Please don’t fall into that category of people who are simultaneously self-impressed and casual. That’s why I hate terms like “running energy”, “bad qi”, and such.
The View from the Window
When you quiet down strange and beautiful ideas seem to come from… everywhere.
Integrity and the Body
The Quakers have a testimony about integrity. In a nutshell, it instructs us to make our outside match our inside. If you think about this for a moment you’ll see that this is not at all easy. How many times do we keep our real thoughts hidden, while pretending to like what we’re doing...
Food for the Spirit
There are many ways to feed the spirit. I think of qigong, tea, dancing, music, gardening, books. Let’s not forget books. Hopefully, you still read them. I know many people don’t anymore. But there’s something about a real book, either spanking new and smelling of possibility, or old and redolent with the handling of...
The Power of the Small
I was feeling stuck, overwhelmed, and tired. It happens to all of us at times. The press of our responsibilities and commitments begins to weigh us down. There’s too much to do, and not enough time. We lose balance and feel constantly stressed. If we don’t catch ourselves and make a timely course correction,...
Teapots
Recently an old friend, who has years of Tai Chi and Qigong experience, asked me if it would add anything to his practice to come to an afternoon workshop to learn Blossoms in the Spring. This is an excellent question. When I thought honestly about it, I realized that the answer is no, not...
Falling Apart
It’s amazing how quickly things fall apart. Yesterday I spent an hour tidying my house in anticipation of visitors. This morning there was already dog hair on the couch (my pug sheds incessantly,) laundry to be done, papers to be organized, and well, you know, the inevitable slide into chaos. And so quickly. How...
No Time
Here's how it usually goes: up at 7:00, take the dog out, rustle up a cup of tea (or coffee), eye on the clock, figure there's just enough time to check email then, for sure, you'll have ten spacious uninterrupted minutes for qigong before diving into the shower and preparing to head off...
Breathing
This morning when I went out to the frosty meadow near my house to practice I took my elk horn knives. I like to get at least one session a week in with these crescent shaped weapons. They’re a good way to emphasize the curving twisting energy of Bagua. The thing is, circling these...
Feeling vs. Visualizing
There are many qigong exercises that suggest some sort of visualization, like imagining the roots of a tree under your feet, or the moonlight softly settling about you...
Qigong and the Moon
Lately I've been experimenting with ways to tune my daily qigong practice so that it reflects natural cycles, rather than sticking to a rigid plan.
