Is there mind without consciousness? If you say yes you will be wrong. If you say no you will be wrong. How is this? Because you have give the answer too soon without having walked through the forest from one end to another.
We fool ourselves on this quite a bit. People often say such things as, “Words just get in the way. They are so much rubbish.” But they have never really examined how very difficult it is to think without words. You may imagine pictures and scenes to your heart’s content, but can you really think without the use of words? (more…)
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Ancient writings say “Nature is self correcting.” At first blush this sounds poetic but hard to comprehend. Nature is so difficult to fathom, so impossible to simplify, so far beyond prediction. But ultimately the ancient writings are correct. When we stand back from our fears and our desires we see that Nature resolves everything in its own course. And what does that mean? It’s more than a nice philosophy, it validates the most basic observation humans ever made, namely that Nature has a direction, a hidden organizing principle. Nature continually returns to its own essence, it continually resolves itself and all the problems it creates. (more…)
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Don’t assume that Qigong starts with deep breathing or lightning bolts shooting out of your fingers.
Start by just standing there for a minute. Qigong begins when you Tiao Shen (control your body). Start with your feet apart about shoulder width. Slightly bend your knees. Relax your hands at your sides. Let your shoulders just hang ( I promise you, no matter how relaxed you make your arms and hands, they will not detach and fall off). Keep your head up. Don’t use strength, pretend you are balancing one block (your head) on another (your torso) and so on (pelvis).
Half close your eyes. Imagine your back and shoulders are just drooping, like melting wax. Let your breathing settle.
Don’t strain. Try a minute at a time. You will feel things, guaranteed, but just start with a minute of quiet standing. Put the world on hold for a bit.
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Sometimes my morning qigong practice consists entirely of sitting and gazing out the window. I used to feel guilty about this, as if I were dodging my commitment, succumbing to laziness, just plain goofing off. But my dog, a Chinese Pug whose ancestors lived in Tibetan monasteries and who knows a thing or two about these matters, is teaching me the value of simplicity. She is a master of the Taoist meditation practice called “sitting and forgetting.”
With the quietude of an old monk, she spends some portion of each day sitting by the window watching life unfold in the yard outside. One morning I took my tea and joined her instead of immediately starting my daily qigong exercise. We sat on the landing halfway up the stairs (her favorite spot,) where there’s a view of the garden from two corner windows. Squirrels dashed about; the neighbor’s black tabby cat sat quietly watching the fish pond; woodpeckers dived at the feeders; a few falling leaves, harbingers of autumn, traced a lazy path through the air. We just sat and watched. I sipped my tea. I thought maybe I should get on with my morning practice instead of wasting time staring out the window. But then I poured another cup of tea, my gesture as simple and natural as the drifting autumn leaves.
Sometimes our practices become self-improvement projects. It’s not easy to notice when this happens. At what point does commitment become drudgery, discipline a lifeless and repetitive routine? How do we stay true to the living moment, the ever fresh and spontaneous movement of the qi? Surely daily practice is important, you argue. We couldn’t just go along doing whatever we want like children at play. After all, we have to show up for work every day. How will we make progress, stay healthy, achieve our goals, if we don’t practice every day? Well, yes. I know these arguments well, and I agree. My daily practice creates a sturdy vessel for me. Anchored by the consistency of that container, I’m better able to handle life’s unexpected and unpredictable events with some measure of grace.
On the other hand, perhaps the ultimate mastery is the practice of “no-practice,” just doing each thing as it comes up. Yes, like a child. Right now, I’m gazing out the window. My dog leans peacefully against me. I reach for another cup of tea.
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