Flowing Zen

The classics say that dawn is the best time to practice Qigong. I absolutely agree. And not just because it’s written in the classics, but because over the past 16 years, I’ve tried it all.

These days, you hear a lot about cross-training in the fitness world. The premise is simple: By training simultaneously in more than one discipline you’ll get more benefit than if you trained in just one discipline. Does the same cross-training premise hold true with Qigong?

“Sifu, what do you do all day?” a student recently asked me. “After all, you only teach a few hours in the evenings. Do you have another job?” I’m sure she meant well. But I actually laughed out loud in response. If I had been sipping a glass of milk, I would have surely snarfed it up.

We all know that Qigong is great for healing. But is there anything else it can do? Like maybe clean the garage? Because that would be outstanding.

What would you say if I told you to have blind faith in me, to do whatever I said without hesitation or question even if it was distasteful to you? Hopefully, you would tell me to get lost. If not, if you would blindly follow a teacher no matter what — well then I’m not the teacher for you. I want to teach free-thinking human beings, not drones.

An ounce of prevention. Yada yada. We’ve all heard the cliché. But do we really believe it? Do we act as if prevention is worth 16 times more than a cure?

Valentine’s day is a day meant for love. But typically, the love is projected outward rather than inward. What if, instead of focusing so much love outward, you focused some of it inward? Would that be wrong?

A few months ago, I was on a business trip with my wife. After a long day at a healing conference, we decided to stop in a cafe for some refreshments. Just for fun, I asked the server for a “Tai Chi latte”. I figured it was worth a shot. I didn’t get a mug full of the Cosmos, but I did get a delicious cup of Chai Tea, which was almost as good.

Stop kidding yourself. You’re not ready to quit. And that’s okay. The sooner you admit that you’re not ready, the sooner you’ll be able to quit once and for all.

Students love thinking that their teacher is the best, and teachers love to encourage this. Sometimes it’s true. But more often, it’s not. How can you tell the difference?