The trouble with therapy is that those that really need it wouldn't countenance it and those that don't need it but instead need to do some work of their own end up indulging it.

A Yielding that is not melting away from the Other but melting into them.

The more you talk and think, the farther away you get.

Once, after enduring my sharp intellect, my teacher remarked: Clear head; confused heart.  The point being, I now realise, that if the heart were clear then such an intelligence would not be on display. The basic shift we all need to make is from head to heart – a heart big enough and brave enough to open up, reach out and embrace not only the Other, but the whole situation, and ultimately the bigger picture.

You know when you're not sure if you've really felt something or just imagined it?  This is where we'd like to dwell – between feeling and imagination – closer to reality than factuality.

What makes us ache each day to practise? It's that we've been touched by Spirit. The teacher cannot do this. Their function is to remind us that we've been touched. Our job is then to work toward full awakening by recalling this touch with all our heart.

We all need a second chance yet the bird of freedom flies past only once. What to do?

If I believe in anything, it is in the dark night of the soul. Awe is my religion, and mystery is its church.

—Charles Simic

Tension is holding on. Relaxation is letting go. We hold on because we're afraid to let go, afraid that if we do we'll let go of life & die. (All holding on stems from fear, and all fear is fear of death.) But when we let go fully we don't let go of life but let go into life and thereby become awake & alive. When we hold on we're ever pulling back from life and thereby remain half asleep.

this inner drive toward self-transcendence

Artists intensely feel the delicate natural energies underlying the artificial reality society imposes. Become an artist.

Truth appears from rents in the fabric of reality

Generally people believe what they want to believe and then call that Truth.

The first time my teacher mentioned spirit my ears pricked up. Little did I know I'd spend the rest of my life devoted to it. There again I suspect part of me did.

cinnabar field  丹田  dantian

What we need is more people who specialize in the impossible.

—Theodore Roethke

There are two kinds of secrets: the ones you know and the ones you don't.

Never stuck in the middle
not even with you

Imagine the sacrum full of quicksilver – heavy yet lively – behaving as counterweight, raising the head and encouraging a vigilant attention.

Each minor tragedy a blessing in disguise

A never ending, ever changing process that words can neither define nor describe.

Poetry does not like noise.

—Jacques Maritain

As our days become ever more saturated with words & language it is vital we partition some quiet time to simply feel and be. Meditation is ideal, but so is walking, especially in nature (or with the dog). Just ensure you turn off the phone or better still leave it at home.

After a few years of practice we begin to realise we're going round in circles.  This is the way of it – each pass taking us a little deeper.

at the edge
where so much
is at stake

—Thomas A Clark

Meditation: learning to simply be without hankering after entertainment

quantity = force = hard

quality = energy = soft

You have no one to blame but yourself!

(How many times did I hear that as a kid...)

Love is in the air

(If you don't feel this then you're not quite human)

All our problems originate in an inability to achieve internal quiet.

(My take on Pascal)

Meditation: humbly presenting to the present moment

Someone phoned for an introductory lesson. 

"Do I need to bring anything?" she asked.

"An open mind and a light heart," I replied.

She liked that.

be of good cheer

(otherwise energy will ever elude)

The poem begins in silence.

—Barbara Guest

Avoid those who consistently take away your peace-of-mind. If this is not possible then develop a sense of humour.

So full of feeling it's almost unbearable.

When standing let the legs give (sink) just a little.

When sitting let the heart give (lift) just a little.

When lying feel yourself melting into the earth.

A flame flickers
and is ready to die

If I love you then
I love everything

A thread of softness
frees from distraction

Time to eat
strawberries & tofu

The peace that’s left
when company leaves

This poem a texture
of twining energies

How the mood changes
yet remains the same

If you confine the work to your hours of practice then you'll make little progress. Keep your relaxing going throughout the day and night. Feel gravity pulling at you as you walk, not just the gravity of terra firma but the subtle pull of every object you pass. Treasure your time alone. Relax (expand) into the space you enter as you willingly let the energy of that space enter you. Listen, feel – let those feelings spark the imagination. Regularly bring the awareness to the breathing – savour the air as it comes in – let the inhalation inspire you – then release into the exhale. When alone let the eyes relax – go out of focus – and feel the energy flowing through and around you. When driving hum, chant or sing rather than listen to the radio…

It is the job of poetry to clean up our word-clogged reality by creating silences around things.

—Stéphane Mallarmé

simultaneously suggestive and remote

mind intends : body extends

Do not try to do extraordinary things but do ordinary things with intensity.

—Emily Carr

Dr Chi recommended daily practice sessions of three Short Forms: the first to warm-up, the second slow & meticulous, and a lively third for spirit.

hale & hearty

(hale & whole are basically the same word)

Stop activity, return to stillness,
And that stillness is even more active.

Each session starts with gravity and ends in levity.

Listening is not just hearing what the other has to say, although that's a start.  Listening is actively enveloping the other in a compassionate non-judgmental energy that seduces them to open up to you.

Meditation: the falling away of mind & body

In patience, in slowness, there is hope.

—Paul Kingsnorth

The student pays the teacher with money but pays the teaching with practice & loyalty.

Not the severe concentration of work but the easy concentration of play.  Learn to concentrate without effort.

sūsokukan  数息観  counting-the-breaths

L I F E  F E E D S  O N  L I F E

(Injustice is inevitable but try to keep it to a minimum)

Lend an ear
Extend an ear
Be all ears
Play it by ear

The essence of Taiji is in the partner work.  Private practice merely prepares you for this encounter with the Other.

We are constantly saying NO to the reality that's opening up all around us, and remaining locked in our own festering interiority. To escape we just need to start saying YES.

The sleep of the ancients was polyphasic – a first sleep early in the night, and a second sleep in the early morning are separated by a period of nocturnal activity. There are two nights: a night for sleeping, and a night for keeping watch, and two days: a day for working and a day for slumbering.

—Matthew Nini

Meditation: relaxing out of thinking and into breathing – out of the world of objects & things and into the world of flows & potentialities.

A few months after beginning to teach here a neighbour joined my class.  She immediately made a good connexion with both the Taiji and with me so I suggested she accompany me to one of Nitsan's classes.  She liked the class very much and at the end asked Nitsan if she could attend regularly.  He said of course so she took the details of times.  Nitsan then asked if she wasn't going to enquire as to the price.  She replied: "No, I want to study with you and I will pay whatever you ask."  Nitsan smiled and said: "May I give you a hug?"

Most don't live in the world, they live in their head. The device we use to get out of our head and into the world is LISTENING.

Live the life of a saint in-the-making.

To achieve mastery in Taiji one must work like a Trojan – hours each day – strengthening legs & waist, relaxing body & mind – repeating the Form until it becomes second nature. Mastery just means that your strength, relaxation and mental probity have softened you enough to enter the world of energy or mind-at-large. Now great care must be taken to put quality over quantity.

In Taiji the key word is always natural. The Daoist imperative.

the only time
I get lonely

is when I'm
in bad company

Loneliness has its own networks of cure. Its closest ally, even by-product, is meditation.

—Sumana Roy

For the average person, getting an advantage is what life is all about.

to connect to
& feel energy

we need only
do two things

relax the body
relax the mind

it's really as
simple as that

bristling with the tension of readiness

Meditation: feeling what naturally sinks and feeling what naturally rises

I remember once discussing Descartes' Cogito with my teacher.  We agreed it needed to be replaced.  I suggested Ezra Pound's Amo ergo sum which apparently graced his personal letterhead.  John said that Sentio ergo sum would be better.  I feel therefore I am.

It's all in the feeling – in the heart.  Feel the world rather than observe it.  Empathy – togetherness in feeling.  Feel the world then feel the world feeling you.

When I find myself getting irritated by a student's inability to relax, I remember my own teacher's infinite patience with my tension.

One ambition of poetry, certainly, is to create a reverberant silence in its wake, one that means more or differently than the silence that preceded the poem. 

—Mark Doty

Find an alcove, sit quietly, and angels will join you there.