Sea of Qi Zine Online

Do you cultivate qi or does qi cultivate you? Content by students of Oregon College of Oriental Medicine & friends. Compiled by Stephanie Wirth 2017

[seaofqi]

Well, for Starters...

Step by step we shake

To loosen the stagnate qi

What are you saying

So we dance along

Some skeptical and some not

Some start to feel things..

Eyes closed we arrive

Possibly the very first time

Do I know whos here?

Am I allowed to

TOO LATE! The Seed of Nature

IT has.been.planted.

The gates are open

A trickle may be easy

Look up, soon a flood

Call upon the sky

And the ancestors before

Jai MA! Earth herself

We learn of the yin

The interplay creates all

Yin and yang make all

Then the elements

They too always seem to dance

Bring them to balance

Tiger of the west

Water and fire, north and south

Build from the ground up

Last day; dragon form

Soar through the forests and clouds

Few show up to fly

Then we learn sitting

To set burdens to the side

Peaceful life arrives

You may know this form

Buddha and 1 thousand hands

Oh please just one more?

When the spine is straight

Axis of the universe!

Some say, Bleh, sitting

Lately Ba Gua Jin

An army that can not lose

Is moulded this way

Use geometry

To help the qi move through you

The goal is to flow

Like a dam river

Swells build up and form whirl pools

How to un dam dams?

For so long we fight

Just to survive, just to breathe

Its time to float on

Its time to let go

STOP telling me what to feel!

Drop by drop we fill

One day to look up

To see we are all empty

The space is useful

In a big circle

The drum beats and we stamp feet

For a time we melt

In this room I breathe

I thank you for sharing breath

Our hearts harmonize

Poem by Zachery Andrich

Photo by Stephanie Wirth

Model: Hannah Appalonia, musician of medicine songs

[seaofqi]

Haystack Rainbow

Photo by Stephanie Wirth

Model: Marcus Fuller

[seaofqi]

Yin and Yang

Image by Marcus Fuller

[seaofqi]

Phoenix Flame

Destroyed and reborn.

Destroyed and reborn.

Torn apart by a fiery storm.

Body and mind burned to ash. 

With all the power of a lightening flash. 

Suffering and hardship stoke the flames. 

Soul growing, wisdom gained. 

Within the embers you'll find your spirit. 

Total surrender, do not fear it. 

Embrace the true power that you are. 

An infinite diamond, an eternal star. 

Pain and growth. 

Pain and growth. 

This is the melody of the Phoenix of old. 

Wings soaring above it all. 

Endless rising, endless fall. 

Wings soaring above it all. 

The seed is buried before it can grow tall.

Poem by Ben Rosen, (http://www.qiclinicpdx.com/) 

Photo by Stephanie Wirth

Model: Ben Rosen

[seaofqi]

by Momo Ma

[seaofqi]

Drawing the Bow

It begins, by opening.

First, open. First, let in.

Root down, rise-up, invite connection.

Sometimes I do, baihui to huiyin

& a pole of white light I try to stoke. Aglow.

Sometimes, it feels like lead. Weighted, drab, sparkle-less. Dull.

It is not perfect.

It is never the same.

There is no plateau.

I can not arrive.

Sometimes I shake it out and it disappears and evaporates

out of my bones

Sometimes I shake, and it just settles down, again

like sediment.

It is not perfect.

It is never the same.

And I do not have to arrive.

But I still try, to open.

Let in. Root down, rise-up, invite connection.

Baihui to huiyin.

I try to summon that beam of light connecting heaven and earth.

I try to stop puttering about in my brain,

Strategizing about the rain I must bike through, the next quiz, the street sounds.

Baihai to huiyin.

I try to gracefully set aside my agitation, my impatience, my irritation.

I try to close my eyes and let the room wash away.

Baihai to huiyin.

I feel my heart-beat, my legs strong, my breath steady.

I see black mysterious seas against cold snow-capped mountains.

Majestic white tigers with quiet intensity, circumambulating the perimeter.

Reptilian green-blue scaly and glistening dragons, casting medieval shadows.

Fiery birds with golden feathers and sharp breaks, rising up to meet the sun.

And slowly, I define my aura.

Sit back on the lotus.

And when I am ready,

I draw my bow.

Poem by Kristen Oswald

Photo by Stephanie Wirth

Model: Ariel Stimson

[seaofqi]

You are like sitting on a lotus

You are like the first tulips in spring and the last dahlias in fall

You are like glitter shen

You are like the teacher that sought me to paint showing me my hands are the paint brushes and beings are the canvas

You are like mosquitos are teachers too, and like a mutual benefit use them to learn the acupuncture points they brought heat to.

You are like (In Dr. L’s voice) “You HAVE to know that, but don’t worry about that now you WILL be knowing”

You are like a careful cautious horse—absolute love

You are like a seed that had to be crushed—to go underground

You are like a tender, fragrant rising

You are like a death, a breaking, a burial; but, OH what a rising!

You are like ALIVE

You are like letting go of everything I thought was true

You are like an owl’s ear

You are like feeling sweetness

You are like (In MB’s voice) “Nothing about this is arbitrary; You’re all doing great”

You are like—do not grasp it is all coming

You are like bowing down to this precious Earth gift

You are like presence

You are like ease, EASY

Poem by Karen Finlayson

Photo by Stephanie Wirth 2017