It has been a busy month, so I am posting the second excerpt from one of my workshops on the philosophical side of mindful exercise (part one was posted July 12th). It is adapted and heavily paraphrased from Chogyam Trungpa’s book SHAMBHALA – The Path of the Warrior, related to my own experiences with mindful practices. Below is a link to the book. Shambhala (or Sham-Bha-la), is a place of enlightenment, tranquility, and oneness, and is the bases of mythical kingdom of Shangri-La, from the book “Lost Horizon.” My comments are non-italic and in parentheses.
https://www.shambhala.com/shambhala-the-sacred-path-of-the-warrior.html
BEING OURSELVES
How often have you been willing to look in mirror without being embarrassed? How many times have you tried to shield yourself by reading the newspaper, watching t.v. or just spacing out? How much have you really connected with yourself in your life? (In Zen and Taosim there is the concept of the carved and uncarved block. The carved block is shaped by society, and affects our activities, often to the negative. We believe (or don’t believe) in ourselves based on what has occurred in our lives. If society says our looks, activities, interests or beliefs are not mainstream, we tend to be made fun of, and end up avoiding seeing who and what we really are, and what may really need changing, to really connect with your life. See the quote from the “Monkey King” on the Metarobics Facebook Page. Become aware of what is really important, and focus on one thing at a time to change, to develop true confidence and change).
FEAR
Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear. True fearlessness is not reduction of fear; but going beyond it.
Common fears: Knowing that we are going to die, being afraid that we can’t handle the demands of the world, feeling that our own life is overwhelming and confronting the rest of the world even more overwhelming. So we keep busy. T.V., shopping, drinking, eating, as long as we keep moving we feel safe. Otherwise we are afraid we may die on the spot. (Awareness through the practice of mindful exercise also gives us the discipline to maintain practice, and focus on needed change).
Fear has to be acknowledged. We have to realize and reconcile ourselves with our fear. We should look at how we move, talk, conduct ourselves, bite our nails, sometimes put our hands in our pockets uselessly – then we will find out something about how we express fear in our lives as a form of restlessness. Fear is lurking in our lives always, in everything we do. Synchronizing mind and body results in trust and belief in yourself. When body and mind are synchronized together, you have no doubts, and your behavior is less erratic.. (Tai chi and kung fu are great practices for unifying body and mind. There is a level of peace and awareness which comes from these exercise which is tremendously empowering. But the key to change can still lie in your social group).
FEAR OF WHO WE ARE
We are ashamed of our jobs, our finances, our parental upbringing, our education, our psychological shortcomings.
BASIC GOODNESS
Our lives are like towels – we come into the world clean and new, but soon conflicting emotions, upbringing, fears and insecurities, life in general, casts dirt upon the soul. But as we know that the towel was at one time new and originally clean, we can trust that our original nature is basic goodness, and it is all launderable. (The mindful/meditation aspect of tai chi and and kung fu helps us to do the laundry).
COWARDICE
The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in habitual patterns. When we do so we never have to leap into fresh air or onto fresh ground. By darkness, we mean enclosing ourselves in a familiar world in which we can hide or go to sleep. When we hide from the world in this way we feel secure. We may think we have quieted our fear, but we are actually making ourselves numb with fear. We are so afraid of fear that we deaden our hearts. In meditation you regard any thoughts that arise as just your thinking process (but it is not you).
The basic definition of meditation is “having a steady mind.” When your thoughts go up, you don’t go up, when your thoughts go down, you don’t go down. You just watch as your thoughts go up and down. You have a sense of greater space that encompasses any thought that may arise, in a way developing renunciation of personal territory and small mindedness. (by having an expanded awareness you can be stable and empowered in your decisions, without doubt).
My book “Journey to the East, Special Edition – An Experiential Book) covers much of this in a creative format. The first part of the book relates the experiences, adventures and training of three youths by teachers of the Martial Way (Wu Tao in Chinese, Budo in Japanese). The second half of the book shows you have to apply the teachings to your own life, with a series of worksheets.
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-East-Experiential-Book-Special/dp/153687891X
In the next month or two I will post part three of the excerpts I use from Chogyam Trungpa’s book SHAMBHALA – The Path of the Warrior, on using the warrior’s journey to master life.
https://www.shambhala.com/shambhala-the-sacred-path-of-the-warrior.html
BEING OURSELVES
How often have you been willing to look in mirror without being embarrassed? How many times have you tried to shield yourself by reading the newspaper, watching t.v. or just spacing out? How much have you really connected with yourself in your life? (In Zen and Taosim there is the concept of the carved and uncarved block. The carved block is shaped by society, and affects our activities, often to the negative. We believe (or don’t believe) in ourselves based on what has occurred in our lives. If society says our looks, activities, interests or beliefs are not mainstream, we tend to be made fun of, and end up avoiding seeing who and what we really are, and what may really need changing, to really connect with your life. See the quote from the “Monkey King” on the Metarobics Facebook Page. Become aware of what is really important, and focus on one thing at a time to change, to develop true confidence and change).
FEAR
Acknowledging fear is not a cause for depression or discouragement. In order to experience fearlessness, it is necessary to experience fear. True fearlessness is not reduction of fear; but going beyond it.
Common fears: Knowing that we are going to die, being afraid that we can’t handle the demands of the world, feeling that our own life is overwhelming and confronting the rest of the world even more overwhelming. So we keep busy. T.V., shopping, drinking, eating, as long as we keep moving we feel safe. Otherwise we are afraid we may die on the spot. (Awareness through the practice of mindful exercise also gives us the discipline to maintain practice, and focus on needed change).
Fear has to be acknowledged. We have to realize and reconcile ourselves with our fear. We should look at how we move, talk, conduct ourselves, bite our nails, sometimes put our hands in our pockets uselessly – then we will find out something about how we express fear in our lives as a form of restlessness. Fear is lurking in our lives always, in everything we do. Synchronizing mind and body results in trust and belief in yourself. When body and mind are synchronized together, you have no doubts, and your behavior is less erratic.. (Tai chi and kung fu are great practices for unifying body and mind. There is a level of peace and awareness which comes from these exercise which is tremendously empowering. But the key to change can still lie in your social group).
FEAR OF WHO WE ARE
We are ashamed of our jobs, our finances, our parental upbringing, our education, our psychological shortcomings.
BASIC GOODNESS
Our lives are like towels – we come into the world clean and new, but soon conflicting emotions, upbringing, fears and insecurities, life in general, casts dirt upon the soul. But as we know that the towel was at one time new and originally clean, we can trust that our original nature is basic goodness, and it is all launderable. (The mindful/meditation aspect of tai chi and and kung fu helps us to do the laundry).
COWARDICE
The way of cowardice is to embed ourselves in habitual patterns. When we do so we never have to leap into fresh air or onto fresh ground. By darkness, we mean enclosing ourselves in a familiar world in which we can hide or go to sleep. When we hide from the world in this way we feel secure. We may think we have quieted our fear, but we are actually making ourselves numb with fear. We are so afraid of fear that we deaden our hearts. In meditation you regard any thoughts that arise as just your thinking process (but it is not you).
The basic definition of meditation is “having a steady mind.” When your thoughts go up, you don’t go up, when your thoughts go down, you don’t go down. You just watch as your thoughts go up and down. You have a sense of greater space that encompasses any thought that may arise, in a way developing renunciation of personal territory and small mindedness. (by having an expanded awareness you can be stable and empowered in your decisions, without doubt).
My book “Journey to the East, Special Edition – An Experiential Book) covers much of this in a creative format. The first part of the book relates the experiences, adventures and training of three youths by teachers of the Martial Way (Wu Tao in Chinese, Budo in Japanese). The second half of the book shows you have to apply the teachings to your own life, with a series of worksheets.
https://www.amazon.com/Journey-East-Experiential-Book-Special/dp/153687891X
In the next month or two I will post part three of the excerpts I use from Chogyam Trungpa’s book SHAMBHALA – The Path of the Warrior, on using the warrior’s journey to master life.
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