before we can move on we must pass through zero

The last thing emptiness is is empty. Full of potential, ambience, energy, atmosphere, plenitude. Just empty of me.

Do not conform to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

an active mind keeps the world out
an active heart welcomes the world in

always poised for action

taiji: a machine for reconnexion

The taiji teacher's job is twofold: 

• use their spirit to awaken your spirit 
• teach a form which you can use to maintain and develop that spirit.

'meaning' is the refuge the human mind seeks as a safe harbor within infinity

beware resting on your laurels

meditation: back to ground zero

meditation:   0 = ∞   (taking self out of the equation)

A good Christian doesn't just believe in Christ, she endeavours to become Christ.

Where are we really going? Always home.

we improve by facing & embracing difficulty

back to the source

the teacher offers correction (feedback) to prevent the work becoming an ego trip, towards which it will always tend

You are truly blessed to know you have no choice

Focused, disciplined, destined.
No options, no opinions.
No choosing sides.

All is energy and everything is in its rightful place

An endless, murmuring refrain.

meditation reveals the non-existence of finitude

letting go of self-obsession

the strength of a compassionate heart

We make a distinction between instruction and teaching. Instruction is the words, the technique, whereas teaching is the energy, the resonance, vibration, the spirit, and you can't get that from a book or a video.

Silence is not acoustic. It is a change of mind, a turning around.

the more teaching you receive, the less likely you are to practise it

yuánróng 圓融 perfect interfusion

you enter the spiritual on abandoning the tribe

3 MANTRA

relax the mind

open the heart

free the spirit

Give those who are gentle strength,
Give those who are strong a generous imagination.

a disciplined body bringing the mind to emptiness

there is always a bigger picture

meditation: penetrating the eggshell of the self

I HAVE NO CHOICE     I HAVE NO CHOICE

each word a heartbeat
each line a breath

repeat

All I know about method is that when I am not working I sometimes think I know something, but when I am working, it is quite clear that I know nothing.

spirit is like a sudden summer shower that relieves the muggy heaviness and leaves things fresh & glistening

instant with glee

 

rise above
or better still
slip beneath

Ignite the inner fire and it will take you places you've never been before. This is the rôle of the teacher: to lead/coax/cajole/trick you out of your comfort zone – your known – and into the unknown. We'd like spirit to become the teacher: working to rouse the spirit, then it will take us into the unknown. That's the transmission: a spark that wakes your spirit. Without it you'll always need the teacher.

Earth has no escape from heaven: flee she up or flee she down heaven still invades her, energizing her, fructifying her, whether for her weal or for her woe.

the bourgeoisie don't get angry, they get cross

like an alternating current

out of the head and into the legs

The lives we make for ourselves are not only unnatural, they are against nature – anti-nature. They actively destroy the natural.

listening
learns a deep
listening

the maturity you come to with age we call love of solitude

meditation: gravity washing you clean

real communication is not information transfer but spirit tingling spirit

From a friend and colleague in Madrid:

Yesterday I was watching a video by a Spanish Taiji teacher who was saying that as a fetus our brain is in the dantien of our mother and it's from there that we evolve our energy and that everything we do should emanate from that place in ourselves rather than from our head.

To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of the arts.

everything has spirit – a life in itself – so listen up and let it set yours free

the more awake the more you see

working correctly you don't acquire power : you come to nothing

A mind that encourages things to come out of themselves rather than a mind that puts things in their place. A spirit-mind. A heart-mind. A life-affirming mind.

The heavenly way is lofty and serene
The earthly way is solid and still
The human way is calm and tranquil

power doesn't only corrupt, it sends you crazy, unless you're very very careful

a good-for-nothing

a path of heartfelt connection : one step at a time

Belly-mind does not think. It cannot be anywhere but here & now. Largely with your metabolic processes, but also with your physical & energetic connexions. When fully awake then you become a sensitive resonant instrument. A message receiver. The two-sided body a pair of dowsing rods. The spine a pendulum.

I subdued joy in the higher orders and let it grow
wild in the lower

mind-in-dantien doesn't mean put your head-mind in the dantien but wake up the belly-mind

go with your gut

spring from a spirited heart

Root is an intimacy between you and the Earth. Legs open and bend, grabbing the ground. Earth reaches up to claim dantien.

there where
you lose yourself
brightness
takes your place

do you truly cherish otherness or do you secretly wish everyone was like you and yours?

force may solve short-term problems but in doing so creates far worse long-term ones

extension: wide range
intension: narrow range

Sinking is necessary not simply to develop a root but to activate the spirit, intensify the energy, and detach mind from upper body fancy stuff.

if you move
lightly
events will start
up from your feet

the good student hangs on the teaching like a lifeline

out of the blue

extend: stretch out
intend: stretch in or toward, focus

We have an upper body and a lower body, split at the sacrum. This becomes clear with practice. But we also have an upper mind and a lower mind. The upper mind (head mind) has become the thinking mind and associates with the upper body. The lower mind (belly mind) is the primordial gut-feeling mind associated with the lower body. Sinking in taiji (getting through the legs and into the ground) is difficult because it requires the grim subterranean seriousness of lower mind.

The more closely attention is given, the more difficult it becomes to fix something by name, or by relation to other things. It begins to move on into another being.

real knowledge is not something you've heard elsewhere but something you've found out for yourself

meditation: where what doesn't belong is allowed to fall away

progress at taiji is always a going-back-to-square-one

Being present at the revelation of internal teaching is only the first stage:

empty presence → open listening → diligent practise → total (un)becoming

free in the danger of the moment

on acquiring inner peace you realise how dreadful your usual thinking mind is

daoist practice is a process of erasure

the next level is always a quieter mind

There is a saying in the martial arts: A master is always in danger. Maybe a better translation would be: The master lives as though always in danger.

To change your reality you have to change your inner thoughts.

the thinking mind will only talk to itself when it knows there is no danger

wherever you are you are host so act appropriately – endlessly hospitable – joyfully taking on the burden of attending the other

wherever you are you are guest so act appropriately – endlessly grateful – leaving the place better than you found it

In taiji body and mind are together. When the body is still so is the mind. When the body moves it is because the mind too has moved. Body follows mind. Or is it mind following body?

If there's one thing I want you to learn from me it's to never stop delving.

the problem nowadays is the over-abundance of good teaching

when your studies start to get difficult or dull (which they inevitably will) then it's tempting to shop around for something easier

spiritual activity stems from an ache to be a better soul

when belly finds density
then heart finds destiny

Privilege turning over linear motion and two forces (felt as energies) come to the fore: the centrifugal and centripetal — an escaping and a homing.

Thought shattering itself against its own nothingness is the explosion of meditation.

practice: both acquired taste and inurement

proprioception of thought

civilisation divests the world of spirit/s

our work calls them back

incantatory