As Shakespeare said, “Nothing is good or bad but thinking makes it so.” If I may be so bold, I would like to expand upon this point. “Nothing is good or bad but believing makes it so.” What we choose to think about or focus on actually creates a vibration. This vibration is what each of us radiates into the world. That force is magnetic. But it is what we deeply believe that creates what we manifest into the world of our perception. This is a fine point but one to explore if we want to live our lives more consciously.
Our habitual thoughts constitute most of what moves through our minds. The continuous entertaining of these thoughts creates a vibration. It is this vibration which creates what we experience as the circumstances of our lives. It seems to be the other way around. That is, we think we feel a certain way because of our experiences. Situations we encounter seem to be happening to us or caused by others or larger forces. However, the truth is that it is our vibration that creates the circumstances we experience. Or, at the very least, our perception of the circumstances we experience. Often times, we are cultivating thoughts or engaging in thought patterns quite unconsciously. We are generally unaware of what’s really making us feel the way we are feeling. As a result, we feel justified in blaming the outside world when we don’t like what we are feeling. These thoughts arise in us from the conditioning, which formed early on and continues to imprint until we become conscious of it. Making a change is really not so simple until we become aware of the beliefs we have that are causing our world to seem as it is.
As painful as it can be to my ego, I love it when some aspect of my conditioning gets exposed and I become conscious of it. An example of this occurred recently as I was teaching one of my tai chi classes. My classes tend to be filled with chatter and laughter during our warm-up period until we begin our tai chi set. This particular Saturday morning was particularly chatty. As it was the day after the 4th of July, I was dealing with the aftereffects of a couple of glasses of champagne and a margarita or two. When I am compromised physically, my ego jumps on the opportunity to take control of me and whip me around a bit.
This particular morning my ego, which occasionally hops on the belief that I am not properly listened to, (as a result of my beloved dad often interrupting me in mid-sentence to say something unrelated) reared it’s unappealing head and lashed out at these delightful people who were just having a good time enjoying one another. The thoughts passed and cleared while I was doing my tai chi set, but came back later with a vengeance when my partner Steve mentioned how I had lost my cool. My mind conjured up many reasons why what I was feeling was not only accurate, but good for me to express! I knew by the feeling in my gut, that something was not quite right. But try as I might to “just feel my feelings,” the righteousness remained. So, I decided to give it some time and see what was up.
The next morning I woke up with the thought, “My class was just having a good time, laughing, loving, and enjoying themselves.” My heart softened and I realized on a feeling level that my ego was suffering from that old belief that I was not worth listening to. That little girl who felt what she had to say was not important enough for people to make space to hear was crying out.
As compassion arose for her and I gave her the ear she needed, a feeling of release and acceptance arose in me, for me and for the others. I realized that no one was trying to make me feel bad. No one ever is. We are all just doing our best trying to enjoy ourselves.
When I become conscious of the conditioning and let it dissolve by allowing the feelings to be felt just as they are without the need for them to go away, they do melt away and I am left with the more conscious belief that the most important thing we give and receive from one another, whether we are teachers or students or friends or family, is our vibration.
I’m thankful for the opportunity to explore that bit of conditioning again. It’s like peeling an onion to get to the core. Every time I become conscious of these unpleasant beliefs which cause suffering, by opening to the realization that nothing is caused by the outside world but rather by my belief about it, I become a little more at peace and a little more the master, a little less the slave to that part of me which is constructed and not real.
To me and to my students, I say: I’m sorry, forgive me, thank you,
I love you. Now chat away!
Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Truth. Show all posts
Monday, July 7, 2008
Thursday, May 29, 2008
MARSHAL THE ART OF LIFE
Socrates said, “A unexamined life is not worth living.” Introspection is key to living a fulfilled and satisfying life. Having a daily practice of tai chi, meditation, self-reflection and inquiry is, in my opinion, a great way to attain a life worth living. Tai chi, meditation, and push hands are wonderful tools, but can be hijacked by the ego without the added ingredients of self-reflection and inquiry.
I was recently reading a blog sent to me online in which a tai chi practitioner posed the question to a teacher, “Is the tai chi form enough or do we need to learn push hands?” The answer given was that if one wants the benefits gained from push hands that can’t be attained through the form alone, then yes, one needs to learn push hands. The author went on to give some of the benefits gained by practicing push hands. First, he stated that push hands gives a “softness check.” Practicing push hands helps with understanding and developing a sense of softness that if one were moving slowly and ran into a small tree sapling one would learn to melt around it rather than push it out of the way. Secondly, he stated that push hands practice helps give a sense of how good one’s root and balance, (both developed in the form), are by playing push hands. Thirdly, he stated, playing push hands is good place to test out one’s “calm,” which one is working to attain by practicing the form.
I agree with the author that push hands is beneficial in many ways including the three he stated. It’s also an opportunity to tune into another and experience intimacy. It requires undivided attention and absolute presence, which are wonderful qualities to cultivate and can be avoided by practicing only the tai chi form.
Tai chi and push hands are powerful techniques to help cultivate harmony and balance in all areas of life, a sense of flow, presence, concentration, attention, flexibility, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. They provide a wonderful way to cultivate a sense of peace and a softening into reality as it is, while it is, until it changes. Rather than opposing, pushing or pulling, we learn to “melt around,” to accept what we can’t change with grace and wisdom, knowing that all is temporary and will change in time. Tai chi and push hands are physical metaphoric practices of staying centered throughout the constant play of opposites, the movement from yin into yang and back into yin.
The real test to see if your tai chi form or your push hands practice is delivering is to look at your life. One doesn’t have to look very deeply to see if the techniques are being properly employed and integrated into the fabric of everyday life. How harmonious are your relationships with your loved ones, your friends and your family? Do you “melt around” perceived obstacles or push and pull to get your way? Does your life feel as if you are in flow, effortlessly attaining what you feel you need or are you struggling? Are you focused on what makes you joyful or do you find yourself complaining in a victim stance? Are you angry and resistant or are you soft and allowing with what you disagree? Do you dislike people who don’t see life as you do? Are you healthy? Are you happy? Are you at peace? Are you patient? Are you grateful? Are you balanced emotionally and know that life is only as you see it? Can you see that all pain is self-inflicted, that there is in fact no other, that we are, in TRUTH, all one?
These are quick tests to see how effective your practice is. If practicing is not delivering the positive qualities in your life, the form is probably not the problem. The problem is within. These wonderful techniques must be approached with a proper attitude and sincere effort must be made to truly live the principles. It’s not what we do, but how we do anything that makes the difference in our lives. As the saying goes, Attitude is everything.
Jarl Forsman 5/29/08
I was recently reading a blog sent to me online in which a tai chi practitioner posed the question to a teacher, “Is the tai chi form enough or do we need to learn push hands?” The answer given was that if one wants the benefits gained from push hands that can’t be attained through the form alone, then yes, one needs to learn push hands. The author went on to give some of the benefits gained by practicing push hands. First, he stated that push hands gives a “softness check.” Practicing push hands helps with understanding and developing a sense of softness that if one were moving slowly and ran into a small tree sapling one would learn to melt around it rather than push it out of the way. Secondly, he stated that push hands practice helps give a sense of how good one’s root and balance, (both developed in the form), are by playing push hands. Thirdly, he stated, playing push hands is good place to test out one’s “calm,” which one is working to attain by practicing the form.
I agree with the author that push hands is beneficial in many ways including the three he stated. It’s also an opportunity to tune into another and experience intimacy. It requires undivided attention and absolute presence, which are wonderful qualities to cultivate and can be avoided by practicing only the tai chi form.
Tai chi and push hands are powerful techniques to help cultivate harmony and balance in all areas of life, a sense of flow, presence, concentration, attention, flexibility, not only physically but also mentally and emotionally. They provide a wonderful way to cultivate a sense of peace and a softening into reality as it is, while it is, until it changes. Rather than opposing, pushing or pulling, we learn to “melt around,” to accept what we can’t change with grace and wisdom, knowing that all is temporary and will change in time. Tai chi and push hands are physical metaphoric practices of staying centered throughout the constant play of opposites, the movement from yin into yang and back into yin.
The real test to see if your tai chi form or your push hands practice is delivering is to look at your life. One doesn’t have to look very deeply to see if the techniques are being properly employed and integrated into the fabric of everyday life. How harmonious are your relationships with your loved ones, your friends and your family? Do you “melt around” perceived obstacles or push and pull to get your way? Does your life feel as if you are in flow, effortlessly attaining what you feel you need or are you struggling? Are you focused on what makes you joyful or do you find yourself complaining in a victim stance? Are you angry and resistant or are you soft and allowing with what you disagree? Do you dislike people who don’t see life as you do? Are you healthy? Are you happy? Are you at peace? Are you patient? Are you grateful? Are you balanced emotionally and know that life is only as you see it? Can you see that all pain is self-inflicted, that there is in fact no other, that we are, in TRUTH, all one?
These are quick tests to see how effective your practice is. If practicing is not delivering the positive qualities in your life, the form is probably not the problem. The problem is within. These wonderful techniques must be approached with a proper attitude and sincere effort must be made to truly live the principles. It’s not what we do, but how we do anything that makes the difference in our lives. As the saying goes, Attitude is everything.
Jarl Forsman 5/29/08
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Truth = What Is
Whatever is occurring in physical manifestation at any moment is “What is”. The way that we perceive and interpret what is occurring is what creates our experience of life. This unique spin is formulated by our conditioning. Our conditioning comes from the way our parents, teachers, and other authorities reacted to and taught us about life experiences. Their stories came from their parental and authority influences and so on…Many other factors may also contribute to the creation of our conditioning but the important point to realize is that we see through the filter of this conditioning and add our unique combination of interpretations to everything that happens in our lives. No matter how popular or accepted our point of view may be, it is still only our spin. To quote Shakespeare, “There is nothing either good or bad but thinking makes it so.”
We live in a self-created illusion, a story we tell ourselves and believe with all our hearts. This is what creates our suffering. It also gives us meaning, but we become slaves to this meaning. We hate in the name of our stories. We kill to uphold our stories. Our stories cause sickness and depression. Whichever way we see or spin "what is", whether we designate it good or bad, we are being manipulated and driven by our fears of losing or not getting our “cravings and aversions’, as the Buddha said. The degree to which we are attached to our stories is the extent to which we are not free. Dropping our stories can seem impossible or frightening. What would happen to us if we had no story? Would we still exist?
One way to begin to see through these filters of conditioning is to put our beliefs through an inquiry. A powerful inquiry which Byron Katie teaches in four questions, goes like this: 1) Is it true? 2) Can I absolutely know that it is true? 3) How do I react when I think that thought? 4) Who would I be without the thought? Eckhart Tolle says these questions of Byron Katie’s… “acts like a razor sharp sword that cuts through that illusion and enables you to know for yourself the timeless essence of your being. Joy, peace, and love emanate from it as your natural state.”
Imagine being free from the illusion and being in a state of joy, peace and love. Byron Katie says the only beliefs which we need to inquire about are the ones that cause us suffering. After doing her work for over ten years, I can attest to the fact that there IS something much greater than our stories and our beliefs. Our stories become increasingly boring and limiting as we begin to become free of them. After all, whose story do you want to live, the limited version of your conditioning which came from other’s beliefs around you or the expansive timeless essence of your being in your natural state, in which “joy, peace, and love emanate”? I’ll take the latter!
We live in a self-created illusion, a story we tell ourselves and believe with all our hearts. This is what creates our suffering. It also gives us meaning, but we become slaves to this meaning. We hate in the name of our stories. We kill to uphold our stories. Our stories cause sickness and depression. Whichever way we see or spin "what is", whether we designate it good or bad, we are being manipulated and driven by our fears of losing or not getting our “cravings and aversions’, as the Buddha said. The degree to which we are attached to our stories is the extent to which we are not free. Dropping our stories can seem impossible or frightening. What would happen to us if we had no story? Would we still exist?
One way to begin to see through these filters of conditioning is to put our beliefs through an inquiry. A powerful inquiry which Byron Katie teaches in four questions, goes like this: 1) Is it true? 2) Can I absolutely know that it is true? 3) How do I react when I think that thought? 4) Who would I be without the thought? Eckhart Tolle says these questions of Byron Katie’s… “acts like a razor sharp sword that cuts through that illusion and enables you to know for yourself the timeless essence of your being. Joy, peace, and love emanate from it as your natural state.”
Imagine being free from the illusion and being in a state of joy, peace and love. Byron Katie says the only beliefs which we need to inquire about are the ones that cause us suffering. After doing her work for over ten years, I can attest to the fact that there IS something much greater than our stories and our beliefs. Our stories become increasingly boring and limiting as we begin to become free of them. After all, whose story do you want to live, the limited version of your conditioning which came from other’s beliefs around you or the expansive timeless essence of your being in your natural state, in which “joy, peace, and love emanate”? I’ll take the latter!
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