The Tai Chi Adventure Continues

Tonight marks the third night this week that I’ve spent at least an hour practicing Tai Chi. During each evening, I practiced the 108 Movement Form (Yang Family Long Form) 3 times without a break. Since each repetition of the form is about 20 minutes, an hour of practice is guaranteed.

With all of this regular practice, the rust is starting to burn off: strength is returning to the legs, the motion is growing steadily more fluid, the connection between the upper and lower body has improved greatly. The connections within the body have grown so much more intricate that I can now feel the connection from the hands, all the way down to the feet and even the very Earth below. After the conclusion of Tai Chi tonight, I still had enough strength to do a few repetitions of my favorite Choy Li Fut form Siu Moi Fah.

As this adventure continues, I’m becoming ever more certain that Tai Chi is an essential element of the path of self realization. Indeed there are few arts capable of producing the inexhaustible marvels enjoyed by practitioners of Tai Chi Chuan. read full article »

Mercy Street

by Peter Gabriel

looking down on empty streets, all she can see
are the dreams all made solid
are the dreams all made real

all of the buildings, all of those cars
were once just a dream
in somebody’s head

she pictures the broken glass, she pictures the steam
she pictures a soul
with no leak at the seam

let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness
let’s take the boat out
wait until darkness comes

nowhere in the corridors of pale green and grey
nowhere in the suburbs
in the cold light of day

there in the midst of it so alive and alone
words support like bone

dreaming of mercy street
wear your inside out
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms again
dreaming of mercy street
‘swear they moved that sign
dreaming of mercy
in your daddy’s arms
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Tonight’s Tai Chi Epiphany

I decided to break a long spell of misplaced intention tonight. As the season changes to winter, so too will the winter occur in the mind that you see expressed on these pages.

Winter is the time for the old ways to come to an end, so that we may remake our selves anew during subsequent cycles. It is quite often necessary for a winter to happen in our minds; this is natural, this is healthy, without it we become lost and a decaying spiral of stagnation ensues. With the changes, we may become more mindful of the world around us.

As we become more mindful of the world around us, we become aware of the actions that we are to take. When we set out on the path of mindfulness, the world takes on a completely different appearance; we begin to see that the enlightenment is actually right here, in this very moment.

Tonight, a wonderful series of interpersonal connections lead me, quite surrepititiously, to see the importance of physical self-improvement. I had a conversation about Tai Chi with my friend, we then watched the video of a Chinese Acupuncturist, who is capable of cultivating his Chi so well that he can project it, from his hands, into the bodies of other people. The video of this man is a testament to the vast powers that our bodies posses; powers which go far beyond the concepts of reality promoted by our societies today. read full article »

To Rid the Disease

by Opeth

There’s nobody here, there’s nobody near
I try not to care, dead eyes always stare
Let these matters be, don’t trust what you see
Take hold of your time, step into the line

There’s innocence torn from its maker
And stillborn, the trust in you
This failure has made the creator
So would you tell him what to do

Leave your mark upon the head of someone
Who’ll cry for his state, we know it’s too late
I turn round to see what was meant to be
Faint movement release to rid the disease
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The Allegory of the Gita

The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita: Chapter III

The story on which the Bhagavad Gita is based is a brief episode in the longest epic in the world, the Mahabharata. The Gita presents two main characters of that epic, Arjuna and Krishna, as they move between two great armies, ranged for battle on the field of Kurukshetra.

Arjuna symbolizes the devotee–the person, that is to say, who seeks divine salvation and union with God. Krishna symbolizes God Himself, the divine Self within every human being. Hence, in the Indian teachings, Self-realization is described as the true goal of all spiritual striving, whatever one’s religion. The two concepts, Self-realization and the knowledge of God, are synonymous.

In the story of the Mahabharata, Ajuna invites Krishna to be his charioteer. The Bhagavad Gita is the story of the dialogue which takes place as Krishna drives Arjuna in his chariot between the two armies, in response to Arjuna’s request to observe the two armies directly.

Arjuna, his brothers the Pandavas, and all the forces on their side symbolize the champions of virtue. The enemy are the Kauravas, cousins of the Pandavas, led by Duryodhana, who has usurped the throne. The confrontation is, as we have said, allegorical–a fact which is suggested by, among other things, Arjuna’s very request. He is the leading general of his army. Would the general of an army request something so apparently foolish as to be driven between the ranks of the opposing armies, so close to the enemy, and on the very eve of hostilities? Surely, in practical terms, his request was absurd! read full article »

Youssou N’dour and Jimi M’baye: Birima

Here’s a bit of culture for those of you who are not familiar. Performing here is Youssou N’dour and Jimi M’baye. Rolling Stone described Youssou N’dour as, in Senegal and much of Africa, “perhaps the most famous singer alive.”
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Types of Samadhi – Nirbuja Samadhi Without Karma

I, 50 tajjah samskaro anya samskara pratibandhi
I, 51 tasyapi nirodhe sarva nirodhat nirbija samadhih

Born of this
luminous wisdom is a
subliminal impression
that prevents other impressions
from arising.

When the mind
becomes free from obstruction,
all vacillations cease,
and the mind becomes
absorbed into spirit
without producing future seeds.
Thus a new mind is born
of this wisdom,
free of ignorance.

M. Stiles

Iyengar explains that the power of discrimination blocks new impressions or samskaras from arising which may have impeded true knowledge by creating doubt. When doubts are cleared then discriminative knowledge is discarded. This gives way to the flow of luminous wisdom that is “free of doubts and discrimination. Then citta dissolves “all residual impressions, the thinking faculty and the feelings of “I” are extinguished without a trace and becomes universal. The soul alone manifests and blazes without form, in pristine clarity.
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Don’t be Afraid, You Have Nothing to fwa-wa-wa-wa…

I dug up an old video, with music by a band called Shpongle. I’m so glad to have found this again. I remember listening to it several years ago, when I was first exploring the unconventional aspects of reality. Just watch and you will see why it is so powerful and trans-formative.

Music can do amazing things when the performers are this talented.
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Alan Greenspan: Confronted & Exposed

Here is an interesting set of videos from wearechange.org, where Alan Greenspan gets told of the damage he has wrought upon the people of the world. He is told by Senator Patrick Leahy and members of the wearechange group. Leahy does a fantastic job of laying out the case against the privately owned Federal Reserve.
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I’ve got no memory of anything at all…

Someone asked what I think the song “I don’t remember” by Peter Gabriel means, so I took some time to really think the song over, to see what it may mean. read full article »