Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright!

Happy new year of the Metal Tiger! (Xin Nian Kuai Le!!)

With the coming of spring and this new year, I’ve decided to slither out of hiding and begin full-time community service! What does that mean? Well, I’m not entirely certain. Now that I’m back in Tucson, I’d like y’all to help me organize my future activities.
(For those of you interested in Chinese astrology, I’m a Snake in the Tiger year. This year is my “argument” phase, and any energy I send out into the world might be misinterpreted or misunderstood. So, I’m employing the skills of softness & listening that have been gained through taiji practice. Whichever direction the Universe guides me in, is the direction that I’ll go. “Acceptance” is my keyword for the year.)
Thus far, since returning from China, I’ve been accepting acupuncture opportunities and qigong playmates. There has been some strong guidance toward studying the “Way of Tea” through Master Zhuping. (All about being mindful, peaceful, & joyful.) Some have asked for my calligraphy artwork, and others for instructional sessions. So, if any of my friends have a wish to study qigong/taiji, to receive treatments, etc., please share your intentions with me before my schedule fills-up. I’ve been learning & developing skills over the past several years, and am looking forward to sharing them with you!
:o)
More and more, though, I spend my life in stillness. The world that we’ve built up around a frantic need to “Do” and to “Get” seems ludicrous, and I want nothing to do with its creation. So, I’ve decided to retire. Isn’t that what people do when they stop toiling in the world? Perhaps, astrologically speaking, I should wait until I’m 36...or 60; but I’d really like to have my retirement party sometime this week...

This past year of economic difficulty has hit some of us harder than others. Marina & I were lucky enough to have a stable gig supporting our lifestyle, but other friends are in dire circumstances. As such, I’ll be forming some community programs to help a couple of local businesses: namely Bentley’s & Seven Cups. They are both wonderful places run by beautiful people, and deserve our support. So, for example, I’ll probably be forming some meditation groups that will meet at the tea-house before and after regular business hours. Also, a biweekly “Go” group (“Wei Qi” - Chinese strategy game) might help support their business. The cafe is a different scene entirely, however, and would best be served by forming discussion groups. One friend thinks that forming a Daoist discussion group would be popular, but Daoism really lends itself to silence more than cognition. Maybe a discussion of the Confucian classics? Or the written classics of Chinese medicine? How about a conversational Mandarin group? Maybe we can speak to some local churches and get them to organize their Bible/Qur’an/whatever groups there? With enough small gatherings, we can help see our friends through a tough time.

Our sunrise QiGong & TaiJi Quan gatherings are going wonderfully well. So well, in fact, that we’re considering adding a sunset class. Perhaps the “Body-Opening” set alongside more taiji? Does anyone have preferences? Just for fun, I might begin playing at the tea-house within the Botanical Gardens. I’m not sure if there will be space in my schedule for that, but it depends upon who ear-marks the time first. Many possibilities have been opening themselves up, and I’m not at all sure what I’ll be doing a year from now. Teaching and applying Chinese medicine is fun, and practicing TCM in other countries sparked my interest for a time. In fact, there was an offer to practice in the Middle East for a ridiculously large sum of money. I even found myself building a resume and talking with Kuwait practitioners on Facebook! In the end, though, my commitment to building a relationship with Marina (and her tendency for homesickness) was more than enough of a reason to put some roots down in the Old Pueblo. This is a darned nice town, if I do say so myself.

I’ve been getting a bit of...well, shall we say, hassle, from my friends. They are concerned about my working for free (or donation). Most of the time, my quick response is something like, “You’d be surprised at how generous people are!” Or, “People shouldn’t have to pay for wellness.” But, much of my reasoning has to do with the concept of retirement from the “western” style of living. This “tit for tat,” need to be “more.” A sense of fear about starving to death and being eaten by wolves if we rely upon the generosity of our community. Ask yourself how many of your friends would NOT be generous if given the chance. Likely, you’ll have trouble thinking of any. This has been true with every person I’ve posed the question to, and yet we still have the “selfish human” myth planted within our minds. The fact is, people long for an opportunity to express their generosity! They simply need to be given the opportunity within an arena of perfect love and perfect trust. That’s the healing space that I aim to construct in my home. Well, no...I take that back. That space already exists as the natural state of the universe, we only need to blink the sleep from our eyes long enough to experience our own nature. Also, for my own life, I don’t feel the need to ask for something... in order to give. The gift becomes a joke if I say “I’ll share my friendship with you, ...for $60.” The whole point of life is to express love/dao/goddess/vegemite/etc.
"We don't just love and leave it there, we ask something in return," wrote J. Krishnamurti. "Love is not a reaction. If I love you because you love me, that is a mere trade, a thing to be bought in the market; it is not love. To love is not to ask anything in return, not even to feel that you are giving something."
So, for me, asking for money to help someone feel better is like having a friend ask for relationship-advice and responding, “Sure, I can help. For a price!” In order for me to treat/teach someone skillfully, I must understand them. Upon understanding them, I love them. They become a close and treasured friend. A close and treasured friend that is hurting. How do I demand payment from that person? Impossible! If they offer a gift out of their love for me, then that’s a different process entirely. So, if it’s possible for them to heal an illness because a friend shares a gift with them; then it’s just as possible for me to pay rent because a friend shares a gift with me!
:o)
Can I get an Amen?!

So, I’m sitting in the tea-house right now, listening to jazz & sipping Da Hong Pao. My whole body feels fantastic. I’m truly, deeply, effortlessly, peaceful & relaxed. Joy buzzin’ through my bones and giggles ripplin’ across the surface of my skin. Even my clothes are happy. I have a solid, gentle, loving relationship with a gal who snorts when she laughs. My eating habits have led me to become a “foodie,” and I have the friends & resources to support my tasty addictions. We have 4 dogs that are alternately loving & hilarious, and a garden which occasionally grows TOO well. Honestly (and people have trouble believing it sometimes), I am a happy guy. These practices that I’ve been lucky enough to learn have shaped me in ways that I’d have never expected. As my dad’s family might shout, “Allah Hum DiDi Lai!” (Thank god for life!)

I’m never quite sure what to write about next. Intentionally, I try to come to these blogs without an agenda, hoping that my life will lay itself down at your feet. ...Verbally speaking. Unfortunately, my mind is not a sequential thing. Years of meditations have unraveled much intellectual-structuring that society chiseled into my brain. Now logic is interspersed with emotion & epiphany, humor and general weirdness. Time sequences blend, opinions dissolve, and the English language becomeleshqi kakjdijqjssss.

We had the great fortune to train in the Chen Village, China, this year. This is considered the birthplace of taiji quan, and the level of skill (gongfu) there is ridiculously impressive. Every day, all day, we learned from Chen Xiaoxing, the leader of the village. Suffice it to say that we learned a whole lot. It’ll take me years to assimilate his instruction. The locals there were truly wonderful! Kind, patient, generous, dedicated, hard-working, self-directed, and ambitious. I love when the world shrinks down to a few simple details, and a single goal. We’d rise, train, eat, train, eat, nap, train, eat, train, & then sleep. That’s all that existed, or mattered. Really really fun! To be honest, we’d probably be living there right now (making money Online) if not for the pollution. Awful. Not the way that I want to live. Leaving behind our new Chen family was one of the toughest things I’ve ever had to do. Maybe one day we’ll head back there to stay?? Who knows?

So, stay tuned!

Same SNAKE time!
Same SNAKE channel!

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First let your outer practice transform your inner being,
Then let your inner being lead your outer action.
(TaiJi Classics)