Friday, February 18, 2005

Extreme Celebrity Detox Taoist Sex and Death

The Inside Story

Whether or not this "observational documentary" worked for Channel 4 will show in their ratings. If good I suppose we can expect more of the same but, if worse than expected, could we hope for a change in their seeming policy of dumbing-down? of pandering to what they clearly perceive as the viewer's obssession with bodily functions? of banal, turgid and repetitive commentary, omitting scenes of high drama for cheap-laugh sound-bites and voyeuristic sniggers?
Or will intelligently-observed wild-life documentaries stay top of the viewing pops?

Did it work? Well, I do believe that Reality, filmed with integrity, is an ideal expression for the medium of TV, as are plays for the theatre, movies for the cinema and novels for literature.

When Ginger TV approached me to make a documentary for Channel 4 on my work of teaching mantak chia taoism they first asked to film my annual summer retreat in Devon. I refused, because people don't go on this retreat to be on telly. They go to learn taoist meditation: in a beautiful setting, without distractions, and in private.

Ginger then asked if I would facilitate such a retreat if they provided the people and the venue, a private island in the Andaman Sea. I agreed but, after just two days, my assistants and I found we could not teach all the retreat practices to people paid to be on TV, on a mosquito-infested island, and a raging monsoon storm blowing down their tents.

So, we agreed to teach just the "highlights": a shortened version of the taoist meditation on death (not even for national TV would I reveal the secrets of this!); sweatlodge, popularised by native americans; how to walk on fire without getting burnt (a taoist secret shared with native australians and Polynesians); cosmic fusion and five elements of shamanic taoism; Iron Shirt chi kung (qi gong) and steel body Tai Chi.

Was it good telly? Was it true? Did it work?

I admired how the celebrities tried so hard to get into it, although the TV edit/commentary focussed more on quick laughs, mocking their monumental, sometimes almost heroic, struggles. Their big difficulties, given that they are all professional communicators, were maintaining silence and stillness. And giving up their mobile phones! However, I was more than impressed with how they handled the dramatic challenges of fire-walking and Tai Chi fighting.

We demonstrated aspects of Bone Marrow Nei Kung including Dragon Tiger breathing; the health benefits of meridian stimulation and genital weightlifting; discussed taoist shamanism: shamanic journeying, ecstatic flight, circle of fire; looked at comparable practices of Wiccans and Tibetans.

And of course what the producers in their final edit turned into the core theme: taoist sexual practices of working with pleasure, arousal and orgasmic energy, as though this were an end in itself rather than simply a very powerful way of using the natural resources of the human body to reach a state of bliss and connection with spirit, whether alone or with a partner. The partner-work aspect, explained and filmed with sensitivity and fundamental to the practice, is hardly mentioned and not shown at all in the final cut.

The series showed the tip of an iceberg of meditation, training and practices which, I'm very happy to say, still remain secret - but very accessible to those who make the commitment to learning them.

Unlike 'as seen on TV', we don't start with genital weight-lifting, an advanced practice that comes only after several months of learning how to cope with its effects: a sustained wave of explosive energy, to use in the bedrooom or the boardroom; for martial arts, or for healing.

What we did certainly worked in terms of life- and spiritual- awareness for the celebrity participants, each of whom experienced some level of innner transformation - even the one who dropped out. And it showed in the shining light from their faces at the end.

So the Reality worked and if, despite the distortions, the series stimulates interest in learning more about these ancient and (especially in modern life) highly effective practices, then the TV worked for us too, and I am grateful for the exposure.

I would like to express my appreciation of the integrity of the director, who filmed our practices with respect. She had no hand in the final edit and how the material was presented.

Links to more info:
Basic Training
Healing Love (this is not a "couples workshop" tho couples are of course welcome.)
Healing Tao Summer Retreat
Tao of the Shaman
Article on Taoist Life

Wednesday, February 16, 2005

Extreme Celebrity Detox with Taoist Sex!

Cor Blimey! watching our first bit (joke over) in the series made me wonder what we were doing the rest of the time. Just to put things in proportion, sexual practices took up maybe a total of three hours of the eight days. Yes of course I understand ratings. I would have liked them to squeeze in a few more seconds of explanation tho. Especially that along with Solo Cultivation (graciously referred to in the commentary as 'advanced masturbatory techniques') the celebrities also learned about Dual Cultivation practices (advanced copulatory techniques?) to take away and practise when they got back with their partners. And Meditations like the Healing Sounds Inner Smile Microcosmic Orbit (here they are, click for yourself) and some, maybe two minutes, of the four hours a day Tai Chi fighting which all the celebrities loved and became very good at very quickly. I was truly impressed with them: I hardly had to demonstrate any Tai Chi move more than once.
Please don't think I'm unhappy with it all - the cameras captured some amazing and beautiful moments. And they played some of the soundtrack of the Taoist Tantra CD.
And I must now be one of the few men who could be recognised walking down the street naked with a sack over my head. Does that fall within the beautiful-moment definition?
Two more nights, Wednesday and Thursday, Channel 4, 11.05 pm. Be there!
oh yes, they've got a website picture of me swinging: clickit here. See ya.

Monday, February 14, 2005

Celebrity Taoist Sex tonight

Tonite's the night! click to see pictures of the celebs. Had lunch with my son and an interesting discussion on the subject of embarrassing fathers. Friends have been calling him to say how scary I look in the ads. All publicity is good publicity, innit?! never thought in former lives (army officer, real-estate broker, barman, chauffeur, farmer, nightclub manager.....y'know, usual run-of-the-mill stuff) of achieving notoriety like this. Headlines: EX-MINICAB DRIVER SWINGS WEIGHT FROM DICK. I hope the TV people show the bits (yeah, ha ha) explaining the benefits apart from the obvious sexual ones. Girls can do it too, using a Chinese Drilled Jade Egg. Here, click to have a look. I'm told its extreeeemely pleasurable. There's a group that meets to learn how and practice. Look. No men allowed. Shame. Anyway, enjoy Valentines and watch Channel 4 at 11.05pm.