in a state of grace
& with a sense of wonder

the path is circuitous—
endlessly tramping circles

each pass a little deeper
than the one before

This age of distraction & excess.

Steal Softly Thru Snow

The major problem facing the individual today is how to slow down and reduce. Do less, think less, consume less.

It's the same problem facing the species: we desperately need to reduce, both our consumption & our numbers, otherwise it's curtains…

Taiji is about waking up the Spirit and getting back to a more natural state, and that state is always more wild & more crazy than the way we've become from living in society – conforming and consuming.

露見枝條
隱藏本根

Branches exposed
Roots hidden

—The Seal of the Unity of the Three, trans. Fabrizio Pregadio, Golden Elixir Press, 2011

Passion is falling in love afresh each time. This is the attitude we need to approach the work. After each practice session our love is confirmed & renewed.

God’s Spirit is life’s vibrating, vitalizing field of energy: we are in God, and God is in us.

—Jürgen Moltmann

Nowadays longevity is as much due to reduced intensity of living as it is to improved medicine.

Each time we are with the teacher he shows us a new aspect of energy – a new way of working, of becoming. It's our job to then go home, come to our own understanding through practice, and claim it as our own.

An Inner Silence bristling with Listening. This is how we connect to Life.

 
Life Force
Life Principle
Anima/Animus
Élan Vital
Spirit of Vitality
Vital Essence
Prana
Āyus
Qi

Each of us is like a computer. Our body is the hardware, the mind is the software, and the spirit is the electricity.

An Attention so alive with Spirit that it threatens to incite an Event.
(An Event is a freak occurrence.)

Taiji is a way into the Way.

A listening not only attending the inevitable but becoming sensitive to unpredictability.

Energy is the flow of Intent
Intent is mind directed by Spirit
Or, simply, Intent is Spirit

Every morning a dawning realization that yesterday's revelations were missing a layer of meaning and balance.

—Kim Kashkashian, in the liner notes to her recording of Bach's Cello Suites on viola, ECM 2553/54, 2018

The only sin is complacency.

ALL IS ENERGY AND EVERYTHING IS IN ITS RIGHTFUL PLACE

In Yoga they call this insight Bliss. In Taiji we simply call it Peace of Mind.

It is a product of Internal Work, especially Meditation.

Students believe it the end of the journey but really it is the beginning. The real journey never ends.