Chi & Prana
Nothing could be more important than the circulation and balancing of the Chi, the Vital Force or Intrinsic Energy. Chi could truly be called the Staff of Life – when it stops circulating, we are dead. When the positive Chi and the negative Chi [...]
Moving Meditation
Of all the meditations, it seems the ones most fitting for busy, modern people are the moving meditations. It is easier to move joyously than it is to sit quietly and attempt to control the mind. The latter effort demands a quiet place [...]
Around the Platter Variation (right)
As the hands circle right and begin to cradle a ball, our weight shifts forward. At the halfway point, we let go of the ball so that the palms face down and the circle continues back to the starting point at the [...]
Around the Platter Variation (left)
As the hands move left and the weight begins to shift forward, the hands move to cradle a ball (Figure 2) and are held that way until they reach the halfway point in the circle. Then we let go of the ball [...]
Monkeys and Holy Men
Often, while staying on the second floor of a two-family house in Baroda, India, I noticed numerous monkeys watching me intently outside the window of my room. I asked my host Kaushik why this was so. “They are waiting for you to leave your [...]
Energy & Wisdom
Empty space seems to be a vast continuum of energy, and that energy is Wisdom. Energy appears in many forms, including matter, and it’s always there for us to use in recharging ourselves – hence, T’ai Chi Chih. When we do T’ai Chi [...]
Foreword for Joy Thru Movement
We can be very logical and intellectual. But when we try to fit T’ai Chi Chih into a neat definition, or hold on to our own personal ideas about it, we miss its essence. Trying to categorize it is like three [...]
The Way of Mindfulness
Now we come to the Way of Mindfulness (Satipatthana in the ancient Pali language), the Buddha’s great meditation that directly led to his all-encompassing enlightenment 2500 years ago. Only one man in historical times has been called Buddha, meaning Fully Enlightened One. Other [...]
A Prayer Before Meals for Buddhists and Others
May I be properly grateful for this food, which is the result of the work of others and the suffering of other forms of life. May I always be grateful to the Buddha, Who was born at Kapilavastu, Enlightened at Magadha, Preached at Varanasi, [...]
