Ride Backwards on Dragon

When award-winning political journalist and nonfiction author Kim Goldberg began studying the ancient Taoist internal art of Liuhebafa in 1998, it had an unexpected effect on her writer's voice: she fell silent for nearly a decade. When the words finally returned, they came as poems. Ride Backwards On Dragon is her mapping of that journey through the alien and tumultuous landscape of inner alchemy and outer upheaval, leading her ultimately to a discovery of wholeness. In her long-awaited fifth book, Goldberg uses the 66-move sequence of this little known martial art to frame several levels of narrative. There is a relationship gone awry, a quest for immortality, an ancient pre-coital struggle between green dragon and white tiger, and finally an emergence of voice.

More than a collection of poems, Ride Backwards On Dragon is closer to a multi-layered poetic novel in 66 short chapters that interweave ancient and modern, Eastern and Western, mystic and mundane. In a series of endnotes, Goldberg decodes the Taoist metaphysical symbolism of the 66 ancient titles of the movements, revealing them to be a blueprint for living a life. No other such resource decoding these names has been published in English. Ride Backwards On Dragon will appeal to anyone who loves a tale well told. The endnotes make this book a valuable resource for practitioners of Taoist internal arts (Chi Gong, Tai Chi, Bagua, Hsing-I, Liuhebafa), or for the person simply seeking a self-authored life.

We are grateful to Eric Lee for help with the Chinese characters. His work can be found here.

In Taoist metaphysics, the cart is the water-cart or waterwheel turning the waters of life within us. In stopping it to ask directions, we are taking stock of our lives, assessing the flow of our energies. This can refer to the direction of flow of the "microcosmic orbit" within us - are we able to drive our generative energy up the spine and down the front of our bodies for the reversal of aging? Or are we letting it flow in the opposite direction (the direction the waters of the world will set in motion) and out of our bodies, not yet knowing how to contain it? If that seems too abstract, we can use this move as a simple barometer of our energies - are they coherent or diffuse? Bright or dim? Building or waning? Coalescing or leaking away through the orifices of desire (eyes, ears, nose, mouth, genitals, anus)? This first move summons us to take a reading of our inner selves. And as such, it embodies the underlying philosophy of Liuhebafa (and indeed, of Taoism as well). The message is: We are responsible for our lives; we have the power to choose. The choice we are asked to make in the first move is between two paths - life and health, or death and decay. If we are ready to choose the first path, then we continue with the form.

©Kim Goldberg, 2007

25. Support sky and cover earth

Sky (heaven) and earth are yet another yin/yang pairing common to Taoist alchemy. Sky is yang (the masculine), and earth yin (the feminine). The sky/earth binary also signifies the original mind paired with the original body, as well as head (the "upper tantien") paired with belly (the "lower tantien"). A tantien is an energy field. There are three in the body - upper, middle, and lower - corresponding to spirit energy ("shen"), vital energy "(chi"), and generative energy ("jing"), respectively. In Taoist cosmology, the original division of the undifferentiated nothingness (or "wu-chi") that brought forth the world through a subsequent chain reaction of further divisions was the division of heaven from earth (yang from yin). The goal of Taoist internal practice is to return the microcosmic universe (the body/self) to the original undifferentiated state, hence all the metaphoric references to the copulation of yin and yang. At a physiological level, the work of energy circulation and re-unification is achieved, in part, through improved posture in which the spinal column is straightened and expanded, creating a better conduit for energy flow. So no kinking of neck vertebrae, no hunching of thoracic vertebrae, no swayback curve to lower lumbar vertebrae. When we stack our vertebrae one atop the next to create a straight and open pathway to the head, we are "supporting sky." Similarly, when we flatten out the lower lumbar arch by dropping the tailbone, the pelvis starts to wrap around more of the belly, thus "covering earth" and providing better support to our internal organs.

©Kim Goldberg, 2007

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Excerpt from Cahoots Magazine Review

... And what poems! Goldberg's often unusual use of line breaks and careful choice of words display a thoughtful and precise use of language intent on impacting the reader, pulling them from their constant state of mind into the image and the teachings. Goldberg's poems burn with the dragon's fire, soothe with the lotus leaves, liberate by the flying geese. ... A valuable resource and a delicious read, Ride Backwards on Dragon takes the reader not only on the poet's journey, but leads them on their own journey of self-discovery and contemplation.

Cahoots Magazine

Link to Das Liu He Ba Fa Blog and a review by Friedhelm Tippner
(in German)

Excerpt from Synergy Magazine Review

The journey is exotic, and the scenery is great. In some of the more intense poems, images crowd nose to tail to nose across the page: a word-cornucopia treat for the poetry lover or visual thinker. Churning seas, birds and bees, a gun carrying cow-girl, and a released prisoner can all be seen along the way, sharing the poet road: Metaphor. And flitting, flirting, around, throughout them all, are the mythological tigers and dragons that inspire much of liuhebafa, engaged in a high stakes game of tag. (Lia Light)

Read the whole review here
Synergy Magazine