tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185110465994801552024-03-14T12:34:52.524-07:00Looking Backstage in Life"All the world's a Stage..." Life is a Play - most of us simply have forgotten that we are players.Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-42815341750983634752024-03-14T11:31:00.000-07:002024-03-14T12:33:32.170-07:00<h1 style="text-align: left;"> Leadership in Action<br /></h1><p></p><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><img alt="Yo-Yo Ma — Silkroad" class="s-img s-img-ll" data-pos="19" height="205" src="https://tse1.mm.bing.net/th?id=OIP.kRZSEvaRKE0-7f0gW-4vlQHaHa&pid=Api&rs=1&c=1&qlt=95&w=115&h=115" title="Yo-Yo Ma — Silkroad" width="205" /> </div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"> </div><div style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;">I had the experience of seeing Yo-Yo Ma perform with a string quartet made up of young musicians, most of whom have just graduated from music school. He literally plays ‘second fiddle’ in a piece for a string quartet with two cellos. Yo-Yo plays the second cello part allowing the young musician to take the lead cello.</div></div><br />This performance takes place at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum, not in the regular auditorium, but in the much more intimate space of the Rembrandt room (Before the thefts). It’s a fund raiser for Young Audiences of Mass, where I am the artistic director. It’s the end of a gala evening and this private performance is only for the YA staff and large donors.<br /><br />The piece is maybe 10 minutes long. There are only about 30 people gathered around the musicians, standing with our wine glasses in hand - and it is sublime, magical, transcendent. Looking around the audience I see many folk with tears in their eyes. I am wiping them out of my own.<br /><br />After the performance I ask one of the musicians what it was like playing with such a master of their art. She said, “I may as well hang up my violin right now for I have never played so beautifully in my life and I doubt I will ever reach this height again.” <br /><br />Yo-Yo Ma’s <b>Presence</b> lifted everyone else in the group to his level of mastery. Not only his being <b>Present</b> in the room; his ability to <b>Reach Out</b> to, and connect with, his ‘team;’ his <b>E</b>x<b>pressiveness</b> in playing; and the grounded confidence of <b>Self-Knowing</b>; his totality as a human being and master of his art. AND he did it not by shining the light on himself as ‘The Leader,’ but by putting himself in the background.<p></p><p>This experience was a clear demonstration of several of my favorite quotes on leadership:<br />HBS: Leadership is how you make other people feel by your presence (and not just ‘feel’ but how you change the quality of their performance)<br />Lao Tzu: A leader is best when people barely know he exists, when his work is done, his aim fulfilled, they will say, “We did it ourselves.”<br />Simon Sinek’s book: “Leaders Eat Last”<br /><br /></p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-29338504910019622892024-02-26T10:24:00.000-08:002024-02-26T10:24:19.791-08:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDYkxRsGVnceiBiqaPb9j0M67G399gGgQnJ5CNayB2MlFcC5yY85n0pN6cee_bcjMdpzA31u7jNft9fmEGeGDZ3i3bAC4HuupOvUq4sV6y8w1ZgHjh2q6AnCG8xiDTQWCenKTzZxJAKejpdFH1QzdtOqepTs-AUKhogLZHCM1MiBWpdTZ19WmhwMkTz0/s1024/Olivier%20with%20letter.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjVDYkxRsGVnceiBiqaPb9j0M67G399gGgQnJ5CNayB2MlFcC5yY85n0pN6cee_bcjMdpzA31u7jNft9fmEGeGDZ3i3bAC4HuupOvUq4sV6y8w1ZgHjh2q6AnCG8xiDTQWCenKTzZxJAKejpdFH1QzdtOqepTs-AUKhogLZHCM1MiBWpdTZ19WmhwMkTz0/s320/Olivier%20with%20letter.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b> Being Present and problem solving</b><br /></p><p><br />One of my favorite themes in coaching and corporate trainings is the link between being Present (with its’ attendant aspects of the pause and the breath) and problem solving. Problems can only ever be solved in the present moment. And, they are always solved in the present moment. That may sound like the same thing but there is a significant difference. The first statement assumes the usual attitude that there is the present moment and then there is everything else (Past and future). It assumes “Time.” The second statement makes the point that it is always the present moment, that there is nothing else, and so this is the time to address the issue. (Love that line, “There’s no time like the present!” - literally)<br /><br />I have two favorite stories to emphasize the connection between being present and problem solving. The first is short, a Lawrence Olivier story, and the second about the ancient tale of Beowulf, much more complex and detailed (Later.)<br /><br />Lawrence Olivier, (Sir Larry) was arguably the world’s greatest Shakespearean actor of the 20th century. Two things about sir Larry are relevant to this story; 1) He hated to memorize lines. If he didn’t need to memorize a line, such as reading a letter on stage, he wouldn’t. He would have the letter written out. Most actors would have the lines committed to memory. 2) He was a practical joker and loved to see if he could get actors to break character in the middle of a play. Understandably sharing the stage with Olivier kept other actors on their toes.<br /><br />What happens in this one particular performance is that the other actors decide turn about is fair play and they decide to play a practical joke on Sir Larry. They convince the actor who delivers the letter to Larry to switch it out for a blank piece of paper. So, it’s the middle of a battle scene. Olivier, the commander, is alone on stage with smoke pouring in from stage left and right, sound effects of cannon firing, swords clashing, men shouting and dying. A messenger rushes on stage towards Olivier. “Letter from the front my lord!”<br />Olivier snatches the letter, opens it and……… it’s blank. …….. Looooong pause (and probably, hopefully, some deep breaths……..<br /><br />Olivier: “My eyes are too weak with the smoke of battle…… you read it! (Hands letter to messenger)<br /><br />Now, Olivier could have spent his time (as many of us would in such a pressurized situation) not being present. “This is not what’s supposed to be happening! This letter is not supposed to be blank, it’s not the one I am supposed to have. Why Isn’t my letter here? What happened? Blah blah blah, past, past, past.” Instead, Olivier becomes very present with what IS (rather than on what is NOT) actually going on: blank letter, where do I go from here?. His willingness to ‘rest’ in the reality of the present with its powerful energy of ‘Presence,’ ‘IS-ness,’ ‘potentiality’ and ‘possibility’ leads to the solution.<br /><br />I often wonder what the messenger did in that situation. The story doesn’t say. I would hope that if I were them I would also take a breath, pause, sink into the present and….<br /><br />Messenger: “Sorry my lord, I never learned how to read.”</p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-17600115518606537752024-01-08T12:48:00.001-08:002024-03-14T12:34:15.954-07:00Gathering Check-ins<p><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%;">What do I want to talk about (LinkedIn asks when I initiate a post)? Check-ins at group meetings! I have a pet peeve about checkins - They go on too long. I am a great fan of check-ins, love them for how they connect people on a personal and emotional level - and they always seem to go off the rails in terms of setting time limits per-person. Especially checkins as part of a colleague gathering where people go deeply personal. The moderator never fails to set a time limit of 1-2 minutes (because, after all, there is more to the agenda), and participants never fail to double or treble that amount of time. </span></p><p>I have been reading Priya Parker’s book, “The Art of Gathering” and her advice has been at the top of my mind during recent meetings. One of her bits of advice is to not be a “Chill Host” (or moderator) (even at the risk of alienating some participants). Keep control of your gathering, keep it focused on its purpose, or someone else (or someones) will hijack it. To Priya, the gathering itself, and its success, is more important than any one person in it. </p><p>People do need time to connect with their peers and when someone is in the middle of a deeply personal sharing, it feels unkind (and uncomfortable as moderator) to cut them off. Yes and…. Priya’s main, and compelling, point is that it is more unkind (and disrespectful) to everyone else, to the other participants who are awaiting their turn. If there is a limited amount of time set for the exercise some people may not get to share, or their time will be curtailed by the people who hogged the ‘mic.’ </p><p>This happened in a recent Zoom gathering of colleagues. The gathering’s purpose was to allow us to connect with colleagues we haven’t seen in a while. It was scheduled for an hour and the check in was the entire gathering. People took twice as much (and more) time as was allowed and our moderator (understandably) did not want to cut anyone off. To me it became an example of individuals being more important than the group and therefore the gathering not serving its people.</p><p>The gathering did not feel cohesive, people’s attention wandered, several people had to leave when the hour was up, and ultimately the gathering, for that reason, did not feel successful. </p><p>Face it, not everything that everyone shares is interesting or compelling to everyone; so to go on and on sucks the life out of the gathering. Everybody can deal with 1-2 minutes of sharing. People will be forced not to ramble, to choose the most important (to them) points to make, and to practice that most wonderful leadership quality - succinctness.</p><p>It is not my intention to criticize my colleagues because I have run my share of runaway gatherings. It’s just that after reading Priya’s book, I have, going forward, a passionate and clear interest in, as well as respect, excitement and the desire for, conducting successful gatherings.</p><p>#gatherings #Priyaparker #meetings #leadership #connections </p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-25079076226948306692023-09-24T10:33:00.002-07:002023-09-24T10:33:44.398-07:00<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinH-F9w8b-tQOWDg4gOa4E5TeczYQrulNVE0ochJyDME5WcIieEK7WYnnUKeuJfqyBety1hbX8aCNiMrvdW8Zz3KVJjJrD1XKXonsD6E-MpcKkZ2sMDwNMkNNmYkazL4m4m9kdgtH_LAyiJXasZHvNxp5j3D4O6qk2OXafNNGHKpTTNDDJqTyf_ANigi8/s1024/Slop%20Sink.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="263" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinH-F9w8b-tQOWDg4gOa4E5TeczYQrulNVE0ochJyDME5WcIieEK7WYnnUKeuJfqyBety1hbX8aCNiMrvdW8Zz3KVJjJrD1XKXonsD6E-MpcKkZ2sMDwNMkNNmYkazL4m4m9kdgtH_LAyiJXasZHvNxp5j3D4O6qk2OXafNNGHKpTTNDDJqTyf_ANigi8/w263-h263/Slop%20Sink.png" width="263" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-size: large;"> <span face="Helvetica-BoldOblique" style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold; text-align: center; text-decoration: underline;">Loving What You Do</span></span><p></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Not everyone has the option to "Do what they love." Somebody has to clean the toilets, sweep the streets, dig the ditches, serve the fries. We can't all be artists, CEOs, Kings, queens, pro athletes, and celebrities. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever we do, we have the choice of being present to the job or not, to be or not to be while we work. As odd as it might seem, we also have the choice to do the job or not. If you are there, you have chosen of your own free will to be there. You may think you have no choice. "It was the only opening available." "I'm not qualified for the job I really want." "I've got a family to feed, a house to pay for, car payments to make...." "My disabilities keep me from getting a better job." "I should have a better job." "The deck is stacked against me." Maybe these things are so, and maybe, sometimes, they are just the story we tell ourselves.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Whatever the story, it amounts to giving our power and choice away, as if someone else or our life situation is forcing us into a dead end job. This is technically not true. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You do have a choice. You could abandon your family, you could decide to move to a smaller apartment, live on the streets, run away and join the circus, go to prison, or any number of other exit strategies. I am not advocating any of these, but the fact that you don't take them and decide to stay with your job IS A CHOICE. And it is YOUR CHOICE. You made it. This is amazing! This is a powerful thing you have done and you should celebrate it. Even if you think it is because you are choosing the lesser of potential evils, YOU are still doing it. It is an admirable thing to take responsibility for, because once you do, you are free. You are free to put your whole self into the job because you are not spending your time complaining or blaming someone else. You are free to be the best lavatory cleaner, door opener, dishwasher, or whatever, there is. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why is this important? Because waking up is the only game worth playing. Waking up to your true nature, to the luxurious richness and wealth that is the real "You." AND, rich folk tend NOT to be the ones who wake up.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I'll bet there are more awakened dishwashers than there are CEOs or celebrities. This doesn't NEED to be true, it is not a cosmic law, but it does remind one of the bible quote about camels, rich men, and needles. It seems that people who don't make a lot of money, who don't have jobs with 'prestige' are the closest to realizing that it doesn't really matter so much WHAT you do as HOW you do it. This is a cosmic truth, not an attempt to pacify people on the low end of the economic spectrum. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Waking up is available at every moment to everyone. It can only happen "Now” and Now is the only thing you need to wake up. These is no other tool, nothing money can buy or higher education can provide that will give anyone a leg up on awakening. Nobody is richer in how much Now they ‘have’ than anybody else. Now is all there is. Now is always available; it is always and forever Now. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Realizing "Now" <span face="Helvetica-Oblique" style="font-style: italic;">is</span> waking up. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Everyone has unlimited access to it because it is always here, and so anyone can wake up as easily as anyone else. The problem is that the 'trappings' of power, money, prestige, and 'stuff' provide almost endless distractions to the realization of Now. That is the only reason why it is easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the ‘kingdom of Heaven’ (The "Now.).</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">So, as long as your job is not causing you physical pain, harming your health, or harming others, it is a vehicle for your awakening. It can actually bring you great joy and personal satisfaction if you were to decide to make it fun. Make it a game. Make it a challenge to see how great you can be at it. Can you innovate? Can you find more creative ways of doing your job? Can you connect with people in an authentic way? Can you turn your job into a meditation and your workplace into an ashram? It is your choice, your freedom, your power. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">You have decided to keep the job, so why not decide to REALLY keep it? You are only disempowering yourself by staying with a job that you complain about. Don't like it? Quit! Can't quit? That's not the truth, certainly you can quit. You are afraid to quit because what happens next might be worse than staying in your job - the devil you know, etc. That may or may not be true, and it is an absolutely valid reason for not leaving a job you don’t like, buuuut why not claim your power and decide that <span face="Helvetica-Oblique" style="font-style: italic;">you are choosing to stay</span> rather than some outside force is preventing you from leaving? Why not stay-out-of-choice instead of not-leave-out-of-fear? Why not decide to stay and determine to be the best you can be at it? It is your decision.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">A story to illustrate this.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am part of a young energetic theatre company in the mid 1970s, converting an old recording studio into the first new theatre in Boston in over 25 years. We twelve 20-somethings have just purchased the building, the old Ace Recording Studio, for $125,000 and are doing all the demolition work ourselves. We work 14 hour days - shoveling decades of dirt, plaster, old tapes and records, tearing down walls, tearing out plumbing. The job is epic and daunting.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">One day I undertake the relatively simple task of cleaning up an old slop sink in the basement. A slop sink is a deep, industrial sink used to clean things like mops, brushes, brooms, etc. This one is about 20 inches square and 18” deep. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">To this day I have not encountered as onerous looking a task. The sink is filthy, caked with years and layers of dried crud, scum, grease, and the crusty remainder of hundreds of paint brush cleanings, - brushes got cleaned but not the sink. There is absolutely no indication of the color of the inside of the sink. Every square inch is completely covered by multiple layers of grime.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It will take me hours. I pull on my rubber gloves. Armed with steel wool, chisels, scrapers, Ajax, SOS pads and sponges, I attack. I work in broad strokes, wide areas, trying to get the job done as quickly as possible. Not working. The stuff won't come off. I start narrowing my scope and focus to a smaller and smaller area, trying to see some results. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Eventually, and this becomes the key, I find I have to work on just one little blob at a time, less than the size of a dime. It weakens, loosens, and fades. I work on the layer under that, then the layer under that one. Eventually I see shiny white porcelain for the first time. From that single beachhead I work outwards, one tiny section at a time. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Gradually my entire world becomes this sink, my focus narrows down so completely to the task that time ceases to exist. I have no thought of the finish, no concern for when I will get it done. Hours (apparently) pass by. I don't even beak for lunch. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am actually enjoying myself! </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am enjoying giving myself up to this task which is no longer a task. I feel like the Michelangelo of slop sinks. The beautiful gleaming porcelain sink is there inside the marble-block grime of decades. I am bringing it slowly into re-existence. I am in no hurry. </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">I am in meditation and I know how to do 'it'. Here is the secret to meditation: any movement towards 'hurry', towards 'finishing,' brings awareness of time and chore. AND….. I am in such a state of mastery that I know how to get it back when I drop out of the meditative space. Before time and chore can impinge on my world I simply refocus my attention on the Now Task, the Activity, the “<span face="Helvetica-Oblique" style="font-style: italic;">What Is”</span>, ....... on Being! </span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">It takes the entire day to finish the job. When it is done I just sit there with the same combination of elation and peace of mind that I have when I have just gotten high or received a standing ovation. The sink shines like a pearl set amongst the dirt grime and effluvia of the long neglected basement. Over 40 years later it still remains one of the high moments of my life. Imagine that! Cleaning a slop sink ranking up there with performance triumphs, awards, birth of children, falling in love, career success and creating award winning productions.</span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 12.7px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>
<p style="font-family: Helvetica; font-feature-settings: normal; font-kerning: auto; font-optical-sizing: auto; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal; font-style: normal; font-variant-alternates: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-position: normal; font-variant: normal; font-variation-settings: normal; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Why do I tell you this story? Find a way to enter into what you are doing - no matter what it is. If you are going to do it - then DO IT! If you have to do it - CHOOSE to DO IT!</span></p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-21034179973802871712023-08-11T14:06:00.000-07:002023-08-11T14:06:57.661-07:00<p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju7UHCpauVioKQpDMAqSYHdqNw9Wo62O5aslLmJrN_166X1o9lrJQ0pm0C2uL2ty2BzauHBkFVvVKqjYBztsG1flvdIsjsIHMlp6qIVQ12zRmolKH2x8vDlCDg4n5ejGmaEUg5Bj50MMuLHas5KTLvlezFKQ-MjEpcLqdVtNLgeN4ZZk4UFGL1cHZOg4E/s1024/Monks_Bowing_MJ.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju7UHCpauVioKQpDMAqSYHdqNw9Wo62O5aslLmJrN_166X1o9lrJQ0pm0C2uL2ty2BzauHBkFVvVKqjYBztsG1flvdIsjsIHMlp6qIVQ12zRmolKH2x8vDlCDg4n5ejGmaEUg5Bj50MMuLHas5KTLvlezFKQ-MjEpcLqdVtNLgeN4ZZk4UFGL1cHZOg4E/w200-h200/Monks_Bowing_MJ.png" width="200" /></a><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><b style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Doorman’s Presence</span></b></p><p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: arial;"><b><span style="font-size: large;"> </span></b><br /></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I teach Presence (www.chiwiz.com); specifically Leadership Presence. I have been doing this for more than 20 years for The Ariel Group (www.arielgroup.com). In every class we define Presence as, “The Ability to Connect Authentically with the Hearts and Minds of Others.” We bend our focus on Presence towards its impact on leadership. More on that in a bit.</span></div><p></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">A point I always make is that you don’t have to be a leader to have Presence. Everyone has Presence. You ARE Presence, by virtue of the fact that you exist. Presence is your “You-ness,” your authentic ‘Self.’ How much that Presence blossoms, shines, radiates, is noticed, depends on many things, all learnable skills: confidence, relaxation, being present, how you stand, gesture and move, your eye contact, the quality of your voice, even your breathing.</span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">One of the best examples of someone with great Presence and nothing to do with leadership, is a doorman I encountered years ago. I was about to teach a class on Presence to a group of consultants at Oliver Wyman. I like to arrive very early to my teaching site in order to set up the room. I use old school flip charts rather than Powerpoint and it takes about an hour to set things up. <br /><br />I arrive on the first morning at the OW headquarters at 1166 Avenue of the Americas in NYC, before 7am. I am greeted by a doorman who is already on the job and opens the door for me. I am not used to doormen at the front entrance to a skyscraper office building, and I am not at all certain that this man is even an actual employee of the building. However, he greets me with such a smiling hello and warm regard, such a genuine concern for me as a person, such a joy for being of service to me (by the simple act of holding the door open), that I am stunned into immobility. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">This is not your random door opener. Even professional door openers at ritzy hotels have nothing on this guy. He opens the door for me as if it were the best job in the world and that I have somehow made his day by arriving at his door! For this brief moment in time, I am the only person in the world to him and I feel it. <br /><br />He is so HERE and so tickled at being here, that my mind freezes. All the thoughts of getting through security, wondering if my room will be open for me, how long I have to wait before I can get access, all the random thoughts that go through my head at any given moment, just kind of dissolve in the light of his Presence that I stop in my tracks. </span></p><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: arial;">I am ‘Real’ for this person, he sees me, he is available, and, as the Vietnamese zen Buddhist monk, Thich Nhat Hanh says, he is giving me “the gift of his attention.” I stop too and become available to him. I look him in the eye, smile and thank him. Two human Beings, connecting authentically with hearts and minds in the only place that actually exists - the present. Just a brief, but a Real, moment, a mutual acknowledgement of each other’s Presence, Being-ness, humanity. <br /><br />That encounter is so momentous to me that I ignore the clock and sit in the lobby of the building to watch him greet others as they come through the door. To this man they are all the only person in the world for him as he greets them. Some see it and some do not. Some are obviously ‘repeat’ customers, coming to work every morning. Some of these make what is obviously a delightful daily connection with him. Others just nod, already into their agendas for the day. I can always tell the newcomers who, like me, get stunned into Presence by the doorman’s gentle, genuine, enthusiastic greeting. It’s fun to watch startled people waking up to the moment and the opportunity to connect.<br /><br />Then comes the topper! I see two Buddhist monks in traditional Tibetan robes walking down the street. It is obvious that their paths are going to cross with the doorman. I am almost giddy with expectation as to how this encounter will shake out. I mean, the monks, that’s their JOB right, being present?<br /><br />I am already going to have a late start getting my room ready but this is too delicious to pass up. The monks are deeply engaged in conversation with each other as they approach the doorman. He is outside the front doors waiting for people to come in. He sees the monks and with a huge smile he steps towards them, like a beaming Buddha descending from the sky, says a loud cheerful “Good Morning” and bows. <br /><br />The monks are startled from their conversations and look up with the same slightly stunned shock I recognize from my own encounter. Monks are human. They had been so engrossed in their conversations that they too were not present. There is this little frozen moment all the way around, two startled faces looking at a beaming one. Then the monks also break into huge smiles and laughter, performing multiple bows and greetings to the doorman - tacit and humble recognition at being caught out (Not that that was at all the doorman’s purpose) with genuine pleasure at being reminded of Reality from an unexpected source. Three smiling, beaming, laughing beings bowing over and over to each other in simple mutual acknowledgement of each other’s Being-ness.<br /><br />That doorman is the true zen master in that moment, and the monks acknowledge it with humility and playfulness. That is pure Presence with no thought towards influencing or leading. And yet it is the very same Presence great leaders project when making themselves available, when giving the gift of their attention, to either one person they greet in an elevator or to five hundred people in a crowded auditorium.<br /></span><br /></p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-73487663988626875322023-07-03T11:31:00.002-07:002023-07-03T12:01:47.086-07:00T'ai Chi as self defense<p><span style="font-family: arial;"><span style="font-size: large;"><i>T'ai Chi As Self Defense</i></span> <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf_X7XORwuvDhWhLkYmHqv5tMRwzPot5NYdcgty_xC6lqH2MecRdCNs7359W934MQLup8In5LIDf2ygAfYYXvYXS6rOzKA96BFvUmsUH-6MbJTl73hajvWJqXEEN2qFIVGjJIaZ3YSlvtWw3GMUZEMNQtN9H0srymlGKOXDeR5kWfN58TdX23aIdvmEro/s4032/IMG_9957.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf_X7XORwuvDhWhLkYmHqv5tMRwzPot5NYdcgty_xC6lqH2MecRdCNs7359W934MQLup8In5LIDf2ygAfYYXvYXS6rOzKA96BFvUmsUH-6MbJTl73hajvWJqXEEN2qFIVGjJIaZ3YSlvtWw3GMUZEMNQtN9H0srymlGKOXDeR5kWfN58TdX23aIdvmEro/s320/IMG_9957.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>Not what we normally think of as self defense, avoiding physical blows, subduing an opponent, or escaping physical harm in a combat situation.<p></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">How often do we actually encounter the necessity for that kind of self defense? And, how often we encounter the following situations where a different understanding of 'self-defense' may come into play?:<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Getting out of the bathtub; not slipping on ice; walking on ice; Getting up too fast from bed; </span><span style="font-family: arial;">a driver who cuts in front of you; being late for an appointment while stuck in traffic; standing in front of a large audience about to make a presentation; having the unexpected happen while making a presentation; being asked a difficult question at a job interview; having your flight cancelled; A job cancelled by your client at the last moment; or any of what I call, "Freeze" moments, when the tendency is to contract, to go into 'Fight or Flight' mode (Which is actually, "Freeze, Flight, Fight" since that is the order in which an animal responds to a threat, which is why I call it 'Freeze' mode).</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">A practice in T'ai Chi can help with any 'Freeze' situation. The way to break a freeze is to move - literally, just move, as simple as that. The simplest form of movement is breath. We hold our breath when threatened, whether it's a saber toothed tiger or an irate boss. When you hold your breath it's almost impossible to be creative in your actions, or indeed, to act at all. The key is to move. Breath is movement, actually moving the body, a stretch or gesture or step is also movement. That will break the freeze and allow your brain to function once again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">The solution to a freeze moment is simple - move. What is not simple is the ability to <b>recognize</b> that you are in a freeze, that you are holding your breath, that you are contracted. That is where T'ai Chi and other meditative practices come in handy. T'ai Chi is my 50 year preference because it is all about movement, it is often referred to as 'Meditation in Motion.' The practice of T'ai Chi trains you in balance (Mental and emotional as well as Physical balance). This is well known. What is generally not reflected upon is that this practice also trains you in the ability to recognize being out of balance, which is just as valuable a skill. It doesn't train you in how to solve the situation that has caused the imbalance, it doesn't provide you with the creative solution; but by moving, you put yourself, your physical, mental and emotional states, into a position where you are much more likely to come up with a solution. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">My T'ai Chi teacher, T.T. Liang used to call our unbalanced positions in class, "Ready to be beaten." How does T'ai Chi re-move you from the "Ready to be Beaten" state into an equilibium that allows for solutions? Where does it 'move' you to?<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">It 'moves' you to the Present, the Now, the only place from which action is possible and the only place in which solutions can appear. In "The Heart Aroused," the poet David Whyte does a brilliant analysis of Beowulf that makes this precise point. Beowulf defeats Grendel's mother only by being present enough to see the sword on the wall (there all along but unnoticed until Beowulf relaxed), and then applying it to the monster's neck! A worthwhile read.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">So, T'ai Chi is about learning balance, being centered and grounded, being calm and moving from the center. These are what you train in as you practice. The wonderful side benefit is the ability to feel when those conditions are not present, and how to restore them by moving and breathing.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;"></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">Happy practicing!<br /><br /></span>
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</p>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-88145643763681769392013-12-30T09:30:00.000-08:002013-12-30T09:41:41.152-08:00Free T'ai Chi! Happy New Year!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_NEQT18usqbaUAOW4EAFTZmw6t4uRNoo3PkGbtBGvaqxEGzCU8OkAkwt7gOllD0PpbJNKbqF54xhS7Eks9lfvzUfsISQT6yv-4EWCU_y6opXSsuX77jklfItAkQjf48EU4z3_O663jc/s1600/tcc+still+Sunny+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhk_NEQT18usqbaUAOW4EAFTZmw6t4uRNoo3PkGbtBGvaqxEGzCU8OkAkwt7gOllD0PpbJNKbqF54xhS7Eks9lfvzUfsISQT6yv-4EWCU_y6opXSsuX77jklfItAkQjf48EU4z3_O663jc/s200/tcc+still+Sunny+1.jpg" width="98" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><br />FREE ON-GOING TAI CHI CLASS</span></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><b>Begins Monday, Jan 20th</b> - <b>Mondays 6:00-7:30pm</b> </span></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>In our beautiful new studio at </b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>110 Ward Hill Road, Phillipston, MA</b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">I have recently been inspired by two things in my life, one recent and the other of more than 40 years ago, </span>to offer some sort of service to the world I move in: </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">Recently by my connection with the Indian Guru Amma Chi; the other in 1971 when I was a founding member of the Boston Repertory theatre where we offered free performances. That continues to be one the most memorable and rewarding experiences in my life.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The connection..........</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I have often found myself in disagreement with the exorbitant amount of money some T’ai Chi masters charge for their teachings. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">THEREFORE.......</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">it feels absolutely appropriate and rewarding to me to offer ongoing free T'ai Chi classes for those who want to learn this art. I will freely teach and share everything I have learned from all my esteemed teachers in this class.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">I will not be advertising the class in any other way than by word of mouth, <b>so PLEASE pass this on to your friends especially if you live in Central Mass.</b></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Instructor</b>: David Zucker. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Training</b>: 41 years of experience having studied with a wide variety of masters during that time, including T.T. Liang, John Chung Li, Peter Ralston, Kumar Frantzis, William C.C. Chen, and Alan Shapiro. </span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Teaching</b>: 35 years of teaching thousands of students at many different locations: Interface; New Age Expos; Boston Center for Adult Ed; Skyros Institute, Greece; Ferry Beach and privately in Boston, Watertown, Belmont, Waltham, and Concord, MA. I also created the T'ai Chi program for Harvard Pilgrim Health and taught it for many years, employing at one time up to five additional instructors in the Harvard Pilgrim network.</span></span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>The Fine Print</b>: </span></span></div>
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<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Class size</b> limited to the number who can comfortably fit in my home studio (about 10 people). Phillipston isn’t exactly the center of the world, so travel may limit your decision.</span></span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Donation</b>: You will be expected to make a donation. It is my intention to offer the class for free, but that is more for my benefit than yours, as strange as that might seem (maybe not). For your benefit, however, things are often not valued unless there is some sort of ‘cost’ to the student. I have several ideas on how to establish that cost, one of which is to ask you to make a donation after each class. It should be something you are absolutely comfortable with. I make no judgements on the amount and will make it a point to not know who is giving what. If you truly feel you can afford nothing, then the class will be free in that way to you.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Practice</b>: You agree to practice everyday. T’ai Chi is an art that is impossible to learn without practice. It is possible, for comparison, to get some benefit out of a yoga class if you only practice during the class. It is not possible to approach T’ai Chi that way for the very simple reason that there is too much memory involved, and the memory involvement gets more progressive with every passing week (perhaps a good anti-Alzheimers’ exercise). <b>The good news</b>: You are only required to practice a minimum of one minute a day to fulfill the requirement, but you MUST put at least that one minute into it.</span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Participation: </b> You are encouraged to sign up and be expected to come to class. I am not expecting hordes of people to descend on Phillipston, so I am initially allowing drop-ins; but people who have signed up for the class will have preference if, for example, 15 people show up some Monday for a space that only holds 10. </span></li>
<li style="font: 12.0px Helvetica; margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><b>Flexibility:</b> My work sometimes calls me to travel. There will be no class on the Mondays when I have to be away. There will be plenty of advance notice of these dates. I will notify you via email of these cancellations (another reason to sign up rather than drop in). My experience is that this will happen less than once a month.</span></li>
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Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-2155216200925271472013-06-23T17:14:00.001-07:002023-09-25T11:22:36.107-07:00Cardinal or Can of Coke?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I am playing T'ai Chi outside at Harvard Business school yesterday early morning (before teaching a class there - yes, on a Saturday!), and I see a cardinal (bird, not prelate) flying around. Every now and then I see him as I turn, catch him out of the corner of my eye; but also every now and then I would <b>think</b> I see him only to find that my attention has been caught by a red Coke Can that someone has discarded on the lawn. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC46sa9n6eUqMsgpIZ1zyfjOngkHTueOmDGTG2ycKNMV5_Hl3nZ8-WdIQrykJC01I7SruLCR-Mas7ftoscdPXjKktY6mzaGjqnm8xnH0WSWv4iPh7E8DkAdjDAK8Kda5sn_ZafMWAgRs/s1600/CokeCan.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixC46sa9n6eUqMsgpIZ1zyfjOngkHTueOmDGTG2ycKNMV5_Hl3nZ8-WdIQrykJC01I7SruLCR-Mas7ftoscdPXjKktY6mzaGjqnm8xnH0WSWv4iPh7E8DkAdjDAK8Kda5sn_ZafMWAgRs/s200/CokeCan.jpeg" width="133" /></a><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is obvious that my mind is projecting a cardinal when I am really looking at a Coke can. The cardinal is in my mind. The not-so-obvious and even profound thing that occurs to me is that I am probably not seeing the cardinal EVEN WHEN I AM ACTUALLY LOOKING AT THE CARDINAL, that I am seeing the SAME projection of a cardinal that my mind furnishes when I look at the red Coke can. </span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">Suddenly everything shifts and I start SEEING what I am looking at, without filter or expectation. The remainder of my T'ai Chi workout is pretty sweet. The lesson is deep and memorable.</span></div>
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<span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;">It is pretty good indication that </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;"><i>whenever</i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"> I look at something I don't actually see what is there. I usually see what I expect to see from my past experience of the thing - my mind furnishing the image from its' memory banks that most closely corresponds to the thing I think I am seeing. When that thing actually </span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px; text-decoration: underline;"><i>is</i></span><span style="letter-spacing: 0.0px;"><i> </i>a cardinal it is almost impossible to notice that I am really seeing a projection rather than the real thing. When the cardinal is a Coke can, the phenomenon is much more obvious - (thank you Coke Can for the lesson!).</span></div>
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Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-14235262439010771502013-03-07T06:57:00.001-08:002013-03-07T15:37:47.399-08:00I am an iPhone, not a mainframe computer!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Scientists have used computers as metaphors for the human experience for almost as many years as computers have been around, so let me extend the metaphor: <br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgv11TNtcFamDAVqQQbE4UTy8d_4HDUIkaTs5SUhFBejdnZlXJaVJ9_39kokgD8HOyfQN_7z5otLaK69djcxIoTSlfZuJmoPqCobCTts01Lf5cqaJpaB393SlWsaXl9CDbY1cx0VIl24s/s1600/I'm+an+iPhone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgv11TNtcFamDAVqQQbE4UTy8d_4HDUIkaTs5SUhFBejdnZlXJaVJ9_39kokgD8HOyfQN_7z5otLaK69djcxIoTSlfZuJmoPqCobCTts01Lf5cqaJpaB393SlWsaXl9CDbY1cx0VIl24s/s200/I'm+an+iPhone.jpg" width="149" /></a><br />
Looking at my new iPhone I realized that I am more like that than I am like a desktop or mainframe computer.<br />
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I have a running conversation with a good friend of mine about the existence or non-existence of 'God.' He is an Atheist and I am a believer. But I am a believer who admits that my belief is just a belief - I could be right or wrong.<br />
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What I realize though, is that my belief is really not about whether or not God exists, but about there being more to life than what most of us see as 'reality'. I am pretty convinced that what passes for reality is mostly illusion, smoke and mirrors, ...... theatre! (Hence the Title of my blog: "Looking Backstage in Life")<br />
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I am pretty convinced, through my own experiences, that "I" is more than my mind, emotions, or body; and that "I" continues after 'death.'<br />
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From my experiences and from reading about Quantum Physics I have come up with an extension of the computer metaphor. "I" is more like my iPhone than my old non-cloud-connected desktop computer. Most people think that consciousness resides in, and is generated by, the brain. I think that Consciousness ('God') exists 'outside' the brain, in the 'Cloud' and that my brain is a transmitter, or focuser, of Consciousness, much like my iphone brings the content of the web/cloud to me, but the web/cloud does not reside on my iphone.<br />
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If my iphone (mind, emotions, body) breaks ('God' forbid!), then I just get a new one and download the content from the cloud/web - no loss of 'Me.' Now, just as with my iphone, there is some content stored on the device of my mind/body/feelings, and that content probably does get lost when I die. I liken that to my personality in this particular incarnation. As Alzheimers shows, the personality IS destructible, when memory goes - identity goes too. As Thornton Wilder says in <u><b>Our Town</b></u>, "What's left? What's left when memory's gone, and your identity Mrs. Smith?"<br />
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So, my grand purpose in this particular lifetime is to make sure that the "I" I identify with is NOT the personality but the larger, indestructible, eternal, evernow "I" of Consciousness.<br />
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That is the purpose of meditation, T'ai Chi, Yoga, zen, and all real spiritual practices. It was the purpose of the founders of the world's religions before those religions got corrupted by ignorant followers. Every great religious figure saw into Truth, saw the distinction between the temporal and the eternal and tried, with the metaphors available to them at the time, to point the way to Truth.<br />
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I also do not think such an idea is unprovable or lacks evidence. I believe science and mysticism are getting closer and closer - that if such a concept is 'true' then at some point it will be provable and evidence will be discovered. Until that time it will remain a belief for me, but a belief backed up by personal experience, and one that makes a whole lot more <b>common sense</b> to me than the belief that our "I" is just an amalgamation of memory, mind, and body.</div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-62747363933130097792013-02-11T06:41:00.001-08:002013-02-11T06:41:55.943-08:00Relax, you'll be more productive - by Tony SchwartzRenewal Article from NY Times <br />
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I have chosen specific parts of the article and copied them here. If you'd like, email me and I will send you a link to the article itself. Not much commentary from me here, just what Tony has written and which makes complete sense to me.<br />
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Here it is..........<br />
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"A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal — including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent vacations — boosts productivity, job performance and, of course, health.<br />
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Although many of us can’t increase the working hours in the day, we can measurably increase our energy. <br />
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This impacts two of the three work areas of my life: Leadership consulting for The Ariel Group and T'ai Chi (I already put these principles in place in my performing world)<br />
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Our basic idea is that the energy employees bring to their jobs is far more important in terms of the value of their work than is the number of hours they work.<br />
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Working in 90-minute intervals turns out to be a prescription for maximizing productivity<br />
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As athletes understand especially well, the greater the performance demand, the greater the need for renewal. When we’re under pressure, however, most of us experience the opposite impulse: to push harder rather than rest. <br />
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Human beings aren’t designed to expend energy continuously. Rather, we’re meant to pulse between spending and recovering energy. <br />
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Professor K. Anders Ericsson and his colleagues at Florida State University have studied elite performers, including musicians, athletes, actors and chess players. In each of these fields, Dr. Ericsson found that the best performers typically practice in uninterrupted sessions that last no more than 90 minutes.<br />
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The power of renewal was so compelling to me that I’ve created a business around it that helps a range of companies including Google, Coca-Cola, Green Mountain Coffee, the Los Angeles Police Department, Cleveland Clinic and Genentech. <br />
Our own offices are a laboratory for the principles we teach. Renewal is central to how we work. We dedicated space to a “renewal” room in which employees can nap, meditate or relax. "<br />
Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-21388237852030768082012-11-25T15:19:00.001-08:002012-11-25T16:04:26.090-08:00Pursue The OrdinaryI don't know if is the fact that I am in spiritual India, or the jet-lag, but I woke at 2am this morning feeling the desire to do T'ai chi. I spent the next extraordinary three hours with T'ai Chi, Standing meditation and just general "Being" This is what came to me as an experience:<br />
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If you want to find the extraordinary - pursue the ordinary. The extraordinary exists only in the ordinary. If you pursue the extraordinary you will never find it because you are making a distinction between the experience you are having now and something that you think does not exist at this moment that you are calling, "The extraordinary."<br />
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The ordinary IS extraordinary. <br />
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Think about it: The extraordinary is experienced as something rare, one of a kind, special. OK then - that is the precise definition of the ordinary "Now." The ordinary, now, moment is rare, is one-of-a-kind, is special. It is these things because it is the ONLY moment that EVER exists - ALWAYS and forever - "World without end."<br />
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If you can pursue the ordinary so that you actually get to experience it unfiltered, raw, as-it-is, you will have a guaranteed extraordinary experience. And if you can let go of that so that you stay open to experiencing the very next ordinary moment, you will have another extraordinary experience. If you can let go of THAT one too so that you can fully experience the next ordinary moment as it appears, and the next, and the next, and the next, and........ Then you will have a never ending experience of the extraordinary "Now." You will have eternal life because the only thing eternal is the Now.<br />
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That is why I say, "The most transcendent enlightenment experience you have ever had cannot compare to the experience you are having right now." Right now is REAL.<br />
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It is ordinary because it never ends. <br />
It is extraordinary because it is the only one there IS. <br />
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WOW! THIS is all there is. Nothing else exists. Existence IS "What is." "Right Now" IS what IS. Period. The fun, the play, the work, the game.... the ONLY thing really worth pursuing is the unfiltered experience of THIS moment.<br />
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Think of it: Everything else will end. Your children will leave you. Your wife or husband will leave you or you will leave them because eventually you will both die. You car will fall into disrepair. Your favorite shoes will fall apart. Your body will stop being able to do what it is used to. EVERYTHING is impermanent and ends...... EXCEPT right now.<br />
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What else is truly worth pursuing but that which is always new and never ends. Every sage who ever lived saw that. Jesus said (supposedly), "Behold, I maketh all things new." I don't think he was talking about himself. I think he was one with the Now moment (God) and having an unfiltered experience of the eternal Now, which indeed does make all things new.Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-16810082431935633892012-07-10T05:11:00.000-07:002012-07-10T09:14:57.163-07:00Consistent Physically-Spiritual Practice vs. Anti-depressant Medication<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Question: Are there <i>any</i> people who have a <i>consistent</i> (daily), <i>physically</i> spiritual practice (where breath work is involved, like yoga, and t'ai chi) who also are on anti-depressant medication or long-time (years) therapy?<br />
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I am hoping to gather some data. This is a question that is so obvious to me that I wonder why I have never thought to ask it before. <br />
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I am sure there are plenty of people out there who have absolutely no spiritual practice and are also not on any medication - bless those hearty souls. My interest is with those who are on such medication and have no physically spiritual practice - that it not only <i>might</i> be able to help them, but that it possibly, beyond the shadow of a doubt, <i>would</i> be able to help them.<br />
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My wonder is whether most depression (even the chemical/biological kind) can be treated by a practice which is a combination of these three things: 1) Daily, 2) Physical, 3) Spiritual.<br />
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Most of the people I know who have a daily physically spiritual practice are not on medication or seeing a therapist on a regular basis. But that is a small sample and I would love to hear other folk's experience around this.<br />
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There is something about arts that combine breath, meditation, and movement that balance the mind/body. Even going so far as to regulate chemical balances within the body.<br />
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I also believe that yoga and t'ai chi connect you powerfully, feelingly, physically, experientially with a Reality that is....... well...... 'realer' than the so-called 'reality' of everyday life. A Reality beyond that which gives rise to depression, anxiety, and fear. Not that people who practice yoga and t'ai chi never get depressed (I get depressed, I get fearful, I get anxious), but that we have a way out; an anchor point, a touchstone, a grounding ---- an <i>expansiveness</i> that we can connect to that dispels the contractive states of mind of depression and fear. Oftentimes if it is some simple, everyday gnarliness I am feeling I can dispel it just by remembering to <i>breathe</i>!<br />
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This is a non scientific poll. I am interested in hearing
from health care professionals regarding their own experience in this
matter as well as from people who are directly affected. So please feel free to get in touch with me. I promise confidentiality. I really want to know what people's experience is around this question. Feel free to forward this blog to people you know who might be able to add to my knowledge. I will report out here, afterwards, with what I find.<br />
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Thanks! Happy Playing.</div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-30395988209247493182012-05-29T12:19:00.000-07:002012-05-29T12:19:25.644-07:00Why is T'ai Chi such an amazing practice?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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What is it about T’ai Chi that makes it such an amazing exercise, meditation, life practice? You can do it anywhere and at any time - Almost any experience can be T’ai Chi practice. I don’t know of any other exercise/practice where this works quite so seamlessly.<br /><br />I am sitting here at Pete’s Coffee and Tea in Harvard Square, watching the Cambridge world go by: joggers, walkers, strollers, sitters, roller bladers, drivers, standers-by. All of these people could be doing exactly what they are doing and enhance the doing of it by adding the quality of T’ai Chi. T’ai Chi is a way of experiencing the world with more silky smoothness (Ah, that phrase was probably influenced by the soy Latte I am sipping); of moving / Being with more ease, flow, and grace; of taking great delight in the very process of Being alive - moment by moment.<br />
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It is the same feeling I used to get sporadically and unexpectedly of, ‘A beautiful day.’ Only now I can design it, I can ‘make’ it happen, actually - <u><i>allow</i></u> it to happen - just by tuning into the very practical, physical ability to allow life, to consciously experience that flow of electrons, particles, current, energy we call the present moment, or the Now. <br /><br />There is nothing mystical or spiritual about it. If you suddenly become aware that you are clenching your fists or your jaw, or holding your breath, it is a simple matter of opening that fist, relaxing the jaw, or taking a breath. For a T’ai Chi player there is little difference; it just works on a deeper level. We become aware that we are ‘clenching’ our Now and simply let go, melt, dissolve that feeling of clenching.<br />
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Clenching, tightening, holding, tensing.... it's the same process whether it is as obvious as a tight fist or as subtle as a tight mind. The process of relaxing them is the same too. It just takes the three things that studies have shown are necessary for learning a new skill or unlearning an old habit: Desire, Feedback, and Practice.<br />
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There is really nothing special about Being. It’s as common as dirt, we all do it all the time. What could be more common than Being? What is uncommon is the conscious experience and enjoyment of Being. As far as I am concerned that is the purpose of life: Enjoying Being. That’s it and it doesn’t matter a whit what you do or who you are. Profession, wealth, social status, gender, political affiliation, are all window dressing, smoke and mirrors concealing the common thread of Being that goes on behind and throughout it all. It is all just Being. Playing in the fields of Being - “That’s what its all about” (to quote the Hokey Pokey).<br />
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Happy Playing.<br />
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Come join me to play with Peter Ralston at a weekend workshop in September in Northampton. http://www.chiwiz.com/Ralston.html</div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-75968608491444479912012-01-30T14:03:00.000-08:002012-01-30T14:05:47.849-08:00The Zero Point Field or “If you don’t think the dead can come back to life, you have never been here at quitting time.”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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I always found that saying hilarious - I would usually see it in an office somewhere. Hilarious and true. What causes such a sudden burst of energy at various times in our lives? What makes my dog, Eli, go from an elderly 16 year old who can barely climb the stairs at night to a frisky puppy when I say the word, “Walk?”<br />
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First an explanation, as simple as possible, as to what is meant by the <b>Zero Point Field.</b> This is a term used by physicists to denote the field of energy that still remains at a temperature of absolute zero, when no energy is supposed to be able to move.<br />
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At absolute Zero - the lowest possible energy state, where all matter has been stopped and nothing is left which can move - there is <i>still some energy vibrating</i>, or ‘jiggling’ as some quantum physicists say. <br />
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Zero Point energy is the energy that is present in the emptiest state of space - where all the energy that <i>can be</i> extracted from space <i>has been</i> extracted - no more removal is possible and yet, some motion - some energy remains - always. The ‘space’ in which this energy resides is called the “Zero Point Field.” It is also ever-present, underlying all matter and space. Until Quantum physics came along most physicists dismissed this energy from their calculations. The reasoning? Well, since it is always there it cancels itself out in calculations, it can't have an effect.<br />
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Duh? It's kind of like doctors dismissing the Placebo Effect. <br />
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Quantum physicists believe that the ZPF is a vast unharnessed reservoir of energy that could potentially provide an endless, free, non-polluting source of power to run everything from light bulbs to spaceships. The problem is how to plug into this source.<br />
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I am reading <u><b>The Field</b></u> by Lynne McTaggert, which is all about research into the ZPF. It is making my head dance with possibility and discovery as I contemplate the relationship between ZP energy and T’ai Chi. <br />
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I don't know how my car can run on it, but <i>I know how to access this field</i> - it is through the feeling states of allowing, surrender, love, appreciation, joy, happiness, gratitude, etc. These <i>expanding</i> feeling states establish a connection to the ZPF and there is always a burst of energy. What cuts us of from this field are the contracting emotional feeling states (fear, worry, anxiety, stress, unworthiness, guilt, judgment, etc). <i>Expansion connects - contraction separates</i> - on every level of being.<br />
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Anything that causes you to contract separates you from this ever present source of energy. Anything that expands you - plugs you in. T’ai Chi, love, yoga, laughter, friendship, winning, success, contentment, peace, fulfillment, perception of wealth, health, well-being, appreciation, gratitude, melting, friskiness, playfulness, unselfconsciousness, going beyond embarrassment, expanding our comfort zones, ALL of these things tap into the ZPF and charge our batteries.<br />
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So, Elizabeth and I are going for a walk with Eli and he is bounding around like a puppy. As I said before, he is NOT a puppy, he is the equivalent of over 100 years old and shows it quite often in his difficulty laying down, climbing stairs or getting into the car. But start out on a walk and all of a sudden the years drop away. Then it hits me. He has tapped into the ZPF.<br />
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We have all had moments where we were dog tired (sorry) and something happened to give us a burst of energy (being in love does it pretty well) - being at a party, it’s late, very late, I am ready to go home, yawning, half asleep, then I get into an interesting conversation or hear a great piece of music - all of a sudden I am wide awake and before I know it two hours have gone by. <br />
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This is why T’ai Chi feels like the fountain of youth - It is the <i>practical physical</i> <i>practice</i> of Allowing; of <i>feeling</i> allowing - allowing what <i><b>is</b></i> to <i><b>be</b></i>. It is the physical practice of non-judgment, ease, grace, flow, beauty. No stress, no strain, no forcing - effortless movement. Amazing yes? With T’ai Chi <i>you do not <b>think</b> your way</i> to non-judgment, ease, grace, flow, allowing - you <i>feel</i> your way to them - it is a physical practice.<br />
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Anytime you want you can access to this Zero Point Field of power that can rejuvenate, heal, enliven, strengthen, and invigorate you. This is instantaneous too. You don’t have to wait to feel the effects. Relax, have fun, and play the form. The style of T’ai chi doesn’t matter. The outside form is not important, it is what is going on inside that makes the difference. Melt, yield, let go, sink, relax, dissolve, soften, allow, do-nothing…. Be. </div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-28079479142561837462011-11-14T13:33:00.001-08:002011-11-14T14:10:38.809-08:00The Best Thing You Can Do for the Earth (or yourself) Is to Feel Good!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b>I could be wrong</b> (That's how all beliefs should begin, I believe) but each of us is a Feeling generator. Feeling good is healthy. Feeling bad is unhealthy. For you and for the Earth. The more people in the world who are good-feeling generators, the more the Earth heals, and the more you heal.<br />
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You can control how you feel, and therefore what you generate out into the world - it just takes some practice. A lot of people think that feelings control them - "Good things happen, I feel good; bad things happen, I feel bad." This may be true for them but it is not <i><b>true</b></i>. You have the power to choose what you generate within yourself and therefore out into the world. There are many practices that teach this art - the best (I believe) is T'ai Chi because it is all about <i>feeling</i> your way to feeling good, not about <i>thinking</i> your way to feeling good.<br />
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As Peter Ralston says, there are two energies in the universe - expansion and contraction. For me, feeling good is expansion; feeling bad is contraction. Expansion heals. Contraction destroys.<br />
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T'ai Chi, in its highest form, is about feeling good. T'ai Chi is the practice of expansion; it is learning how to lessen the energy of resistance so that everything <i><b>flows</b></i>. It is about getting out of the way so that the essential goodness of the universe flows through you. By the way, when that happens it is not some sort of impersonal, 'O I am a conduit for the universe flowing through me.' It's more like, <i><b>"WOW, OMFG, Holy $%^! Does that feel GREAAAAAAT</b></i>!"<br />
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T'ai Chi is dancing with wild abandon, excitement, enthusiasm, and passion - <i>on the inside</i>. No matter how old you get you never feel any older than when you were a child. Even my mom at 99, when I asked her how she felt inside responded, "Like a girl of sixteen. I can't do what I could then, but I feel that way inside."<br />
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This is the beauty of T'ai Chi - on the inside you can do everything you ever could on the outside, (and more - did you ever fly?) no matter how old you get - truly. T'ai Chi teaches us how to make that real, not just a theory. <br />
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I promise to keep these (relatively) short (have you seen some blogs? Wow!), so I will end here. Stay tuned for more on this very topic. I am on a roll and feel a lot of passion around it. Some how-to advice even.<br />
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Puleeeeeze feel free to 'follow' my blog and to share with friends - I love company:)<br />
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Visualize Whirled peas! <br />
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<br /></div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-91425520582520848132011-04-12T09:27:00.000-07:002011-04-12T09:27:28.756-07:00I'd rather wash dishes and sweep the floor in deep sensual union with the Divine than rule the world from a place of separation.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"> <h1><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">Given the choice I'd rather wash dishes and sweep the floor in deep sensual union with the Divine than rule the world from a place of separation. <br />
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<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"> </span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">Everything that exists, exists right now and is available to me, but only to the degree that I am available to it. And I am available to it only to the extent that I Allow it.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">But, how to do it? What does it mean to make yourself available and what does it feel like? There is <i>nothing</i> you can <i>do</i> to make this happen. To put it another way; Learning to <b><i>Do</i></b> <i>Nothing</i> is what it takes.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><i>Doing Nothing</i> ("Wu Wei" in Chinese). Making yourself available to the Now is the practice of constantly letting go of everything we do that removes us from the realization that we are already here. It involves the practice of Zen Master Seung Sahn’s, "Don't Know Mind," the constant practice of making non-sense.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">This Doing has nothing to do with thinking; it is a <i>feeling</i> practice.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">What it <b><i>feels</i></b> like is sensual and 'melty' to the point of being erotic. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">It is a melting into God, nature, and the universe. It's a deep and profound letting go, as if I were allowing myself to fall backwards off a towering cliff without the slightest concern for my safety, knowing that I will be caught and sensually enveloped by the very essence of Love; yet still feeling the thrill of the plunge.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">It's better than sex, and sex is pretty damn good.... it <i>is</i></span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"> sex in the sense of that most satisfying of sexual encounters: a melting into and a true Union with the Other. Little wonder then, that once experienced, it becomes a lifelong pursuit. What else is there, especially when this is a state that can be applied to, and enhances the quality of, every other activity? </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">This is what you have to look forward to by practicing T'ai Chi. It is the highest form of T'ai Chi practice; Melty Merging with Life. Yummmm!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><br />
</span></div></div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-60853553828692825882011-03-19T11:53:00.000-07:002011-03-19T11:54:16.078-07:00Surviving Dying<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><style>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwCWNeSrSzdjJMtIBAQVKqyA2AoUd-8dL1qD7XcnjZ32Llu-wBsi8-J4ISZOyBt35mAKWEUYrLDAS-rG56hcXvR_by7Fo3c6L0msOK6wMSQGOVBhoRgWoU4rcoPkkj23RVquQ8MUBnWcs/s1600/TCC+Sun3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwCWNeSrSzdjJMtIBAQVKqyA2AoUd-8dL1qD7XcnjZ32Llu-wBsi8-J4ISZOyBt35mAKWEUYrLDAS-rG56hcXvR_by7Fo3c6L0msOK6wMSQGOVBhoRgWoU4rcoPkkj23RVquQ8MUBnWcs/s320/TCC+Sun3.jpg" width="193" /></a><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"> I have restarted working on the journal of a 100 Day, 1 hour each day, standing meditation practice I undertook in 1996. I offer this excerpt for free:</span><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">I am like a kid with a new toy whenever I discover new images and concepts from other fields that I can apply to T'ai Chi. They always deepen my own practice and help me teach T'ai Chi to others; but it isn’t all that often now that I come across something that moves me so profoundly to another level of awareness in my practice of the art. Stephen Levine’s book, “Who Dies?” came into my life at the perfect time to understand it, in the middle of my 100 days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">Ostensibly about dying, the book is really about living, and more specifically it is about expanding, expanding in a sense absolutely tailor-made for application to T'ai Chi principles. Levine writes about not contracting around the pain one feels in the body; that when we contract we narrow our focus and therefore our sense of identity to that which we are focusing on (i.e. we become our pain). When we expand we consequently widen our sense of ‘Self.’ The body and what it is experiencing are still a part of that wider self, but it no longer becomes the totality of who we are. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">My experience with standing meditation speaks to the truth of what Levine says; it is a joyously liberating feeling to crack the mold of body-identity and to experience being a 'bigger' You. In terms of ‘dying’ It’s kind of like not putting all your eggs in the one basket of ‘body.’ Diversify and when something screws up one of your investments, your identity doesn’t take anywhere near as big a ‘hit’ as it would have were all your money in that one stock!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";">That’s the meaning of the bible verse about not laying up your treasure where thieves can break in and steal. The treasure is your sense of Self, what you identify with as ‘You.’ If you are your body or your job, your car or your clothes, your bank account or your social standing, or anything else perishable, then whenever those things perish, so will ‘you.’ It’s much better to diversify identity, and even better to identify ‘you’ with something that is eternal (Seek ye first the kingdom of God).</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Lucida Bright";"><a name='more'></a>Please give me a shout out if you read this far - would love to get the sense of how many people actually read these posts </span></div></div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-85687808152502526602011-01-29T04:57:00.001-08:002023-09-25T11:35:10.461-07:00An "AHA" moment is.........<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><span style="font-size: medium;">An "AHA" moment is not an "Aha" moment because I am discovering something new. It is an "Aha" moment because I knew it all the time, and I am stunned by the sudden realization that I just hadn't been paying attention to it.<br /></span>
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To put it another way: I did not 'Know' it consciously until something happened that lifted the lid off the Not-Knowing and allowed Knowing to bubble up.<br /></span>
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Most of the time the thing that keeps the lid on not knowing something is the constant effort to Know; the dislike of, the not allowing of 'Not-Knowing.' We don't really like not knowing what we want to know or feel like we should know. <br /></span>
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I am perfectly OK with not knowing how to program a computer, or not knowing anything that I do not care to know. I am talking here about the things you <i><b>care</b></i> about knowing. (Read Peter Ralston's amazing, "The Book of Not Knowing")<br /></span>
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One of the things we all, as human beings, want to know is: What is Life? Why are we here? What's it all about Alfie? <br /></span>
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And most of the time I am so concerned with trying to know what I do not know, that I forget to enjoy/allow the not-knowing.<br /></span>
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I think that the Not-Knowing is something to be done away with, to be fixed, to be eradicated by coming to know, one by one, the things that I do not Know... until gradually all that Not-Knowing will be replaced by Knowing.<br /></span>
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And, in my ignore-ance, I think that happiness lies in knowing things. <i><b>Until</b></i> I allow myself to not-know, to REALLY not-know; to Not-Know as a state of being; like being hungry or sad or happy or tired ......... AND it is the most meltingly, WONDER-FULL, <b>WOW</b>NDER-FULL experience. I have experienced a LOT of highs, both man-made and natural in my 62 years; Deep Not-Knowing is the real deal.<br /></span>
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And, unlike man-made substances, it is available all the time.<br /></span>
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Over and over again I wonder, after coming out of the Not-Knowing state, why we humans seem to be afraid of not-knowing what we want to know; why a large part of our energy is spent trying to appear knowing-full and avoiding looking like we don't know something. I see it alllllll the time in the corporate work I do. People rarely get promoted for not knowing things and consequently spend a lot of time pretending that they know a lot more than they actually know.<br /></span>
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If you are pretending to know something that you do not know, then you are not being who you are. You are actually pretending to be who you are not (Like the Emperor's New Clothes). Being who you are is the key to 'getting' Life; to melting into God. A couple of quotes illustrating that point:<br /></span>
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1) <u><i>Luther D. Price</i></u> said, "Be what you <b>IS</b>, not what you <b>ain't</b>. 'Cuz if you <b>ain't</b> what you <b>IS</b>, then you is what you <b>ain't</b>."<br /></span>
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2) <u><i>Shakespeare</i></u>: This above all: to thine own self be true,<br />
And it must follow, as the night the day,<br />
Thou canst not then be false to any man.<br /></span>
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One last thing, because I dislike overly long blog posts,,,,<br /></span>
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When I truly 'Don't Know' what Life is, Life reveals itself to me and I get a pass backstage.<br /></span>
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This I have known.<br /></span>
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</div>Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-66671694694927543742010-09-15T19:28:00.000-07:002010-09-16T03:33:41.285-07:00T'ai Chi is touching your coffee cup the same way you would touch a lover.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvL2AFDt8nkN9VuFDncFR8QT_rhsCge7SvnghQ16evplnuHtchrzjmTCo1qpYURLnZJQRaIGd1ugGA4PUB9mjtQzcT2AIzUFmOQ480sz2_QC3p1ihSSH98gx_DsaFMLHMFjy6MoiOI18/s1600/David,+tea.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRvL2AFDt8nkN9VuFDncFR8QT_rhsCge7SvnghQ16evplnuHtchrzjmTCo1qpYURLnZJQRaIGd1ugGA4PUB9mjtQzcT2AIzUFmOQ480sz2_QC3p1ihSSH98gx_DsaFMLHMFjy6MoiOI18/s200/David,+tea.jpg" width="155" /></a></div>I went to Skyros to teach; knowing full well - because it has happened every single time in the past 18 years I have been going - that I was really going there to learn. There are just too many goodies to share in one post - cuz I promised myself to keep them short - so the teachings will appear gradually over the next months or years. Briefly here, this post then - - - I really learned how to communicate the inner experience of T'ai Chi in such a way that absolute beginners can get an experience of what it feels like to be in such a state of complete allowing.<br />
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Try this. Yessir - go ahead and touch your coffee cup - or anything you normally touch in a utilitarian manner during the day - in the same way that you touch your lover, in the same way that you caress your baby, or your cat, or anything you love.<br />
We all know how to do this; we all know how to <i>sensitize our fingers at will</i> from 'coffee cup' mode to 'loved object' mode. You know how to sensitize your fingers and how to de-sensitize them depending on what it is you are touching. You don't even need to feel the feelings of tenderness or love. Just do it. Go ahead and stroke that cup or the steering wheel or the broom, or the laundry, with a 'loving' touch. Can you feel it? What happens? How do you do it? Welllll I'll bet you do it slowly---- with a lot more presence ---- paying attention ------with a softening.<br />
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Doesn't it feel gooood? Do you feel tingly and warm and melty inside? OK, now try doing T'ai Chi that way - with love-sensitive fingertips. Hey! Why stop there? Make your entire hand into fingertips! Make your arm, your torso, head, legs, ---- make that huge largest organ of your body (<b>Skin</b>, the <i><b>skin</b></i> I am talking of) into fingertips of sensitive touch. Yeah? See what <i><b>that</b></i> does for your T'ai Chi.<br />
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How to do it? How to transfer fingertip sensitivity to the entire body? That is exactly what the principles of T'ai Chi are all about: move slowly, breath slowly and deeply, relax, allow, become heavy, soften the gaze, extend the body open like a flower, soften, soften, soften<br />
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More to come.<br />
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I really should charge for this stuff.<br />
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You won't find it with many other T'ai Chi teachers. Fine to focus on healing or martial arts or circulating Chi; but the absolute highest purpose of T'ai Chi is to <i>feel</i> your way into <i>bliss</i>. Once you experience that, all the other reasons for doing T'ai Chi or any other exercise seem a bit like using a jet plane to go down the driveway to check the mailbox.<br />
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If you are going to use a jet plane, may as well have fun and make it a real trip!Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-78714928247089133792010-07-25T15:30:00.000-07:002010-07-25T15:30:51.152-07:00Drip Dry - A Three Minute Standing MeditationThis is a good, short, fun standing meditation practice: Drip dry in the shower! When you finish your shower, turn off the water and just stand there in the basic beginning T'ai Chi position or the "Embrace the Tree" position if you want to try that.<br />
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Focus your attention on the water running off your body, all over your body, head to feet. It will take about three minutes before the drips really slow down to almost nothing.<br />
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Relax and sink your weight; keep your crown lifted; your tailbone slightly tucked in (pointing down vertically); knees unlocked; palms and fingers open and energized.<br />
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Then have fun and just melt with the water - that's all there is to it. Do it as long as you want; 1,2,3,4,5 minutes, whatever - keep it easy and light.<br />
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Let me know what you experience.Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-60390783352077373902010-07-11T19:35:00.000-07:002010-07-11T20:02:25.099-07:00"The Last Station" - Tolstoy Movie<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3TFBtuPIC7PS9hYI7_opY4OTJxe_Ewmn9L1PccMPHuoN8Rz4UtVG4UcrJvLNOKMvL0sSeniYTqnUYGho3ri7ZnEv90dYG0F8BIw9j-cMqrO7CHsSmnRvdIUgJsgTMSpIQJsUjXaMWRhU/s1600/Much+Ado,DonJohn,1970.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 217px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3TFBtuPIC7PS9hYI7_opY4OTJxe_Ewmn9L1PccMPHuoN8Rz4UtVG4UcrJvLNOKMvL0sSeniYTqnUYGho3ri7ZnEv90dYG0F8BIw9j-cMqrO7CHsSmnRvdIUgJsgTMSpIQJsUjXaMWRhU/s320/Much+Ado,DonJohn,1970.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5492849622335079570" /></a><br />Seems like a synchronicitous moment to me - having read and been so moved by Tolstoy's short story "The Death of Ivan Ilyich" (see earlier Blog) and then seeing the recent movie about Tolstoy's life and the cult-like movement that grew up around him. The man definitely saw Backstage in Life, and through his writing he brought thousands of people with him on that little backstage tour. <span style="font-family:arial;">"Hey everybody - great show don't you think? How would you like a little tour backstage to meet some of the actors and see how we make all the scenery and special effects work?"</span><br /><br />See the movie - read the short story - welcome backstage!<br /><br />Want another treat? One of my favorite seeing-backstage-in-Life monologues - Edmund's speech from Eugene O'Neil's otherwise extreeeeemely depressing play: "Long Day's Journey Into Night."<br /><br />"You've just told me some of the high spots in your memories. Want to hear mine? They're all connected to the sea. Here's one. When I was on the Squarehead square rigger, bound for Buenos Aires. Full moon in the trades. The old hooker driving fourteen knots. I lay on the bowsprit, facing astern, with the water foaming into spume under me, the masts with every sail white in the moonlight, towering high above me. I became drunk with the beauty and singing rhythm of it, and for a moment I lost myself - actually lost my life. I was set free! I dissolved in the sea, became white sails and flying spray, became beauty and rhythm, became moonlight and the ship and the high dim-starred sky! I belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, to something greater than my own life, or the life of man, ... to life itself! To God, if you want to put it that way."Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-10467511873557300892010-07-02T07:47:00.000-07:002023-09-25T11:33:58.177-07:00Soccer is No Fun if You Don't Play to Win!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1yTO7lWYV2lYHeJQMIXXYfj2N5r4xiq8PWjRvgfB6G5smWSao-HQbnb-aN05-MDG2z4M6Ny0O_OFxZ20RHokYxd6yt1G2wmNY5Y_yByF0JYOnnfHU277H8FjXCdazGpMR-tD4Bw4BZs/s1600/ShimGumDo6thDan.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489329792662778210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiU1yTO7lWYV2lYHeJQMIXXYfj2N5r4xiq8PWjRvgfB6G5smWSao-HQbnb-aN05-MDG2z4M6Ny0O_OFxZ20RHokYxd6yt1G2wmNY5Y_yByF0JYOnnfHU277H8FjXCdazGpMR-tD4Bw4BZs/s400/ShimGumDo6thDan.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 286px; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; width: 400px;" /></a><br />You have heard me say that life is a play, that it is meant to <span style="font-weight: bold;">be</span> play, that one of my absolute goals in life is to have fun with my work, to turn everything into <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">plaaaaaay</span>y.<br /><br />That does not mean that I don't take things seriously - nothing is less fun than playing a game where the other side doesn't take it seriously - does not try to win. There are things to absolutely take seriously in 'Play' and things to take lightly.<br /><br />Look at the fans on the losing side of any of the World Cup games. You'd think life was over and that their entire self worth, as a person and as a nation, were dependent on winning.<br /><br />Come on - it's only a game - <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">that</span>'s the part that should not be taken seriously. Playing is real, it exists in the 'Now.' The outcome of the play (winning / losing) is in your head, is an interpretation that you attach importance to (or <span style="font-weight: bold;">not</span> if you really know how to play).<br /><br />As an adult I really know how to play 'Chutes and Ladders', I can enjoy the game and not be attached to the result. My daughter, Michaela, 3 yrs old at the time, did not know how to play. The game was happiness or tears to her depending on how she was doing - up the ladder = smiles, laughs, giggles, Gooooood feeling. Down the chute = tears, sadness, sorrow - Baaaad feeling. Who enjoyed the game more? I think I did (except for not wanting my daughter to feel sad); my detachment allowed me to have fun without losing perspective.<br /><br />What is <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">fun</span> is the thrill of the game - testing your skills against a worthy opponent. Why do Red Sox fans hate the Yankees and why do Yankees fans hate just about everyone? How much fun would a game be if the other team always really sucked? I think we should <span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">love</span> our opponents for being good at what they do - it's a lot more fun for me if the game is really close.<br /><br />The game of Life should be played no differently if you want to have fun living it. Take the playing seriously, take the result lightly; enjoy the villains and the obstacles because the game isn't real, at least the part we can see isn't real. The energy of playing is real, the energy behind what you do is real, --- the outward appearance is all smoke and mirrors.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Aaaand... Feeling</span> is the energy behind what we do. Do you know that you can actually feel <span style="font-style: italic;">good</span> about feeling bad? Next time you feel bad about something, no matter what the cause - actually screw the cause, the cause isn't even important except that it gives you the opportunity to <span style="font-style: italic;">feel</span> - next time you find yourself feeling bad - Reeeeallly let yourself feel bad. Don't tell yourself that you shouldn't feel bad, or that there is anything wrong with feeling bad, or that you'd like to kill the person who 'makes' you feel bad, or that it is somebody's fault for how you feel, or anything other than really just giving yourself permision to feel deeply awful.<br /><br />Go so deep with it that you even lose the concept of 'bad.' So deep that you are just feeling what you are feeling as pure <span style="font-style: italic;">energy</span>y. So deep that you eventually come to a place of thanking the 'cause' of your feeling (person or situation) for the gift of giving you the opportunity to feel.Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-67839762335457331522010-06-21T10:34:00.000-07:002010-06-21T10:40:33.573-07:00All I Really Need to Know I Learned On The Way To Kindergarten<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjhXFOlB_bD8JYBJMFmz4rQtLaBuZTrkHbbsX2pTMWHE5LKTIC02PYmCSneppnPmH473p4h0aEY5lyj_BKFavF0WVo8mRQp3-b0l7Qqn7Ksp0vkBqpL7j6P4gbdMNJk4GGfBXj6Irc60/s1600/The+Bare+Necessities+of+Life.jpg"><img style="display: block; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhjhXFOlB_bD8JYBJMFmz4rQtLaBuZTrkHbbsX2pTMWHE5LKTIC02PYmCSneppnPmH473p4h0aEY5lyj_BKFavF0WVo8mRQp3-b0l7Qqn7Ksp0vkBqpL7j6P4gbdMNJk4GGfBXj6Irc60/s400/The+Bare+Necessities+of+Life.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5485283194126180930" border="0" /></a><br />Do you remember Robert Fulghum’s wonderful book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten?” A list of lots of simple and universal lessons for getting along in life that we were all taught way back in Kindergarten.<br /><br />Well, I would like to modify the advice a bit for spiritual training.<br /><br />I remember my first days in school. We could walk to school in those days, even as young as Kindergarten, even in the inner city of Springfield, Massachusetts.<br /><br />On my way to school, there are two streets to cross. The first one, by my home, is supervised by my Italian grandmother, Nonie, and I am free to walk the rest of the way to the Tapley street school, shadowed by Nonie - though I didn’t know that until later - like a guardian angel in black widow’s dress flitting secretively from tree to tree to make sure I was safe - until I reach the cross-walk just before the school. There is a guard there to help us safely across, and there is also something written on the street in BIG, BOLD, yellow fluorescent block letters. I won’t be able to read what this says until sometime later in the year, and I won’t understand the universal, spiritual profundity of the message until well into my adulthood.<br /><br />STOP! LOOK! LISTEN!<br /><br />That’s it. That’s all you need to know in order to get safely across the street as well as safely across the gulf of separation from illusion to the divine union of Reality.<br /><br />STOP!<br /><br />Become still, let go of the endless whirl of thoughts and become present to the here and now. Ease off rushing or wanting to be anywhere other than where you are. Be, here, now.<br /><br />LOOK!<br /><br />Notice what you notice. Pay attention to what is really happening in the here and now; not to what you want to happen or to what you think is happening, but to what is actually going on. Don’t interpret what is going on through the usual filters of judgment; just look at it as what it IS. Ignore the separation of tree, gars, car, person, sky, and just see it all as an intricate play of light, shadow, and… energy<br /><br />LISTEN!<br /><br />Pay attention to what you are hearing. Sounds without interpretation - just listen - allow vibration in through the ears and try to experience it directly as vibration rather than passing it through the usual filters of interpretation (bird singing, bus engine, person shouting, wind rustling leaves, etc). Treat all sound the way you treat a foreign language - no interpretation of the sounds into meaning, just let the sounds in.<br /><br />The result?<br /><br />FEELING<br /><br />Connection, a dissolving of the thin sausage-casing barrier between “I” and “Other.” A melting; an allowing; a letting in and a letting out; a merging; an expansion of my definition of “I” from limited to my body to unlimited, encompassing everything I can see, hear, and FEEL.<br /><br />Giddy joy, delight, freedom, play, friskiness, and union.<br /><br />I cannot think of anything I would rather have more. And it is simple. No Gurus, no complicated exercises, no special clothing or equipment required. Darn! What am I going to spend my money on then? Ahhhhhhh - come to Italy to deepen the experience of Stop, Look, Listen.<br /><br />Ciao,Chiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-9086889025250617702010-05-30T10:51:00.000-07:002010-05-30T11:21:49.406-07:00T'ai Chi is really all about floatingAt least for me that is the ultimate T'ai Chi experience. I've explored many different aspects of T'ai Chi over my 38 year practice; done standing meditation (like it a lot - great discipline); done the Macro and Micro Cosmic orbits - consciously circulating energy; done loads of Chi Kung exercises for healing and balancing Chi, etc; done push hands; done two-person fighting forms; done the "12 Animal" forms; done LOTS --- AND --- what it all comes down to for me is the delicious, sensual, effortless, expansive, freeing, joyful, melting, ecstatic goose-bump-producing experience of <span style="font-weight: bold; font-style: italic;">floating</span> while I do the form. Nothing else provides the high, the well-being, the sheer thrill I seek from this marvelous art<br /><br />NO other exercise even comes close to that experience. I have experienced moments of weightlessness (Roller-coaster and other 'amusement' park rides). T'ai Chi is better. No stomach jarring queasiness, just the light, weightless sensation of floating along - totally connected to the earth and at the same time floating above it - like a kite (One of my favorite T'ai Chi metaphors).<br /><br />It really feels like flying, with all the freedom and joyful abandon I associate with flight.<br /><br />NO other exercise is even <span style="font-style: italic;">designed</span> with that primary purpose in mind - effortless motion. The odd, and seemingly contradictory thing about this is that the floating sensation happens most effectively when I am able to become very heavy, when I let everything drop into the earth, when I totally give into gravity; when I learn how to <span style="font-style: italic;">extend</span> energy <span style="font-style: italic;">through</span> that heaviness <span style="font-style: italic;">without disturbing it. </span><br /><br />Doesn't that sound esoteric and oh-so mystical - something my teacher, T.T. Liang, might have said to me 30 years ago, leaving me without a clue but mightily impressed with the image. How to extend energy without undue engagement of muscles. It is as simple (but faaaar more profound and subtle in its application) as learning how to engage in regular tasks with less force. How hard do you grip the steering wheel of your car, or hold a pencil, or a toothbrush? Most people do these things with a lot more force than they actually need? Can you do these things with less force?<br /><br />That's the basic and simple principle that, when you get waaaay more sophisticated about it, leads to floating . The next step after brushing your teeth with less force is to do it with more energy (and even less force). Now you are getting closer to the principle of T'ai Chi: less force + more energy = delicious melting. It also equals healing (without having to consciously direct the Chi - Chi is self-intelligent, it doesn't need you to guide it); it also equals spiritual connection.<br /><br />Got to keep these things short - cuz I HATE to slog through long blogs too.<br /><br />Peace and friskiness and thrills to you,<br />DavidChiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-518511046599480155.post-28113304210669033872010-05-25T10:04:00.000-07:002010-05-25T10:21:07.943-07:00Practice just 1 minute a dayI am serious here!<br /><br />Just a minute a day makes a huge difference.<br /><br />The difference is made not by the minute you practice but by the commitment you make to do it. Toooo many people stop learning a new skill, whether it be T'ai Chi or piano, because of the inertia caused by the expectation that they need to practice 20, 30, 60 or more minutes a day in order to get 'good' at it. Inertia is overcome by the low requirement of a minute a day.<br /><br />Anyone can find a minute in which to work on a new skill. And I promise you WILL progress with just a minute a day as long as you make the commitment to do that minute. You will get much better at T'ai Chi than someone who doesn't practice 20, 30, or 60 minutes a day.<br /><br />The beautiful thing about making a commitment to do something - as my good friend, yoga teacher Andreas Vetsch expresses it - is that all indecision is removed. You commit to practice and that's an end to it - no questions, no exceptions, no extenuating circumstances, no hesitation, no procrastination --- you don't even have to think about it anymore, you don't even consider not-doing your daily practice -- you just DO IT whether you are tired, sick, bored, or engaged in something else you'd rather be doing.<br /><br />You make time for it simply because you have MADE THE COMMITMENT. So simple, so beautiful, such a time and procrastination saver.<br /><br />Of course you are not restricted to One Minute; you can, - and eventually you will find yourself doing so because this is such a rewarding and 'feel-good' an art - go longer than a minute. AND your commitment is fulfilled by that one minute - you have done it - you have some consistency in your life around a practice that will make you healthier, more relaxed, more flexible, and more connected to life. try it. It really works!<br /><br />As always, I love your reflections back and will answer all inquiries - until they become so numerous that I don't want to answer them all - but for the moment, my abilities are not taxed beyond endurance.<br /><br />happy practicing!<br />DZChiwizhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07205879002701454069noreply@blogger.com3