Just came across a 4th C BCE Taoist scholar, Zhuangzi through the writer, Karen Armstrong In an interview in a recent article in the NYTimes she writes: Everybody has heard of the Tao Te Ching, the Taoist classic. Less well known, but equally important and far more accessible, is “The Book of Zhuangzi,” written in the fourth century B.C., which also enables the reader to become aware of the Tao , the sacred reality that permeates every aspect of life. Zhuangzi’s style is energetic, ebullient, bracing, humorous and accessible. The secret, he explains, is to let ourselves go, laying aside the ego that we cherish so diligently. We do this not by abstruse meditation; instead, we must focus on simple tasks so thoroughly and wholeheartedly that we forget ourselves and allow the qi , the sacred force that permeates the whole of reality, to take over. His heroes are not daunting, solitary mystics. Instead, Zhuangzi introduces us to ordinary people engaged in humdrum tasks who lose themse
In my classes I like to introduce the many Qigong sequences I've learned, mostly from a fascinating teacher I studied with for a few years, up in Stone Ridge, NY -- Hawkes, he calls himself. A powerful student of the internal arts, Qigong, t'aiji as well as Shamanism. Over the years I learned one after the other, and we would then alternate, a few months with one, then on to the next, in cycles -- the Eight Taoist Moves, the Ten Daoists, and to one of the most beautiful, and most well known of these, Eight Pieces of Brocade I've since found a version that was very moving, demonstrated by Laoshi Faye Yip, now teaching in London I believe. While I haven't incorporated all of her style and form, I've adopted, and now teach Laoshi Fay'sopening, the last move, as well as a flower-like 6th move, a punch with amazing spiraling of the wrist at the end. This is a video of Laoshi Faye showing us her beautiful, centered rendition of Eight Pieces...