is the challenge of thinking for yourself preferable to the comfort of conformity?

the makings of a good student

living in the present, fighting for survival

we pride ourselves that a civilized life enables and encourages us to avoid this

unfortunately for the spirit

this is the time to cross the river

once you've found a teaching be satisfied and stop searching for something else

for now it's up to you:

can you do the teaching (and yourself) justice?

most teachers want you to become an inferior clone of themselves

they have egos after all

it is your job to resist this – to clearly distinguish teacher from teaching

approach the work with a singular vision

otherwise at some point you'll falter

transforming a heart of stone into a heart of gold

a lifetime of endless refinement

in this sense we are alchemists

the depressed person is a radical, sullen atheist

get up and go 

meditation does the opposite: 

sit down and arrive

the presence of the other is not an opportunity to shoot your mouth off but an invitation to listen and revere

theory thinks | praxis lives

content with a little

never greedy

an obsessive or, better, possessive quality

beware the synthetic and artificial
they insulate against earth and nature
the two things we try to reconnect with

it's a miracle how returning to the same place each day never stops revealing surprises

always upping the game

marvel at similarities
marvel at differences
marvel at everything

natural way best way

everything flows (πάντα ῥεῖ)

feel the flows
ride the flows

practice produces miracles

take nothing for granted

ego is the ultimate parasite
it feeds on energy by disturbing the mind with its doubts and anxiety

the only sure way to combat it is to bring faith and love into the heart

I don’t want my life to be a matter of distractions from death and then death.

letting go of precisely those things (tensions) we think define us

form & content

the taiji form expresses inner content

(content: satisfied with what one is or has)

facts and information may pique interest or rouse indignation but they won't fire spirit

larger than life

what a peculiar notion

our real exterior can be seen and understood only by other people, because they are located outside us in space, and because they are others

if you could read a transcript of your inner monologue you would be horrified at how petty, paltry and putrid it is

but hopefully you would also realise that it's not really you, it is the voice of your conditioning, of your ego

you are not expressed in a train of thought but in gesture and movement, scent and sparkle, in energy and spirit, at that place where you physically interface with the actual world

but to be as aware of this as others who experience you are, and to be fully with this with them, you need to quieten that inner nag

finding it a struggle?

lighten up

be gracious

a sure way to improve the world

count your breaths
count your blessings

each breath a blessing

shivers of energy cross my living plasm

give it a rest

especially this time of year

and keep warm

the modern bourgeois life is designed to protect us from the internal

if you put yourself in the presence of internal teaching but don't have the basic courage and respect to practice it then you will end up resenting and mocking it to protect yourself from the onslaught of its truth

the way of the poor student

so much depends on one's attitude

relax the mind and stop resisting the good mood that is waiting and wanting to become you 

this is what we mean by natural

communication is not sharing information but freeing spirit

daoism is fundamentally nostalgic 

harking back to a time when we lived in balance with nature

reading should inspire practice not replace it

Ours is an excessively conscious age. We know so much, we feel so little.

taiji is paying our respects

if anything is continuous it's this

through thick and thin

come rain or shine

no hollows no projections
the principle of roundness

imagine wearing a puffy down ski jacket

trust in life's sacred spontaneity

it's not the world's job to make us happy

it's our job to make the world happy

life is movement and to move well is to live well

the more advanced you become the less important the body and the more important the spirit-mind as a dispeller of mood

meditation attends the flow of time

surprise as emotion: between startle and humility

vigilant rather than happy

the wandering mind is an indulgence we don't permit ourselves

sit with the stillness of an old soldier

feel everything but never let on

self is artefact and compared to natural things lacking in texture, depth and richness

this is why, when we really feel the world, we instantly forget self

an atmosphere is a qualitative-sentimental prius, spatially poured out, of our sensible encounter with the world

an unburdened heart lifts naturally in praise & adoration

shake up
open up
wake up

eventually you find teaching everywhere

practice prepares you for teacher & teaching by internalising what was previously taught

valorizing the ability to let oneself go

thinking makes a travesty of truth

practice and do yourself justice

practice and do yourself a service

the work must get done so you may as well enjoy it

this is intelligence – the ability to change your mind about things

personal empowerment over spontaneous stirrings

quail at hardship and you get nowhere

practice makes you a better person

this is invigilation

body as sensitive instrument rather than machine or vehicle

generosity contradicts the logic of capital

a living teaching keeps the work alive

consider stretching an essential part of personal hygiene

find an edge and work it raw

the enlightened master has found her true home – her quiet centre – and there she dwells radiating energy into the world

resilience (resistance, elasticity, vitality and good mood)

the money you give your teacher is just the beginning of it

attending weekly class and practising daily, your energy slowly attunes to the teacher's and you begin to understand on a level deeper than the mind

giving is not about the gift

attune mind to breath

the first stage in developing compassion

a spiritual quiet that becomes infused (divinely) in the psychosomatic process

when the body relaxes there is a sense of letting go and expanding followed by a gathering into a well-centred unity

when the mind relaxes there is a sense of quietening and coming together followed by an expanding out into the universe

exaggerate the pinkies

thinking is always wishful

yield:

turn the waist
sink
go back

meditation is not mawkishness, it is super-alertness and – at its most lucid – creative energy

turning applies a centrifugal force to the body and a centripetal force on the mind

an invisible strength

a culture based on respect

sink: 

settle down 

quieten down 

slow down

we become enlightened by making the darkness conscious

god doesn't make us happy, doesn't lift our depression – that is our job

god makes us good, makes us capable of real goodness, and thereby gives life purpose and meaning

the cutting edge is always unpopular

expect condemnation rather than commendation

it's important to love all your students, but not equally

you obviously love those that practice more than those that don't

circumambulating an unknown something

the lightning conductor is attractive to the heavens by virtue of its conductivity and its earth

we should be the same

and it is the one release that allows both gravity to claim the body and spirit to infuse the body

do the work  (and then some)

the final rep does all the work

so many things to think about! bewails the student

indeed, but with one simple release, they all fall into place

I have worked for a restlessness oriented toward inward deepening.

it matters little how many teachers you've visited, how many books you've read

without dedicated daily practice it all comes to nought

family may know where you're coming from but they have no idea where you're going

cast your mind back to the event of learning to ride a bicycle 

the practical realisation that balance requires momentum

an awareness that has no desire to control

We moderns are faced with the necessity of rediscovering the life of the spirit; we must experience it anew for ourselves. It is the only way in which to break the spell that binds us.

this work is life-enhancing
it is also life-changing
(but only if you let it)

let's face it

to live and to act well

of all god's creatures human beings are clearly portals between two worlds: the world of matter and the world of spirit

we put to sea again with our broken oars

if you're nervous then the horse is nervous

self keeps us company when we're alone

a stream of consciousness language free

only a selfless mind can be truly rational or truly compassionate or truly empty

meditation allows self to slowly unravel & dissolve

this would happen more quickly if we didn't hold on so

what makes us hold on (tense up) is fear

fear of being alone

all day long I feel created

above all the artist hopes the work embodies the purity of the creative process

this its truth

sink has the sense of both down and into

root anchors that unbearable lightness

the choice is whether to retreat into thought or stream into the world

dream or stream

these are mutually exclusive

everything is gently itself

contained within a teardrop

cure-all

the lyricism of marginality

exercises that attenuate individual ego by equilibrating with others

we wake, if ever at all, to mystery

settle within and move with aplomb

don't mind

always in relation to another

never in relation to the self

back to basics

because that's all there is

Hone and spread your spirit till you yourself are a sail, whetted, translucent, broadside to the merest puff.

the student needs three things for success:

1. correct teaching
2. hard work
3. talent

talent last but still vital

ego is a cheat

those that can, do
those that can't, teach

don't mistake intelligence for talent

intelligence is of the mind
talent is essentially of the spirit

empty yourself and wait, listening

a root enables two-way energetic traffic across the sole

ego is terminal

root is soul of the foot

real masters disappear

progress is a descent

sink to tap the rising energy of the earth

be with the legs walking rather than the head thinking

be with the body working rather than the mind thinking

the body is always moving

the skin is our first ear

practice is the process of embodying & enheartening a teaching

eventually you bleed taiji

force acts upon the body 

energy passes through the body

root: from the ground up

a knowledge as much of the body and spirit as the mind

embodied & emboldened

we say of those who listen deeply that they are "sound"

the taiji form is an exercise in edging
never quite finishing
keeping to a yielding mind

ego natters to distract from what matters

the voice in the head drowns out the song in the heart 

if we listened to the heart our lives and our world would be very different

our only hope is to find the dance of energy more captivating than the train of thought

a high degree of refinement and complicity

foreground the attentive mind

background the thinking mind

we all have enlightenment experiences – rare flashes of spirit which light up a completely different reality than the one we usually inhabit – but few live by and for them

the slimmest of chances

ego is so strong that very little gets through

your feet are your physical connection to this planet

touch the earth directly with your bare feet
let the earth energy circulate
from your feet to your head
and back again

it is easy to take sides – to choose one over the other – but difficult to strike a balance

the student has graduated when this comes natural

consciousness is like a movie screen upon which plays the external world through sense impressions and the inner world through thoughts & feelings

meditation reduces these worlds to a minimum and gazes at the blank screen

one becomes one with the ocean of consciousness rather than the objects within consciousness

mum's the word

ego is like a spoilt child

don't encourage it
and don't fight it
(for fear of tantrum)

just ignore it

Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen.

in meditation the zabuton becomes a raft adrift on the ocean of consciousness

there is a real sense of movement
but you must still both body & mind to feel it

the only way to reduce the ego is to starve it

all the while retaining a broad smile

meditation: keeping mum

none of this makes us in any way special

all my life I have been in love with the sky

the present moment is not a static point
it is where time gushes forth
mindfulness attends the present moment in its unfolding
this is personal because it unfolds uniquely for each of us

meditation brings neither knowledge nor understanding but realisation

being time mind consciousness

the sense in which these are all the same

give the student the barest minimum

more won't make them better students

The present is the only thing that has no end.

nothing sorts the men from the boys like standing

a touch of derring-do

become a lower-case i

ego only survives by holding onto hurt and resentment

forgiveness is such an effective weapon against it

practice generates insights

these must be followed through with more practice otherwise they fizzle out

One must always do what one really cannot.

ego chooses not to listen

meditation: surfing time

there comes a point where the journey can only continue by quantum leaps

so work to become so light and free it's scary

I regard consciousness as fundamental. I regard matter as a derivative of consciousness.

without ego holding on, trauma would naturally resolve and dissolve

matter is frozen energy

leave the head and enter the body

unfold from oneness
enfold into oneness

all the problems of the human race are due to the fact that thought is not proprioceptive

take risks
make mistakes
learn lessons

set an example

become exemplar

proficiency on a musical instrument takes thousands of hours of diligent daily practice

this is why my teacher said his best students have always been musicians – even though an obnoxious lot they do understand practice – its need and value

We have sought for firm ground and found none. The deeper we penetrate, the more restless becomes the universe; all is rushing about and vibrating in a wild dance.

life, if you let it, wears you down so that by the time it's time to empty into the vast open there is no you left to resist

wholeness & the implicate order

a person with depth – with soul – has a sense of the peace beneath the suffering

when the teacher gives an instruction it's not a matter of blindly doing as you're told but of feeling its truth and then letting go of what's stopping that happening naturally

The creativity of the world is the throbbing emotion of the past hurling itself into a new transcendent fact.

the teacher's job is to reveal to the student what they already know

ego is one of many hurdles

pluck up the courage to take the plunge

the noisy mind is very much a surface effect

only by quieting do we venture deeper

if you don't take care of love it slowly vanishes

a transmission is an all-consuming connexion to the natural process

it can only pass to the good student

with work it carries them through

the good student knows she has no choice

glad tidings

never unmindful

The quality of the imagination is to flow and not to freeze.

the teacher is conjurer of spirit and enemy to ego

essence

energy

spirit

principles everywhere

the teacher demands the respect you would give an enemy

we've got to be hotter than high school love

thinking stops the flow

the teacher is not a friend

the wise wound

teacher always knows best

if you allow exceptions then you will always pick and choose

The tension is between concealment and revelation.

without early trauma the student would not have the drive to do the work

the good student knows from experience that quick fixes never hold

the statements of the teacher are not opinions to be argued with but pedagogical devices to be taken to heart

in a sense the enemy is doubt

so always give the benefit of the doubt

this is a continuous process otherwise the critical mind has a field day and you will be pinned to the spot by your own opinions

appreciation of difference, not just similarity, is necessary for a more inclusive and compassionate world

the student's most powerful weapon is their love of hard work

ugliness is a refusal to listen

dance with spirit

the wisdom of the group
this is what we miss

In Ireland the song is more important than the singer. The singer’s job is to sing the song. So you never ever put yourself into the song, you put the song into the song. If you didn’t do that, as a singer, people would despise you.

attend class to receive instruction and correction

a chastening rather than pleasurable experience

become attractive to spirit

open to love

listening is not just a willingness to hear but a willingness to be transformed by what you hear

A rare and delicate mood, a feeling of wonderful light-heartedness had taken hold of me.

ego always lies

it never has access to truth

connected but not attached

inclined to gratitude

with fortitude & calm 

and without complaint

I'm less interested in skin than in fascia—connective tissue.

quietly & steadily persevering

never mind