This is absolutely false!

As my Sifu used to say, “After 30 years of practicing Kung Fu, doing fancy moves, tornado kicks and strikes that could take out a group of people – the most effective move is still the simple straight punch”.

The above outlines that in a real street fight, fancy moves will not defend you – but a solid straight punch will.

Perfect the simple, make it strong, and the complex will evolve around the simple.

But – flashy moves are cool.  They seem like they might be more effective.  But often they lack power.

A student from another school came in and demostrated his school’s kung fu form.  My Sifu watched politely.  I thought the form looked ok.  Sifu smiled, thanked him, and he left. 

After, Sifu asked us “Did you notice how weak and powerless his form was?  He was dancing, not fighting.  There was no power in it.”.  That made me realize that although the form looked complex and artistic, it lacked any type of real effectiveness.

It’s fine to practice an art for the sake of the art form.  But if you want to practice Kung Fu for the self-defense aspect, then learn to generate power in the simple moves first.

Start by throwing 300 punches, every day.  Don’t hyperextend your joints though – this means when you throw the punch, your elbow joints don’t straighten all the way and put any type of strain on the joint.  Be powerful, punch through your imaginary opponent, but don’t overextend.  Throw 100 high, 100 medium and 100 low punches.

“It is right before your eyes,” said the master.

“Why do I not see it for myself?”

“Because you are thinking of yourself.”

“What about you: do you see it?”

“So long as you see double, saying I don’t and you do, and so on,
your eyes are clouded,” said the master.

“When there is neither ‘I’ nor ‘You,’ can one see it?”

“When there is neither ‘I’ nor ‘You,’ who is the one that wants to
see it?”

-Famous Zen Koan

My daughter is learning ballet, and it’s amazing to watch her learn.  She goes to a class once a week for an hour, but it takes awhile to learn something when you only practice it once a week.  Fortunately she has developed a thirst for the practice and practices all time, no matter where she is. She goes through the footsteps while sitting in a chair before dinner.  She runs around the house, doing the steps and repeating the teacher’s instructions.  The practice is not something that is limited to the dance studio. It is part of her life.

As we get older, something unfortunate happens – we begin to make distinctions – work and play, fun and not fun, practice and rest.  Things have a tendancy to lose their spontaneous nature.  Things become more serious, and rightfully so – someone has to pay the bills and put food on the table.  But this doesn’t mean we have to lose that spontaneous nature that makes us young and alive.

This is what the Daoist teachings refer to when they say “be like a child”.  They don’t mean to throw tantrums and not pick up toys.  They mean to return to that way of being that is spontaneous and alive – not going through the motions because life has become a routine.

The best way to return to being a child is to spend time with one – your own, your grandchildren, your friends.  Just observe them, without judgement.  You’ll find a world that you might have left behind but a world you can easily get back, if you can only let go of your judgements.

I think that grandparents often find this world in their grandchildren, which is why it’s so special.  Grandparents are no longer attached to being a parent with rules and such, and they are often not preoccupied with work and the everyday activities of “life”.  They can truly enjoy the children for who they are, and for awhile return to being like a child themselves.

So, first you let go and slowly work on returning to the child-like spontaneous nature that you once had.  First you experience it for a minute, then it becomes longer the more you practice.  And it’s all about letting go.  When you can do this, your Qigong practice or other things you enjoy suddenly enter your life, without effort, whenever they are appropriate.

Read that last sentence one more time carefully, as it holds the secret to the art.

To Travel Well

I am as a stone in the ocean of the Dao.
I am thrown into it to make ripples that I cannot conceive.
My ripples reinforce some but dissolve others.
But only when I take the intention out of my ripples can they truly co-exist with others in a harmonious non-intention of thought.
For my importance is no greater or less than anyone else’s.
For each of us is a single tile in the Daosaic.
Each of us fulfilling a role that, we need not know the outcome of to make peace with.
The Dao asks nothing of us other than that we not ignore its guiding energy; the path that we all must follow to maintain a state of perfect balance with ourselves and those around us.
To allow the Yin to nurture the Yang will bring about prosperity, kindness, and love.
To allow the Yang to protect the Yin will enact justice, harmony, and balance.
Only in balance will you come to know the Dao.

Check out more of The Once and Future Poet’s work on his MySpace page.

If you have any of your own poetry and writings you’d like to submit, email me!

Look, and it can’t be seen.
Listen, and it can’t be heard.
Reach, and it can’t be grasped.

This passage, of course, speaks of the mysterious source called “The Dao”.  However, since Qigong and Daoism are inseparable since they developed together, this passage also relates to Qigong. 

Qigong is something that has the be experienced and felt with your true being – not your over-examining mind.   You must first relax your mind and understand that Qigong is a lifelong practice, and that speedy success will not be achieved. 

The paradox is that if you don’t try to progress quickly, you will progress quickly.  And if you try to progress quickly, then you will not progress quickly.  “In the pursuit of knowledge, everyday something is added.  In the pursuit of Qigong, everyday something is dropped”. 

This can only happen through patient and persistent practice.  Relax, let go, and let the understanding develop naturally.

Approach it, and there is no beginning;
Follow it, and there is no end.
You can’t know it, but you can be it,
at ease in your own life.
Just realize where you come from,
this is the essence of wisdom.

 So, maybe you’ve attended a few classes, you like the relaxing feeling it gives, but are not sure how to make it part of your daily routine?  I’ve been there. 

My advice is to take 3 minutes a day and practice one movement that you like.  For me, it was “Using Water to Cool Fire”.  I practiced it just about everyday for 3-10 minutes a day.  Within a short time, I started to unlock the secrets of Qigong through that one simple movement, and you will too.  That’s how I got hooked!

I can teach you how to practice Qigong, but ultimately you must be the one to practice and unlock the secrets for yourself.  I will give you all the guidance you’d like, but you must walk the path and discover the magic for yourself. 

And once you find it, the simple movements will never appear simple ever again.

Consider Chapter 39 of the Hua Hu Ching:

Why scurry about looking for the truth?
It vibrates in every thing and every not-thing, right off the tip of your nose
Can you be still and see it in the mountain? the pine tree? yourself?

Don’t imagine that you’ll discover it by accumulating more knowledge.
Knowledge creates doubt, and doubt makes you ravenous for more knowledge.
You can’t get the full eating this way.
The wise person dines on something more subtle.
He eats the understanding that the named was born from the unnamed, that all being flows fro non-being, that the describable world emanates from an indescribable source.
He finds this subtle truth inside his own self, and becomes completely content.

So who can be still and watch the chess game of the world?
The foolish are always making impulsive moves, but the wise know that victory and defeat are decided by something more subtle.
They see that something perfect exists before any move is made.

This subtle perfection deteriorates when artificial actions are taken, so be content not to disturb the peace.
Remain quiet.
Discover the harmony in your own being.
Embrace it.

If you can do this, you will gain everything, and the world will become healthy again.
If you can’t, you will be lost in the shadows forever.

It’s important to note that the teachings hidden in passages such as the above are so deep that you cannot possibly pick it all up at once.  When reading Daoist scriptures and poetry, you must remember to extract those elements that are relevant to you right now.  Down the road, when you re-read the passage, you’ll find a deeper meaning hidden inside.  And most importantly, absorb the passage and feel it resonate within you, try not to dissect the teaching in an purely intellectual way.

Some simple things to look for in the above passage:

..the named was born from the unnamed refers to the Daoist teaching that the all that exists (the named) was born from the unnamed (The Dao).  When you understand that everything that exist is born from the Dao (or the great eternal source), it puts everything into context as being one or originating from the Dao.

This subtle perfection deteriorates when artificial actions are taken…  refers to going against the flow of the Dao or the true Way. In your spiritual path, you will discover what the true path or way is, and you will be able to sense when you are straying from this path.  Judgments of ourselves or other people and dualistic thinking (example of dualistic thinking = this one thing is good, but this other thing is bad) are just two ways that humans stray from the Dao. 

Some people thinking going with the Dao is “going with the flow”, but what is “the flow”?  Going with the flow might mean going along with whatever other people are doing or thinking, but that is not going along with the Dao.  If others are not going with the Dao, then they are actually going against the flow. You must find the flow of the Dao, which penetrates far deeper than normal everyday human situations, and go with that flow.

Remain quiet is a very simple way to start practicing. Understand that all Daoist poetry should not be taken literally, so “remaining quiet” does not mean to simply not speak.  It means to quiet the mind and quiet the emotions.  Stop judging yourself and others, and simply observe yourself and others for what they truly are, not based on their status in society or your own personal feelings.  It is in this quiet that you’ll find a new perspective that will allow you to find inner peace at any time, no matter what the circumstances.

In the beginning, it might be easier to practice “remaining quiet” while practicing Qigong or meditating on your own.  Or maybe before you go to bed, you simple sit at the edge of your bed for 20 seconds and practice “remaining quiet”.  Ultimately, you can get the point where you are able to “remain quiet” at any time, any place.  What freedom!

There are many other hidden teachings in the above passage too numerous to mention in one newsletter.  We will explore them further next month.

(The above passage taken from the “Hua Hu Ching, The Unknown Teachings of Lao Tzu” by Brian Walker, HarperCollins 1995)

Consider this passage from Laozi’s Classic “The Dao De Jing”:

The follower of knowledge acquires as much as he can every day;
The follower of Tao loses as much as he can every day.

By attrition he reaches a state of inaction
Wherein he does nothing, but leaves nothing undone.

To conquer the World, do nothing;
If you must do something,
The World remains beyond conquest.

This very cryptic passage at first glance is difficult to understand.  However, when we look at with a Daoist world view we can find the hidden meaning.

First, Daoism is interested in intuitive wisdom, rather than pursing knowledge.  Logical reasoning is considered by the Daoists as part of the artificial world of man, together with social etiquette and moral standards – things that are essentially created by man. 

Daoists were more concerned with the patterns of nature, which is known to the Daoists as “The Dao”.  Thus, a follower of the Dao looks to “lose” learned patterns and behaviors and look at the world with a fresh and unbiased perspective.  In this way, you can become closer to “The Dao”. 

To “do nothing” is based on the Chinese concept of “wu-wei”, which is translated as “action through non-action”.  It doesn’t literally mean “don’t do anything”; rather it means to simply do things by flowing with and following the natural forces of the world. 

In this manner, you can act spontaneously and free, accomplishing everything without seeming to use effort.  Going against the flow of nature causes one to expend energy and struggle; while going with nature is like going with the current of a river – no effort is needed yet you get from point A to point B.

Understand the natural principles of the world and you will understand everything.

However effective these methods are at helping us to relax, it’s far more important to begin to learn how to eliminate stress instead of fighting it off with Qigong and breathing exercises.  In addition, you will find that the practice then becomes much deeper when you practice for periods of time without any major stress….then you really start to discover the secrets of Qigong.

How do you eliminate stress?  By addressing it at the root, of course! 

And what is the root of stress?  No, it’s not your job, your situation or anything external.  The root of your stress is you and it lies in your mind!

I’m sure you have heard this before, but understand carefully: you create stress in your mind based on the way you view the world and your relation to it.  If you can change the way you view the world, you can change the way external situations affect you internally.

For example, my job can be stressful.  So, one might say that maybe my job is the problem, and I should get a less stressful job if I want to reduce my stress.  But maybe I’m the problem instead.  What if I changed my perspective on my job? 

What if I didn’t let other people at my work affect my mood?  What if I decided one day that I was not going to allow my co-workers stress level get to me?  What if I decided to be grateful to have job that all in all is pretty good to me? Well then, I’d be on the road to changing my perspective which automatically reduces my levels of stress.

You will have to explore your own mind to understand how to incorporate this principle in your own life.  I can give you examples of things I’ve learned in my life, but ultimately you are walking on your own path, with your own challenges and obstacles.

The point is that you must actively start observing the way you view the world and the things that cause you stress, and understand why those situations affect you in that way.  This process of inner awareness will help you understand yourself in a way that only you can know.

Once you become fully aware of your unique perspective, begin to look at situations from a completely different point of view, just to see what it feels like.  From there, you can start trying to actually practice that different perspective.  You’ll make good progress on some days, other days you’ll totally forget about the new perspective and be absorbed in stress, but later you’ll realize it and it will change you for the better. 

Along your path, you might start understanding how stress truly affects your health…you might see the connection between prolonged periods of stress and an flu or cold you catch just after.  

By understanding this, you might be able to prevent the flu by knowing you need to relax and boosting your immune system with good natural foods (vegetable soups), herbs (ginger teas, astragalus) and Qigong.  You will understand more and more as time goes on, and it will unfold for the rest of your life.

So what is the Daoist method of eliminating stress?  Fixing your mind so that stress does not have a chance to exist in your new perspective.

In Qigong, we don’t place any importance on titles, levels, achievements, etc.  All those ideas are concepts of the ego, man-made labels to place us into categories in order to satisfy our ego’s need to classify and compare things.

When you practice Qigong, you are the teacher and student at the same time.  You are the student in the sense that you are learning about your own energy and paying attention to how you feel. You are the teacher in the sense that you are teaching and training yourself how to relax, breathe and do the movements.  In fact, the only way to really understand Qigong is to practice and teach yourself.  Your teacher (whether it be books, a person, etc) can show you the path, but you must walk it yourself.

It is also true that in our everyday lives we are both teachers and students at the same time.  As parents, we are teachers to our children, teaching them how to survive in this world.  Parents are also students, as they must pay attention and learn their child’s nature, what works and what doesn’t, and how to let our children walk the path by guiding but not pushing.  The same is true at work – even if your job title is not one of a manager, you are always setting an example of how to act (or not to act), which makes you a teacher.

Being a good student and a good teacher takes practice.  The key to being a good student is to have an open mind (or as we say, an empty cup).  Don’t worry about accumulating knowledge, rather you should absorb the teaching so it becomes part of you.  Don’t judge, just be open.  In being a good teacher, you must sense how your students learn or respond and teach them in a way they will learn, not how you think they should learn.  This requires the teacher to constantly evaluate their teaching methods and make adjustments as necessary.  This is easier said than done, but anyone can do it.

So remember, in life you are always a teacher AND a student, simultaneously.  Enjoy it!

It’s a Daoist thing.  And often mistranslated and misunderstood, non-doing sounds pretty lazy!

Daoism is actually the science of how the universe works (and us included, since we are part of it).  We’re starting to learn that Daoism dates back to before there are written records in China, which makes it 7000+ years old. 

It’s believed that Daoism is really just the way people lived back in the day – not made into a formal thing until civilization started to grow and people started to stray from the natural course of things.

Daoism is the science of how the universe works.  Chinese physicians, monks, martial artists, and other people have meticulously studied the way the human body works in relationship to everything around us, realizing that we are part of this whole thing, not separate. The poetry written to convey what they learned shows how deep their understanding is and how simple it all really is.

So, non-doing.  The opposite of doing, right?  Sort of.

Non-doing is the translation, and it can mean many things.  I will very simply explore one of the meanings for you to ponder.

When we practice Qigong or meditation, the mind should strive for non-doing.  Think about it, from the moment you wake up, you are doing something.  Analyze your day. I have analyzed mine, and it is jam packed. 

Any time we consider “down time” likely spent doing something.  You could technically count a nap as “non-doing”, but if you are dreaming during that nap, you are doing something.

Non-doing is not easy to obtain.  The mind wants to be doing something all the time.  It takes practice to be able to shut the conscious mind off and truly achieve non-doing.

This might sound difficult, but it should be something you work towards to understand and experience.

The million dollar question:  Exactly how does one achieve non-doing? 

By relaxing, breathing and focusing on your “awareness mind” or your dantein (belly).  Find your center in your belly as let your belly expand out when inhaling and let it contract when you exhale. 

So simple, yet so marvelous. 

When you bring your awareness down to the dantien, your conscious mind takes a back seat, fights it a little, then eventually steps aside.  At first, you are doing – you are focusing on your breathing.  But slowly, you slip into a state of non-doing as your conscious mind lets go of the focus on breathing.

Non-doing is the goal, but one step before non-doing is to have a single focus.  When you are relaxing and breathing, do just that, don’t let your mind wander. 

When you are reading, read.  When you eat, eat (not eat and watch TV, eat and talk, etc.).  Focus on whatever you are doing at all times. 

Yes, in our multi-tasking world this is not easily achieved.  Don’t worry, and don’t try accomplish non-doing all at once.  Understand the concept, check out your daily habits and incorporate this when you can.

Slowly, over time, you’ll see that focusing on only what it is your doing – being in the moment as they say – is an extremely inspiring place to be.