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