Testimonial
Holy freaking Fire Turtles!
Windlock comes as a shock and demands what you’ve always wanted to experience: a total, primal engagement, pushing beyond your limits .
Starting with a chi activation sequence, Windlock begins moderately but efficiently, with a strong pulsation of chi arriving immediately in the arms. Next is primordial activation, which was a big challenge for me as it is all about arm and upper body strength. Wake up call!
I have always wanted to be as agile as a monkey though so even if it was hard it appealed to me to push myself, and I had to.
On the very first round of the nine sets of Upper Vest Compression I was struggling with nausea and dizziness. I couldn’t wait for it to end and it was just the beginning. Upper Vest Compression is very demanding, particularly in terms of engagement of will to stretch our limits. The same movements can be approximated with practically no effect but when fully assumed they seem to take on epic, survivalist proportions.
What steps in to ‘protect’ our righteous sense of personal comfort from these unexpected onslaughts tends to be very revealing and becoming aware of those responses is just one of the amazing benefits of this practice. I had to struggle against internal resistance, knowing I had to go on if I really wanted to make a change. It was not so much my body as my conditioning, not accustomed to that level of exertion, that was complaining.
On that first day I was talking to myself about how it would all end soon and I would have a choice to not do it any more and how that was what I would do, preferably as soon as possible. And that was exhausting, and unnecessary. I am so glad to have had the chance to continue the training and arrive at a different attitude towards integrating it in my daily life, because the first way was self-limiting and lazy, which is exactly what I need to overcome as it is just not who I am. I felt this ‘mummy suit’ dropping away as the days went by, revealing myself to be much stronger, clearer and more physically resourceful than I had allowed myself experience before and making me determined to build upon and not lose sight of this in the maelstrom of ‘normal life’.
The second half of the session is all practiced in horse stance. It is super-intense and incredibly efficient in moving energy. I sweated as though I was doing cardio whilst mostly standing still, just moving arms. It was hot weather but I think this would happen in any temperature.
At moments you feel your whole lower body turn to steel and ‘bone-strengthening’ taking place before your very senses. Chi flows like lava all over the place – without a doubt, it’s working. Activation of centers such as the solar plexus, the heart and the third eye happens noticeably the first time you do it and the sensations get stronger every time.
On the second day of training I could barely lift my arms in the morning and dressed myself like an old lady. When I saw myself in the mirror I was shocked by the transformation of my upper body. I was looking compact and strong! Literally overnight I had arms I had never seen before in my life.
I had a break after the second day of Windlock as I had originally come to learn Dragon’s Tears and it looked like I might not absorb everything properly because in Tears there is so much detail to pay attention to and the intensity of Tapping was leaving my ‘body brain’ a bit shell shocked in the afternoon.
What was crazy was that for the rest of that week my body did not stop transforming the whole time. Normally if I do something I’m not used to the lactic acid and after effects last for two or three days. This was six. I was practicing Dragon’s Tears and walking around town during that time, but nothing else, and my newly muscled arms kept getting more definition. It was kind of weird, and great! I was impressed with the results.
My second round of Windlock the week after was a whole different experience. The first day was challenging but I was not looking forward to the end with the semi-desperation I had the first time because the movements had become enjoyable to me.
Having had three experiences now of ‘recommencing’ after a break of day or several days, I know that the first day of a new cycle is challenging. It feels ‘too much’ and it’s tempting to cave in. Luckily Lujan won’t allow that and this is an education within itself. This is work I can and must continue now myself. When you push through you end up somewhere better and it quickly feels natural to be demanding this level of engagement from yourself.
The training actually becomes pleasurable. There is something deeply satisfying about all the exercises and the way they flow from one to another that makes you want to go back for more.
At the end of the whole practice I often felt like a ‘pre-cog’, those super sensitive psychic humanoid beings that live underwater in the film ‘Minority Report’ (if you have seen it). Everything was slightly surreal, the light very bright and things like plants were glowing. It was an interesting conclusion to such intense physicality.
I love learning with Lujan on so many levels. It is the best thing I have done in a long time and not a moment too soon. I would recommend it to anyone that wants to break through their personal limitations and get in touch with their essence.
If you want to prepare at all for your Tapping initiation, I was really glad that I’d done a little work on my abs (Pilates abs workouts) and some arm strengthening – a few push-ups, more would have been better! Whatever you do though Tapping is likely to be a shock to your system as the point is to go beyond your own limits so wherever you are at you will be asked to go further and this is the true magic of this practice.
Happy Windlock !
Naomi Jean
France
