長之道

The Dao of Lengthening

The period of three months of summer are called luxuriant flowering.
The chi of Heaven and Earth mingle.
The ten thousand things bloom and bear fruit.
At dark to bed, early to rise.  Do not tire of the sun.
Keep that which is of the heart/mind from anger.
Allow the finest things to flower fully.  Allow the chi to leak (sweat).
Act as though you love the outside.
This is the summer compliance of chi
(and) the cultivation of the Dao of lengthening.
To oppose these principles injures the heart.
(Consequently) Autumn will bring intermittent fevers
(and) there will be little to offer one's gathering,
and the Winter solstice will bring grave disease.
(Nei Jing Chapter 2)

Pandemic woes do not just affect people with eroding personal economies, but those who are poor, uninsured and already chronically ill. As Jane Brody recently wrote in the New York Times, fear of a new flue pandemic is eroding into panic, with the media fueling that fear.

Her article raises an interesting issue: why is this threat overwhelming us and diverting our attention so strongly from the other threats of chronic illness “that threaten millions of lives.”

"The Slippery Slope from Fear to Panic"

Last weekend Energy Arts participated in the NYC Yoga Journal Conference and I was surprised by the number of yoga students that vocalized how much tension they had in their lives and were actively seeking out something to lessen it.  Whether or not their current yoga practice is addressing that issue for them is unknown, but what we students and instructors at Energy Arts know is that Taoist practices, including Longevity Breathing yoga, do offer a direct way to deal with the tension in your life.  

My first experience with yoga was Ashtanga Yoga, a system of  yoga that was brought into the modern world by Sri T. Krishnamacharya and more recently made popular by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois.    The one thing from years of practicing Ashtanga that has stayed with me is the idea of "just practice!".  Pattabhi is always quoted with "Do your practice and all is coming" and "99 percent practice, one percent theory".   I always loved hearing that.  Keep things simple by not over-analyzing and over-intellectualizing the experience.  Just show up (to your whatever it is that you do) and practice.  The learning, benefits, questions, answers, knowledge, everything else, will unfold over time.   But we have to do the actual work of consistently practicing first.

                                             ~WOBBLING~

When my children were young (for now behold, they are becoming old...for I am a Grandpa some 12 times over) but once when they were young they had a "Weeble Play House!" This Playhouse even had a Song : "Weebles Wobble, but they don't fall down!"Unlike most people, Weebles were well-rounded; so, when they got knocked-down, they righted themselves ...perhaps they Wobbled, but they never fell down!

This would be nice if it pertained to people, would it not.

My Zen Priest Brother shares with me that Old Zen Saying : "When sitting, just  sit. 

                                                                                    When standing, just stand. 

                                                                                    Above all, don’t wobble!

Someone once asked Helen Keller “What could be worse than being Blind?” Her response was “Having no vision!”

The old adage contains at least some truth: “There are none so blind than those who will not see”.

Hakuin Zenji (1689-1769) the Buddhist Zen Master of the Rinzai School, (who is credited with saving Zen) asks a question: “What is true Meditation? It is to make everything: coughing, swallowing, waving the arms, motion, stillness, words, action, the evil and the good, prosperity and shame, gain and loss, right and wrong into one single Koan.”