taichi heartwork

2008-07-19T16:34:00.000+01:00

Creativity

2008-07-19T09:10:00.003+01:00

Creativity is the ability to make things happen by first imagining them. Setting up a natural process – a way of working – that both deepens our engagement with reality and generates the means to expand and spread that engagement. Vertical and horizontal. Central equilibrium. The deeper the roots the larger the crown. One without the other is neither balanced nor true. If the imagination cannot be realised then there is imbalance – misalignment.

2008-07-19T02:39:00.000+01:00

2008-07-18T09:08:00.000+01:00

Natural growth occurs when you allow your spirit to take the risks your soul is calling for.

2008-07-17T08:14:00.000+01:00

The Bodhisattva Vow: spiritual success generates generosity.

Imagination

2008-07-16T07:42:00.001+01:00

Bereshit. In the beginning. First, in the Mind. The Divine Mind. The Imagination. The place you see yourself and create your Life, the Grand Plan. Destiny is your true potential and alignment comes when you see your destiny – when you stop resisting it – when you allow it into your imagination. And it must be imagined before it can be created, before you can actively create it, before it can create you – renew you. But the imagination is a subtle business, as open to corruption as any other part of us. It isn't a place of fantasy or fashion, but the place where the seeds of creation bear images of themselves. Messages from God.

Communication

2008-07-14T05:38:00.002+01:00

When we converse with gravity in Tai Chi we do so within a system in equilibrium. If I rise it is because I have thrust downwards and if I sink down it is because I have pulled the Earth up into me. Opening and Closing. Now the wonder of a living system is that when it opens it extends it's connexions: it grows (cornucopia), and when it closes it brings it's world into it's points of support (funnels – especially into the Earth): it allows (encourages) creativity – it breathes. But it also shows that when I open, my world must open too and by extension the whole world opens – I mirror my world and my world mirrors the world – there is no such thing as a closed system – everything is connected. Ultimately the only system is the Universe and the deep loving intelligence that supports the Universe (we all need (to) support and we all need (to) trust otherwise there is no existence) is God, and our personal freedom comes when we abandon ourselves to our place within this Universe (when we trust it): when we truly understand how much we are a tiny insignificant part of a gigantic living entity on the one hand and how on the other hand we have absolute responsibility because we are the Universe, directly supported by – communicating with – God, we mirror it, and in that mirroring we affect it. The only constant really is affection; and sympathy – resonance – communication.

2008-07-13T05:45:00.001+01:00

Babies are born pure energetic creatures, communicating perfectly, into a world of disconnexion, insensitivity and selfishness. In Tai Chi they say that those compelled to do the work are those who remember the time in the womb. If ever there was a Golden Age of humankind it was a time when babies were greeted at birth as the masters they are into a life that flows naturally from the knowledge they already contain.

2008-07-12T19:53:00.002+01:00

If I could make the world as pure
and strange as what I see
I'd put you in the mirror
I put in front of me.

Lou Reed

Sun Tai Chi

2008-07-12T15:11:00.003+01:00

Beautiful style and form. Try it with Christian Birch – an old friend & colleague.

2008-07-11T12:19:00.000+01:00

Close to the bone.

Fear

2008-07-08T09:18:00.001+01:00

The negative response to fear is the desire to be away from what is fearsome. The trouble with this response is that in indulging it the ego quickly learns that it has useful consequences: the world can be selfishly manipulated by meanly pulling away from it, especially the world of relationships (ultimately the only world there is). Sulking, moodiness, arrogance, neediness, etc, are all devices designed to empower the perpetrator by causing anxiety in others – sucking good energy without giving much in return, and they all originate in basic cowardice – turning away from fear and pain.

The positive response to fear is not just to face it but to dive into it with all one has. In this way fear dissolves and we realise it was only fear – a figment of our imagination. In certain situations this is easier to do than in others of course, but it always works. The most difficult situations are the ones we are unaware of – where the fear is so ingrained it is no longer registered. Each of us is riddled with such fears, but as long as we choose to choose courage instead of cowardice then life will point them out to us, one by one, little by little, slowly but surely.

Put another way. Fear is a refusal to communicate. Communication requires connexion followed by two-way energy flow – central equilibrium (a fearful situation is one out of equilibrium). If connexion is good then energy will naturally flow. So fear either disconnects or refuses to connect. Disconnexion means your world shrinks. Refusing an invitation to connect maintains the status quo. So a world free of fear is always growing.

2008-07-08T07:23:00.001+01:00

When love is gone there's always justice
And when justice is gone there's always force
And when force is gone there's always Mom
Hi Mom!

Laurie Anderson

2008-07-07T03:43:00.001+01:00

To gaze into the eyes of a newborn the first time they are opened.

2008-07-06T21:40:00.004+01:00

First photo ever taken of our baby girl, about 7 hours after birth.

Born at 0033 today (6 July 2008), exactly four weeks pre-term.

Same birthday as the Dalai Lama and George W Bush.

2008-07-05T02:01:00.000+01:00

Spirit

2008-07-03T06:31:00.004+01:00

When the principles of Tai Chi have been enumerated and elaborated by past great Masters, the one that generally precedes the others is spirit. Lightness of spirit. Or, as it has been practically expressed: head suspended, active crown. If the body is relaxed, the spine loose and vertically aligned, the head suspended as though from above, and the whole being conditioned by the practice of central equilibrium, then on sinking into a leg energy will naturally rise up that leg, up the spine and to the head-top from where it will exit the body and fly upwards. As this happens the eyes will shine with spirit. This is a totally natural process. It requires no effort, just alignment. If, for whatever reason, the body is not correctly aligned then spirit can still be generated, roused, utilized, often by an act of will or temper, but that spirit will always be tainted with aspects of ego – it wont be truly free, and it wont truly connect. If we impose we reject. If we shrink we neglect. The secret is to be simply present with central equilibrium: or as Buckminster Fuller beautifully put it: "The value of unity is two."

2008-07-02T23:26:00.000+01:00

Poverty

2008-07-02T04:47:00.002+01:00

In the same way that the affluence of the West requires and perpetuates Third World poverty, so the thinking mind requires and perpetuates the poverty of the body and soul. This expresses as tension, blocking the free and natural flow of energy, thereby making us unaware of most of our physical and energetic processes. The thinking mind literally sucks the life out of us so that most of us walk around disconnected and misaligned – asleep. If we are disconnected and misaligned then our souls cannot receive the nourishment they need and so cannot express – cannot shine through the fog of fear. This means that most of us are inauthentic, or as my teacher used to put it: Everyone is special but never in the way they think they are. To be alive we must allow ourselves to be a small part of a much larger system. Again, this is just central equilibrium. It means we must relax, connect and most importantly – give.

2008-07-01T15:23:00.000+01:00

2008-06-30T05:33:00.001+01:00


boundary lines
they are waiting for a word
as they lean against it
it is of a level
they become straighter and
whiter
as they go down

David Antin

2008-06-29T15:07:00.000+01:00

Photo: Rita Harris

2008-06-27T21:08:00.000+01:00

Thought is constantly creating problems . . . and then trying to solve them. But as it tries to solve them it makes it worse because it doesn’t notice that it's creating them, and the more it thinks, the more problems it creates.

David Bohm

2008-06-26T23:14:00.000+01:00

2008-06-26T05:21:00.003+01:00

When students are ready and willing to move (progress) then the techniques to facilitate such movement reveal (invent) themselves.