Just finished a super interesting book by a Myofascial Release practitioner who describes how our fascia acts like a superhighway for transmission of light and in-turn information throughout the body. Would seem to add supporting evidence to your hypothesis 👍
Glad you mention your Yiquan article, since I've been meaning to get back to you at some point and relay that it resonated and sparked my curiosity enough to have reached out to Andrew directly. It only took us connecting once for me to know that adding it to my ecology of practices was a no brainer. I started training with him about 6 weeks ago now and am loving every minute of it. He actually just extended the offer to join the Leading Edge cohort crew sessions, which I plan to attend when my work schedule allows.
One way I've been associating the intrinsic value of Yiquan is how directly it connects with our Moving center of intelligence (Gurdjieff style). Which, if you prescribe to the idea that full (higher emotional center) intelligence requires activation of all three lower centers (moving, emotional, intellectual) it makes perfect sense that something like Yiquan would have massive implications. Oh yeah, and it seemed to work pretty darn well for those Tibetan Monks, so there's that also... 👊
Almost a thousand years ago, the Muslim metaphysicians of Andalusia named the Imaginal Realm as more real than the physical world.
Ibn ʿArabī’s articulation of this realm later shaped Henri Corbin’s thought, and Corbin carried that understanding straight into Jungian psychology.
These thinkers were building on a long lineage. Their predecessors included not only early Muslim sages, but also the Greeks, the Neoplatonists, Plotinus, and the philosophers who saw reality as layered, symbolic, and alive.
Ibn ʿArabī transformed these inherited ideas into something spiritually coherent, experientially verifiable, and cosmologically vast.
And honestly… that was a time when people were actually accessing what Michael Levin now calls the “field of biological intelligence,” naturally, intuitively, by a soul that filters through a vessel not yet carrying the full shadow of modernity.
They engaged with dreams, symbols, meditation, prayer, revelation, intuition, and states of presence, not in the mechanistic, reductionist way we relate to reality today.
We live in a world where the news cycle is full of children dying in wars created by adults who have severed themselves from that very intelligence.
I truly believe the chasm between mysticism and science is false, but I forget.
What a fantastic comment! Yes, I have been drawn to explore Corbin recently too… Also, here is featured in Peter Kingsley’s work who I have found remarkable
I too am extremely excited by Levin’s work. I studied neuroscience in uni and the finding that bio electric fields orchestrate processes throughout the body—ie not just via the neuronal pathways—makes a lot of sense. Back in the day I was completely obsessed by both complexity theory and quantum physics. I thought models like Karl Pribram and David Bohm’s holonomic brain theory were likely closer to explaining ultra-fast subconscious processes and gestalt organization principles than the slow axon communication channels. In parallel I started Aikido in uni and the idea of Internal Power, and the role of the fascial trains in unification and transmission of Ki/Chi felt very much akin to this holographic bio electric phenomenon (was amazed by the homunculus brain maps throughout the body identified by Eastern medicine too). Levin’s work opens the possibility of connecting the electrical and informational realms. It would be exciting to connect this with Rod Swenson’s Autocatakinetics and its extension Intentional Dynamics models. As Schrodinger observed, biological systems seem to be “negentropic”. Relational coherence seems to be an entanglement like phenomenon where learning involves ascending an entropy gradient and integrating information into “superposition”. Anyway I will stop droning on and just say I really love your work and thank you for another fantastic article!
Comments like this simultaneously reaffirm my faith in social media and humanity. A connection I didn’t make explicitly is the curious timing of Andrew Markell’s work with Yiquan, and my early training with him. It’s all fascia and tendons. The role of electricity, be it plasma or levin, seems to be increasingly central! Tesla seemed to know his stuff.
The bioelectric fields that organisms possess sound a lot like the argument posed by Rupert Sheldrake in his groundbreaking book, A New Science of Life that he published in 1981. He argued persuasively that there exists a nonlocal, nonphysical “morphogenic field” that is responsible for the form, functions, and organization of the trillions of individual cells that constitute a complex living organism, without which it could not function or develop from embryo to adult. His morphogenic field is nonphysical but might manifest physically as a bioelectric field with bioelectric signals. Yogis have identified such a nonphysical field and call it the psychic body.
Oh. Well it’s very unnatural not to do it. But we are just leaving an era during which the dreaming self was suppressed. Our tradition holds that we have entered a new era in which the night forces and dreams are gaining power. It’s very important to do it or others who can do it will do it for you.
Super intrigued by this framing that 'each cell’s electrical “mind” participates in a wider bioelectric field that coordinates the intelligence of the whole organism.' Seems tantalizingly related to so much disparate work that's been done since the 1950s. Inspiring to see you bringing these meaty thinkers and threads together.
Dang took me way too long to get to this. Love that you’re bringing Levin in to the conversation. You mentioned analysis potentially serving this larger connection, and I wonder if our analytical parts can sometimes block our connection to the larger energetic field. That connection for me feels closer to “thy will be done” (a sacred phrase I know you resonate with).
"The ideas you pursue may also be pursuing you."
Words to live by. Another fantastic read, thank you.
Thank you!
Just finished a super interesting book by a Myofascial Release practitioner who describes how our fascia acts like a superhighway for transmission of light and in-turn information throughout the body. Would seem to add supporting evidence to your hypothesis 👍
Touching Light by Ronelle Wood
https://ohmsanctuary.com/touching-light-by-ronelle-wood/
So fascinating: I have been doing yiquan for a few months for that reason. Not clear to me how I will know if it’s working https://newsletter.theleading-edge.org/p/yiquan-the-hidden-science-of-power?r=2613wg&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Glad you mention your Yiquan article, since I've been meaning to get back to you at some point and relay that it resonated and sparked my curiosity enough to have reached out to Andrew directly. It only took us connecting once for me to know that adding it to my ecology of practices was a no brainer. I started training with him about 6 weeks ago now and am loving every minute of it. He actually just extended the offer to join the Leading Edge cohort crew sessions, which I plan to attend when my work schedule allows.
One way I've been associating the intrinsic value of Yiquan is how directly it connects with our Moving center of intelligence (Gurdjieff style). Which, if you prescribe to the idea that full (higher emotional center) intelligence requires activation of all three lower centers (moving, emotional, intellectual) it makes perfect sense that something like Yiquan would have massive implications. Oh yeah, and it seemed to work pretty darn well for those Tibetan Monks, so there's that also... 👊
Dude amazing. Please keep me updated with how it's going- are you doing it every day?
Just about, except days that are overfull with life's obligations.
I'm glad you went wildly speculative. This was fun!
Almost a thousand years ago, the Muslim metaphysicians of Andalusia named the Imaginal Realm as more real than the physical world.
Ibn ʿArabī’s articulation of this realm later shaped Henri Corbin’s thought, and Corbin carried that understanding straight into Jungian psychology.
These thinkers were building on a long lineage. Their predecessors included not only early Muslim sages, but also the Greeks, the Neoplatonists, Plotinus, and the philosophers who saw reality as layered, symbolic, and alive.
Ibn ʿArabī transformed these inherited ideas into something spiritually coherent, experientially verifiable, and cosmologically vast.
And honestly… that was a time when people were actually accessing what Michael Levin now calls the “field of biological intelligence,” naturally, intuitively, by a soul that filters through a vessel not yet carrying the full shadow of modernity.
They engaged with dreams, symbols, meditation, prayer, revelation, intuition, and states of presence, not in the mechanistic, reductionist way we relate to reality today.
We live in a world where the news cycle is full of children dying in wars created by adults who have severed themselves from that very intelligence.
I truly believe the chasm between mysticism and science is false, but I forget.
But the work is to remember, despite...
What a fantastic comment! Yes, I have been drawn to explore Corbin recently too… Also, here is featured in Peter Kingsley’s work who I have found remarkable
Thank you! You're piece lit me up. 🌿✨
your*
I too am extremely excited by Levin’s work. I studied neuroscience in uni and the finding that bio electric fields orchestrate processes throughout the body—ie not just via the neuronal pathways—makes a lot of sense. Back in the day I was completely obsessed by both complexity theory and quantum physics. I thought models like Karl Pribram and David Bohm’s holonomic brain theory were likely closer to explaining ultra-fast subconscious processes and gestalt organization principles than the slow axon communication channels. In parallel I started Aikido in uni and the idea of Internal Power, and the role of the fascial trains in unification and transmission of Ki/Chi felt very much akin to this holographic bio electric phenomenon (was amazed by the homunculus brain maps throughout the body identified by Eastern medicine too). Levin’s work opens the possibility of connecting the electrical and informational realms. It would be exciting to connect this with Rod Swenson’s Autocatakinetics and its extension Intentional Dynamics models. As Schrodinger observed, biological systems seem to be “negentropic”. Relational coherence seems to be an entanglement like phenomenon where learning involves ascending an entropy gradient and integrating information into “superposition”. Anyway I will stop droning on and just say I really love your work and thank you for another fantastic article!
Comments like this simultaneously reaffirm my faith in social media and humanity. A connection I didn’t make explicitly is the curious timing of Andrew Markell’s work with Yiquan, and my early training with him. It’s all fascia and tendons. The role of electricity, be it plasma or levin, seems to be increasingly central! Tesla seemed to know his stuff.
Fantastic weaving here, Tom.
Or totally psychotic pattern recognition
😂
The bioelectric fields that organisms possess sound a lot like the argument posed by Rupert Sheldrake in his groundbreaking book, A New Science of Life that he published in 1981. He argued persuasively that there exists a nonlocal, nonphysical “morphogenic field” that is responsible for the form, functions, and organization of the trillions of individual cells that constitute a complex living organism, without which it could not function or develop from embryo to adult. His morphogenic field is nonphysical but might manifest physically as a bioelectric field with bioelectric signals. Yogis have identified such a nonphysical field and call it the psychic body.
Yes! I’m no expert but I thought of that. There’s sort of the astral and noetic planes but I don’t understand how they relate to this…
In my tradition, our dreams create our lives.
Always wonder how much we can do that here…
Where is here? You mean on earth?
yes- in Third density, or whatever.
Oh. Well it’s very unnatural not to do it. But we are just leaving an era during which the dreaming self was suppressed. Our tradition holds that we have entered a new era in which the night forces and dreams are gaining power. It’s very important to do it or others who can do it will do it for you.
Super intrigued by this framing that 'each cell’s electrical “mind” participates in a wider bioelectric field that coordinates the intelligence of the whole organism.' Seems tantalizingly related to so much disparate work that's been done since the 1950s. Inspiring to see you bringing these meaty thinkers and threads together.
Thank you. Nervously waiting to see if I totally misunterpreted Levin's work here. But think there's SOMETHING to it
Dang took me way too long to get to this. Love that you’re bringing Levin in to the conversation. You mentioned analysis potentially serving this larger connection, and I wonder if our analytical parts can sometimes block our connection to the larger energetic field. That connection for me feels closer to “thy will be done” (a sacred phrase I know you resonate with).
no?
I don't want to say too much but based on this post you would find it worthwhile. It's a pretty quick read.
thanks!