Routine : The dictionary defines “Routine” as “Customary or regular course of procedure; habitual, rote.”

As of late, I find myself paying more attention to the so-called ‘small things’ in life, and I also find I need to carefully guard my mind! It has also struck me how strongly “Routines define us” and how sometimes, departures from those routines can and do define us just as strongly!

My life is deeply entrenched in the Spiritual…not the religious, mind you, for I do not believe the God, (The Creative and Sustaining Power of the Universe) wishes for us to worship Him /Her ‘religiously'; but that that relationship should be fresh, alive, vital and real !

My daily Routine is to me nothing out of the ordinary, but a few have asked if anything has changed since my diagnosis with Multiple Myeloma.

Well let me see. As for the diagnosis, Dr. Heinrich, Head of the Department of Oncology at the Portland VA Hospiral said just last week “to keep on doing whatever it is I am doing, as there is nothing to ‘treat’ at this time!(We do have a little problem with my Thyroid, but they are checking that out as I write.)

So, I awake, most hopefully before my wife departs for work, touching base and touching hearts. (6:00 am) I quickly dress in my T-shirt and lounge pants, brush my teeth, and we converse over coffee, which I use to open my Lung etc. (Yeah, and it tastes good too) helping me ease into my day. As the Ancient Taoist Sage has said, “in the morning we move from stillness into activity, (Jing to Dong), and in the evening we move from activity to stillness (or Dong into Jing), so, no coffee after dinner…

When my wife leaves, I go back upstairs to “Attend the Altar” upon which one will find Rocks from Alex and his friends, gifts to me on their many trips up here; Stones from various people (and even myself), pictures, bracelets, plastic Army men, carvings etc, and a list of Healing Requests… all representing people across my experience, and a Crystal Bowl and a Hand-Made Chalice, filled with water.. I pour-out this water each morning, indicative of a ‘poured-out life’, filled daily with fresh water. Then I stand in Meditation, stoking this feeling in my heart , focusing on a quality, entreating the Universe with no hidden motives, transcending doubt and standing in a sweet field, with a sweet communion, even as I feel my supplications.

I must pause here and admit to a “reshaping of my heart”, and once again feeling life, clarity and a sense of real completeness!

As I stand before my Altar I feel freedom, openness and a wholeness of hearts broken. I see the healthy bodies of those once sick / injured; vitality of those whose bodies and dreams were broken, with smiles upon the faces of those once dashed…and I hear laughter…and I stand there ‘Thankful’; thankful that the best is always held for last, when we can most appreciate it!

From here, my so-called ‘ritual’ is to assume the “Prayer Posture”, standing with my hands  at my Heart Chakra, and remaining there as I become One…releasing all stress and tension, self-defeating and negative self-talk, and any fretful thoughts I might have been entertaining in each / any moment, and I am filled with deep gratitude!

I now I focus on my Breath, and with my First Out-breath, I release everything that holds my Lungs to my body, and any stress or tension. With my Second Out-breath I release everything that holds my Heart to my body, and all tension and stress; and with my Third Out-breath I focus on releasing everything that holds my Brain (and ultimately my Mind) to my body, and also releasing all stress and tension.

From here, this posture of Body/Mind/and Spirit, I perform “Taoist Bone Marrow Cleansing," ending with a drenching and filling of each and every bone of my body with pure, life-giving Chi.

I then pause in Thanks, with a bowed-heart, visualizing my bones Cancer-free and experiencing my entire body whole and disease-free. You see, “the blue-print I hold in my minds-eye, that I instruct my body to follow, is a picture of a Strong – Vital – Healthy body, free of disease (dis-ease).” I can see it and I can actually feel it!

Next I go downstairs to my Computer and check for any important E-mails and Healing Team Requests for our “Taoist Water School Healing Team”*, sending-out soonest, any requests for Healing to our over 100 Healing Team members, World-wide !

Once that is done, I sit in my over-sized recliner chair, insert my ear-buds and tune my IPOD to Healing Music, as I perform the “Ancient Taoist Bone Breathing” practice.

Upon completion , I rise and perform “TIGER BONES”, an Asian practice of slapping the arms, legs, torso, feet and head, with INTENTION, focusing deeply into the very marrow and center of the Bones, in order to elicit a “Piezoelectric” Charge / effect to the very center of my bones / marrow, thus strengthening them and affecting said organs . **

After this, and a quick drink of water (Liquid Love), I either perform “Shaking Leaf Chi Gung” or “Dragon & Tiger” Chi Gung (and sometimes both if time and energy permit), and any of the other Chi Gungs; perhaps “Heaven & Earth”, or “Gods Playing in the Clouds” etc., and maybe top-it-off with some Tai Chi Chuan. I then Stand, allowing the various parts of my self to catch-up ...

I then return to my computer and tend to incoming E-mails, posting some writings, and perhaps make a few calls, eat , Meds, and then my shower ritual, then off to teach or a bike ride.

Rituals…meaning…ways of defining or perhaps uncovering …as again it strikes me how strongly ‘routines’ define / shape us, as I once again realize “we are more what we do than what we say!"

To me / For me, worship is a daily act of humbling ourselves before our God, and offering a pure heart to the world…

Spirituality is something that has become so very necessary in these troubled times; and perhaps the Ancient Taoist Sage is right when he offers one definition of being Spiritual to mean: “ Not taking things for granted”…but living on purpose !

And Yours, what is your Ritual …do you know?

Blessings

Fred

* The "Taoist Water School Healing Team", is a group, over one-hundred strong, who simply send Healing and Energy and whatever they are led to send to any and all who request it.

Simply send a Healing Request, with name, Location and a brief Bio, and of course the needs, be they medical or what-have-you, of the person who wishes to be helped / Held-up, to me, Fred Gordon, AT : This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it , and we will send on your Request to the majority of the Healing Team.

** PIZEOELECTRIC Effect / Charge : “Chi Gung is an effective way of harmonizing the human energy field with higher force fields, thereby recharging the microcosmic human energy system with the power of the macrocosmic fields of the Universe. Western Science calls one of these effects the “PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT”, referring to a unique property possessed by the Bones and all crystalline structures, whereby any sort of vibratory or wave energy applied to a crystal structure is transformed into an electromagnetic pulse. ( these structures also include connective tissue and electrolytes in certain body fluids as well as Bones.) This is also the mechanism by which Mantra , Music and various Scared Sounds , (OM, GOD, HUNGG etc,) and Syllables may be used to balance and heal the body, as in the “Six Taoist Healing Sounds”, the Five Tibetan Psycho-Spiritual Sounds, Etc , as these currents of wave energy are conducted through the bones to various Organs and Glands, (depending on the frequency / sound / vibration) , to clear and or to heal, and energize !

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