The time has come: My publisher Lotus-Press was kind enough to make my first webinars from the Corona years permanently available as video on demand.
Living and Dying in the Taiji Principle (Webinar of 21-Nov-2020, 3h 45min)
https://www.lotus-press.com/Leben-und-Sterben-im-Taiji-Prinzip/SW10255.2
In this special webinar, Jan will share many thoughts with you about life itself but also about dying from the perspective of the Taiji principle. A cheerful and also serious topic, where we will all learn a lot about how the Taiji principle can help us in everyday life, but also in difficult to seemingly hopeless situations. In addition, a 'Taiji look' is taken at the different levels of being.
In addition, there is not only a lot of source information from the Daodejing, the Zhuangzi and the Liezi - also many personal experiences and conversations of Jan with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang, some Daoist nuns and monks from the Wudangshan, Huashan and Louguantai are reproduced here. Of course, his own experience from China, but also Brazil, is not neglected. In addition to many training references, the webinar is rounded off with traditional core statements by Chen Wangting, the founder of the Taiji style, and Chen Xin, the author of the famous Taijiquan Tushuo.
The Daodejing and the Bible (webinar of 17-Oct-2020, 3h 10min)
https://www.lotus-press.com/Das-Daodejing-und-die-Bibel/SW10256.1
Our author Jan Silberstorff published his book 'In the Beginning was the Dao' in 2020, which deals with the Daodejing and the Bible:
"This book uses the Bible and the Daodejing (Tao Te King), the holy book of Daoism, to point to a common, supra-worldly fundamental truth that is supra-denominational regardless of culture and is now also supported by physics. It shows which sentences of one holy scripture have a counterpart in the other. How Christian truths of faith can be virtually proven by Eastern spirituality and vice versa. It does not try to make two religions equal. But it is meant to give a common answer as to how and why we came into being. It is also intended to help people in the West who have turned their backs on their religious culture in disappointment and found answers in the East to regain access to their spiritual home.
This work is supported by a great deal of source research across the centuries, partly translated directly from Hebrew, ancient Greek and Latin, as well as from the Chinese Bible and the Daodejing in its originals.
The title 'In the Beginning was the Dao' is taken from the standard Protestant version of the Chinese Bible."
Lotus-Press has now organised a webinar with Jan Silberstorff by asking and answering basic questions about this particular inter-religious dialogue. For many who practise Taijiquan or Qigong, Buddhist meditation or the teachings of the Dao in the West, but carry the Christian faith in their hearts, the following difficulties often arise:
- To what extent is Christian faith possible from an understanding of Daodejing (also: Buddhist spirituality/Taiji/Qigong) and vice versa?
- To what extent does it make sense?
- To what extent is it contradictory?
- Can Christian faith be lived in Far Eastern wisdom? If so, to what end?
- Can and may a Christian practise Taijiquan/Qigong/Buddhist meditation?
- Is it dangerous for a Christian to engage in Eastern mysticism?
- Do different cultures enrich us or lead us astray?
- Is there one truth, culturally dressed differently? Or not?
These questions, which can be of crucial importance for many serious spiritual seekers between East and West or are even brought to one from the outside, are explored by Jan Silberstorff with the help of a precise source analysis in the truest sense of the word.
This webinar will facilitate the reading of his new book, but is not taken from it in terms of content.
Blockages and breathing (webinar from 19-Sep-2020, 3h 26min)
https://www.lotus-press.com/Blockaden-und-Atmung/SW10254.2
Blockages and breathing: How do I clear them, how do I breathe deeply?
Taijiquan is used to show how mental, energetic and physical blockages can be removed and how our breathing can become deep and calm. Furthermore, it is clarified why these achievements have a significant impact on our well-being, our health, as well as on the aspect of self-defence.
On the content:
- Techniques for dissolving mental blockages
- Techniques for dissolving energetic blockages
- Techniques for dissolving physical blockages
- Techniques to achieve deep natural abdominal breathing
- Techniques to achieve deep paradoxical abdominal breathing
- Analysis of the effects of the above techniques on our well-being
- Analysis of the effects of the above techniques on our health
- Analysis of the effects of the above techniques on the self-defence of Taijiquan
- including a small relaxing exercise in the middle of the online seminar.
For the occasion, Jan Silberstorff also addresses how it is possible to better face the Corona crisis both physically and mentally - healthy or infected. For the reference to the relevance for people infected with Corona, Jan draws on case studies he knows personally. Jan Silberstorff emphasises that he is speaking here as a non-medical practitioner purely from the perspective of Taijiquan.
In this part, the following options are discussed:
- Application of techniques described above for facilitating coping during a Corona pandemic for healthy people
- Application of techniques described above for facilitating coping during a Corona infection
This seminar is a recording of a Zoom seminar held by Jan Silberstorf on 19 September 2020. In addition to the recording, a 7-page worksheet is included in the package as a PDF document.
The Taiji Principle (Webinar from 31-Jul-2020, 2h 24min)
https://www.lotus-press.com/Das-Taiji-Prinzip/SW10253.1
In this cross-stylistic seminar, Master Jan Silberstorff explains the Taiji principle as taught by Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang for the first time together for all within the Taiji and Qigong scene.
It includes:
- The cosmological significance of the Taiji principle with regard to the primordial origin and preservation of all things,
- its Daoist context,
- as well as its concrete and pragmatic transfer to the practice of Taijiquan and Qigong.The history of the development of the Taiji symbol.
- One 'map' each for the development of inner and outer structure as well as their rooting,
- as well as one for the inner energy and movement guidance.
- The 'outer three unions' - Waisanhe.
- The 'inner three unions' - Neisanhe.
- The transfer of the standing and moving principle to the standing meditations and the forms,
- as well as the pushing hands and self-defence.
- The Taiji principle in the theoretical and technical implementation of the health teachings of Taijiquan and Qigong.
The Taiji principle taught in this seminar is the 'engine' of the Chen style, but it can also be integrated into any other 'body', i.e. into any other system. Therefore, this seminar is helpful for all directions of Taijiquan and Qigong and equally fruitful for beginners and advanced practitioners.
Three-step Taiji sitting meditation (3 webinars from 13- to 17-Jul-2020, 7h 6min)
https://www.lotus-press.com/Drei-Stufen-Taiji-Sitzmeditation/SW10252.2
Three-stage Taiji sitting meditation is a cross-stylistic meditation technique for all systems of Taijiquan. Each of the three stages is divided into two aspects. This package includes the videos for all three stages as well as an accompanying PDF document.
Level 1 (video duration: 2 hours, 10 minutes)
- Development of inner peace and energisation of the body.
- Noticeable build-up of Dantian, the essential energy centre in Taijiquan.
Level 2 (Duration of the video: 2 hours, 8 minutes)
- Development of mindfulness, single-mindedness and concentration.
- Development of spiritual guidance of the Dantian.
Level 3 (Duration of the video: 2 hours, 48 minutes)
- The ability to let movement arise from an unmoving mind.
- Gradual entry into emptiness and its gradual deepening.
The aim of the three-step sitting meditation is to first perceive Dantian in a strongly energised body and then to be able to move out of the mind. Further, to increase the ability to concentrate in such a way that gradual entry into emptiness becomes possible. This enables the Taiji adept to generate every movement in the Taiji form out of the dantian, with the mind as the source of the movement remaining motionless.
In this way, the classics can be realised in which it is said: Taiji arises from Wuji. In other words, from the unmoving mind, energy is led via the dantian through the entire body, which is then followed by the outer movement. With further practice, the gradual entry into emptiness can continue on a gradual path to deeper and deeper experiences of emptiness. This includes freedom of thought, ego-lessness and self-lessness up to what is described within Taiji as becoming one with the DAO.
Suitable for beginners and advanced practitioners.