Ep25: Taoist Energy Arts - Paul Cavel

In this interview I talk with Paul Cavel, author and Taoist teacher in the Water Tradition of Lao Tse.
We discuss how a serious motor cycle accident left Paul in chronic pain. Searching for a solution, Paul met the man who would go on to become his teacher in the energy arts, Bruce Frantzis, lineage holder of the Taoist Water Tradition.
Living full time in Bruce’s home, in a year they successfully healed Paul’s body and so began a lifetime of study.
We go on to discuss the power of Taoist energy arts in terms of martial arts, healing, and spirituality - as well as the extraordinary effects of studying closely with a true master of that tradition.
We explore the function of lineage, mind-to-mind transmission, the 8 energy bodies, and how to release physical trauma, emotional blockages, and even knots in the karmic body itself.
Topics include:
0:00 - About Paul
0:56 - Early interest in martial arts
03:53 - Paul’s major motorcycle accident and discovering Tai Chi
08:17 - Healing physical trauma and rejuvenating the body
14:15 - Releasing nervous system shock
18:34 - Meeting Taoist Master Bruce Frantzis
27:05 - The art of relating to a master
29:52 - Paul’s practice schedule
33:24 - Working with the 8 energy bodies
37:29 - Releasing karmic knots
47:25 - What is a psychic knot?
50:27 - The importance of lineage in Taoism
1:00:21 - The dangers of mixing different systems
1:11:51 - Embodying the teachings
1:20:33 - Mind-to-mind transmission vs energetic manipulation
1:33:24 - Moral repercussions of energy manipulation
1:42:07 - Where to start with Taoist practice?
1:48:18 - Studying with Paul
1:49:42 - Drawn to lineage
To find out more about Paul, visit:
- www.paulcavel.com/
For more interviews, videos, and more visit:
- www.guruviking.com/
Music 'Deva Dasi' by Steve James

[@raabyau]

This channel is a hidden gem. Keep up the good work!

[@GuruViking]

Thank you! Lots more to come :-)

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

way too hidden

[@Durzo1259]

This was a great interview, amazing talk and Paul was one of the best speakers I've heard on this topic. However... somebody needs to inform him that "yes" isn't the period you put at the end of every sentence. xD

[@loveudon6972]

It really did my head in also. TBH

[@dingosmith9932]

Yes

[@balisuncocoyt]

Actually I quite took a liking to his affirmative.... Yes... it's positive in nature.

[@EyeSchooler]

Thanks Paul. Your talk about neigong and it’s history and function as a personal evolutionary tool and it’s path is personally of great value.

[@paulshackleton2256]

Paul is a great teacher (I've spent hundreds of hours with him). He makes some excellent points about the importance of lineage and the dangers of mixing lineages. However, his claims about Laozi/ Lao Tze (around 57min) are disputed by many historians who argue that he was not a real person and his writings were in fact written by a few different people. The claim that Bruce's water tradition is an unbroken lineage that has been directly transmitted from Laozi to Bruce is completely unsupported. Perhaps we can trace Bruce's teachers back to Chen Wangting (1670) or Li Luoneng (founder of xingyiquan) or Dong Haichuan (founder of baguazhang), but not 4,000 years plus.

[@stefanstrasser3279]

Thank you for the great interview!

[@paintta]

Paul Cavel, fascinating.

[@DafruitYogi]

YES!

[@gracepoint-vo1hy]

The energetic transmission is actually very common in some systems

[@skipskiperton4992]

great interview

[@marylewis3311]

Yes 😳

[@Spectre2434]

Many teachers can engage in unspoken transmission. I actually met a massage therapist from Long Island who could do that. It was very interesting. She wasn't the only one. The bifurcation...A Senge Nahwa practitioner I knew was very capable of doing it as well. He was also a Dzogchen Practitioner .

[@susansmart7727]

the astral field is where tai chi takes place...it is possible to manipulate this field, hence one works together. Chi moves the body.

[@Durzo1259]

I'm wondering, what does the "psychic" mean in "psychic knot"? I know it's not the fortune-teller kind of psychic, but the Taoist model of the 8 layers of self lists the 4th layer as the Mental Body, with the 5th layer as the Psychic Body. I always thought "psychic" meant "of the psyche", synonymous with "mental", but it seems to be to be separate. Any insights?

[@johnnyhourihan8834]

The psychic body would be talking about the intuition and those type of faculties rather than the mind (psyche). The etymology is confusing because the words are closely related in form but not definition. I'm certainly no authority in the tradition but that's my take

[@Durzo1259]

@@johnnyhourihan8834 Actually, that makes a lot of sense. The brain calculates an incredibly larger amount of information in the subconscious than the conscious. That's where intuition comes from, which Taoism teaches to awaken and come to the forefront. So that clears it up. Thanks. :-)

[@astrosurf68]

Wonderful interweiv and the way of the water is my way after a life of traumas and healing covid-19. Thank you both and here's Paul's channel here on KZbin: kzbin.info

[@MonacoBlast66]

Yes? Yes.

[@Spectre2434]

Dodgy stuff... I love it!

[@Spectre2434]

Some systems can't be mixed

[@Spectre2434]

The Thunder Magic

[@tenzinthomasmasami]

Teaching sorcery, magic and energetic mundane powers insufficiently tethered to great compassion and wisdom, yes? Simplifying and reducing enlightenment to basically just a practice of body mechanics, yes?

[@nemesisurvivorleon]

"You need to get in the classroom"...that doesnt exist? Because NO ONE does these amazing things. Everyone spams competition-ready Taekwondo bullshit anywhere you look. ZERO chinese martial art wisdom in this town or the next. It's pathetic. How has this art survived if it cant start growing in places it's completely absent? amazing personal stories and interview otherwise.

[@Evolvor7]

YES!