I began teaching Entering the Vessels, as a weekend workshop, in 1992—twenty-eight years ago. Without knowing it, I had been enamored with the ancient wisdom traditions and world view that birthed the Extraordinary Vessels since early childhood. My first “meditation” practice was sitting in the bushes, under the full moon, singing love songs I had written to the hibiscus flowers.
As a young adult my meditation took a more formal turn and became a daily practice. During this time, I read and studied everything I could on Eastern and Western mysticism, Taoism, prehistoric wisdom traditions, natural healing, sacred spirituality, and the divine feminine. I also began my study and practice of Chinese medicine and acupuncture.
I first experienced the extraordinary vessels as a cultivation practice in 1983. I was in love. My yearning and search for anything and everything extraordinary vessel was on. There was very little in writing and so my quest included asking every acupuncture or meditation teacher I met what they knew of the extraordinary vessels. In 1986 I met a teacher with a family lineage of using the vessels as a cultivation and clinical tool. Over the course of a few brief meetings, I learned the basics of this system. These basics, these very brief interactions, form the foundation of what has become my life’s work.
Ling- Spiritual Connection.
I call this course Entering the Vessels because you cannot truly know the vessels just by studying them. You must enter them! Entering the vessels requires a fully embodied exploration utilizing the entire spectrum of our human capacities, cognitive, imaginative, sensory, emotional, physical, breath, and spirit.
The same way one could study the earth’s seas forever without really knowing them, until taking a swim, one can’t really know extraordinary vessels without diving in. We must swim in our primordial seas, our extraordinary vessels, to truly know them!
This is why exploring and learning the extraordinary vessels cannot be limited to the “written-centric” way. There is of course, tremendous beauty, power, and wisdom in the written word. The written word contains the experience of those who had travelled the vessels before us. But the written word is at least one step removed from the direct experience. I found myself increasingly engaged on a path of internal processing and discernment, letting go of what struck me as dogma while embracing the internal journey; what many would call, less than admiringly, magical thinking. What I call direct knowing.
This current online version of Entering the Vessels was birthed primarily from that personal process and vision and decades of clinical practice where I directly witnessed the extraordinary vessels in action.
In the early years I was hesitant to “go out on a limb,” relying primarily on textual references and the rudimentary oral teachings that I had been blessed to learn. As I grew older and much deeper in my process, I started taking more teaching risks, allowing my inner insights, realizations, and inspiration to lead the Way.
I believe, after all these years, the course we call Entering the Vessels and the “process” of entering the vessels, has evolved and developed and deepened into an experience that can transform lives, professionally and personally.
For me, and for many of my patients and students and colleagues, experiencing the extraordinary vessels directly has been profound beyond words. Navigating the experience of entering the vessels is simple. Simple, of course, is not necessarily easy. Simple as in breathing, thinking, and moving with awareness. Simple as developing a daily practice and relationship with the vessels. Simple as learning a few clinical tools that may very well change the way you practice acupuncture or whatever healing system you may practice. Simple as moving toward and dissolving all your habituated thinking and calcified embodied emotions so that you may assist others in doing so from a place of experience and direct knowing. Simple as in learning to move and help others move through the world with as much ease as possible.
I am extremely grateful and deeply humbled for the opportunity to share the extraordinary vessels in this online format with a truly global audience. I look forward to our journey together.
Check out Entering the Vessels here:
https://www.nsevhealingacademy.com/courses/entering-the-vessels