Tai Chi Quotes

Shapeshifting requires the ability to transcend your attachments, in particular your ego attachments to identity and who you are. If you can get over your attachment to labeling yourself and your cherishing of your identity, you can be virtually anybody. You can slip in and out of different shells, even different animal forms or deity forms.

Head held high and lips parted, she breathed in the music, sending it through her torso and arms and legs the way the Tai Chi teacher told us to breath the air, transforming it into energy, motion. Dancing is the body's song, and Bess sang.

A tai chi principle: If you don’t want someone to run away from you, run away from them first. Become yin to make them become yang. I’m not sure why it works, but almost always they’ll follow you like air filling a vacuum.

He landed on cheap shot, but I knocked him out of the tournament.

With its mysterious, fluid movement, the snail was the quintessential tai chi master.

Tai chi is about the balance of yin and yang. If you use hardness to resist force, then both sides will break. Tai chi meets hardness with softness, so incoming force exhausts itself. It is philosophy for life also. You understand?

How do we maintain integrity as introverts, and at the same time allow our natural extroverted tendencies to emerge? The answer: organically. We mosh best when we feel like moshing. The T’ai Chi symbol illustrates that introversion (yin) flows into extroversion (yang) and extroversion flows into introversion. Each specialty houses the nucleus of the other. When the introvert is safe, she can extrovert. When the extrovert is safe, he can introvert.

Tai chi meets hardness with softness, so incoming force exhausts itself. It is philosophy for life also.

Yin and yang are the left and right hands of the Infinite — creator, destroyer, and reproducer of everything that exists.

First you must be calm, then your mind can be steady. Once your mind is steady, then you are at peace. Only when you are at peace, are you able to think and finally gain.

You don’t have to have a health issue to do Tai Chi. But if you do, you should find a way to incorporate Tai Chi into some part of your life,

Poetry that tames language into tight structures and yet manages to move us comes off as a feat, paralleling ballet or athletic talent in harnessing craft to beauty. When poetry is based on a less rigorous, more impressionistic definition of craft, its appeal depends more on whether one happens to be individually constituted to “get it” for various reasons. The audience narrows: poetry becomes more like tai chi than baseball.

Parables, yes. We here are to lead life with woe. Tasting bitter.

Your quality of life is not based on standards such as time or ranking, but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself

He has analyzed what happens to a person’s focus if they engage in deliberately slow practices, like yoga, or tai chi, or meditation, as discovered in a broad range of scientific studies, and he has shown they improve your ability to pay attention by a significant amount. I asked him why. He said that “we have to shrink the world to fit our cognitive bandwidth.” If you go too fast, you overload your abilities, and they degrade. But when you practice moving at a speed that is compatible with human nature—and you build that into your daily life—you begin to train your attention and focus. “That’s why those disciplines make you smarter. It’s not about humming or wearing orange robes.” Slowness, he explained, nurtures attention, and speed shatters it.

Every martial art, from T’ai Chi Chuan to the nuclear deterrent, is based on a doctrine—an idea of how combat works.

The core power of tai chi begins with awareness. Our stance is the posture of infinity: not tense but relaxed and upright, expectant. From this nothingness, all things begin.

He did tai chi in the park with a group of senior citizens. … It looked like a ship had sunk and these were the passengers, slowly sinking to their grave at the bottom of the ocean.

ideas—relaxation, alignment, and rootedness—are all related. In tai chi, relaxation implies poise—that is, upright posture. The better your alignment, the less the muscles have to do to hold you up.

a group of mostly middle-aged people (Scots, by their pallor) doing tai chi—Jackson didn’t get tai chi, it looked okay on television when you saw people doing it in China, but in Scotland it looked, let’s face it, arsy.

Internal martial arts such as Tai Chi Chuan, Pa Kua, Hsing-i, and Aikido speak the language of the psychedelic body. What is more psychedelic, in fact, than the ability to feel how an opponent will attack before a single gesture is made?

Every morning a great wall of fog descends upon the city of San Francisco. It begins far out at sea. It forms over the Farallons, covering the sea lions on their rocks, and then it sweeps onto Ocean Beach, filling the long green bowl of Golden Gate Park. The fog obscures the early morning joggers and the lone practitioners of tai chi. It mists up the windows of the Glass Pavilion. It creeps over the entire city, over the monuments and movie theaters, over the Panhandle dope dens and the flophouses in the Tenderloin. The fog covers the pastel Victorian mansions in Pacific Heights and shrouds the rainbow-colored houses in the Haight. It walks up and down the twisting streets of Chinatown; it boards the cable cars, making their clanging bells sound like buoys; it climbs to the top of Coit Tower until you can’t see it anymore; it moves in on the Mission, where the mariachi players are still asleep; and it bothers the tourists. The fog of San Francisco, that cold, identity-cleansing mist that rolls over the city every day, explains better than anything else why that city is what it is.

The Englishman usually treats his alcohol with respect, often cradling his glass in front of him with both hands. The Frenchman would never willingly do this, because he needs his free hand for gesticulation-for tapping the side of his nose for emphasis, for prodding his companion in the chest, squeezing his bicep, patting his cheek, or ruffling his hair. The free hand is necessary for all this, a vital accessory for proper conversation. To watch fifty or more highly animated French people talking at once is like watching a tai chi class on stimulants.

Tất nhiên cả ba lẫn mẹ không ai tin con Tai To sẽ làm được điều kỳ diệu là giúp cho ba mẹ bớt cãi nhau. Nhưng một khi đã có nó trong nhà, cái ý nghĩ về điều kỳ diệu đó sẽ ám ảnh và chi phối hành động của ba mẹ, giúp ba mẹ lúc nào cũng kiểm soát được những gì sắp sửa xảy ra, con hiểu không?

Will you pour out tea, Miss Brent?' The el­der wom­an replied: 'No, you do it, dear. That tea-​pot is so heavy. And I have lost two skeins of my grey knitting-​wool. So an­noy­ing.' Ve­ra moved to the tea-​ta­ble. There was a cheer­ful rat­tle and clink of chi­na. Nor­mal­ity returned. Tea! Blessed or­di­nary everyday af­ter­noon tea! Philip Lom­bard made a cheery re­mark. Blore re­spond­ed. Dr. Arm­strong told a hu­mor­ous sto­ry. Mr. Jus­tice War­grave, who or­di­nar­ily hat­ed tea, sipped ap­prov­ing­ly. In­to this re­laxed at­mo­sphere came Rogers. And Rogers was up­set. He said ner­vous­ly and at ran­dom: 'Ex­cuse me, sir, but does any one know what's become of the bath­room cur­tain?' Lom­bard's head went up with a jerk. 'The bath­room cur­tain? What the dev­il do you mean, Rogers?' 'It's gone, sir, clean van­ished. I was go­ing round draw­ing all the cur­tai­ns and the one in the lav -​ bath­room wasn't there any longer.' Mr. Jus­tice War­grave asked: 'Was it there this morn­ing?' 'Oh, yes, sir.' Blore said: 'What kind of a cur­tain was it?' 'Scar­let oil­silk, sir. It went with the scar­let tiles.' Lom­bard said: 'And it's gone?' 'Gone, Sir.' They stared at each oth­er. Blore said heav­ily: 'Well - af­ter all-​what of it? It's mad - ​but so's everything else. Any­way, it doesn't matter. You can't kill any­body with an oil­silk cur­tain. For­get about it.' Rogers said: 'Yes, sir, thank you, sir.' He went out, shut­ting the door.

Wuji Taiji YinYang Wanwu

Martial arts is not about fighting, it is about being fit and healthy, both physiologically and psychologically.

To be in the Qi flow is the key to return to oneness with the Tao.

They had physical dexterity that people today are unable to achieve even after years of practising yoga or t’ai chi. The

There’s something with these ancient arts. They don’t last for centuries for nothing.

They had physical dexterity that people today are unable to achieve even after years of practising yoga or t’ai chi.

Trash all your arrogance before training. A martial artist is to be gentle and caring.

Here are some other things that science says can genuinely help us not only “feel better” but actually facilitate the completion of the stress response cycle: sleep; affection (more on that in the next section); any form of meditation, including mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, body scans, etc. (more on that in chapter 9); and allowing yourself a good old cry or primal scream

If you listen to your body and your intuition, they’ll guide you well. There are countless ways to develop listening skills. Some helpful and classic practices include: dancing and drumming, sitting and walking meditations, t’ai chi or chi kung, painting or journal writing. It’s important to find what works for you, and even the time of day or night that works best for you. Whatever you choose, the commonality is that they all offer an opportunity for quieting the mind, and slowing down enough to be present and able to listen for inner guidance—and guidance from the plants themselves.

Donc pour moi, c'est le tai-chi et ce que papa appelait "la base de la bagarre de rue" quand il était sobre et "six bonnes façons de dresser un trou du cul" quand il avait bu quelques verres de Beams.

As a result, we have developed numerous methods of practice to explore this movement of energy through our bodies, such as the Chinese arts of qigong and t’ai chi, the Indian practice of hatha yoga, and the modern movement culture spreading across the globe. The problem with practical movement methods such as these is they can delay our quest for a liberated mind (enlightenment) if the practice becomes a habitual crutch.

Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to avoid the force of the attack upon your body, mind, or emotions, and apply your response to the weak point. In other words, yield to the yang and push on the yin.

There was a jail with a prisoner in it,” he said, “who was surrounded by mountains of money. He kept counting the money and feeling so happy about his life, thinking that he was the richest man in the whole world. A man passing by saw him and said through the tiny window: “Why are you so happy? You are in prison? Do you know that?” The prisoner laughed: “No! No! It is not that I am inside the jail. It is that you are outside of the jail!

The advisors, on the other hand, were like older brothers and sisters. My favorite was Bill Symes, who'd been a founding member of Fellowship in 1967. He was in his early twenties now and studying religion at Webster University. He had shoulders like a two-oxen yoke, a ponytail as thick as a pony's tail, and feet requiring the largest size of Earth Shoes. He was a good musician, a passionate attacker of steel acoustical guitar strings. He liked to walk into Burger King and loudly order two Whoppers with no meat. If he was losing a Spades game, he would take a card out of his hand, tell the other players, "Play this suit!" and then lick the card and stick it to his forehead facing out. In discussions, he liked to lean into other people's space and bark at them. He said, "You better deal with that!" He said, "Sounds to me like you've got a problem that you're not talking about!" He said, "You know what? I don't think you believe one word of what you just said to me!" He said, "Any resistance will be met with an aggressive response!" If you hesitated when he moved to hug you, he backed away and spread his arms wide and goggled at you with raised eyebrows, as if to say, "Hello? Are you going to hug me, or what?" If he wasn't playing guitar he was reading Jung, and if he wasn't reading Jung he was birdwatching, and if he wasn't birdwatching he was practicing tai chi, and if you came up to him during his practice and asked him how he would defend himself if you tried to mug him with a gun, he would demonstrate, in dreamy Eastern motion, how to remove a wallet from a back pocket and hand it over. Listening to the radio in his VW Bug, he might suddenly cry out, "I want to hear... 'La Grange' by ZZ Top!" and slap the dashboard. The radio would then play "La Grange.

Hence Lao-tzu’s emphasis on softness. Softness means the opposite of rigidity, and is synonymous with suppleness, adaptability, endurance. Anyone who has seen a t’ai chi or aikido master doing not-doing will know how powerful this softness is.

They moved with a minimum of effort and noise, and knew how to sit, walk and run in the most agile and efficient manner. Varied and constant use of their bodies made them as fit as marathon runners. They had physical dexterity that people today are unable to achieve even after years of practising yoga or t’ai chi.

The girl in the Four Seasons coat check was eating handfuls of colored jelly beans and reading a thin yellow paperback. I’d read in the witness report in Ashley’s police file that the coat-check girl’s name was Nora Halliday and she was nineteen. Every time a party of diners arrived—midwestern tourists, finance dudes, a couple so elderly they moved like they were doing a form of tai chi—she whisked off her black-rimmed eyeglasses, hid the book, and with a cheerful “Good evening!” took their coats. After they moved upstairs to the restaurant, she put her glasses back on, brought out the paperback, and started reading again, hunched over the counter of the stall.

What you need is some time and effort to work on your remedies and the problems will be overcome as a matter of course. Our chi kung training gives us the mental clarity and a lot of energy to perform the remedies well. The same principles apply to countless people who remain miserable because of their problems. They remain miserable because of the following three reasons: 1. They do not have solutions to their problems. 2. They do not believe the solutions will solve their problems. 3. They do not have the abilities to carry out the solutions. If they can overcome the above three factors, they will find their problems are actually opportunities for improvement

Pháp luật và trật tự là cái giếng thần để các thầy uống từng gầu quyền lực, thỏa mãn các thầy giống hệt như quyền lực cá nhận thỏa mãn hẫu hết mọi người. Mặt khác, trong lòng các thầy thường xuyên âm ỉ một sự bất mãn đối với những người mà họ phải phục vụ. Với các thầy, thằng dân vừa là người được che chở, vừa là đối tượng. Là người được che chở, nó rất vô ơn, thô tục, hay bẻ hành bẻ tỏi. Là đối tượng nó lại khỏe quanh co và nguy hiểm, đầy những mưu mô xảo quyệt. Chỉ cần một thằng dân rơi vào tay những người bảo vệ pháp luật là chính cái đám người mà cảnh sát đang bảo vệ ấy liền rùng rùng chuyển đồng để tìm mọi cách xóa bỏ hết những cố gắng của các thầy. Các ông tai to mặt lớn vộ vàng mang quà cáp đút lót. Bọn côn đồ các ôn mất hết tính người thì được ông quan tòa non gan phóng tay cho án treo. Thống đốc bang và cả Tổng thống cũng vung tay ân xá nếu như các thầy cãi cãi hết hơi vẫn chưa chạy tội được cho hung phạm. Dần dần rồi các thầy cũng phải không ra. Tại sao các thầy không làm béng món tiền bọn côn đồ chi ra để tránh búa rìu công lí? Ai chứ các thầy thì cần tiền hơn tất cả. Con cái các thầy cũng phải vào đại học, kém cạnh gì bố con đứa nào. Bà xã nhà các thầy cũng phải được rảo các cửa hàng sang trọng chứ. Bản thân các thầy mùa đông cũng phải xuống Florida phơi nắng một tí chứ. Nói gì thì nói, các thầy phải liều tính mạng đâu có phải đùa. Nhưng dù sao cũng có một giới hạn mà các thầy không dám vượt qua. Ừ thì các thầy ăn tiền của bọn bao đề đánh các và nhắm mắt cho chúng làm ăn. Các thầy đút túi ít tiền của mấy tay đỗ xe không đúng chỗ hay phóng nhanh vượt ẩu. Các thầy đồng ý làm ngơ với giá cả phải chăng để mặc cho các em hành nghề bán thịt sống qua điện thoại, mặc cho các em gái vui tính giải sầu cho khách khứa trong các động tội lỗi. Những căn bệnh ấy đã có từ đời nào đời nào, chúng gắn liền với bản chất của loài người. Nhưng các thầy không có cái lệ ngậm tiền mà dung túng cho ăn cướp vũ trang, cho buôn bán ma túy, hiếp dâm, giết người và các tội ác khác. Theo quan điểm của các thầy thì làm thế là phá hoại chính những nền tảng đã tạo ra uy quyền của các thầy và vì lẽ đó mà không thể chấp nhận được.

Body Prayer We must hunker down into the “Body of Hope and Resurrection” (Philippians 3:9–11; 1 Corinthians 15:44) and pray also from below and from within, on a cellular and energetic level too—or the attitude of prayer does not last or go deep. You are not thinking your prayer as much as energetically feeling your prayer. You pay attention from the bottom up and from the inside out. Rest into the Body of Christ energy instead of trying to pull an Infinite God into your finite world. Your body itself receives and knows, and is indeed “a temple” (1 Corinthians 3:16–17) where God dwells in the Spirit. Walking meditation, yoga, and breathing exercises are all helpful here. Body prayer actually works much more quickly and more naturally than thought prayer alone. Body prayer is what we have tried to do with inspiring music, body gestures, and all sacraments, so this is not a new idea. It is what many are seeking in tai chi, pilgrimages, prayer beads, chanting, repeating the Jesus Prayer until it prays itself in us and through us, and so on. To “pray from the clay” will also move you to the shared level of prayer. You will know that “you” are not doing the prayer, but you are falling into the unified field, and the Body of Christ is now praying through you (Romans 8:26–27) and with you. It becomes “our” prayer, and not just my prayer. Now you pray not so much to Christ as much as through Christ, and you will know experientially that you are Christ's Body too.

Imaginary Lives Imaginary Lives is a thought experiment I have adapted from two important career-change thinkers, Julia Cameron and John Williams, which aims to take your ideas a stage closer towards specific job options.55 It’s simple but potentially powerful. • Imagine five parallel universes, in each of which you could have a whole year off to pursue absolutely any career you desired. Now think of five different jobs you might want to try out in each of these universes. Be bold in your thinking, have fun with your ideas and your multiple selves. Your five choices might be food photographer, member of parliament, tai chi instructor, social entrepreneur running a youth education project, and wide-achieving Renaissance generalist. One person I know who did this activity – a documentary film maker who was having doubts about her career – listed massage therapist, sculptor, cellist, screen-play writer, and owner of her own bar on a tiny, old-fashioned Canarian island. Now come back down to earth and look hard at your five choices. Write down what it is about them that attracts you. Then look at them again, and think about this question: • How does each career measure up against the two motivations in the previous activity that you chose to prioritize in the future? If you decided, for instance, that you want a combination of making a difference and high status, check whether your five imaginary careers might provide them. The point is to help you think more deeply about exactly what you are looking for in a career, the kind of experiences that you truly desire.

When you're being chased by a lion, what do you do? You run. So when you're stressed out by your job (or by your sex life), what do you do? You run...or walk, or get on the elliptical machine or go out dancing or even just dance around your bedroom. Physical activity is the single most efficient strategy for completing the stress response cycle and recalibrating your central nervous system into a calm state...Here are some other things that science says can genuinely help us not only "feel better" but actually faciliatate the completion of the stress response cycle: sleep; affection (more on that in the next section); any form of meditation, including mindfulness, yoga, tai chi, body scans, etc. (more on that in chapter 9); and allowing yourself a good old cry or primal scream-though you have to be careful with this one...Art, used in the same way, can help.

Sonnet of Martial Arts The secret to Martial Arts, Is not style but training. Pick any form that appeals to you, And train regularly without failing. Practice a hundred moves five times, It is of no use whatsoever. But practice one move every day, And it'll be your lifetime protector. But before all that ask yourself, Why do you wanna be a martial artist? Is it to nourish an able mind and body, Or to be yet another fitness narcissist? Trash all your arrogance before training. A martial artist is to be gentle and caring.

After that, before each practice began, we would sing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat.” “Many children learn this song in my country,” I said, “but few people understand its deeper truths. These truths apply, as you’ll see, not only to acrobatics or t’ai chi training but to all of life. The words ‘Row, row, row your boat’ remind us to build our lives on a foundation of action and effort, not on positive thoughts or feelings. Thinking about doing something is the same as not doing it. Our lives are shaped by what we actually do—by rowing our boat. Only effort over time brings results in training and in everyday life.

The human collective knows far more today than did the ancient bands. But at the individual level, ancient foragers were the most knowledgeable and skilful people in history. There is some evidence that the size of the average Sapiens brain has actually decreased since the age of foraging.5 Survival in that era required superb mental abilities from everyone. When agriculture and industry came along people could increasingly rely on the skills of others for survival, and new ‘niches for imbeciles’ were opened up. You could survive and pass your unremarkable genes to the next generation by working as a water carrier or an assembly-line worker. Foragers mastered not only the surrounding world of animals, plants and objects, but also the internal world of their own bodies and senses. They listened to the slightest movement in the grass to learn whether a snake might be lurking there. They carefully observed the foliage of trees in order to discover fruits, beehives and bird nests. They moved with a minimum of effort and noise, and knew how to sit, walk and run in the most agile and efficient manner. Varied and constant use of their bodies made them as fit as marathon runners. They had physical dexterity that people today are unable to achieve even after years of practising yoga or t’ai chi.

Long ago, there was a servant who served a bad tempered and impatient master. It did not matter how he tried, he was always blamed and beaten by this master. However, it was the strange truth that the servant was always happy, and his master was always sad and depressed. One day, there was a kind man who could not understand this phenomenon, and finally he decided to ask this servant why he was always happy even though he was treated so badly. The servant replied: “Everyone has one day of life each day; half of the day is spent awake and the other half is spent sleeping. Although in the daytime, I am a servant and my master treats me badly, in the nighttime, I always dream that I am a king and there are thousands of servants serving me luxuriously. Look at my master: In the daytime, he is mad, depressed, greedy, and unhappy. In the nighttime, he has nightmares and cannot even have one night of nice rest. I really feel sorry for my master. Comparing me to him, I am surely happier than he is.” Friends, what do you think about this story? You are the only one responsible for your happiness. If you are not satisfied and always complain about what you have obtained, you will be on the course of forever-unhappiness. It is said in the West: “If you smile, the whole world smiles with you, but if you cry, you cry alone.” What an accurate saying!

The turning-point [in Klosters, Switzerland in 1988] [Diana’s sister] Jane’s wonderfully solid. If you ring up with a drama, she says: ‘Golly, gosh, Duch, how horrible, how sad and how awful’ and gets angry. But my sister Sarah swears: ‘Poor Duch, such a shitty thing to happen.’ My father says: ‘Just remember we always love you.’ But that summer [1988] when I made so many cock-ups I sat myself down in the autumn, when I was in Scotland, and I remember saying to myself: ‘Right, Diana, it’s no good, you’ve got to change it right round, this publicity, you’ve got to grow up and be responsible. You’ve got to understand that you can’t do what other 26- and 27-year olds are doing. You’ve been chosen to do a position so you must adapt to the position and stop fighting it.’ I remember my conversation so well, sitting by water. I always sit by water when contemplating. Stephen Twigg [a therapist] who comes to see me said once: ‘Whatever anybody else thinks of you is none of your business.’ That sat with me. Then once someone said to me, when I said I’ve got to go up to Balmoral, and they said: ‘Well, you’ve got to put up with them but they’ve also got to put up with you.’ This myth about me hating Balmoral--I love Scotland but just the atmosphere drains me to nothing. I go up ‘strong Diana.’ I come away depleted of everything because they just suck me dry, because I tune in to all their moods and, boy, are there some undercurrents there! Instead of having a holiday, it’ the most stressful time of the year. I love being out all day. I love the stalking. I’m much happier now. I’m not blissful but much more content than I’ve ever been. I’ve really gone down deep, scraped the bottom a couple times and come up again and it’s very nice meeting people now and talking about tai-chi and people say: ‘Tai-chi--what do you know about tai-chi?’ and I said: ‘An energy flow,’ and all this and they look at me and they say: ‘She’s the girl who’s supposed to like shopping and clothes the whole time. She’s not supposed to know about spiritual things.

V. Phẩm Từ Bỏ 94. I. Thâu Nhiếp (S.iv,70) 1) ... 2) -- Có sáu xúc xứ này, này các Tỷ-kheo, không nhiếp phục, không phòng hộ, không bảo vệ, không thâu nhiếp, đem lại đau khổ. Thế nào là sáu? 3-5) Mắt xúc xứ, này các Tỷ-kheo, không nhiếp phục, không phòng hộ, không bảo vệ, không thâu nhiếp, đem lại đau khổ... Tai... Mũi... 6-7) ... Lưỡi... Thân... 8) Ý xúc xứ, này các Tỷ-kheo, không nhiếp phục, không phòng hộ, không bảo vệ, không thâu nhiếp, đem lại đau khổ. 9) Sáu xúc xứ này, này các Tỷ-kheo, không nhiếp phục, không phòng hộ, không bảo vệ, không thâu nhiếp, đem lại đau khổ. 10) Có sáu xúc này, này các Tỷ-kheo, khéo nhiếp phục, khéo phòng hộ, khéo bảo vệ, khéo thâu nhiếp, đem lại an lạc. Thế nào là sáu? 11-13) Mắt xúc xứ, này các Tỷ-kheo, khéo nhiếp phục, khéo phòng hộ, khéo bảo vệ, khéo thâu nhiếp, đem lại an lạc... Tai... Mũi... 14-15) ... Lưỡi... Thân... 16) Ý xúc xứ, này các Tỷ-kheo, khéo nhiếp phục, khéo phòng hộ, khéo bảo vệ, khéo thâu nhiếp, đem lại an lạc. 17) Sáu xúc xứ này, này các Tỷ-kheo, khéo nhiếp phục, khéo phòng hộ, khéo bảo vệ, khéo thâu nhiếp, đem lại an lạc. 18) Thế Tôn nói như vậy. Nói như vậy xong, bậc Ðạo Sư lại nói thêm: 1) Hỡi các vị Tỷ-kheo, Chính sáu xúc xứ này, Chỗ nào không thâu nhiếp, Chỗ ấy có đau khổ. Những ai học biết được, Chế ngự, phòng hộ chúng, Với lòng tin làm bạn, Sống thoát ly dục vọng. 2) Thấy sắc pháp khả ái, Thấy sắc không khả ái, Hãy nhiếp phục đường tham, Ðối các sắc khả ái, Chớ khiến ý nhiễm ô: "Ðối sắc, ta không thích". 3) Sau khi nghe các tiếng, Khả ái, không khả ái, Chớ để tâm say mê, Với các tiếng khả ái. Hãy nhiếp phục lòng sân, Với tiếng không khả ái, Chớ khiến ý nhiễm ô: "Ðối tiếng, ta không thích". 4) Sau khi ngửi các hương, Thơm dịu, thật khả ái, Sau khi ngửi các hương, Bất tịnh, thật đáng ghét; Hãy nhiếp phục lòng sân, Ðối các hương đáng ghét, Còn đối hương khả ái, Chớ để dục chi phối. 5) Nếm xong vị ngon ngọt, Và nếm vị không ngon, Chớ có sanh tham luyến, Khi hưởng nếm vị ngon, Chớ nói lời chống đối, Khi nếm vị không ngon. 6) Khi cảm thọ lạc xúc, Chớ đắm say tham luyến, Khi cảm thọ khổ xúc, Chớ bị xúc động mạnh. Ðối với cả hai xúc, Lạc, khổ đều niệm xả, Không thích, không chống đối, Bất cứ loại xúc nào. 7) Ðối với các người khác, Mê theo hý luận tưởng, Họ mê theo hý luận, Họ hành theo hư tưởng; Hãy đoạn trừ tất cả, Gia sự do ý tạo, Hãy nhiếp các hành động, Hướng đến hạnh viễn ly. 8) Như vậy đối sáu xứ, Khi ý khéo tu tập, Nếu có cảm xúc gì, Tâm không bị dao động. Tỷ-kheo hãy nhiếp phục, Cả hai tham sân ấy, Hãy đến bờ bên kia, Vượt buộc ràng sanh tử.

She did tai chi daily and always seemed to be completing a new crossword puzzle

To add to the problem, it turns out your neural pathways cement themselves in the case of traumatic events. The result is that some people respond to reminders of stimuli, a condition known as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This trauma-induced reprogramming of the brain explains why it's impossible for many veterans to enjoy Fourth of July fireworks, for example. Their limbic system, the creamy nougat center of the human brain where our memories and emotional lives are housed, has coded “explosion” with “danger,” and so when these veterans hear fireworks, they react as they would, as any of us would, to a bomb going off nearby. From the outside, this condition may appear simple to correct. They're fireworks, not bombs, after all. But neuroimaging proves that when people are merely reminded of trauma, blood flow ramps up in the brain structures associated with extreme emotions and decreases in the areas associated with communication. The sufferer essentially becomes trapped in their own fear, at the mercy of neural patterns. The good news is that writing therapy, along with other mindfulness practices, including dialectical behavior therapy, art therapy, yoga, Qigong, tai chi, Alexander Technique, and meditation, allows you to reprogram your brain. You can literally change your mind.

Every movement discipline, from the most meditative tai chi practice to the most explosive gymnastics, tends to promote health. Almost everything “works” to some degree. Personality and preference have a lot to do with our choices and our success, but ultimately, it comes down to the actual doing. That’s why more and more public health specialists advise us to “Do the thing that you’ll actually do” and “Do something that you love.” Try a bunch of disciplines and when something turns you on, stick with it.

if we are lucky, and the stars and planets are in the right alignment, we experience magical moments when

Abraham Maslow called these moments, "Peak Experiences."  Mihaly Csickzentmihaly calls them, "Flow States." 

The kind of attitude that is implied in the words Just stand up! is not a grim, gritted-teeth determination with which we power ourselves to face a situation at all odds. There is nothing grim about accepting the invitation that life offers us in so many situations to go deep and make good on the promises we made to ourselves earlier. Honoring our commitment not only to others but to ourselves is in fact to express what Chögyam Trungpa called fearlessness. It is not based on a harder-than-hard clenching up but on a gentle opening that reveals a strong core. Chögyam Trungpa writes in Shambhala: The Sacred Path of the Warrior: “Real fearlessness is the product of tenderness. It comes from letting the world tickle your heart, your raw and beautiful heart. You are willing to open up, without resistance or shyness, and face the world. You are willing to share your heart with others.”1 And with yourself!

What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher? What is a bad man but a good man’s job?

Kaikkeuden hengitystä sanotaan tuuleksi, vastasi Tsu Ch'i. Se ei aina liiku, mutta kun se liikkuu, kuuluu kymmenistätuhansista onkaloista raivokasta ujellusta. Etkö ole koskaan kuunnellut sitä: liaoo liaoo... Vuoriston metsien kolkissa ja huipuilla on koloja ja onteloita suurissa puissa, joiden ympärysmitta on sata vaaksaa; jokin on kuin sierain, toinen kuin suu tai korva; jokin on suorakulmainen, toinen pyöreä; jokin kuin huhmar, toinen kuin allas tai lätäkön pohja. Kaikista niistä kuuluu ikään kuin kuohuavan veden pauhua tai kohinaa, ne ulvovat ja huokaavat, mylvivät kuin eläimet, ujeltavat, valittavat ja viheltävät. Edellä kulkeva tuuli laulaa jyy ja perässä seuraava säestää jung. Kun tuuli puhaltaa lempeästi, kuulet hiljaisia sointuja, mutta myrskyn synnyttämät soinnut ovat jyhkeitä; ja kun ankara tuuli asettuu, jokainen onkalo vaikenee. Etkö ole koskaan nähnyt, miten kaikki puut huojuvat huojuvat, taipuvat taipuvat?

Being able to say “I’ll try again” is one of the deepest expressions of faith in oneself. When

To be effective in dealing with people—to be someone taken seriously—people must feel you have some concept of justice and you can be trusted. But, they want to feel you are human-hearted too. Terrible things have been done in the name of righteousness, but terrible things have also been allowed to happen by those who only understand benevolence. Each must act as a brake on the other, not allowing situations to become out of balance. Being judgmental and without compassion may lead to bitter cynicism. However, being compassionate with little regard for rectitude may lead, ironically, to your own or other people’s exploitation.

Tai Chi Chuan Martial Power, published

Healing is nothing more, and nothing less, than the restoration of the harmonious circulation of your ch'i.  Unlike Western medicine, which looks for certain invasive factors (like germs or viruses) to be the cause of disease, the Chinese paradigm says that the imbalanced state of your ch'i allows the invasive factors to affect you.

She gave me another side-eyed glance but didn’t speak. “The first is ‘How did it make you feel?’ in reference to my time on the Lois McKendrick as a crewman.” “Classic Zen,” she said. “Interesting approach.” “What?” “The question. It’s a classic question from an ancient Buddhist school of meditation. He didn’t ask you to answer it, did he.” It wasn’t a question. “No, I’m not supposed to answer it. Just feel it.” She grinned. I could see her teeth gleaming in her reflection. “It’s phrased to break your focus, to give your mind a split second of a break from overthinking. To put you in touch with yourself in ways that most of us find difficult. Tai chi does the same thing using the movements as focus.

Do yoga. The gentle stretching of yoga and tai chi systematically move your blood and

...what I'm best at is not Tai Chi, and it's not chess. What I'm best at is the art of learning.

Chang had turned to a young student next to him to point out a spry elderly woman lost under the spell of tai-chi, when the boy’s chest exploded and he dropped to the ground. The People’s Liberation Army soldiers had begun firing on the crowd in Tiananmen Square. The tanks came through a moment later, driving the people in front of them, crushing many beneath the treads (the famous televised image of the student stopping the tank with a flower was the rare exception that terrible night). Chang could never watch tai-chi without thinking of that moment, which solidified his stance as an outspoken dissident and changed his life – and that of his father and family – forever.

When I’m running, I can think. Tai chi stops thinking. You have to focus too much on the now. Hands, feet, weight, balance, tension or release. It’s just not possible to think while you’re doing tai chi. At least not if you want to do it well. Running, on the other hand, got my brain into full motion.

The universe is a constantly evolving process: night makes way for day, the seasons change, the generations succeed one another. To be truly happy we have to find our own balance in a sea of eternal change.

Untamed, the mind is your greatest enemy: crippled by self-doubt, beset by irrational fears, and divided by its own conflicting desires. In meditation you will find the inner peace that alone can give you clarity, simplicity, and happiness.

I live in a cottage in Yorkshire, where I bake bread and refinish antiques and shock the neighbors with naked tai chi in the garden.

Embody being in the flow by 13-posture Tai Chi.

At first, verticality requires work because most of us are accustomed to slouching—but verticality actually requires less work because a balanced load is a stable load, and the human head weighs something like eight pounds. Offset the head just an inch or two, and the body experiences wear and tear along its entire length. Yet we’ve all seen photos of third-world women balancing enormous loads on their heads with no strain at all.

Thirty-Nine Ways to Lower Your Cortisol 1 Meditate. 2 Do yoga. 3 Stretch. 4 Practice tai chi. 5 Take a Pilates class. 6 Go for a labyrinth walk. 7 Get a massage. 8 Garden (lightly). 9 Dance to soothing, positive music. 10 Take up a hobby that is quiet and rewarding. 11 Color for pleasure. 12 Spend five minutes focusing on your breathing. 13 Follow a consistent sleep schedule. 14 Listen to relaxing music. 15 Spend time laughing and having fun with someone. (No food or drink involved.) 16 Interact with a pet. (It also lowers their cortisol level.) 17 Learn to recognize stressful thinking and begin to: Train yourself to be aware of your thoughts, breathing, heart rate, and other signs of tension to recognize stress when it begins. Focus on being aware of your mental and physical states, so that you can become an objective observer of your stressful thoughts instead of a victim of them. Recognize stressful thoughts so that you can formulate a conscious and deliberate reaction to them. A study of forty-three women in a mindfulness-based program showed that the ability to describe and articulate stress was linked to a lower cortisol response.28 18 Develop faith and participate in prayer. 19 Perform acts of kindness. 20 Forgive someone. Even (or especially?) yourself. 21 Practice mindfulness, especially when you eat. 22 Drink black and green tea. 23 Eat probiotic and prebiotic foods. Probiotics are friendly, symbiotic bacteria in foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kimchi. Prebiotics, such as soluble fiber, provide food for these bacteria. (Be sure they are sugar-free!) 24 Take fish or krill oil. 25 Make a gratitude list. 26 Take magnesium. 27 Try ashwagandha, an Asian herbal supplement used in traditional medicine to treat anxiety and help people adapt to stress. 28 Get bright sunlight or exposure to a lightbox within an hour of waking up (great for fighting seasonal affective disorder as well). 29 Avoid blue light at night by wearing orange or amber glasses if using electronics after dark. (Some sunglasses work.) Use lamps with orange bulbs (such as salt lamps) in each room, instead of turning on bright overhead lights, after dark. 30 Maintain healthy relationships. 31 Let go of guilt. 32 Drink water! Stay hydrated! Dehydration increases cortisol. 33 Try emotional freedom technique, a tapping strategy meant to reduce stress and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (our rest-and-digest system). 34 Have an acupuncture treatment. 35 Go forest bathing (shinrin-yoku): visit a forest and breathe its air. 36 Listen to binaural beats. 37 Use a grounding mat, or go out into the garden barefoot. 38 Sit in a rocking chair; the soothing motion is similar to the movement in utero. 39 To make your cortisol fluctuate (which is what you want it to do), end your shower or bath with a minute (or three) under cold water.

I’ve really gone down deep, scraped the bottom a couple of times and come up again, and it’s very nice meeting people now and talking about tai chi and people say: ‘Tai chi – what do you know about tai chi?’ and I say: ‘An energy flow’, and all this and they look at me and they say: ‘She’s the girl who’s supposed to like shopping and clothes the whole time. She’s not supposed to know about spiritual things.

Tai chi meets hardness with softness, so incoming force exhausts itself. It is philosophy for life also. You understand?

If you do not have a sense of well-being and joyfulness, then you are experiencing one of the ten thousand faces of fear.

Dam was in the midst of one of his bloody deep breathing, Tai Chi, Yoga, Karma Karma friggin’ Chameleon relaxation technique thingy exercises.

What good is our spiritual and philosophical development if the supermarket guy can succeed in imprisoning us at the checkout and force us to dance to the tune of the bar code?

The value of having ‘gotten’ someone is offset by the fact that he has also ‘gotten’ us.

While physical attack is, for most of us, a rare event, our everyday lives are often blighted by emotional conflict with wives, husbands, children, bosses, and colleagues—in fact just about everyone we encounter, including ourselves. In this respect, the punch and withdraw and push movements are metaphorical tools we can use with the goal of applying their lessons to dealing with life. While the punch, with all its power, is to be understood, respected, and mastered, its use in daily conflict is limited. It is a “battlefield” response, which (and this was important to Laoshi) may be used occasionally. It is not practical for the vast majority of our interactions through the day.

And it really can crunch. There is a constant danger of injuries from overwork. Close to performance time, a walk through the hallways near the pit can sometimes seem like a visit to a living catalog of alternative medicines: heat before playing, ice after playing, stretches against walls and doors, tai chi, the Feldenkrais Method, the Alexander Technique—all the major and minor bodywork systems have been used by colleagues at one time or another to make playing easier and more informed. Another way to make playing

Pain may be a part of life, but suffering doesn’t have to be. To a very great extent, this is why I study tai chi. It does not offer an end to pain, but it does offer us the chance to end our suffering.

Appropriate behavior comes from a deepening of gongfu, to the point where the ill-mannered behavior of others is more a matter of mild amusement than biting critique.

movement is not only practised but an entirely new repertoire of movement is acquired. The experience of movement, therefore, becomes a pedagogical process.

Education is the process in which a person forms their personality and character through exchange with contents and values of culture. It is about shaping their human existence. Teaching supports the person in this process.

It is a mark of spiritual maturity to be unaffected by other people’s opinions and to absent ourselves from the foolishness that follows as we clamor for the approval of others.

and began the tai chi. The patterns came back easily, one flowing into another, one with earth, sky, river and stars. With each rounded movement of her hands and body she felt the yin and yang, the opposing but harmonious forces in nature. Balance, rhythm, freedom.

All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.

Me?” I said, a little surprised. “What do you mean?” Jackie gestured with the cup. “You obviously work out. I mean,” she said with a wicked smile, “I can see you have a pretty good appetite, but you look pretty fit.” She actually winked at me. “Just like a real bodyguard should.” “Oh, well,” I said, still a bit uncomfortable. “I like to run. And, um, some tai chi …?

In contrast to the Western reliance on drugs and verbal therapies, other traditions from around the world rely on mindfulness, movement, rhythms, and action. Yoga in India, tai chi and qigong in China, and rhythmical drumming throughout Africa are just a few examples. The cultures of Japan and the Korean peninsula have spawned martial arts, which focus on the cultivation of purposeful movement and being centered in the present, abilities that are damaged in traumatized individuals. Aikido, judo, tae kwon do, kendo, and jujitsu, as well as capoeira from Brazil, are examples. These techniques all involve physical movement, breathing, and meditation.

Travel Bucket List 1. Have a torrid affair with a foreigner. Country: TBD. 2. Stay for a night in Le Grotte della Civita. Matera, Italy. 3. Go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Queensland, Australia. 4. Watch a burlesque show. Paris, France. 5. Toss a coin and make an epic wish at the Trevi Fountain. Rome, Italy. 6. Get a selfie with a guard at Buckingham Palace. London, England. 7. Go horseback riding in the mountains. Banff, Alberta, Canada. 8. Spend a day in the Grand Bazaar. Istanbul, Turkey. 9. Kiss the Blarney Stone. Cork, Ireland. 10. Tour vineyards on a bicycle. Bordeaux, France. 11. Sleep on a beach. Phuket, Thailand. 12. Take a picture of a Laundromat. Country: All. 13. Stare into Medusa’s eyes in the Basilica Cistern. Istanbul, Turkey. 14. Do NOT get eaten by a lion. The Serengeti, Tanzania. 15. Take a train through the Canadian Rockies. British Columbia, Canada. 16. Dress like a Bond Girl and play a round of poker at a casino. Montreal, Quebec, Canada. 17. Make a wish on a floating lantern. Thailand. 18. Cuddle a koala at Currumbin Wildlife Sanctuary. Queensland, Australia. 19. Float through the grottos. Capri, Italy. 20. Pose with a stranger in front of the Eiffel Tower. Paris, France. 21. Buy Alex a bracelet. Country: All. 22. Pick sprigs of lavender from a lavender field. Provence, France. 23. Have afternoon tea in the real Downton Abbey. Newberry, England. 24. Spend a day on a nude beach. Athens, Greece. 25. Go to the opera. Prague, Czech Republic. 26. Skinny dip in the Rhine River. Cologne, Germany. 27. Take a selfie with sheep. Cotswolds, England. 28. Take a selfie in the Bone Church. Sedlec, Czech Republic. 29. Have a pint of beer in Dublin’s oldest bar. Dublin, Ireland. 30. Take a picture from the tallest building. Country: All. 31. Climb Mount Fuji. Japan. 32. Listen to an Irish storyteller. Ireland. 33. Hike through the Bohemian Paradise. Czech Republic. 34. Take a selfie with the snow monkeys. Yamanouchi, Japan. 35. Find the penis. Pompeii, Italy. 36. Walk through the war tunnels. Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam. 37. Sail around Ha long Bay on a junk boat. Vietnam. 38. Stay overnight in a trulli. Alberobello, Italy. 39. Take a Tai Chi lesson at Hoan Kiem Lake. Hanoi, Vietnam. 40. Zip line over Eagle Canyon. Thunderbay, Ontario, Canada.

During your nonwork time, consider doing energetic-based exercises, such as qi gong, yoga, Pilates, tai chi, or karate. When performing these activities, focus on your intention. Running, walking, or biking before or after work or during lunch break are excellent ways to release others’ energies and rev up your own.

In the Chinese martial art of tai chi, the goal is to use your opponent’s aggressiveness against him—to turn his offense into your way to defeat him. That’s the approach we took with Alastair’s kidnapper: we wanted to absorb his threats and wear him down. We made sure that even scheduling a call with us was complex. We delayed making email responses.

the goal of protecting one’s self-image (embedded in the act of blaming others for one’s failures), is socially contagious.

ciruculates,

start on time? Is the bathroom clean? Are your feelings positive in that space? You won’t find perfection anywhere, nor do you need it. Just go in with a humble attitude and soak up everything you can. Come a few minutes early and sweep the floor or tidy the bathroom. Bring fresh flowers. Contribute, and learn whatever you can, and when the time comes to move on, leave on good terms with everyone. Don’t show up at all unless you’re willing to commit to at least six months of humble receptiveness. And don’t quit without notifying the instructor and thanking him or her sincerely. Present a small gift, nicely wrapped, to cement what should be a lifelong relationship. In China, they say a teacher for a day is a parent for a lifetime.

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