Dragon and Tiger Qigong is a 1500-year-old self-healing medical qigong system based on the principles of acupuncture. It can be practiced by virtually anyone regardless of age or health and is one of the most beneficial sets ever developed. Over this two-week course you'll have the opportunity to go for instructor certification. Join us in Hawaii!
Its has obviously been a big year. The biggest thing about the holidays in my opinion is to be kind and share your love with others.
Forgive everyone you can in every way so that the time the New Year comes you won't be holding onto anything. This is a great meditation. If you can let go and forgive what has happened in the last year your life will clearly be better moving into the next year. This includes both forgiving yourself and others.
Maybe you will have to take steps regarding the craziness that you have forgiven so it does not happen again. That is all good to do and remember that forgiveness helps you be free from the burdens of old creating space for the new to arrive.
A recent photo in Hutong Park, Beijing – Demonstrating the Bagua Single Palm Change
Hi folks,
A short post to say we are relaunching the Bagua Mastery Program for a limited time. We have printed an initial 100 units. We are closing the program before the New Year and will not reopen until 2013. Here is the link:
From an insider’s view, Bai Yuan Guan, or the White Cloud Temple, is considered the meeting point for Taoists to connect from all over North China. The complex is the main Taoist temple in Beijing.
Over 25 years ago, from 1985-6, my Taoist master used to send me to White Cloud once or twice a week. He gave me meditation practices, which I did at two spots here. At the time I lived only a 15 minute walk away. Read More
Today in Bejing I met a friendly 17-year-old kid. He had heard of Lao Tse, but like his peers, knew little about Taoism except the simplified book of Lao Tse (the Chinese translated the Tao Te Jing from the classical Chinese characters to the simplified ones of mainland China). The Cultural Revolution, which aimed to destroy old Chinese culture, keeps continuing and going strong.
The young man mentioned that it seemed as if foreigners are more interested and knowledgeable about old Chinese culture than most Chinese. He commented that nowadays, many of the youth are driven by money and consumerism, leaving behind culture and human values.
The conversation made me reflect on an interview I had just finished with China Radio International (CRI). On air, I spoke of the relevance of Chi work to modern Chinese life, where everything currently is just about money. I expressed that regardless of economic status or social position, if a person’s inner life was not in good shape, life in general can easily be unhappy and unfulfilling.
Money alone is not life. Rich or not, a person whose insides and outsides are in balance will get the most out of life. At the end of my time on the air, I encouraged Chinese youth to find legitimate masters, learn from them, and keep the traditions alive for future generations.
I can speak from my experience about what the traditional approach is and the eclectic way I went about it, and the essential difference between an eclectic traditional approach and the approach of the dabbler, who just knows a bit of this and a bit of that.
The first issue is: why become eclectic? In some sense you become eclectic so that you can gain a really specific perspective on something.
You may want to do tai chi, but as an eclectic, you may want to do a tai chi specifically for fighting. For example, I did Praying Mantis and 8 Drunken Immortals. Doing these showed me some martial aspects of tai chi I needed to pay attention to rather than ignore. But I went deeply into them. I didn’t just skim the surface with them. Read More
Song Dynasty painting with theme of “Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism are one”*
Wu wei is a very fundamental concept in Taoism, similar to wu wei wu, which means action, non action. Wu means nothing and wei means action.
In the West most people have clear agendas and they set out to accomplish specific goals. However, in Taoism one of the central themes is not acting until the timing is right.
In fact Taoists say that until the time is right nothing will happen anyway, so a large part of wu wei is the ability to be as connected as possible to the universal flows of the TAO. When all of a sudden it becomes obvious that the time has arrived, only then do you take action. Read More
Bruce Frantzis teaching tai chi on the Beach Tai Chi is considered a low impact exercise, but there are many other low impact exercises such as aerobics, many forms of dancing and walking. So what exactly is the advantage of practicing tai chi over other low impact exercises? What is the difference between normal, low ... Read More
Sinking your chi is a very important skill to learn to keep your body healthy. As we move from Winter into the Spring sinking your chi helps you clear out old energies in your body. The simple fact is that during the Winter most people do not sink their chi. The chi in the body ... Read More
