Shamanism and XingYi

[meeks]

I think people get pushed away by the term shaman when it comes to martial arts. Originally I thought perhaps it was because it wasn't an asian term and this is primarily asian martial arts on the forum, but a quick webster's dictionary lookup said it's a Siberian term, so it's not that (I always thought it was a South American term).

What people don't realize is that many of the chinese martial arts originate in daoist magic practises and that the root of many (not all) qi gong exercises trace their roots there. So when we begin looking at chinese martial arts we need to consider that the essence of many of the exercises that are intrinsic to the system are in fact 'shamanistic' (if we look at the term as 'works with energy/spirits all around' and less of 'heals cold sores with spirits of animals').

Having worked with plant medicines and a number of other practises, plus my own experiences in 35+ years of training I fully embrace the concept of shamanistic practises and how they are pervasive to many martial arts.

thanks for sharing !

[meeks]

In a follow up - it's often right there in front of us, we just don't consider it. Walk into an aikido school and you see the Kamiza on the wall. You ask them what's in it, they'll say 'the aikido spirit'. They don't refer to the amount of effort you put into your training (he trains with lots of spirit) they mean the actual 'spirit entity' that is created by the very concept of what aikido is. it's a living, sentient energy, and they treat it as such by giving it a house (the little hut on the kamiza) and providing it offerings. This isn't the same as ancestor recognition.

Most people disregard the box, and can't sense any interaction from it. Even a traditional kungfu school will often have an altar (or 2... or 3...) that provides offerings to the ancestors ("thank you for helping us with our training") and also offerings for the spirit of the style.

These in themselves are aspects of shamanism in martial arts.

[-Joe-]

Hi guys

I am ‘Joe’ the guy who is interviewing Damon in the podcast. I just wanted to make something very clear.

The podcast itself is a podcast on shamanism. Not on Xing Yi. In fact xing yi itself as a martial art probably takes up 2 minutes of the podcast and thats all. Its mentioned purely as backstory to Damon and how he got into shamanism and animism in the first place.

Whilst there is much to explore in the realm of Xing Yi and Animism/Shamanism together, in no way whatsoever is that the focus of the podcast. The focus is pure Shamanism (and obviously animism to some extent)! Shamanism as a serious discipline in and of itself.

Rest assured, there is absolutely no 'watering down' of xing yi going on here. If Shamanism interests you, then this is not the woo woo crap. You will get a lot out of this podcast.

You can listen to the first episode anyway and make your own mind up.

Thanks so much for the support so far guys. Documenting Shamanism from the ground up is no easy task let me tell you. I know a lot of people from here have signed up and let me know personally what they thought of the first episode.

[Strange]

yes a lot goes down to individual understanding and comprehension
must be able to see clearly, just saying

[David Boxen]

Thanks for the podcast Joe. It's been interesting thus far.

[-Joe-]

My pleasure David.

Here's a little brief overview of whats to come after the first episode.

- An exploration of the three realms. Or the three aspects of the great cycle and how these can be seen literally everywhere in the world. From the trigram to the triskel. (upperworld, middle world and lower world in shamanism)
- Pitfalls of learning shamanism - Psychedelics and imagination
- Our bias for the lower realm since civilisation
- The word spirit and what it really means
- A look at the many many shamanic techniques that Damon has been involved in
- A deep, thorough and practical look at the very first stage of shamanism. This is the supporting pillar. Everything else rests on this.

Looking to launch, mid november.

If anyone has any questions on shamanism/animism (anything at all) then pm me here or reply to this thread and i'll put a Q and A episode together. (or a few hopefully)

[GrahamB]

Four episodes out now. Just listened to episode 2

https://wovenenergy.com/podcast/

This painting should have more relevance once you've listened to it:

[GrahamB]

If you are in a TLDR mode then just listen to episode 4 - the last 20 minutes he goes over that painting - *mind blown* - lol

[Michael]

No spoilers, please

[greytowhite]

I'm listening to Episode 3 now.