Then home—I can walk it blindfold.
But we must notice—
we are designed for the moment.

the present
moment should
be enough

no need
for plans
or plaints

just enjoy
its sounds
and scent

hankering after happiness holds us back

timely meditations

Step forward (fire), step back (water), step left (wood), step right (metal) and central equilibrium (earth) are the five directions of Taiji. They effectively place you in a grid where every point is equally weighted – a world of objects and minimum energy. Turning, on the other hand, puts dantien at the centre of a spinning, swirling, spiralling world of energy. This is why turning in Taiji comes first, prior to movement. Turning establishes and maintains the world of energy within which you nimbly move as needs be.

It is the light falling continually from heaven which alone gives a tree the energy to send powerful roots deep into the earth. The tree is really rooted in the sky.

meditation: savouring the flow of time

moistened by a soul

the more comfortable the life the wider the carbon footprint

My 9 year old niece asked me:
—What are you doing when you meditate?
—Waiting for the mind to empty.
—Wow! My mind is just so full of rubbish!

Perfection is impersonal. Our personality is the part of us which belongs to error and sin. The whole effort of the mystic has always been to become such that there is no part left in his soul to say 'I'.

familiarity breeds contempt
this we're trying to eradicate

to understand why the rules are important one must break them

ego protects from conscience

In the human world take nothing personally.
In the natural world take everything personally.

I am agog for foam.

opinion is the flourishing of ego

mastery & mystery

the world of energy opens up when you're at your wit's end—when the mind stops functioning as it usually does

In the Summer here everyone complains of the heat & humidity and yet without exception everyone I work with is more relaxed, softer and more in the world of energy. And that's the real reason they complain. They're not used to it and they don't like it. They prefer rigid control to the magic of energy.

Attention consists of suspending our thought, leaving it detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object.

the respect & reverence the good student has for the teaching encourages that teaching to expose itself

what we think it is it's not

thinking we're not fully awake

In 1925 Chen Weiming moved to Shanghai and founded the Achieving Softness Boxing Society, and from only an announcement in a newspaper, people poured in to sign up and join.

Don’t worry. When it comes to internal styles of boxing, if you can breathe you can learn.

only with a calm attentive mind and a concentrated readiness of spirit can you adequately relax – let go of self and connect with the other

selfish = for the self
compassion = for the other

if as Yang Banhou says energy is the flow of intention then gravity is earth intending

It is not enough to love the work. You must love the work more than you love yourself. Such students are rare indeed – maybe things of the past.

Essence, energy, and spirit have a specific controller: heartfelt sincerity.

bliss: snacking together beneath an ancient olive

meditation: learning to bear the unbearable

whilst mind is thinking to itself energy is wasting away

if you're too much in control then spirit rarely finds a way in

Listen, my friend, this road is the heart opening

for the bigger picture to open up you must be ready to recede into the background

heart gives credit rather than take it

learn by heart
in fact do everything by heart

I often get asked why heartwork? where does heart come in? Well heart is everything really. Without heart, every technique, each principle is difficult. And conversely with heart everything we do is natural and relatively easy. Heart is the organ of connexion and it holds the key to all we do. Heart is the house of spirit.

It comes to this:
That the guerilla "I" should be booked
And bound.

the deeper you venture
the more total the work becomes

a mind always with the energy
until they're indistinguishable

meditation is not rest—it is work

when the mind is thinking (to itself) you are wasting golden time

In the Taiji Classics it says the mind leads the energy. This is true but it is no ordinary mind. It is a fiercely disciplined focused mind that takes years of meditation to cultivate.

We are all asleep in the outward man.

sinking is not just a bending of the knees and a lowering of the body

it is a torrent of energy down through the body and into the earth

beginner's mind: as though for the first time

correct posture is a machine that endlessly lifts the heart

Each of us begins a mediocre student. The word mediocre literally means "half way up the mountain." The task at hand is to practice and become a good student – one that falls in love with the work and the dao. However, given the difficulty of practice, you are far more likely to become a poor student (one that mocks the teaching) than a good student (one that adheres to the teaching).

Knowledge was viewed as delusion posing as truth. Prajnaparamita was interested in the mind before it knows—our “original face,” as Zen masters came to call it.

internal work is meant to bring the ego under control
unfortunately it can just as easily become an egotrip

practice is work we do to loosen the grip of the ego

we believe what we believe to keep the ego intact

Eventually student & teacher part ways. This is inevitable. Not because of differences but because it's natural. If the student has it in them they will take the work on. If not they were never really a student.

The only true thoughts are those which do not grasp their own meaning.

full of self
remain external

empty of self
become internal

meditation: sacrificing time