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Show the Universe what Ya got!!

[Sorry Jack; it’s another bait-n-switch, a holdover from my days working for the man.]

My grandfather used to say a man only needs two pairs of pants. It’s probably how he saved enough money to put his great-grandchildren through college.

How did I hear it (over & over) as a kid?

“Real men don’t own more than two pairs of pants.”

 

Part of me will always believe it.

Pops spoke the same way Patanjali wrote: in mathematical extremes. While it’s literally impossible to be perfect, that was their mutual advice:

“BE YOUR BEST.”

 

The ultimate goal (they agreed) is to do so willingly & lovingly in service of something other than oneself. My first yoga teacher told me that about 15 years ago; it took 13 years more suffering to ‘click’ – and I was desperately trying to ‘get it’ the entire time! Yeah; it doesn’t come easy – and it can’t be gifted.

‘Getting it’ takes a combination of:

A.) a lot of beatings (mostly to the ego in my case; it’s taken me awhile just to see myself as the human equivalent of a rooster according to Traditional Chinese Medicine: a strutting, fancy-boy chicken with a big mouth! The EXACT opposite of what I want to be!! DAMN! I SOOOO want to be a hero: a dragon, maybe a black panther…

….and/or…..

B.) a leap of faith that no one can entice you into making – the odds are ludicrous. You make the bet because you HAVE to believe there’s something more – having no clue as to the reality of some mystical post-apocalyptic payoff.

Here’s the bet:

If you ALWAYS act as if you were setting the bar… to literally be the best, toughest, smartest – at whatever you do given whatever uniqueness God blessed you with – in honor of something other than yourself….

….at the end of the day you’ll be rewarded in a way you can’t currently comprehend.

 

Wanna roll the dice?

Be the person you were born to be: it’s the essence of who YOU are – uniquely, EVER. There will never be another you!!

Show the universe what ya got!!

 

Me, for one thing, I’m apparently a friggin’ rooster, so I crow a lot!

Shine a light for others – act in accordance with your own truth. Close your eyes. The answers are closer than you think.

Here’s today’s tip:

Remain aware of your three aspects:

  • the physical part the rest of the world literally sees (your chassis/hardware – pick your analogy);
  • the invisible, incredibly twisted, creative and clever part [or however yours functions] that ONLY you ‘see’ from the inside [which the rest of the world sees reflected in your words and actions](your engine/software); and
  • the energetic system that sustains and animates them (the gasoline/jet fuel/electricity).

And then there’s the Source of all this craziness:

YOU!

Want to meet yourself?

Close your eyes and contemplate the concept of infinity. Every day. Like your life depends on it.

God bless you, Skip

 

Happy to be of help if I may. Yoga & QiGong lessons. 😉

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ARE YOU A ROOSTER OR A DRAGON?

You know those Chinese restaurant menus with the animal-years? There are 12 of them:

  1.   Cat
  2.   Dog
  3.   Dragon
  4.   Goat
  5.   Horse
  6.   Monkey
  7.   Ox
  8.   Pig
  9.   Rat
  10.   Rooster
  11.   Snake
  12.   Tiger

Here’s the totally bananas–crazy thing for this old white guy who was raised in Vermont: 

it’s friggin’ REAL!

 

Does it change my life to “know” that?! Kinda – at least on one level: the fact that I am a readily identifiable “type” makes it easier/possible for traditional Chinese medical (TCM) doctors to help me – and more importantly, if I become a TCM “doctor” or Master, I can more readily and effectively help others. 😊

That’s a LOT more information than Patanjali’s outline of Raja Yoga covers. [I suspect much of the ancient Indian science has been lost over the millennia given TCM’s recognition of the significance of the contribution made by early Indian Masters.] 🙏

Almost three years ago I devoted whatever time I have left here to promoting and teaching Patanjali’s simple message: “part of you is divine – and you can prove it to yourself”.

It WILL change you.

While Patanjali documented a mental practice to achieve awareness of the world beyond the mundane, TCM took it to a place I can’t even see from where I am.

I’m truly humbled and awe-struck.

 

I will fulfill my commitment to Patanjali, but TCM, WOW.

Apparently, it takes about ten years (fewer with more devotion and commitment) to accumulate the experience to be a first degree “black belt” or Medical QiGong Master. I have a running start because I’ve devoted the last 15 years to Patanjali’s similar yet much simpler discipline.

Here’s one thing Patanjali didn’t tell me: according to TCM, which also looks at life on three levels (form, energy, mind):

I’m the human equivalent of a rooster: in form, energetically, and sub-consciously.

 

[Never mind the fact that I’ve always thought of myself as a dragon! Shucks!]

Getting our three discernable “parts” to act in unison – to resonate in harmony with our unique “inborn voice” – not only reduces suffering, it helps us become what we were always naturally meant to be!

Can you guess which of the three pictures above represents:

  • my physical form, and…
  • the energy that naturally links it to…
  • ….my non-physical, sub-conscious mind

It gets better: there are at least five distinct sub-types of rooster [I’m a fire-rooster]!

 

[Which means – relative to other farm animal types – I’m relatively trustworthy, especially at work. And here I’ve always attributed that to my small business owner, grandfather beating it into me!! Love you Pops!!]

The supporting data comes from thousands of years of astrological charting. It’s scientific; mathematical – like Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras! <3 <3 <3

Intuitively, it makes sense: certain types of trees, fruits and flowers bloom at different times each year – there’s a natural cyclicality to life. Measure it closely enough, long enough and it turns out that the regular rotation of our planet, and it’s routine movement through our universe causes it/us to be exposed to a dozen different types of energy.

How do I “know” I’m channeling some serious natural “rooster” energy – simply based on the time and place I was born?

First of all, I’ve lived between these two ears for over 60 years, and right off the top of my head these jump to mind:

  • My ego is the size of this planet – always has been. I’ve always felt like “the cock of the walk”. I shrunk from it for most of my life, but a couple months ago, I offered to pose virtually naked in class so the teacher could draw the 12 TCM meridiens on my body! [Frankly, I just wanted to know where they are in me – damn the consequences!!] Ironically, on some deep sub-conscious level, I’ve also always known I’m a big chicken with an over-inflated ego. Can’t tell you how many real fights I’ve run away from, though it never seems to deminish that rooster energy!

 

  • I “cock-a-doodle-do” a LOT (almost daily). I’ve been posting insights into Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras for almost 16 years – and my job for over 20 years was generating quarterly reports for investors. Yeah; hard to get the damned rooster to shut up!

 

  • Speaking of which, crowing and strutting tend to alienate people – especially other guys, though thankfully it seems to have the opposite effect on the fairer sex. For my entire adult life I’ve blamed my inability to bond in any meaningful way with another male on my father. Guess what dad – you’re still a prick, but I forgive you a little. Apparently, part of that inability is literally in-born.

 

  • Oh yeah, and I “preen” a lot. Sue will tell you that for a guy I spend an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom [little does she know I’m in there doing yoga or qigong the entire time!]

Blessings & hugs, Skipper-doodle-do!

❤️😊🕉

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Excerpt from the Gita

“Work alone is our privilege, never the fruits thereof. Never let the fruits of action be your motive; and never cease to work. Work in the name of the Lord, abandoning selfish desires. Be not affected by success or failure. This equipoise is called Yoga.”

 

Shorthand:

“Living is our reward.”

❤😊🕉

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A FRESH PERSPECTIVE

My Qi Gong teacher has me rethinking something I wrote yesterday:

“self-mastery leads to Self-awareness”

 

Raja or Patanjalian Yoga refers to our body/mind as our “self”, and consciousness as our “Self”.

Herein “Self-awareness” is another term for “Enlightenment”, a state in which the distinction between thought and awareness OF thought is apparent.

Thoughts are evidence of our Conscious Mind. The awareness OF our thoughts is evidence of our Consciousness, the aspect of us that’s intangible and immutable.

Patanjali’s discipline is consciousness-centric, purposefully bifurcating the universe between consciousness and everything else to make the point that:

Consciousness is essentially divine!

 

That said, all of my yoga teachers have stressed that while we’re here, we clearly remain human and therefore naturally fallible.

So IS Enlightenment the endgame?!

 

What if say, it happened to someone in the Fall of their life? They can’t just sit around dwelling in bliss (especially if they’re married and want to remain so)!

As the universe (and my Qi Gong teacher) keeps reminding me, it’s about being balanced and grounded while we’re here!

Be the best you can be! Tap into the power within yourself! Meditate!

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PROUD NEW ENGLANDER

[that’s Buddha watching over our winter garden]

I’m proud to hail from this neck of the woods.

I grew up in Vermont; went to school & met Sue in New York; and we moved here with two kids & a dog in ‘95.

Our 01945 neighborhood (2 rows of 7 houses) received more than a foot of rather heavy late-season snow today.

I just walked Penny around the block; virtually all of us are dug out; sidewalks cleared, cars dusted off – ready to go.

Not a pretty analogy, but it’s as if a giant foot kicked sand on our anthill and within a few minutes we were out and going about our business as usual.

#RespectNature

❤😊🕉

Qi Gong and Raja Yoga class schedule

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NOTE TO MY BROTHER [the open minded one!]

Do you know where I can find out what time of day I was born?

It’s a Zen thing. Apparently, not only the day, month and year we’re born – but

the actual time of day – can be predictive of one’s true nature.

 

Sounds bananas, but it’s as if humans grow and whither seasonally like everything else on the planet. Go figure.

Apparently after thousands of years of observing nature (including us), ancient Chinese scientists figured out that – just like flowers planted and blooming in different seasons have different characteristics –

times of human conception and birth influence the output. Who knew?!

 

Friggin’ fascinating. They’ve got it down to such a precise science that the time of day we’re born has a distinct effect on:

  • our bloom potential (i.e., how we’re likely to grow and “bloom” naturally baring a catastrophe), and more importantly,

 

  • how best to maximize that potential (in short, what combination of body-mind-consciousness work is most likely to restore someone to their true, balanced self?)

 

The “charting” gives the “doctor” (in this case a Zen Master I’m fortunate enough to have access to) another piece of information to work with when prescribing a personal “restoration protocol” for the student (i.e., so I can adjust my personal practice to make the most of it holistically).

Thanks Bud – for the time of day info and listening. Love you.

Qi Gong & Raja Yoga class schedule

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NOTE TO A FELLOW TEACHER

I think it’s great to encourage men to honor both their yin and yang attributes but yoga and other Eastern mind/body disciplines train us to control our emotions rather than remaining vulnerable to them.

“Strength begets Freedom.

Freedom begets Peace.

Peace begets Tranquility.”

 

Strength over emotions is essential; they color our thoughts and precipitate our actions which account for 70% of what bothers us!!

“Watch your mind.

Guard your words.

Keep your Qi.”

 

That said, stuffing, ignoring or distracting ourselves from emotions isn’t a long term solution. The solution is a lifelong discipline of self-awareness and self-control.

“Every second. Every day.”

 

That includes daily physical and mental exercise, specifically meditation.

That’s where Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras come in!

Blessings, Skip ❤😊🕉

Raja Yoga – Qi Gong class schedule

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QIGONG STUDENTS WANTED

My grandfather used to tell me not to worry about a bad haircut. It grows back!

Ever go to a dental or hairdressing school to get fixed up at lower, student-teacher rates?

It’s USUALLY a win-win-win: you get a hair cut or a tooth pulled and the good doctor or stylist gets a little better at his/her job – benefiting the next client or patient.

Same concept – only in this case, here’s how it works:

  • You win – you’ll leave class smiling – but it’ll cost you $10.
  • I win – I’ll be smiling – priceless!
  • My next student wins – by letting me work some of the kinks out on you, I’ll earn the next guy’s $15!

I’M LOOKING FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN LEARNING BETTER SELF CONTROL: PHYSICAL, MENTAL and ENERGETIC!!!

 

QIGONG = ENERGY WORK

Namaste, Skip

❤😊🕉 

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali

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HOLISTIC VISUALIZATION 000,001

[Remember to engage your senses as part of the visualization experience!]

While seated meditating, work up to a rhythmic breath cycle: inhale – pause – exhale – pause, with each of the four quarters of the cycle lasting an equal four counts.

Here’s the visual:

Imagine you’re actually standing comfortably, boyantly in thigh-deep water as part of some luxurious spa treatment – as if you were bathing a newborn – but it’s happening to you:

Inhale – as water is being drawn up your cool back;

Pause – as the water pours gently over the top of your head;

Exhale – as water washes down the warm front of your body; and

Pause – as the water drops off the bottom of your torso back into the water below.

Meditate. It’s what’s good for you!

SO ARE SPA RETREATS!

Join my teacher, Mylena Orrigi and me as we lead a wellness retreat in the pristine baths of Sirmione, Italy the first week of June!

❤😊🕉

Meditate – you can’t do it incorrectly [just more efficiently – that’s why I’m here]!!

$15 – scheduled group “meditation prep” classes

Current class schedule

  • Skype lessons
  • seminars
  • lectures
  • private lessons

Proud sponsor of Yoga Instructors Association (MA)

#BringBackPatanjali