Inside our heads, the decibel levels are off the charts. That’s the thing about lives of quiet desperation. They’re only quiet on the outside.

—Eric Weiner

When I told a new student that the most important word in Taiji is  LISTENING  he pointed out that it's also the most important word in life.

When Cheng Man-ch'ing (Zheng Manqing 郑曼青) was asked why none of his students approached his level, he famously replied: Because they don't believe.

They hadn't yet come to the conviction that it's all a matter of relaxation and heart, not strength or speed or technique or intelligence or sensitivity or skill…

The meaning of life is simply to share the gift God gave you.

This is what we mean by 'letting your energy out.'

Progress at Taiji is a long slow process of reinterpretting the principles in the light of new-gained relaxation.

My making process is a daily repetition in a calm and quiet place.

—JaeJun Lee

It’s the balance between intention and surprise that keeps the work alive for me.

—JaeJun Lee

"On second thoughts..."

(Reasonably wise but spiritually disastrous)

first thought best thought

Caregiver or caretaker?
Giving care but taking the duty of care

After eight years of Taiji my teacher recommended weight training. An elderly student at the BTCCA, who had done weights all his adult life, recommended I buy a barbell, two dumbells, and 50 kilos of weight. I asked if that would be enough as I was already squatting 50kg. "You can always make it more difficult," he muttered.

Tense shoulders indicate
an overactive mind &
an underactive heart

The only way you'll change is if you have an overwhelming desire to stop being the way you are.

Grace shines naturally from a heart full of gratitude

I feel my “I” is much too small for me.

—Vladimir Mayakovsky

Meditation: at home with silence & openness

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

—Matthew 18:3

(The Change: a simple switch from head to heart)

The kingdom of heaven opens up (within & without) when you quieten the mind and truly listen.

I AM A TREE

Rooting down to Earth
Sucking energy up

Reaching up to Heaven
Drawing energy down

The teacher teaches so the student can practise,
knowing full well that they won't.
Hoping against hope.

(So the teacher is really teaching herself.)

I’m always asking myself:
Am I doing what I came here to do?

—Gillian Allnutt

Is it possible for the social and the sacral to converge?

Straight locked legs indicate an arrogant/fearful rejection of Nature.

mind
Not what I thought you were. I thought
You were myself, a step away. But no,
You are that crazy flower in Christ’s hand.

—Donald Revell

Meditation: attending the Internal Life

the sheer joy of hard work

We are not among those who have ideas only between books, stimulated by books. Our habit is to think outdoors – walking, jumping, climbing, dancing, preferably on lonely mountains or by the sea where even the paths become thoughtful.

—Friedrich Nietzsche, The Gay Science, Section 366

We are figments in the intending mind of God.