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After more than 2 decades exploring both eastern (Chinese internal and Daoist arts) and western (stretching, rehab, calisthenics, etc) methods of self cultivation, I started to reduce my body of knowledge to something more essential at its heart, and explorative in its application. I stopped focusing on the techniques and started focusing on which qualities the techniques were igniting in me and my students, how those qualities might be useful in other areas of life, and how they could be pragmatically applied.
I broadly break my approach into 4 main categories: physical cultivation (all things to do with bodily development and care), internal cultivation (bringing the process of opening and releasing into the internal bodily landscapes), cultivation of the mind (including development of the imaginal spaces), and finally exploring the context within which all this development takes place: non-duality.
Join me as I dive into the many discoveries I have made along the way, as well as interviewing many of the super interesting people I have met in my travels and through various practice circles.
I broadly break my approach into 4 main categories: physical cultivation (all things to do with bodily development and care), internal cultivation (bringing the process of opening and releasing into the internal bodily landscapes), cultivation of the mind (including development of the imaginal spaces), and finally exploring the context within which all this development takes place: non-duality.
Join me as I dive into the many discoveries I have made along the way, as well as interviewing many of the super interesting people I have met in my travels and through various practice circles.
22 Episodes
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A semi rant/call for clarification about martial arts and what they actually do and what to keep an eye on if you're after real martial capacities. I don't consider myself a martial artist, but I do use a lot of martial drills as cultivation tools, and I have enough insight to understand that traditional drills are not effective unless you're also doing a whole lot of actual fighting (which I'm not doing), and learning to operate under conditions like a severe adrenaline dump really regularly (which I'm also not doing). That does not make traditional arts useless, rather that they are useful but for something entirely different, namely cultivation practices! Stay clear about this and you won't end up in a delusional fantasy land, and all will be good in the hood.
In this episode I'm diving into the Water phase of the Wu Xing, to go along with my previous episodes on Metal (episode 18) and Wood (episode 19). Here I explore the link between willpower, the capacity to confront the depths of fear and potential, and the wisdom to act from a place of experience rather than fast knowledge. In Daoist cosmology, this is linked to the concept of Jing, the essence of our being that contains all the potential that can be realized before we die, should we take appropriately wise action.
I mention in the episode that I'm working on a few courses (Dan Tian Gong and a Wu Xing multi course series), all of which will be available on my courses website whenever they are finished, which is right here:
https://courses.craigmallett.com
Enjoy!
In balance and opposition to the previous episode, this episode explores the opening of potential, and the link this has to dreams, growth and a drive that takes us forward in life. Modernity treats dreams, and many of its associations like the realm of the imaginal, as childlike and immature. This leads to many people being stuck in a life that inherently frustrates and irritates them. Connecting to the bigger picture and the potential can help us get a view of things that is beyond the day to day. It gives our life an arc and meaning rather than just survival for survival's sake. It's this part of us that will happily sacrifice ourselves for the greater good of the group, community or life as a whole.
As usual, you can find a bunch of courses from me on various topics on my website here:
https://courses.craigmallett.com
If you'd like to support the podcast, consider becoming a Patron:
https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected
Enjoy
In this episode I discuss the benefits of cultivating density in the system. It's an in depth look at how condensing practices can really help most of the problems people in the modern world experience these days: it can help you know who you are, where you are, where you're going, where your boundaries are, what you need and don't need, and prevent you being possessed by group thoughts or peer pressure. Based on the metal element, I also go into details about how this condensing action requires release.
In the end of the episode I mention some of my courses, they can all be found here:
courses.craigmallett.com
If you'd like to support the podcast, consider becoming a Patron:
https://www.patreon.com/c/AwareRelaxedConnected
Enjoy
In this episode I interview Adrian Cannovo, a friend of mine who is a practitioner of an internal martial art called Yang Mian. Adrian is one of the real deals of Internal Chinese Martial Arts, and has worked as a bouncer as well as honed his skills in real MMA bouts. In our talk shares his experiences and insights into the martial arts as he sees them, including some of the more esoteric aspects.
You can find Adi on socials here:
https://www.instagram.com/adiyangmian/
https://www.youtube.com/@easternmovementprinciples4799
If you're interested in my own work, you can find my latest course, as well as my other courses, and my patreon, at the links below:
https://courses.craigmallett.com
https://craigmallett.com/arms
https://patreon.com/AwareRelaxedConnected
Enjoy
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