Parenting Advice

Hi Little One,

I’m not a parent–so can’t speak from direct experience–but here is something I’d recommend:

Smiling Heart Meditations for Children
Six Healing Sounds for Children

My intuition says that:
When they are 5 or 6, you could probably start teaching them the 5 Animals. They would probably enjoy it, and learn a lot about themselves at their age (from their perspective). Other than that, I would encourage their sense of play, discovery, and wonderment with life and nature. Be an example to them via showing them a lot of love . . . fear can’t exist in a state of love. Then, save the technical talks for when they get older.

Also, you might try talking to Michael directly.
He is currently raising his own small 2-year old tyke and will obviously be raising from a Daoist perspective. So I’m sure he has advice to share.

Qi,
Steven

Hi Little One! I have a toddler and am new to Dao as well. I might recommend you to learn permaculture, which although is about gardening is bringing us closer to nature and indirectly to our children. And it can be viewed as a worldview by itself. I just recently found out that one of the founders was inspired by Daoism.
Another thing that has helped me and is rather contraversial subject is ayahuasca. The experience really got me closer to my at that time unborn baby.
Let us know if in the meantime you learn some dao tricks and anything else.

In the case where it was relevant to learning about parenting, and being closer to my child it was a Santo Daime ceremony. But after working with a shaman westerner, but extensively trained in Peru, I see the difference. It got all the way to my bones, deep cleaning. I had ayahuasca by myself only once (it was leftover of a Santo Daime ceremony). It was last spring equinox at sunrise. One of the messages that I got was to work with Qi Gong. I didn’t really take it seriously at the moment. Although I had some interest in some of Mantak Chia’s books I haven’t seen it as my way. After a while I thought, hey this guy Michael Winn who appears in Chia’s books seems nice, let me look him up on google. And here I am, doing the next spring equinox ceremony with Deep Healing Qi Gong and Tai Chi for Enlightment.
My opinion is that Ayahusca can be a very wise and deep healing and guiding assistant (done ceremonially and with deep respect), but for me it is not a substitute to everyday practice like Qi Gong.
Well if you want to try it out, it is crucially important to have it with a good group and shaman or other type of guide. If you want to do it alone, then you might look into http://ritualmeditation.com/category/blog/ . Somewhere in the articles you will find detailed instructions.

Doubly interesting that both of you got messages to do qigong and/or HT as the end result of psychedelic use.

It never ceases to amaze me how the universe often guides people or calls people to this path, with such a clear message, through a variety of different avenues.

The real question is: are you choosing the path, or is the path choosing you? 🙂

In my experience, it is almost as if the universe waits until you are ripe, and then it shows you the way. 🙂

S

there is a video of interview of Mantak Chia on this subject published Feb 2016; link below.

http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N0Szqxcbk-8

This video is basically similar to some of Mantak Chia’s other statements on psychedelic experience. If I understand him, he believes that the psychedelic experience is essentially a sort of near death experience, and that the mind altering quality of it comes from the release of a “death hormone” that triggers a visionary out-of-body experience like that that occurs at the time of death.
I don’t believe that conventional physiology recognizes a “death hormone” as such, but it seems that he is talking about endogenous DMT. DMT is the hallucinogenic component of ayahuasca, and which is also produced naturally within the body. Rick Strassman of the University of New Mexico has done a lot of research on DMT and he has speculated about the role of endogenous DMT in producing NDE’s. However, with great respect to Master Chia, I don’t find credible the idea that the psychedelic experience is a NDE or based on release of the “death hormone”. My reasons:
1) psychedelics are physiologically rather benign. People don’t die from an overdose of psyilocybin, LSD, DMT, etc (though the psychological effects may be overwhelming). They are chemically similar to endogenous neurotransmitters and are easily metabolized by the body. There is not enough toxicity to bring the body close to death. If it were the case, we would hear of deaths by overdose, as we do with, say, heroin.
2) Assuming the “death hormone” is DMT, it would not make sense to say that ayahuaca containing DMT, or substances chemically similar such as psilocybin, have their effect by triggering endogenous DMT.
3) The idea that psychedelics have intrinsic health-damaging effects is not consistent with indigenous shamanic traditions that can be found around the planet which use hallucinogens for both physical healing and spiritual development. Nor is it consistent with the anecdotal accounts of many westerners who have come out of psychedelic experiences with a profound sense of renewal, refreshment, appreciation for life, etc. Similarly, the western experience with the therapeutic use of hallucinogens in psychotherapy (though comparatively quite small still accounting for thousands of sessions) also highlights the profound therapeutic potential of these substances.
4) NDE’s have a distinct phenomenology, as do specific hallucinogens, and they are not interchangeable experiences. The themes and patterns of the NDE have been well documented by now – the tunnel leading toward the light, the meeting with deceased relatives, etc. None of these things are characteristic of ayahuasca, for example, which tends to have its own themes and qualities. Psilocybin is again a different pattern of experience. And the psychedelic experience in general also has documented patterns.

Inner smile for the win btw!
Qieers! 🙂