Category Archives: Tai Chi

When Language Ends, What Then?

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I had been ruminating on what to write my blog about this week, but after spending a particularly creative day at my friend Emeli’s business Collective Potential the thought ballon went off so here they are , 15 perspectives on creativity, some quite famous , others virtually unknown.

The great inventors, artists and musicians were often considered flakey in their own time and most definitely did not fit in and many died penniless as their recognition came years later. What do we say about this area, creativity , that has changed our planet time and time again over the ages.

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1. Henry Matisse painted beautiful flowers, he also penned one of the greatest quotes about creativity, simply three words, Creativity takes Courage. When we get to our fear factor that is where creativity kicks in, in that area we have not been before, the Unknown.

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2. Remember as a child when you trashed your mum’s kitchen making your first cake, flour and cake mix and dirty bowls everywhere. One of our first major acts of creativity and it definitely was not tidy. Guess what, creativity rarely is.

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3. Sylvia Plath’s poems were often considered on the dark side, but they always seemed to strike a cord with the reader. On creativity she pointed to the danger of trying to be creative when you were visiting the realm of self doubt. Do something to get out of this state before journeying down its path.

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4. Some say Love is the drug, creative types know that the boredom of a life without creativity is the drug that feeds their adrenaline glands.

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5. Four years old, playing knights and dragons with our imaginary friendly dragon, other kids come along and join in the game until everybody in the playground is taking part. Creativity, pass it on.

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6. Author of the 9 Intense Experiences, Brian Vaszily points to the fact that creativity is actually showing other people their blind spots, something new and exciting that they can add to their daily life.

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7. The M word, Edison made a million of these before he came across the right formulae for the light globe. Yes on your creative path you are going to make many mistakes. In fact if you are not you are not being creative.

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8. Einstein, motley hair, eccentric as hell. But he always had that cheeky grin that one wears when you are being totally creative, much fun.

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9. Let it go , Let it Out , Let it all Unravel. Let it free and It will be a path on which to travel. Michael Leunig’s beautiful ode to letting go, this is the world of creativity, go there.

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10. Do we call them goals those things we attain to and that are not in existence yet, but in the world to be. I use Danielle LaPorte’s Core Desired Feelings from the Desire Map technology to relate to this area of my life. Mine are Peace, Bliss, Love, H.O.P.E. – Helping other people evolve and Abundance. Living out of these is much more fulfilling than any To Do list.

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11. My friend Jules is wild and juvenile and one of the most creative people I know. His imagination is unfettered. He is often accused of not growing up. I think he should be given an Order of Australia for his contribution to the creativity of the planet.

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12. Our minds often get blocked up with the grunge of our everyday lives, there are methods such as meditation, Yoga and my favourite Tai Chi to help clear them and allow some space for creativity to replace it.

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13. Oh those times in our lives when it felt like everything was floating around torn asunder, not connected at all. A perfect opportunity to use your creative juices to restore some sense to it all.

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14. We all have the same number of hours in the day as luminaries like Martin Luther King Jr., Gandhi, Beethoven, Sir Richard Branson and my friend Emeli Paolo of Collective Potential. The difference in what they achieved and are going to achieve, go Emeli is that they knew and know that you cannot change the world by being like it, you have to do something radically different.

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15. Fonzie in the classic 60’s TV show Happy Days couldn’t say the word sorry. In the world of Creativity you had better be able to be with being wrong, because you will be many times, that’s why it’s called creativity after all.

Another 15 vignettes pondered and written Namaste until next time my friends.

Namaste

Can they see Angels?

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We often see our children talking to their imaginary friends or staring into space like they can see something that is invisible to the rest of us. What is it that is taken from us as we age that seems to bring so much joy to the innocence and joy of child’s play.

Over the centuries people have pondered this question and written great tomes about it, her are 15 of the more popular ones that may help explain the mystery.

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1. As the newest arrivals on our planet babies are checking out all aspects that are available. They have to learn what is real or not, you cannot tell them this because they do not have language yet to understand what you are saying to them. What is it they see that holds them in such rapture for hours on end.

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2. The imagination that children develop is like that of a great painter creating an exquisite image on a blank canvas, so many wondrous unexplainable things that they form into their daily child’s play.

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3. Plato is considered one of the great thinkers of the ancient world, but he had something to say on the power of living life as play, learn from the children.

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4. We need to work to make a living, but what if our work felt like play, joyful and exciting each day. Make play each day your priority.

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5. Remember when you were young, a line from a very kitschy 70 or 80’s pop song. We have the opportunity to do this moment to moment, but how many of us take it to return to the totalled expressed joy of childhood?

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6. Do you remember the first time you were dropped off at kindergarten? Lots of your fellow conspirators of play had to be dragged kicking screaming and crying into that monolithic building. They all knew the serious work was the play not the formal learning.

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7. I remember trashing my mothers kitchen several times with cooking utensils and flour. I could never work out why I never got into trouble, I think Love is the word that explains it best.

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8. Even famous people like Martin Luther King junior valued time with his children in the heady days of transforming the civil rights of people. Here he is laying back with his children partaking in some Child’s play.

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9. The innocence of a child, especially a newborn baby sometimes bring tears to my eyes. it is this vulnerability that we spend so much money and time on trying to attain again as we have learnt to become more cynical as we age.

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10. Carl Orrf was one of the most influential composers of the last century, his Carmen Baruna is sublime. But as important as his music was to him he equally believed in educating children in play. here is what he had to say on the subject.

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11. Joy, freedom, contentment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world: these are a few of a child’s favourite things as they are participating in that heavenly state known as Child’s play.

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12. Past , Present and Future, babies and young children have one of these distinctions. Now, Now, Now. Eckhart Tolle has made a fortune getting us back to this point. We once had it so it is obtainable again.

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13. Sporting parents, we all have horror stories from growing up watching fellow children being forced to fulfil their parents lost dreams. Its great to know that there are sporting icons who don’t believe in this barbaric practice that has scarred many a child.

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14. One of Rumi’s great parables, that retaining your joy of playing with children is what gives you great insight into the world.

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15 Just one final reminder from our babies and children on how to enjoy life to the full, be in the present, don’t worry about what has gone in the past and we can’t be certain of our future, be in the NOW.

Another 15 beautiful insights into what is possible from that wondrous period of our life known as Child’s Play. Hopefully this will help you return there, even if just for a moment.

So Namaste to you my dear friends, until next time

Namaste

It goes to my Heart.

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My empathic traits are returning big time. Recently a friend posted a picture of her self with her girlfriends on Facebook and all the quotes were gorgeous, stunning,powerful women etc, etc. I felt like crying for her because all I could feel was the immense sadness emanating from her body. She had just returned from overseas and had posted how she was having difficulty assimilating back after separating from her lover who lives in another country.

so you know I like lists and the number 15 so here are 15 quotes or sayings about empathy and being an empath.

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1. Is being an empath a good thing or a bad thing, you can shut your eyes and block things out but when you feel it in your heart it doesn’t go away, light or shadow.

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2. Seeing Listening and Feeling, the three major skills of an empath that allow you to heal others and let them know that someone else relates to what they are going through.

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3. Our intuitive streak, Empathy, gut feeling when all our logical sensibilities are telling us to go the other way, yes you are an Empath and the former win out most of the time.

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4. We speak our truth, this may be after a very rocky journey, See most of humanity doesn’t and you can see it.

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5. Blessed are the few, and when we hone in on the suffering of the planet it sometimes feels like a curse. It takes inner strength to be an Empath.

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6. As an empath you can help heal other people with one word or one touch or lots of words or touches. But you are there for others as your dominant purpose on the planet.

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7. As an empathic individual you may go through rough patches where what is happening around you in the world is all consuming and saddens you. At this time its goodto remember your purpose is that of a healer.

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8. Imagine if all of our judges were Empaths. Would it change the sentencing of prisoners if the judge could feel the pain that they had suffered during their lives. A worthy experiment.

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9. With training and practice you can lessen the effect of outside energy but also must be aware of your internal energies. its up to us to be the change in the planets energy.

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10. As empaths we attend to attract likeminded people and you hear real stories, not its good and I feel fine. THis is raw honest communication, Yummy.

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11. Its Tenzin Gyatso, HHDL 80th Birthday, he is one of our spiritual leaders and he keeps pointing us towards the responsibility that being an empath is, keep on track.

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12. As empaths you don’t need to be directly adjacent to the person to sense whats going on, Possibly could be the reason why so many Empaths I know become Reiki masters and distance healers.

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13. One of my empathic friends formed a Facebook group called the Anchors of Love, thats what i see the purpose of me being an empath is, to send out the Love.

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14. A funny analogy, putting yourself in another socks, but this is what we do when we want to be comfortable to share whats going on, we take off our shoes and sometime even our socks and become more vulnerable.

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15 When I was downloading the images I lost count and only did 14 so I had to find another one. I found this piece of powerful writing. The quest for Love Justice and wisdom after the heroes journey. The uniting of dreamers, we can change the world.

Well we have reached the end, so time to sign off. Namaste my friends until next time.

Namaste

Are we fragile to the Core?

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After doing six workshops in a day recently I felt a little bit fragile, Feeling this way it made me wonder what did fragility mean and how did it shape our society, This is Wikipedia’s cut at it.

fragility

noun
the quality of being easily broken or damaged.
“osteoporosis is characterized by bone fragility”

synonyms: frailty, flimsiness, weakness, delicacy, daintiness, fineness, brittleness;

antonyms: robustness

the quality of being delicate or vulnerable.
“a film about the fragility of relationships”

This made me think about the times I have been really fragile in my life, especially my mental health episodes , all five of them. These periods are the extreme places fragility can take me so I looked to see what people had to say about it:

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This image is a great depiction of the times I have been taken over by my fragility, it was like having all the air crushed out of a ballon.

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The fragility of Life is what takes us on our journey to discob=ver our passion, It is never an easy road as life tries to fit us into one of its boxes.

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Life is a delicate mix between the fragility of new growth to the eternalness of the night sky, both are extraordinary in their magnificence.

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Love is often depicted as the peak experience in our lives, it is not in these moments that love triumphs , but in the moments when it is at its most fragile state.

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Women give all of their heart if you are willing to stand in the space of unconditional love and be there for the whole journey, the fragile bits of vulnerability and the tough bits of the storm that is love.

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We close our eyes when we kiss as a sign to the fragility and beauty of the pureness of the act. At that moment the rest of the world feels like walking on broken glass.

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Love and its fragility is universal to the world and is written of in all languages, this is one of them, it translates with the same power as your native tongue.

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Crystals have been a powerful tool across the centuries, their fragility is hard to explain the journey that have been through to create their well known healing powers.

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Do we need to be sorry when we are feeing a wee bit fragile in our emotions. We would hope that we have understanding friends, family and partners who assist us through these times.

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Nature in all its power and mystery can make the human race very fragile, it is in these times that we learn to respect the power of Gaia.

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Do we need to take a trip to the moon to learn the lesson that our planet is built on a fragile ecosystem and that mans responsibility is to care for it.

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The world wide web has become the way we communicate, Instant gratification. We can use it to spread possibility or hate, I choose the former with my group of world wide FB friends, what do you choose.

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If we do not risk the steps that it takes to feel the joy of intimacy we may never know the rapturous beauty of these moments, it is a path filled with fragility.

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Sometimes it feels that we muddle through that crazy little thing called Love. It calls for our vulnerability, our fragility, our strength and our tears.

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Trust, one of the most fragile things in life. We must treat this honourable gift we give to each other with the dignity that it deserves, especially in love matters.

Another exploration into the wonder that is life over, Namaste until next time my friends.
Namaste

Finding the Now!!

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There are so many schools of thought how to be in the Now emanating across the airwaves these days one does not really know who to believe or where to begin to find the most useful amongst them. I have tried many of them over my sixty years so I thought I would pass on a few I have found useful.

1. Calm Abiding Meditation

“There are many stages in mental development, but as soon as we are able to maintain the mind in a calm state, at that very moment there is joy and peace. This is reflected in the body becoming relaxed, and then the mind becomes more relaxed. As the mind calms down, the hidden enlightened qualities emerge more and more.”

—Venerable Khenpo Rinpoche

This statement sums up pretty much what you can achieve in the daily practice of Calm Abiding meditation, a practice I did for 7 years, and which I have recently taken up again after a break of 5 years. I trained to become a meditation Teacher during those 7 years and look forward to using those skills again after my practice is established again.

2. Hatha Yoga

Hatha yoga describes the physical practice of yoga. In fact, sometimes the name Hatha is used interchangeably with “yoga.” The slow pace and simple breathing exercises make it a great place to learn basic poses and become comfortable on the mat. My breath cycle improved from 9 seconds to 44 while I was doing Yoga and only gave it up when I discovered the beauty of Tai Chi.

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3. Tai Chi

Developed originally in China as a self-defense strategy, or martial art, tai chi—the “supreme ultimate fist”—is practiced in modern times primarily as a gentle exercise technique. Described as “meditation in motion,” tai chi consists of a standing person performing a series of postures or bodily movements in a slow and graceful manner, with each movement flowing without pause to the next. According to Chinese legend, the technique was created by a Taoist monk who was inspired as he watched a crane and a snake do battle. Impressed by the ‘snake’s ability to subtly and swiftly avoid the bird’s thrusts, he devised a series of self-defense techniques that do not involve meeting the opponent’s force with force, but rather stress evading the blow; causing the opponent’s own momentum to work against him. I do the Beijing  24 practice daily and am learning he Bamboo practice. I Also do a warm up called Qigong

4. Qigong

Qigong, literally: “Life Energy Cultivation” is a practice of aligning body, breath, and mind for health, meditation, and martial arts training. With roots in Chinese medicine and Philosophy and martial arts, qigong is traditionally viewed as a practice to cultivate and balance qi (chi) or what has been translated as “life energy”.[1]

According to Daoist, Buddhist, and Confucian philosophy, respectively, qigong allows access to higher realms of awareness, awakens one’s “true nature”, and helps develop human potential. This noble practice has helped me regain my well being and is my current practice.

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5. 5 Rhythms Dance

5Rhythms is a movement meditation practice devised by Gabrielle Roth in the late 1970s. It draws from indigenous and world traditions using tenets of shamanistic ecstatic, mystical and eastern philosophy. Fundamental to the practice is the idea that everything is energy, and moves in waves, patterns and rhythms.

Gabrielle describes the practice as a soul journey, and says that by moving the body, releasing the heart, and freeing the mind, one can connect to the essence of the soul, the source of inspiration in which an individual has unlimited possibility and potential.

Getting back to this has allowed me to free my body and be much more present in the Now of my body.

6. Philosophers Notes

Brian Johnson made mega dollars in the I.T. industry then went to Bali and read all the great books. His gift to the world is he can summarise them beautifully.

PhilosophersNotes are like healthy, energizing snacks for the mind, heart and soul! This is such a superb idea, and Brian has such a natural, infectiously appealing way of making it relevant to just about everybody. For avid personal-development aficionados, Philosophers Notes serve as a sampler plate of the very best reads out there, making it easier to decide which new books to crack open next, and which classics deserve a fresh look.

I did one of these for about 60 days in a row then read the books that really touched my heart. They say the day you die is the day you stop learning, in our busy world this is an excellent way to get to access the best quickly. Here’s a link if you are interested https://www.entheos.com/philosophersnotes 5r

7. Communing with Nature

We forget that Gaia has been gifted  to remind us that we are all part of the greater plan. A weekend away from the chaos of the city in a forest , or near a beach or river restores our sense of Now. Leaving your phone, computer and work behind for this period has us focus on things like trees, animals and the fresh air that these places are filled with.

8. Growing and Cooking my own Food

Supermarkets are not even 100 years old, how did humans get their food prior to the existence of what is now the major supplier of Food for the human race. We grew our own and prepared and cooked it ourselves or brought it from our local producers. The joy of  planting you own vegetables and having your own chickens is immeasurable and making your own meals from fresh, non toxic produce bought from a local farmers market is so good for your health.

Well, I hope this has helped you a little, Namaste until next time my Friends.

Namaste