“Giving away your Qi to the past”…..

I’m a subscriber to a newsletter by Francesco Garripoli, a well known Qigong teacher. This month’s newsletter was especially interesting to me, and I’d like to share it with all of you….

 

>> Quote:

 

The Chinese Masters of ancient times talked about "giving your Qi away to the past"… a curious concept. How many times do you feel depleted from worrying about what has happened – yesterday, last year, in your youth… The past is an illusion, one we create with the energy that we give to it. This is a hard one to "hear" if you are attached in anyway to your identity around things that have happened to you. We give these experiences – good or bad – a lot of Qi; we keep them alive this way… and by keeping them charged, they have a way of draining us, whether with worry, guilt, fear, grief… whatever.

Starting a new year as we are doing right now affords us a fabulous opportunity to regain our Qi reserve. A good exercise is to look at all the ways that you "give your Qi away to the past" and simply draw it back in. Be as visual and creative as you can be – that will secure the energetic of this work.

You can only change the past by living fully in the present.

The illusory nature of the past is such because we keep it animated through our emotions… translate those emotions into their empowered state. Turn "fear" into "acceptance", "anger" into "discernment". This is the alchemy that we are fully capable of engaging in. Once fully immersed in this moment, in your presence, you will have drawn all that Qi seeping out into the past back into your present state of awareness. In so doing, you will heal the past and give yourself a recharge.
This is such an important part of Qigong work… calling up our Qi reserves and healing old wounds (physical and energetic) in the process.

The illusory nature of the past is such because we keep it animated through our emotions… translate those emotions into their empowered state….

These "reserves" aren’t necessarily stored in your body anywhere (although that is a useful educational tool at the early stages of learning these things…) Consider rather that the Qi reserve you are calling upon is the infinite resource of Qi that is everywhere around, in and through you… equally present in every cubic milliliter… As you move into your presence – even for a few seconds of claity – you will learn how you engage and integrate your physical/mental/emotional being with this Qi resource… This is the key to true healing… the key to true living…

So as we enter into the calendar year of 2007, passing through this past and powerful Winter Solstice and enter into the Chinese Year of the Boar (Pig) next month, let’s work together to find our presence… and live as much of our day from that place. This is the greatest gift we can give ourselves and those around us.

In that presence you will learn more about what you need to be doing in your life, how you can serve those around you, how you can serve your community, how you can truly live in abundance and in so doing, share this with those seeking to learn.

I pray for you, for your journey, for your healing and empowerment. How fortunate we are to be alive, to be free. May we remember that this life is much more of a "dream" than a "machine"… the energetic principles that we are governed by resemble a fluid and malleable dream much more than they do a linear and rigid machine.

Trust in this… trust in your power to create the world you live… there are no limits to your ability to heal, to your ability to live the world you envision.

Come from a place of presence, a place of love and you will set yourself on this path… and each time you do, you will inspire others to do the same. This is how we create our world, and change it for the better.

>>Unquote       http://www.kahunavalley.org  Francesco Garripoli’s site

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Thanks, Laoshi Garripoli, for a wonderful message that we may learn from….

Is this kid cute, or what??

I just had to post this pic. This little guy can’t be more than 4 or 5 years old. Little Shaolin Tiger!

(click the pic for a slightly larger version)

 

 

Who is your teacher?

Most of uf us might answer this question with "My teacher is Sensei so-and-so", or "My Sifu is Mr./Ms. so-and-so".  But, really, do you have only "one" teacher?

 

I guess the question should be: "How many teachers do you have?" Personally, I have hundreds…..

 

Okay, before you start harping about how I sound like I’m bragging about the "hundreds" of arts I’ve studied, let me tell you a story….

 

When I was in my late teens and early 20’s, I was a member of the Seattle Guardian Angels (the civilian patrol group). We were required to keep a regular schedule of training in not only patrol techniques, guidelines regarding citizen’s arrest, and situation de-escalation, but also martial arts (mainly for fitness, but also for non-violent controlling techniques). One evening, our chapter attended a martial arts seminar. One of our members was a young man named "Michael". He had Cerebral Palsy, was wheelchair bound, and communicated by a keyboard that not only displayed text but "talked" as well. (pretty high-tech for the late 80’s!).  He was able to move one arm just enough to reach a bit and grab something, but he mainly used that arm to operate the joystick to control his motorized wheelchair. Although he did not talk (he vocalized alot with grunts as he tried to form words), Michael was a wonderful soul…he always had a smile when he came to patrol.

"Among any three people walking, there must be my teacher" -Confucius

At this martial arts seminar, the instructor asked us to find a practice partner. As I looked around for a partner, I noticed that people outside of our Guardian Angel group took one look at Michael and immediately looked elsewhere to find a training partner. I almost cried at the sight. Some of the people even avoided eye contact with Michael in order to not be "noticed" by Michael as a potential training partner. I was irritated by the behavior of these "martial artists".  One man asked me to be his partner, but I mumbled "Sorry, I already have one"…..

 

I walked over to Michael, and I said "Ya know…in the 6 months you’ve been in the Angels, I never got a chance to work out with you….wanna partner up with me??" Michael smiled and tried to vocalize as he typed on his keyboard "You bet!"

 

The instructor taught a basic Chin-Na maneuver, and I found that Michael had to modify his technique due to the fact that his motorized wheelchair did not have 2 feet like the rest of us. As a grabbed for him, he deftly swung that wheelchair back and arced around…the footrests of this wheelchair slamming me right in the shins. The pain was instant, hot, and bad enough to make me bend over with tears welling up in my eyes. I then felt a strong hand grab a handful of my long hair and I found my head coming to his armrest REALLY fast.

 

Needless to say, I slammed into the armrest pretty hard. You know how in cartoons, when a cartoon characters gets hit in the head and there are birds whistling and starts flying around the character’s head?…….it really happens, you know!  Michael guffawed. He was having a really good time, bouncing me around and slamming into my shins. That wheelchair was pretty quick!

 

We learned several techniques that day, and with each technique, I respected the steel of a wheelchair more and more.  There were many times where we were asked to find another training partner, and each time no one would choose to work with Michael. I had the honor of working with him the whole time. After the seminar, we shook hands with the other workshop attendees, saying "thanks for working with me". As I shook each person’s hand after they shook Michael’s, I thought to myself "How dare you say to Michael ‘thanks for working with me’ when you wouldn’t even acknowledge him!" I was pretty perturbed at everyone’s "two faced, plastic" behavior.

 

Later, as we returned to the GA headquarters, Michael motioned me to read his keyboard. It said "Thanks for working with me!" I answered "I had a great time! But, I was kind of pissed off about…" Michael loudly moan-grunted, motioning me to stop. He typed……and the keyboard said "why be pissed at other’s not learning? They learned, yes. Their own thing. I learned alot from you today, Rusty". 

 

…."And I, from you, Mike"

 

There’s a saying by Confucius "Among any three people walking, there must be my teacher". Michael taught me more than just Chin Na that day. He taught me that "adversity" is a relative term. What you or I might thing is a "bad day" becasue things arent’ going well for us, would be considered a good day for Michael…..here we are, with two arms, two legs and the ability to speak,…and Michael is in a wheelchair, having people look down on him each day. What would be a bad day for Michael, would most likely drive most of us to slashing ourselves. I learned that Michael’s "weakness" was indeed his strength. He can lull people into a false sense of confidence at being able to "beat the crippled guy"….and WHAM!…your shins are slammed hard. Michael’s hand was indeed strong when it grabbed my hair….I had no choice but to meet his armrest up close and personal. He taught me to never underestimate the opponent, and to never be lulled into a false sense of victory. He taught me to try and bring ‘understanding’ into the picture before "anger".

 

Since that day, it allowed me to realized that anyone is my teacher.  Does everyone I learn from need to be a martial artist? No, absolutely not. To this day, I make an effort to learn and absorb the knowledge and expertise of anyone that I come in contact with. To be able to open oneself to learning from absolutely anybody…..that, is one of the things that puts the word "art" next to "martial".

 

 

One of my favorite stories…

I heard this fable many times before, and a fellow martial artist sent this to and reminded me of it…..

 

— An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole which she carried across her neck.One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water. At the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full. For a full two years this went on daily, with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water.

Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and
miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do. After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way
back to your house."

The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side?" "That’s because I have always known about your flaw, so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while we walk back, you water them." "For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."

Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it’s the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You’ve just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them. —

 

Thanks to Ron from http://www.traditionalfilipinoweapons.com for making my day by reminding me of this wonderful story! 

Tasting the tea…

I finally watched Jet Li’s "Fearless", and there was a nice dialogue between Jet Li’s character and Japanese warrior….it was good to hear and see this "philosophy" on film. Jet Li’s character’s lines are in italic…..

– Mr. Huo, according to what you say, you really don’t know the nature of
tea.

It’s not that I don’t know. I don’t really want to know because I don’t care
about evaluating teas. Tea is tea.

-But each tea has its own character and properties…..

What is the purpose of grading? These many teas are grown in nature, all of
them.Is there a discernable difference?

-Yes, once you learn this, you can tell the difference between the teas.

What you say may be right, but the way I see it is, the tea doesn’t judge
itself. It’s people that judge its grading. Different people choose
different things. As for me, as far as I’m concerned, I just don’t want to
make any choice.

-Oh? Is that so?

Drinking tea is a mood, really. If you are in a good mood, the grade of tea
doesn’t matter. 

I’ve never looked at it like that. I understand that there are many wush
fighting sytles. Are you saying no style is greater than another? 

That’s what I’m saying.

-If that’s true, I want to ask you, if wushu does not differ in any way, why
then do we fight each other?

I believe for all the styles of wushu, there is no single one that is
superior. All of those who practice different sytles of wushu, they would
naturally have different level of skill. Through competition, we can
discover ourselves.

 

Great quote, on self improvement…

One of my friends on MySpace, posted this quote:

 

"To enter one’s own self, it is necessary to go armed to the teeth."  –Paul Valery, Quelques Pensees de Monsieur Teste

 

 

So true……

 

I’ve lost many battles when trying to "enter myself". I guess that I wasn’t "armed heavily enough" at those times.

 

Let’s see….got my swords, daggers….got my shield, got my bracers, my armor, my bow and arrows, oh…and the modified visor for my helm….maybe I should bring that rifle too. Hmmmm.

 

Alright, I’m set! I’m going in! You all cover me, now!

Heiho, Seme, Peng, and Trains….

 

 

"Heiho" roughly translates to "strategy". In Iaido class today, Irey-Sensei reminded us of one of the main strategies of Eishin Ryu…."Not being concerned about winning, but rather concentrating on not losing".   "Winning" and "not losing" might sound like the same thing, but as we were reminded today, they are totally different things. In training, we try to maintain a sense of forward "pressure" when doing kata….with the idea being that your will and technique offers no opening for the enemy to attack, and even if they do manage to attack, they will "defeat themselves" due to your "pressure".

 

In Iai, we call this sense of pressure, "Seme". In Taijiquan, we call a similar concept, "Peng". It is not only a physical sense of "forward" or "pushing….it includes the proper mindset of "push ahead" also. I tend to look at "Seme" and "Peng" as more of a sense and mindset of "continuous expansion"….not only forward, but in all directions. I believe that it is possible to keep Seme or Peng even in defense. In Taiji, we say that "Attack and defense are the same", as long as we understand "peng".

 

In combat, keeping Seme or breaking Seme means either victory or a sword in your gut. In Taiji, keeping Peng or breaking Peng means either uprooting your opponent’s structure or allowing yours to collapse. "Not losing" means we would need to keep our mindset whether we attack or yield. It means maintaining the "aggressive" nature even while the posture may look "passive". One of my Kung Fu teachers used to say "You must attack like a train….A train can be dangerous going forward OR backward. Even as the train comes to a stop, the energy of the cars following the lead car still comes forward".

 

I’m one of those people that likes to understand esoteric terms like this on a combat level, but I also like to try to implement these concepts to daily life.

 

Lately, I’ve felt that I’ve been moving like a bat out of hell to run through the steps needed to get my goals. When things haven’t gone quite the way I’ve intended, I allowed the setbacks to affect how I move ahead. I’ve been so intent on "winning" that I lost sight of just doing what I know, regardless of setbacks. In a way, I realize now that I’m still trying to hold onto my comfort zones even with my goals in sight. I’ve concentrated on being so "defensive", that I haven’t committed totally to the "attack", in a way.

 

Now, I know this talk about "attack" and "pressure" may seem completely different than my blog title "Don’t fight the Tao".  Shouldn’t we just go with the flow like the Tao, or should we force ourselves through it?  Well, Seme or Peng is not "forcing"….it is simply "holding your intent, and "holding your space" as you go forth in the flow.

 

The following blog excerpt really touched home for me….

 

-Quote-

"If you frequently set goals or put out intentions and then watch them die on the vine, it’s probably because you aren’t embracing the identity shift required to get there.  You may know what needs to be done intellectually, but you haven’t reached the point of inspired action because you’re sticking to your comfort zone instead of walking away from it."

-Unquote             http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/

 

 

I know now, that I must keep a sense of Seme, if I want to "embrace this identity shift". Do I want to become a completely different person? No, I will always be Me in this particular time in this body, but I need to keep Seme and Peng in order to be able to walk away from my comfort zone and go forth…….my identity right now, is all about "winning", but I don’t want want to get hit, so my defense is strong but my attacks are not effective because I still want to keep protected while I attack.  Once I break out of my comfort zones, I know I will make a difference in my goals and dreams. I guess, I just need to concentrate on "not losing",….hopefully, it will allow me to become a "Warrior".

Another interesting article

An interesting article on "4 stages of martial movement"….

 

http://www.martialdevelopment.com/blog/the-four-stages-of-effective-martial-arts-training/

 

The 4 stages can be very helpful in combination with "3 phases" of skill improvement that we teach at Yin Yang Arts Center and Seattle Wushu Center.

 

"Mechanical" or "Primitive" phase: The phase at which one is just learning a particular skill and beginning to develop their sense of center, balance, and coordination for the skill. The "art" of the martial art is at its infancy stage, much like learning the A-B-C’s.

 

"Technical" phase:  The student has grasped a basic understanding of the fundamentals of the art, and is working at detailing technique, posture, coordination, and academic aspects of the art. The student is "striving to get it". This phase is usually where we spend a lot of our training time.

 

"Spontaneous" phase:  At this this phase, one no longer has to think about technique, coordination, etc. Attack and defense are relative, instead of separate aspects of combat. The student "IS the art".

 

Thanks Chris, for another great article to link to!