lives with joy and fulfillment, exactly the way we wish to!

Who can benefit from this course:

– Busy professionals who find it difficult to unwind.
– Anyone who feels “stuck in a rut”.
– Meditators & Yoga practitioners who want to deepen their practice.
– Persons having anxiety, frustration, or difficulty stilling the mind in meditation.
– Psychotherapists & clients wishing an approach to mind-body-spirit holism.
– Bodyworkers & energy workers.
– Persons wishing more clarity, direction, & creativity in their personal or professional lives.

In this experiential session / workshop we will:

– Open ourselves fully to our present experience.
– Use sensation, emotion, and cognition to guide ourselves to our truth.
– Release negative emotion easily while opening to joy, serenity, and bliss.
– Use the breath to inspire creativity, vitality, and enjoyment of our lives.
– Learn how being fully present in the moment can create perfect fulfillment.
– Heal our past wounding and manifest success in all aspects of our being.
– Learn how to create ease of communication and greater connection and intimacy in our relationships.

Presencing™ is available as a private session and as a class / workshop.

Presence is the Buddha Pearl

Rev. Keith Hall has synthesized the seminal aspects of Breathwork, Bioenergetics, Neo-Reichian, Tantric, Taoist, and Buddhist practices to create the Presencing Process(sm). Presencing (sm) facilitates deep healing, joy, empowerment, and freedom from past limitations so we can manifest clearly what we desire in life. Presencingsm is a simple, yet profoundly powerful process for creating our lives the way we wish to.

What people say about Presencing™:

Thank you so much for teaching me a more effective way to meditate. God Bless you….
- JK, Carson City, Nevada

I really was able to make some progress in releasing pain.
- VF, Falls Church, VA

…much more of an experience than I anticipated.
-BC, Mt. Airy, MD

Great workshop!
- KK, Arlington, VA

The Art of Being Present

What is Presencing™

Instruction & Coaching contact for info on instruction

Poems to Bring You Present

Tantric Qigong

Ejaculation Control: Peng Zu

Peng Zu

During the time of The Yellow Emperor, there was a remarkably young looking man named Peng Zu, who was rumored to be over a hundred years old. Some texts claim he eventually reached an age of over nine hundred years, though this is likely to be a bit of hyperbole. His specialty was the link between sex and health and certain Taoist Breathing techniques. I give a lot of credence to this linkage personally, as my T’ai Chi master, Yung-ko Chou, was seventy years old when I studied with him, but looked like he was in his forties. He had dark hair, was remarkably flexible, quick witted, and walked every where since he did not have a U.S. driver’s license!

The story of Peng Zu, his life and disciplines, was written down in a treatise called Peng Zu Ching, around 2700 B.C. Peng Zu claimed the secrets to longevity lie in sexual practices that strengthened both the Yang and Yin energies. Some of Peng Zu’s precepts I find to be somewhat manipulative, even misogynistic, however there is much truth in his more general and nonsexist health practices.

“Man cannot be without woman, and woman cannot be without man.

To be solitary and long for intercourse shortens a man’s life and allows a hundred ailments.

Ghosts and Demons will take advantage of such a man to copulate with him.

Jing lost in this way is a hundred times worse than the normal way”

–P’eng Tsu

According to Peng, there are four courses of sexual action that promote longevity in men. The two most important are:

Maximize contact.

–By this, he means regular, daily sexual activity of considerable duration.

Minimize leakage.

–Here he is speaking of ejaculation control.

Peng was also a big advocate of men having a lot of Taoist Tantric sex, and his preferred partners were mainly virgins. Though politically incorrect today, there is perhaps a grain of virginal truth here for a man who is too lazy to develop himself and master the unification of yin and yang within. However, I decline to extrapolate on the rationale and protocol for his disciplines in this particular Jade Arena. On a practical note, I do see a big problem these days with the supply side economics of Peng’s preference. I have traveled to the U.S. Virgin Islands and even there it seems there is a currently a dearth of supply.

Peng called the leakage of semen (ejaculation) an injury to vitality. He said that clear thin semen was a sign of weakness and loss of vitality that could injure the flesh. Overly strong smelling semen indicated problems with the muscles and tendons, weak ejaculation implied weakness in the bones, and erectile dysfunction showed injury to the whole body. I suspect the routine prescription of Viagra inadequately addresses these underlying conditions.

Peng felt that these conditions could arise in part from crude, rough sex that resulted in ejaculation. Predating the Four Agreements by at least 4,000 years, Peng Zu states in his handbook (Peng Zu Ching) that man is harmed by dark emotions such as anger, and excessive expectation and poor communication between Yin and Yang. Furthermore, he explains:

“Many indeed are the things that harm man, but all of them have their root in the bedchamber. How people are deluded by this! Man and woman mutually complete each other, just like Heaven and Earth gave birth to each other. Tao nourishes the vital force (chi) in order that man may not lose his harmony. Heaven and Earth have obtained the Tao of sexual intercourse, therefore they are everlasting. But man has lost the Way of sexual intercourse, therefore he has become mortal. To be able to avoid all harmful things, and to obtain the art of Yin and Yang, this is the Way of Immortality.”

–Shang-ku-san-tai, Yen Kho-Chun, ed.

The implication is that in addition to ejaculation control, self-mastery and longevity depend upon emotional transmutation, harmony, balance, and unity between Man and Woman and within oneself. The sexual ideal could partly manifest itself as slow, gentle, loving sex with careful ejaculatory management, as is ideal in Tantra and neo-tantra.  Peng advised retaining the semen with the intention that it revert upward to the “Upper Vast Stream” in the brain. This sort of generalized kundalini yoga technique results in inner tranquility, peace, longevity, and can lead to enlightenment.

Peng Zu’s Guide to Ejaculation Frequency

Age… Frequency

20… 1x every 2 days

30… 1x every 3 days

40… 1x every 10 days

50… 1x every 15 days

60… 1x every 30 days

Comparing this to Su-Nu’s guidelines, Peng’s seem considerably more strict. Though if he did live to be 900, as he is alleged to, one might grant that he may have embodied some of the benefits of that which he prescribes. © 2008 Keith E. Hall. All rights reserved.
Part 5: Ejaculation Control and the Seasons

Ejaculation Control and Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

See a woman’s question

Learn the techniques of the Masters

Ejaculation Control: Lady Su, The Plain Girl
In both Tantra and Taoist lore it is often the woman who is regarded as more knowledgeable about sexual matters. Courtesans and Tantric Initiatresses had the time to study these arts in depth, while the men were off doing various manly things, such as making war. The Yellow Emperor had three Tantric Initiatresses who instructed him in the bedroom arts, ejaculation control, and the relationship of sex to mental and physical well being. Perhaps the most famous of these was Su-Nu, sometimes known as Lady Su or The Plain Girl.

Lady Su and the Yellow Emperor

In “The Classic of the Elemental Lady,” Su-Nu is instructing the depressed and impotent Yellow Emperor. She counsels,

“The debility of men is caused by faulty habits in the joining of Yin and Yang. Women prevail over men, as water prevails over fire. They that know the Tao are like a good cook who can blend the five flavors into a tasty soup. They that know the Tao of Yin and Yang can blend the five pleasures. They that know not, may die an untimely death. You must first harmonize the life force and then the Jade Stalk will arise. If the Jade Stalk does not move, it will die”

The unification of Yin and Yang occurs both within and without. It is every person’s duty to balance these energies within as evidenced by the large number of Taoist exercises developed for this, including dietary regimens. However, like the practitioners of Tantra,  Daoists recognized that a healthy sex life was equally important, something which has only recently been addressed in Western medicine.

“The Emperor should make love with nine chosen consorts every night…Each of the nine consorts should be satisfied fully, so that the planets are pleased. Retaining his semen by proficiency in the Art of Love, The emperor concentrates powers within.”
– Lady Su

So gentlemen, if you are going to be able to do your kingly duty, even if only with one consort, one would be well advised to begin at least with some consideration and observance of the Taoist guidelines for ejaculation control and the conservation of energy.

Lady Su’s Guide to Ejaculation Frequency

Age… Frequency if Healthy… Frequency if not Healthy

20….. 2x a day………………….. 1x a day

30….. 1x a day………………….. 1x in 2 days

40….. 1x in 3 days…………….. 1x in 4 days

50….. 1x in 5 days…………….. 1x in 10 days

60….. 1x in 10 days…………… 1x in 20 days

70….. 1x in 30 days…………… none

You can see there is quite a spectrum here in her recommendations, from twice a day to none at all, depending on age and overall strength and health. © 2008 Keith E. Hall, All rights reserved.

Part 4: Ejaculation Control: Peng Zu

Ejaculation Control and Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Instruction & Coaching

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Erotica of the highest quality, appealing to both your intellect and to your sensual nature

Here is a very nice woman owned resource for toys, DVDs, and more, they know what pleases a woman! Mentioned in the New York Times and Forbes Magazine. These girls must be doing something right:

The Yellow Emperor

The Yellow Emperor

The Yellow Emperor (Huang Ti or Huangdi) is a semi-mythical figure of China’s Golden Age circa 2697 B.C. During his reign, writing, agriculture, animal husbandry, the compass, calendar, and silk were said to have been discovered.

Huang Ti reportedly had intercourse with, or kept a harem of, 1200 women during his lifetime, rivaling even the most venerable Sifu, Charlie Sheen. He is said to have commissioned a team of doctors to study sex, herbology, and health, resulting in the classic text known as “The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine”, also known as “The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Jing” or “Huangdi Neijing.”

Most modern scholars believe the Huangdi Neijing to have been compiled from the original ancient sources between the Zhou and Han dynasties, some 2,000 years later than the reign of the Emperor (circa 300 B.C.) This book, whose form is a conversation between Huang Di and his various advisors including the physician Minister Chi Po (Qibo), is considered the “bible” of Chinese Medicine. Even today, it is still used as a primer in many schools of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Indeed even the famous Lao Tze acknowledged the Yellow Emperor as the foremost progenitor and practitioner of the Tao. In addition to Tantric Taoist sexual practices, this classic contains information on diet, herbs, meridians, and 12 different forms of massage.

“…The yin-yang arts at their highest can cure minor illnesses; at the next level, they can be used to avoid depletion. If a man knows the Tao, then the more he makes love, the better becomes his health.”
–Ko Hung

Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine

Huang Ti was a big fan of seminal retention (ejaculation control) although it was said that he did father 25 children, so it would appear that he was not absolutely dogmatic about this. He was credited with discovering the secret of blending the male and female essences during intercourse, and the technique of transmuting the Yin and Yang essences into an elixir of pure life force and spirit (there is a similar practice in Tantra.) According to legend, the Yellow Emperor’s sexual practices resulted in him becoming immortal after living to over 100 years of age.

Here is what he is said to have experienced through retaining his male essence (denying ejaculation):

“After the first time I stopped it, I gained strength.
After the second time my eyesight sharpened and my hearing became more clear.
After the third time, I felt no sickness.
After the fourth time, I felt my inner organs improve.
After the fifth time my circulation became smooth.
After the sixth time, my waist grew strong.
After the seventh time, my hips and legs became strong.
After the eighth time, my whole body glowed.
After the ninth time, I felt I could live long.
After the tenth time, I feel as if I am in Heaven.”

Whether the Yellow Emperor was an actual historic person, or if his existence was mainly a literary tool to focus a student’s attention on the relationship of the Tao to health and longevity, is really not very important. What matters is that a large collection of sexual, health, and natural wisdom was compiled and codified so physicians and other serious students of the Tao could access it. © 2008 Keith E. Hall All rights reserved.

Part 3: Lady Su, The Plain Girl

Ejaculation Control and Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

Ancient Taoist Secrets Revealed

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Indie image-maker Rickard Kern captures the essence of erotica

Ejaculation Control and Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health

Wilma asks:
Q: During the winter season, the Taoists recommend less ejaculation for both men and women.
Why exactly do they recommend that?

A: I some times get questions from men about this issue, but rarely from women, so let me take a moment to set down some of the history and rationale about this.

There is quite a bit of controversy within Tantric and Taoist and Western medical circles about the relationship of ejaculation to physical and spiritual well being. The Tantriks seem more concerned with the effects in regard to spiritual progress, while the Taoists seem more focused on health and longevity. The Taoists in particular have codified this precisely, to an almost dogmatic level.

Both Tantriks and Taoists feel that the psychic and somatic essence of man is concentrated in the semen, thus ejaculation could lead to a decrease in mental and physical strength. Western medicine has not really looked very closely at this precept, other than in relation to prostate health. The Tantriks are highly interested in harnessing the sexual essence to activate Kundalini so it can rise to the higher spiritual centers to promote spiritual awakening and enlightenment.

According to the Taoist physician Sun Si-Miao (Sun Ssu-mo), circa A.D. 600, “A man may attain health and longevity if he practices an ejaculation frequency of twice monthly or 24 times in a year. If at the same time he pays careful attention to proper diet and exercise he will have a long and healthy life.” Thus, if a man can manage the energy of ejaculation, he would be able to enjoy sex while becoming very youthful. This may be, in part, because men’s sexual energy is linked strongly to the Kidney Essence. A woman’s energy is linked more to the blood. Therefore, an untrained man’s ejaculation decreases the vitality of the Kidney essence more strongly, though there is some loss for a woman as well. There is a school of thought that implies that since untrained men project their energy so strongly through ejaculation, there is a net benefit to his female partner if she can absorb his energy. Even a trained tantrika or Taoist can “donate” this energy to a woman if he chooses; though much is to be said for mutual cultivation and conservation.

“Do not expel your semen needlessly. Do not expel your semen forcefully, as if dashing something down from the heights. You’ll upset the five main bodily organs, injure the life-energy channels and give rise to every kind of ailment as a consequence.”
– Ishimpo

Sun Si-Miao’s Guidelines
Age… Recommendation

30… Give up masturbation and study the Tao of Yin and Yang

40… Ejaculation control becomes mandatory and should be mastered

50… 1 emission every 20 days

60… 0 emissions, but frequent intercourse.
Exceptionally hearty men may emit 1x every 30 days

70… If very healthy, once in every 100 sexual couplings.

Dr. Sun thought that for most men, celibacy and abstaining from emission of semen was just as harmful as profligate ejaculation, a philosophy now being validated by modern Western medical science. His thought was that abstention disrupts one’s harmony of essence, energy, and spirit. He also says that abstinence will lead to erotic dreams and uncontrolled, unconscious nocturnal emissions. These he declared to be a hundred times more harmful than an ejaculation during normal intercourse.

Sun Si-Miao also recommended certain Taoist breathing and massage techniques to build power and longevity. © 2008 Keith E. Hall. All rights reserved.

Ejaculation Control part 2: The Yellow Emperor

Ejaculation Control and Mental, Spiritual, and Physical Health Part 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

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Nudes by internationally renown photographer Petter Hegre

The Spiritual Journey: Kundalini, Creation, & Enlightenment
Rev. Keith Hall

More and more people are beginning to inquire into Kundalini practices such as Tantra and Kundalini Yoga as paths to Spiritual Evolution and Enlightenment. As the pace of technological innovation and life in general seems to be increasing exponentially, there is a desire among those seeking to balance their worldly and spiritual lives for increasingly efficient tools to achieve that all too elusive balance. Studying and practicing the Kundalini arts holds such a promise.

What is Kundalini?

Kundalini & the Chakras

Physicists recognize that the universe is constructed of energy bundles known as “quanta”. We laypersons can think of these in one sense as particles with an electrical charge. Particles can either be positive, negative, or neutral. All energy or material phenomena observed by our senses are based on the interplay of these particles. In the esoteric traditions the positively charged energies are known as Shiva (solar, male, heavenly Chi or Qi); the negatively charged energies are called Shakti (lunar, female, earthly Chi or Qi); and the neutral is Kundalini. In the Tantric cosmology, all the myriad forms in the universe are created through the union and interplay of the god Shiva and the goddess Shakti. With the balance achieved in their unity, Kundalini is freed.

In the human realm Kundalini can be thought of as the primal energy of the body. We all have some degree of Kundalini activation or we wouldn’t be alive. However, the degrees of activation and the consciousness of this energy can vary widely. Kundalini practitioners are seeking to consciously connect with and amplify their basic life force for the purposes of improving physical health, strengthening the body, and achieving enlightenment through transcending Karma or self-limiting patterns.

What is Karma and Enlightenment?

In Physics it is well known that for every action there is an equal reaction. This is the basic precept of Karma: what goes around, comes around. Our actions, thoughts, and emotions create effects within and around us. Sometimes these effects are dramatic, sometimes subtle. They can be manifested immediately, or sometimes take many years to make their appearance known. Lets look at an example of this on one level. You become angry with someone. The energy of this anger may at first affect your thoughts and emotions, then rapidly it creates physiologic effects. Your body produces adrenaline, your heart rate and blood pressure increase, your stomach begins to churn. If you “stuff” these feelings the energy is driven deeply into your core, creating emotional and physical illness. If you seek to vent this emotion indiscriminately, other people around you begin to take effect from this energy which creates reactions within them. In a chain reaction this “karmic event” can be spread Far and wide from its source, affecting many people’s, thoughts, emotions, physiologic response, perceptions, and actions.

We are all Creators
In considering a larger cosmological view of this process, consider that all functions with a connection to the physical body (including thoughts and emotions) have an electrochemical aspect. Associated with these electrochemical processes are electromagnetic waves (such as radio frequencies, etc.) These waves produced by our bodies’ travel without limit, at the speed of light through the entire universe. Modern physics acknowledges that in actuality our very material bodies are composed of structured energy. We are dense focused energy interacting with and exchanging energy with this cosmic energy “soup” we call the universe. Each thought, each emotion, each bout of indigestion creates it own particular frequency of electromagnetism which will travel the entire universe for all eternity! It is not too difficult, from this perspective, to recognize the link between the individual and the universal. In our own way, great or small, for good or ill, we are Creators.

Enlightenment is sometimes regarded as the goal of the spiritual path. In actuality, it is a process, an evolution towards increasing awareness of our awesome responsibility for our actions, thoughts, and emotions. This is in contrast to the prevalent social consensual reality, where we attempt to externalize and project responsibility on to others. We do others and ourselves a disservice by adopting this view in that we perceive that the external world controls our lives. While it may, at first, feel comfortable to blame others for our circumstances, we are de facto abdicating our empowerment, our very control over our own lives. Conversely, by bringing our unconscious mental, emotional and behavioral patterns into the light of full awareness and responsibility, we reclaim our power as co-creators of our world. Once we own the tremendous power of self-responsibility, we can begin to create what we want rather than what we fear. In Tantra it is often said that if we want to invite ecstasy into our lives, we must be willing to abandon the security and comfort of our pain, fear, and anger. © 1998 Keith E. Hall. All rights reserved.

Next: I want Enlightenment

TANTRA: From Ecstasy to Enlightenment
Rev. Keith Hall

What is it with Americans and sex? We appear to crave it, are fascinated by it and simultaneously fear it with every fiber of our being. We use it in advertising to sell everything from automobiles to zucchini, yet often prohibit our children from learning about it, our teachers from teaching it, and ourselves from discussing it publicly in any truly meaningful way. Movies with extremely graphic violence and gore receive an R rating; depictions of erotic play between mature consenting adults often receive an X. Yet the fascination remains. What issue of Cosmopolitan doesn’t promise new ways to attract and keep your lover, to have bigger and better orgasms, to cook, clean, and dress for sexual success? What neighborhood bar isn’t rife with the boys alternately telling ribald jokes and creating a swaggering sexual mythos about themselves?

Shiva and Shakti in Yab Yum position for Tantric Kundalini Awakening

Our fascination and fear stem from the fact that the energy of eroticism is the most powerful primal force within ourselves. The Ancients of all cultures revered and worshipped this force particularly in the form of the Goddess. Lilith, Astarte, Parvati, Isis, Hecate, Mary Magdalene, Venus, Kerridwin, Freya, Ixchel, Tara, the Virgin Mary - all are Goddesses revered in antiquity for bringing forth life, divinity, and wisdom through the mystical power of sexuality. Historically, Tantra arose from the worship of these Goddesses and woman’s innate link with the energies of creation. As Tantra evolved in India, Tibet, Egypt, and China, adepts of yoga and meditation tapped into increasingly powerful and efficient techniques for safely accessing the cosmic forces inherent in sexual energy. What had begun in ancient times as awe and mystery, became a science. Schools arose to instruct initiates in precise methods to awaken this primal life-force and master it’s use for healing, ecstasy, and enlightenment. Later, as war and other forms of technological manipulation increasingly arose in civilization, patriarchal societies developed and Man’s awe of Woman’s fertility and cosmic sexual capacity turned to fear. Out of the desire to dominate rose the need to subjugate and control that which they could not understand - Woman’s overwhelming power to create the Universe as Goddess, her tremendous and mysterious connection to ” the starry dynamo in the machinery of night.”

Next: The Persecution of and Reemergence of Tantra

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