always finish what was started and always clean up afterwards

the work softly slits the fabric of one's reality

making the soul visible

most of what passes for sensitivity is actually the selection process of the ego – an exercise in selfishness

real sensitivity is listening to/for the other – an exercise in forgetting self

in this game there is no final word

beauty infiltrates everywhere

ego barricades itself in with tension

in an ache
   of stillness

a still mind naturally gathers at dantien

meditation: our lifelong journey into silence

there's always something to enjoy and there's always something to grumble about

the choice is yours

the noisy noisome mind (talking to oneself rather than listening) is an insult to nature and the mark of a coward

but there are still flowers

meditation reveals just how terrifying it is to be in the world with no mind to stem the bleeding

exiled from oneself

the poor student rolls their eyes at the truth
and if they don't then it isn't the truth

beginner's mind is above all open – it hasn't yet closed around what it knows because it doesn't yet know

the quest that commits a subject to interrogate their past

each of us a bundle of habits destined to be repeated over and over unless we do something radical about it

depth – the hidden element

silent knowledge: a knowing that has nothing to do with information or language

Taiji has a spiritual element. If you do it as a service, a duty, without considering what's in it for you, then slowly it will cleanse your karma.

It is an invitation to a risky wager: to imagine what could break one out of prefabricated scenarios, scenarios that are products of a past that is still present, in order to invent new ones, more living and more open.

open-ended

everything geared toward the work
everything a point of practice

there's no one to blame but your self

this insight changes everything

please make sure your taiji doesn't become another bourgeois pursuit

The dark infinity of unreducible chaos lies at the border of the established order.

The teacher's job is not to reassure or encourage but to unsettle you to your core. Your job is then to go home and reconstruct yourself through the work.

the good student always stands corrected

What I call spirit the Ancient Greeks (or Plato at least) called psyche – usually translated as soul. Psyche also meant butterfly, which is beautifully apt.

Mind, like everything else, has a yin and a yang aspect. This becomes apparent when it is at peace. Then its heavy concentrated aspect anchors in dantien (its natural home) whilst its light playful aspect rises and fills the heart. Head doesn't come into it.

we are mostly unexplored hinterland and our consciousness is a spot of light in a great but living darkness

it's not what you study that matters
it's how good a student you become

the strongest drug is love

what holds us back is what we hold onto

when you really relax you let go the world and a new one takes its place – the world of the imagination – of spirit

become a servant of life
serving with delight and with reverence

without the dance of spirit, stillness threatens to become sullen or morose

listening without straining to hear

practise in such a way that the practice changes you

When the spine is vertical our posture tends to direct energy, which should naturally pool in the dantien, up into the chest and head. This is because:
1. the legs are hard and forceful (straightening) rather than soft and energetic (bending);
2. the lumbar spine is lordotic allowing the tail to project backwards rather than downwards;
3. the belly area is flabby, slack and weak, offering little support to the lower back.

spontaneity is the essence of soul

happy because you're living a meaningful life

let practice be a time of no distraction

poetry is the excess of language
spirit the excess of being

practice is an acquired taste
it requires maturity

once acquired
(relaxed into it)
we crave it

we are baroquely searching for a new rhythm

meditation: content to dwell in the cave of the body and watch the world pass by

always coming back to the breath

ego is the imaginary friend of the lonely only child
how sad!

like a lone wolf, tail permanently between its legs, not because it's feeling sorry for itself but because it's on a mission and cannot afford to be distracted

Look around: an imaginary flower is blooming.

mind is not a site of thinking
rather body is a site of mind

meditation: practising breathing

being open to the energy of things is what we call softness

ego is a vulgar stand-in for personal power – the power of unadorned presence

a culture where respect is lacking and indiscretion prevails

the subtle smile of the buddha indicates a relaxing jaw

meditation: reminding ourselves what it means to be human

a connoisseur of silence

there are two types of people: those that practice and those that don't

I only have time for the former

The rules are not immutable, and there is no rule which forces us to comply with the rules.

prayer: conversing with god
isn't that better than talking to yourself?

falling in love is an ongoing process

meditation: enjoying the frisson of time passing

taiji is moving meditation, but it would be a lot better if it were prayer in motion – an expression of love of god through movement

Do what you're doing.

when we withdrew from nature we got lonely so we developed an ego to keep us company

meditation: allowing the ecosystem of mind to equilibrate

when mind lets go of itself (its self), its energy empties into the body – a process we call relaxation

the more we relax, the harder the legs must work

this the paradox we struggle with in taiji

the intimate texture of being is breathing: poetical rhythm

privilege doesn't make for better people

not an observation but a law

enjoy the miracle of the moment
this how we give back to the moment

put (the) connexion first

Our two main maladies nowadays are overactive minds and underactive bodies. Minds are tense and anxious, and bodies lack tone, sensitivity and responsiveness. Minds can't listen and bodies can't return energy: the two components of effective communication.

We are gawks
lusting
after wild orchids

don't sit to shit
squat

we have become digital slaves

softness gives spirit a chance

Using force implies a subject/object dichotomy – I am distinct from the thing I force myself upon. Using energy is only possible when I see no distinction – only the continuum we both belong to.

In some respects, I am always writing about love.

listening implies you don't already know
when you know there is no need to listen

listening and knowing are incommensurable

poetry is the expression of spirit by people with soul

meditation: sitting in the silence until it silences you

when the student wakes up to spirit (the sparkle in things) she develops soul

I compose in order to save my soul.

the bourgeoisie love to dabble
eternal dilettantes

meditation: sitting around doing nothing

teach the head to let go the mind

if the work isn't making you a better person then you're wasting your time (how define better?)

let us take a minute of silence to open our hearts to the mystery of the divine indwelling within us

the critical mind, frightened of being affected, is already made up – sees only what it can scorn

don't use force
use a smile

meditation: patiently letting the dust settle

The good student integrates their life around the Dao. No let up. No holidays. Everything simple. Even illness and injury are accepted as necessary lessons along the way. Purgings.

The soul no longer has wings.

only a peaceful mind can dwell in the heart

all spirit is holy

a relaxed mind does not think
it has visions – insights

Thinking draws a tightened mind up into the head. It is our biggest perversion. When thinking abates then mind relaxes, descends and infuses the whole body – mind adopts the physical form. In this sense mind is just energy – energy organised about a life.

the silent climate of prayer

when the mind is not at peace then you have no access to your truth or your power

the main fault of the good student is overwork
something other students don't need to worry about

both body and mind are natural sites of energy

against this is the inner control freak – the unnatural ego

after a while things inevitably begin to get on your nerves

so we relax into the continuum that contains and surrounds things rather than focusing on the things themselves

humility is the forgetfulness of self

taiji is a tool for investigating what it means to be a natural human being

belief in god is an exercise in humility

if you think you have time to think then you have lost the moment

we spend a life resisting natural movement (energy) and instituting a controlled stillness (force)

The root of prayer is interior silence.

mindfulness is not only bringing an attentive mind to bear on experience but allowing the intensity of experience to awaken and tonify the mind

let the realness of experience stun the mind into silence

meditation: enjoying life in its essence

softness is knowing that you cannot know

The struggle itself is inherently relentless, but it means you are actively participating in loss.

we all assume that the world we inhabit is the real world

taiji is not about knowing or doing but about connecting

the outer elder still contains the inner child

without softness your taiji cannot correct itself

but there is, in my view, no grandeur except in gentleness

a rubbery resilient deep-down strength that manifests as a glow

helping people humbles

the good student has one desire: to be in the world softly

ego is a costume we don for the world – a habit – a cocoon we spin around ourselves that weighs heavy on the soul

spiritual transformation aims to denude and emerge, fresh and glistening and terrified, into the real

the frozen time of trauma

if you find it impossible to sit still and sink into inner silence then you are either ignorant or depressed

soft people are a breed apart

meditation: a waiting game with the mind

the bourgeoisie consume far more than their fair share

Gentleness invents an expanded present.

a conscientious application to the work at hand

meditation: an exercise in patience

a relaxation ready for action

adopt habits that take you out of the ordinary and into the extraordinary, out of solidity and into fluidity, out of the material and into energy, out of the profane and into the spiritual

We are gawks
lusting
after wild orchids

The one that shouts loudest is the one that gets heard. This is why it is so important to actively listen rather than merely hear.

without a ground of inner silence we inevitably bully our way through life

meditation: unpealing consciousness – letting things, sensations, words evaporate

relax through the fearful tension to a ground of no-tension then acquire the correct tension – a lively active tension that disappears as quickly as it appears

All genuine learning is active, not passive. It involves the use of the mind, not just the memory. It is a process of discovery, in which the student is the main agent, not the teacher.

morality is a cheap stand-in for conscience

for those with no inner silence

reality is what's there before the world, before the word

mind relaxes, expands, empties into spaciousness – pre-consciousness

let go the world:
as you know it
as you make it
as you like it

all of existence turns on the word abide

meditation isn't something you do but something that happens to you when you let go

discreet but not discrete

meditation isn't something you do
it's something that happens

the subjectification of self and the objectification of world (not-self) insults, hurts and harms reality

Devotion is a nonconceptual intimacy of mind with itself.

When Taiji teachers get together, what do they discuss?

The dearth of good students.

mind is a vise holding the world the way it's used to

a forceful personality resists reality and maintains a world

the only hope for softness is catastrophe – a final straw

a matter of burdensome truths