It's no secret that the Daoist tradition is one that prizes harmonizing with nature.

The famous Dao De Jing of Lao Tzu regularly exhorts the reader to come into such harmony, but the Chinese Medical scriptures of the Yellow Emperor's classic are even more explicit - advising certain health practice to help us accord with specific seasonal energies.

We need not be as complex as all that, but I think all of us can feel when the change of season comes upon us.  These times of year bring with them a certain archetypal quality.  The equinoxes - when the days and nights are equal - shine a quality of balance and harmony.  

On the autumn equinox, personally, I always feel a call to go inward.

We can accord with these energies by meditating or doing qigong or inner yoga practices with the intention to line ourselves up with the larger cycles around us.  

Every autumn, I offer a three day Daoist meditation retreat to help us ride that inward...

We could all use a bit more peace, meaning, and groundedness in our lives, no matter the time or conditions we find ourselves in.

Daoist schools of meditation put this peace squarely within your reach because they are born from non-sectarian and non-dual ways of thinking.

Simply put, this means it's a meditation system built on working with you as you are, rather than trying to make you into something that you're not.

Below are three, easy to remember principles utilized by Daoist Meditation, which you can apply to any practice of inner peace!

1. Unite Body, Breath, and Mind

Daoist practices understand the connection between our bodies and minds, this is why practices like Qigong, or "Daoist Yoga" are so often emphasized.  It is felt that if you can manage the life force through posture and breathing, you can balance the body for greater health, and the mind for greater peace.  

Each of these three is said to impact the others.  Our thoughts...

Perhaps one of the hardest things about life during stressful times is that it can feel like there are few choices and lots of decisions.

What's the difference?  

"Decision" comes from root words that mean "to cut" or to cut off, while "Choice" refers to making a "free selection".

When times are stressful and chaotic, our human brains want to think of the answer FAST, because it feels like fast answers are how we'll survive.

But the "fast thinking" part of our brains is made up of shortcuts, and some of those are cognitive biases that can skew our perception - making it less complete.

One of these common biases is called a "false binary", in which we tend to divide the world up into a set of opposites.  These are things like Good vs Evil, Tribe vs Others, and decisions which seem like it's "one way or the other".

The truth of most matters is that there's an incredible amount of nuance in between the binaries we construct, but it takes a relaxed, open,...

The world feels a *bit* chaotic right now.  I wonder if you noticed!

In times like these, things can get hard because while there's SO much on our minds and hearts from what's happening all around us, we still need to get everything else done too - just like at any other time.

I'm extremely grateful to be on a bit of a sabbatical from preaching at the moment so that I can practice some restoration, and I'm looking forward to our Daoist Meditation Retreat next month for the same reason!  I personally NEED this stillness if I'm going to bring my best self forward to serve.

We NEED stillness, compassion, quiet, and peace to balance out the division, complexity, and danger we may feel in the world around us.  

I've noticed myself getting a little extra irritable over some pretty small-potatoes issues lately, have you?  It took me a minute to recognize that  no matter what the tiny irritation was - it wasn't really the cause of my...

Last month I gave the introduction class to our 10 month Empathy Dojo certification course and made that first class available to the public.

Empathy Dojo is up and running and we've just finished our first month - I wanted to share the intro class with you in case you didn't get a chance to attend live!

Click below to watch the full video, and scroll down for notes and quotes!

https://youtu.be/hL41LMQX2jU

If you enjoy this material and didn't get to sign up for THIS cohort of the Empathy Dojo, stay tuned for more free classes and the next enrollment window!  https://templestyle.mykajabi.com/the-empathy-dojo

(scroll down for detailed notes from this workshop!)

Main Points:

SUCKS stands for:

• Stories
• Un-empathetic
• Consumerist
• Karma Karate
• Samsara

What to do about it is 'REVC'

• Rapport (is primary)
• Emotions (all are valid)
• Values (you are the source of them)
• Choose (responsibly)

Quotable Quote Cardz:

Detailed Notes:

Why our communication SUCKS - the brief history of...

Check out this super-quick Qigong reset!

Qigong is traditionally taught in "sets" - pre-scripted sequences of movements designed to have specific effects on the body and mind.  

This is an amazing way to learn.  My Sifu shared that the classical qigong sequences are like scriptures written in movement.  When you perform them in their entirety, they can impart a somatic or even spiritual wisdom!

But what about the individual moves that make up the sequence?  These are, in fact, like the individual notes in a musical composition, or the letters, words, and phrases of a poem.

When we understand the words, notes, colors, we gain the ability to make art for ourselves!  

This means we're no longer bound to only performing pre-set routines from the ancients.  I, personally, still do those every day, and get LOTS of value from them, but they're not the only way!

I'll write more on these possibilities in the future, but I wanted to share with you two...

I said to my qigong-instructor trainee last week, "You've officially become a level one yogi!"

What is a yogi?  It's a word with an ancient heritage - basically it means a practitioner of yoga, the art of Union.  In my own terminology these days I tend to refer to this as integration - hence, the brand is Templestyle Integrative Arts.  The name yogi was born in India and yogins were known throughout India, Tibet, Nepal, China, even into Afghanistan.  My own Chinese Zen tradition (Cha'n) comes down through a Buddhist school known as "Yogachara" - the practitioners ("chara") of yoga.  

Daoist cultivators have also sometimes been titled yogins by modern authors, as a way to help people understand the nature of the less-familiar arts of neigong (inner cultivation, aka "Daoist Yoga").  In an odd historical turn, some scholars feel that the earliest inner yogic techniques in the Indian tantras may have been imported from China in the first...

Qigong is the language of the unconscious.

The unconscious speaks through art.  You can see it all over the world. Myth, poetry, dance, they all touch us in ways that mere rationality cannot.

I'm all for rationality, personally - I think our world needs a LOT more of it.  But we shouldn't delude ourselves into thinking that rational is all that we are.  The power of our being, our living energy, is all in our emotions and longings and those deep elements of ourselves.

The roots of all these felt experiences of life-force are in our unconscious, and they manifest through our bodies.  The sacred arts around the world are all about learning to communicate skillfully between our rational, waking mind, and this non-linear, poetic mind of dreams.

Because we can tap into inner vitality and energy, these arts are called "qigong" - working with energy, or "pranayama" releasing the life-force.  The symbols, sacred gestures, mantras, songs, poems, and...

The answer to frustration is action.

I'm thinking about the challenges we're facing together as a planet a lot lately, and especially today because it's Earth Day.  The enormity of our collective work can get a little overwhelming!

What saves me is that I know that when frustration arises, it's actually the mobilizing and motivating energy of my human body encouraging me to make positive change.  In Daoist cosmology, this is related to the symbolism of the "Wood" Element - the energy of growing things, of life.  

When the Wood Element is flowing freely, we feel motivated, generous, and empowered.  When this energy is locked up, it results in frustration and resentment.  I was reminded of the old joke you might tell yourself if you find yourself stuck in any kind of martyr complex: "Get down off the cross, we need the wood!"  And it occurred to me, we need the wood element!  Of course, not all our own sufferings are self-imposed, but...

The Biohacking Bodhisattva?

We have outgrown the pre-modern age where all spirituality was handed down by venerable tradition, or dictated by the understanding of the elders in our local region.  Edifices of culture-bound religious insights have been toppled in the light of scientific discovery.  We have entered the information age, the way we practice the life of the heart can no longer be that of a bygone era, it must evolve and adapt to the new understandings that emerge every day.

We're living through the first time in history where we can develop an evidence-based spirituality.  I believe this is what the Bodhisattvas of old were working toward all along.  

A "Bodhisattva" means a Warrior of the Awakened Heart, and all Bodhisattvas are biohackers.  Why is this so?  Because the ideal of the Bodhisattva is to create the greatest possible benefit for every being.  Their goal has always been to become a nexus of...