A Northern California Garden in November

Here are some photos of our backyard gardens in November.  We harvested all of our remaining pepper plants yesterday.  Our winter vegetable crops are coming along fine: Swiss chard, lettuce, cabbages, onions, garlic, and kale.  

We have had some gentle rain the past few weeks.  The weeds and grass are quite a lush green.  Temperatures range from 50F to 65F. 

"Give me odorous at sunrise a garden of beautiful flowers where I can walk undisturbed."

-  Walt Whitman

 

"I wake up some mornings and sit and have my coffee and look out at my beautiful garden, and I go, 'Remember how good this is. Because you can lose it.' "

-  Jim Carrey

 

"Everyone can identify with a fragrant garden, with beauty of sunset, with the quiet of nature, with a warm and cozy cottage."  

-  Thomas Kincade

 

"Complexity excites the mind, and order rewards it.  In the garden, one finds both, including vanishingly small orders too complex to spot, and orders so vast the mind struggles to embrace them."

-  Diane Ackerman

 

"Beauty surrounds us, but usually we need to be walking in a garden to know it."
-  Rumi

 "Show me your garden and I shall tell you what you are."
-  Alfred Austin


A Winter Vegetable Garden in Northern California

The Winter Vegetable Garden in Warm Climates

The Spirit of Gardening:  Quotes, Sayings, Poems, Information.  Over 3,500 quotations arranged by 200 topics.  Compiled by Mike Garofalo. 

Months and Seasons: Quotes, Sayings, Poems, Information.  Compiled by Mike Garofalo. 

Gateways to Personal Growth

Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth

"1.  Preparation: Stairway to the Soul 
2.  Discover Your Worth: Opening to Life 
3.  Reclaim Your Will: The Power to Change 
4.  Energize Your Body: A Foundation for Life 
5.  Manage Your Money: Sufficiency and Spiritual Practice 
6.  Tame Your Mind: Inner Peace and Simple Reality 
7.  Trust Your Intuition: Accessing Inner Guidance 
8.  Accept Your Emotions: The Center of the Cyclone 
9.  Face Your Fears: Living as Peaceful Warriors 
10.  Illuminate Your Shadow: Cultivating Compassion and Authenticity 
11.  Embrace Your Sexuality: Celebrating Life 
12.  Awaken Your Heart: The Healing Power of Love 
13.  Serve Your World: Completing the Circle of Life"

-  Dan Millman
   Everyday Enlightenment: The Twelve Gateways to Personal Growth, 1999  


How to Live the Good Life: Advice from Wise Persons

Aging Well

Can Eating Less Slow the Aging Process?

For me, eating less and loosing 30 pounds of body weight in the last two years has significantly lowered my average morning fasting blood sugar and four month A1C readings; and, has resulted in my cardiologist reducing my blood pressure medicine dosages in half.  I feel stronger and more energetic, and I exercise in some way on a daily basis.  I sleep soundly and dream every night.  My waistline measurements have decreased from 44 inches to 40 inches.  My current goal is to reach a body weight of 230 pounds, and a waist of 38 inches, at a height of 6’6”.  Consequently, I plan to continue my efforts to eat less, but eat nutritious meals. 

I doubt I can live longer by eating less, but the likelihood of reducing the significant possible negative health effects of my Type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure seem worth the effort. 

Is fasting one day a week reasonable for me?    I am currently not sure about this approach to reducing caloric intake, since I actively exercise each day.  Maybe skipping dinner twice a week might be an option.  Comments?? 

“While human calorie restriction doesn't have the same impact on life span, it does provide numerous benefits, such as a greatly lowered risk for most degenerative conditions of aging, and improved measures of health. In recent years, human studies of long-term and short-term calorie restriction have comprehensively demonstrated these benefits. Many researchers believe that the evidence to date shows the practice of CR will in fact extend the healthy human life span, but there simply isn't enough data yet to pin down the effects on life expectancy. It is plausible that they are at least as good as those resulting from exercise. If so, it could mean a difference of 5-10 years of life.”

-  Fight Aging: Caloric Restriction Explained

“Calorie restriction (CR) extends life span and retards age-related chronic diseases in a variety of species, including rats, mice, fish, flies, worms, and yeast. The mechanism or mechanisms through which this occurs are unclear. CR reduces metabolic rate and oxidative stress, improves insulin sensitivity, and alters neuroendocrine and sympathetic nervous system function in animals. Whether prolonged CR increases life span (or improves biomarkers of aging) in humans is unknown. In experiments of nature, humans have been subjected to periods of nonvolitional partial starvation. However, the diets in almost all of these cases have been of poor quality. The absence of adequate information on the effects of good-quality, calorie-restricted diets in nonobese humans reflects the difficulties involved in conducting long-term studies in an environment so conducive to overfeeding. Such studies in free-living persons also raise ethical and methodologic issues. Future studies in nonobese humans should focus on the effects of prolonged CR on metabolic rate, on neuroendocrine adaptations, on diverse biomarkers of aging, and on predictors of chronic age-related diseases.”
-  Caloric Restriction and Aging, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition   

Calorie restriction (CR), or caloric restriction, is a dietary regimen that is based on low calorie intake. "Low" can be defined relative to the subject's previous intake before intentionally restricting calories, or relative to an average person of similar body type. Calorie restriction without malnutrition has been shown to work in a variety of species, among them yeast, fish, rodents and dogs to decelerate the biological aging process, resulting in longer maintenance of youthful health and an increase in both median and maximum lifespan.

Live Longer:  The One Anti-Aging Trick That Works by Robert Roy Britt.

Making Aging Positive by Linda P. Fried

The Longevity Diet by Lisa Waldford and Brian M. Delaney

2010

Aging Well: Recommended Reading, Quotations, Reflections

Essence of Chen Taijiquan

The Essence of Taijiquan.  By David Gaffney and Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim.  CreateSpace Publishing, 2012.  Interviews, bibliography, 288 pages.  ISBN: 978-1500609238.  VSCL.  

Chen Style Taijiquan: The Source of Taiji Boxing.  By Davidine Siaw-Voon Sim and David Gaffney.  Berkeley, CA, North Atlantic Books, 2002.  Index, charts, 224 pages.  ISBN: 1556433778.   Provides an excellent introduction to Chen style Taijiquan history and legends, outlines the major forms, discusses the philosophy and foundations of the art, and gives very good information on training methods, push hands, and weapons.  Very well written, highly informative, and a unique contribution to the field.  Essential reading for all learning the Chen style of Tai Chi Chuan.  The Hand Forms (Taolu) are described on pp. 110-141.  [Sim & Gaffney 2002]  VSCL.  

Gaffney and Siaw-Voon Sim are advanced Chen Taijiquan teachers.  They studied for many years with Grandmaster Chen Xiaowang in China, and with many other top Chen Taijiquan teachers.  They are very knowledgeable and highly skilled in Chen Taijiquan.  

I just started reading "The Essence of Taijiquan."  Highly informative!  Excellent information on Taijiquan training principles, methods, and progression.  Strong emphasis upon training for combat skills.  Interesting observations about everyday life in the Chen village, ancestor respect and rituals, and overcoming the repression of the Maoist Cultural Revolution.  I will report more at a later date. 

Chen T'ai Chi Ch'uan:  Forms, Bibliography, Weapons, Links, Resources

Dragon Qigong Exercises

 

Dragon Chi Kung features exercises that involve twisting, turning, screwing, spiraling, curving, wiggling, undulating, spinning, sinking down and rising up, swimming, circling, swinging, or twining movements are often associated with snakes, serpents and dragons.  There are many Qigong sets and specific Qigong movements that have been called "Dragon" forms, sets, or exercises.  Baguazhang martial arts feature much twisting, turning and circling; and, also include many "Dragon" sets and movements. Silk Reeling exercises in Chen Style Taijiquan include twisting, twining, circling, and screwing kinds of movements. 

The Realms of the Dragons

Dragon Qigong
 

Dragon Staff

Magic Pearl Qigong

Leaping Over the Dragon's Gate

Dragons: Bibliography, Links, Quotes, Notes 

    "Laozi's Dao Te Jing in the third chapter says "Empty the mind, fill the belly. Weaken the ambition, strengthen the character." So then, this is the motto for practicing China's Wudang Daoist Qigong. To study each method, each method must be understood, the energy processed must be understood. If there is one type of practice Daoist qigong method not mastered, temporarily don't practice other training methods. If one type of movement has not been mastered, concentrate on that posture, do not study or practice other postures. Do not reach too high, must empty the mind, have patience, cultivate both inside and outside, step-by-step achieve an abdomen relaxed inside and breath ascending correctly, so then cultivate the breath continuously, and you will not contract illness. When the dan tian is full and sufficient, the inner breath is unimpeded and not obstructed.  Breath and strength are sent out from the spine, following that which the mind desires. Strive for the substantial, don't let practice become lax, maintain it so it will be lasting; abide by the regulations, follow the rules; refine the breath, cultivate the body; cultivate the Mind, develop the character; thus seek emptiness and stillness, complete emptiness, and long life.
    Wudang Qigong has eighteen types of practice exercises and methods: Extreme Emptiness, Pushing the Mountain, Wild Goose Flying, Crane Bending, Supporting Heaven, Both Appear, Four Directions, Ward Off and Pull Down, Pipa, Shaking Tail Feathers, Offering Fruit, Facing the Sun, Stirring the Grass, Dragon and Tiger, Coiling Snake, Spitting a Core, Climbing a Tree, and Bowing To The Top."
-   Wudang Qigong: China's Wudang Mountain Daoist Breath Exercises.  By Yuzeng Liu, and Terri Morgan. 

To Go Walking - It is a Miracle

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read and all the friends I want to see."
-   John Burroughs

"To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle.  I have adopted the technique of living life miracle to miracle."
-   Arthur Rubinstein

"If you are seeking creative ideas, go out walking.  Angels whisper to a man when he goes for a walk."
-   Raymond Inmon

Walking: Quotations, Poems, Sayings, Information.  Compiled by Mike Garofalo

Flip the Learning Switch On

"The Learning Switch:  Learning occurs in the brain.  However, for the brain to do its job, the "learning switch" needs to be turned on.  During childhood, the learning switch is turned on a lot.  As we grow and take on the responsibilities of adulthood, we tend to develop habitual patterns, a set way of doing things, rigidity and resistance to change.  Our learning switch turns off and learning slows way down.  We can learn to turn the learning switch back on, regardless of age.  When we do, everything in our lives becomes an opportunity, and miracles seem to pop up everywhere; our lives are filled with movement, new ides, vivid memory, sensuality , and pleasure." 
-   Anat Baniel, Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality, p.18.

Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality
"1.  Moving with Attention, Wake Up to Life, Mindful Movements
2.  The Learning Switch, Bring in the New, Lifelong learning, Retraining
3.  Subtlety, Experience the Power of Gentleness
4.  Variation, Enjoy Abundant Possibilities
5.  Taking Your Time, Slowing Down, Not Rushing, Luxuriate in the Richness of Feeling 
6.  Enthusiasm, Turn the Small into the Great
7.  Flexible Goals, Make the Impossible Possible  
8.  Imagination and Dreams, Create Your Life
9.  Awareness, Cultivating Mindfulness, Thrive with True Knowledge"
-   Anat Baniel, Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality

Move into Life: The Nine Essentials for Lifelong Vitality  By Anat Baniel.  New York, Harmony Books, 2009.  Index, bibliography, 306 pages.  ISBN: 9780307395290.  VSCL.  

Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

Qigong (Chi Kung) Exercises Benefit the Elderly

The Anti-Aging Benefits of Chinese Qigong (Chi Kung) Exercises
Gentle Exercise, Breathing, and Meditation

Scientific Research  Many Reports on the Effect of Qigong on Improving the Health of the Elderly

"Qigong can do wonders to rejuvenate the elderly. In fact, more than 50 percent of the people who begin tai chi and qigong in China do so after the age of 60, when the realities of aging can no longer be pushed aside. Already, hundreds of millions of people over the age of 60 have found qigong to be uniquely effective."
-  Bruce Frantzis, Qigong for Seniors

Anti-Aging Benefits of Qigong   by Kenneth Sancier, Ph.D.

Qigong for the Elderly

"This report shows that regular qigong practice could relieve depression, improve self-efficacy and personal well being among elderly persons with chronic physical illness and depression"
-  Effect of a Qigong Program on Elderly Persons with Depression, International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.

Qigong (Chi Kung):  Styles,Bibliographies, Research, Resources, Links, Lessons, Benefits, Quotations.  Website by Mike Garofalo.

A review of clinical trials of t’ai chi and qigong in older adults reported in the March 2009 issue of the Western Journal of Nursing Research notes that qigong improves physical functioning, limits fall risk, alleviates symptoms of depression and anxiety, and lowers blood pressure in older adults.

"Why Every Elderly Citizen Should Do Qigong: Qigong can treat many diseases.  Qigong can prevent many diseases.  Qigong can extend life.  Qigong can improve the quality of life.  Qigong can prevent accidents."

"According to T'ai Chi and Qigong enthusiasts, the discipline can prevent many ailments, including high blood pressure, tuberculosis, and diabetes, and US scientists agree that T'ai Chi can offer some important fitness benefits, particularly for older adults." 
-  Modern Maturity, V. 35 June/July 92 p. 60-62

Qigong (Chi Kung): Recommended Reading, Bibliography, Resources, Links, Quotations.  Research by Mike Garofalo, Qigong Instructor

"The average person uses only five to ten percent of his or her 15 billion brain cells; yet studies show that Qi Gong activates 90 percent of the human brain by suffusing it with stimulating bioelectric currents.  This results in significant memory improvement, learning, and enhancement of the physiological functions controlled by the brain.  Studies also show that practicing Qi Gong increases the level of essential neurotransmitters in the blood.  Deficiency of these elements can cause Parkinsons, Alzheimer’s, chronic depression, and insomnia."
-  Lee Holden

According to the February 2009 issue of The Journal of Nursing, “evidence-based research supports the argument that qigong improves cardiovascular-respiratory function and lipid profile, decreases blood sugar, and relieves anxiety and depression.”

An Evidence-Based Review of Qi Gong by the Natural Standard Research Collaboration, 2010

The Healing Promise of Qi: Creating Extraordinary Wellness Through Qigong and Tai Chi.  By Roger Jahnke, O.M.D..  Chicago, Contemporary Books, 2002.   Index, notes, extensive recommended reading list, 316 pages.  ISBN: 0809295288.  VSCL.  
 
The Way of Qigong: The Art and Science of Chinese Energy Healing.  By Kenneth S. Cohen.  Foreword by Larry Dossey.  New York Ballantine Books, 1997.  Index, notes, appendices, 427 pages.  ISBN: 0345421094.  One of my favorite books: comprehensive, informative, practical, and scientific.  VSCL.  

I Really Don't Know Life at All

Both Sides Now
Lyrics and music by Joni Mitchell, 1969

"Rows and flows of angel hair
And ice cream castles in the air and feather canyons everywhere
I've looked at clouds that way
But now they only block the sun, they rain and they snow on everyone
So many things I would have done but clouds got in my way

I've looked at clouds from both sides now
From up and down and still somehow it's cloud illusions that I recall
I really don't know clouds at all

Moons and Junes and ferris wheels
The dizzy dancing way you feel when every fairy tale comes real
I've looked at love that way
But now it's just another show, you leave 'em laughing when you go
And if you care don't let them know, don't give yourself away

I've looked at love from both sides now
From give and take and still somehow it's love's illusions that I recall
I really don't know what love's about at all

Tears and fears and feelin' proud
To say to someone I love you right out loud
Dreams and schemes and circus crowds
I've looked at life that way, sometimes I still do
Now old friends are acting strange
They shake their heads and they tell me that I have changed, well I have
Something's lost but something's gained in livin' every day

I've looked at love from both sides now
From up and down and give and take
From win and lose and still somehow it's love's illusions that I recall
I really don't know, I really don't know."

Índice de Español para el Tao Te Ching

Índice de Español para el Tao Te Ching de Lao Tzu

Concordancia Española para la Daodejing por Laozi

Las Traducciones en Español del Tao Te Ching

Español Índice de Traductores de Idiomas para el Tao Te Ching


Chapter and Thematic Index (Concordance) to the Tao Te Ching

English Language Translators' Index

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices


Taoism: A Selected Reading List

Spanish Language Translator's Index

 A typical webpage created by Mike Garofalo on a Chapter of the Tao Te Ching (Daodejing) by Lao Tzu (Laozi) includes at least 16 different translations or interpolations of the Chapter in English, two Spanish translations, the Chinese characters for the Chapter, a Wade-Giles and Hanyu Pinyin Romanization of the Mandarin Chinese words for the Chapter, recommended reading lists, a detailed bibliography, indexing by key words and terms for the Chapter in English, Spanish, and the Wade-Giles Romanization, and other resources for the Chapter.  

Daodejing  Chapter Number Index Standard Traditional Chapter Arrangement of the Daodejing Chapter Order in Wang Bi's Daodejing Commentary in 246 CE Chart by Mike Garofalo Index
1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30
31	32	33	34	35	36	37	38	39	40
41	42	43	44	45	46	47	48	49	50
51	52	53	54	55	56	57	58	59	60
61	62	63	64	65	66	67	68	69	70
71	72	73	74	75	76	77	78	79	80
81

 

Mixed Memories Dissolving

mixed memories
of 68 Novembers past
dissolving;
quacking ducks
flying by
disappearing
in the foggy morning sky

cowboy music
Cozy Kitchen Cafe─
steaming coffee;
Later
loading lumber
Home Depot lot─
splinter stings thumb

Poetry by Mike Garofalo

November: Short Poems and Haiku

 

Solvitur Ambulando: To Solve a Problem, Walk.

"Solvitur ambulando," St. Jerome was fond of saying.  To solve a problem, walk around."
 -   Gregory McNamee 
 

"To find new things, take the path you took yesterday."
-   John Burroughs

"Walking is the natural recreation for a man who desires not absolutely to suppress his intellect but to turn it out to play for a season."
-  Leslie Stephen

"Perhaps the truth depends on a walk around the lake."
-  Wallace Stevens

"My father considered a walk among the mountains as the equivalent of churchgoing."
-   Aldous Huxley

"Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move, my thoughts begin to flow."
-   Henry David Thoreau  

The Ways of Walking: Quotations, Facts, Methods, Spirituality, Meditative

• Ways of Walking
• Walking Meditation
• Walking Quotations
• Walking Bibliography
• Circle Walking: Bagua
• Walking the Labyrinth
• Garden Walking
• Walking Qigong
• Walking Staff  

Can Inanmite Realms Show the Way?

A monk asked, "Can inanminate things expound Dharma?"
Daopi said, "The jade dog roams at night, never knowing the daylight."

"Zen Master Yunmen Wenyan (864-949 CE) once took his staff and struck a pillar in the hall, saying, "Are the three vehicles and twelve divisions of scripture talking?"
He then answered himself by saying, "No, they're not talking."
Then he shouted, "Bah!  A wild fox spirit!"
A monk asked, "What does the master mean?"
Yunmen said, "Mr. Shang drinks the wine, and Mr. Li gets drunk."

"In the works of Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman in particular, nature is portrayed as a beneficent living force that can, if studied and understood through careful and intentional reflection, offer enduring lessons about what it means to be human. In “Self-Reliance,” and the main ideas behind Thoreau’s “Walden”, as well as “Leaves of Grass”, the respective authors are deeply reverent of nature, and it is through their intimate relationship with the natural world that they construct their own identities and their philosophies about how to live a right life in the natural world. For Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman, nature is viewed as possessing all the knowledge that man needs to know, if only he is attentive and willing enough to study its messages and apply them to his life."
-  Nicole Smith, The Role of Nature in Transcendental Poetry

Yunmen said, "A true person of the Way can speak fire without burning his mouth.  He can speak all day with moving his lips and teeth or uttering a word.  The entire day he just wears his clothes and eats his food, but never comes in contact with a single grain of rice or thread of cloth.
When we speak in this fashion it is jut the manner of our school.  It must be set forth like this to be realized.  But if you meet a true patch-robed monk of our school and try to reveal the essence through words, it will be a waste of time and effort.  Even if you get some great understanding by means of a single word you are still just dozing."
 
"Zen's Chinese Heritage: The Masters and Their Teachings."  Translated by Any Ferguson.  Boston, Wisdom Publications, 2000, p. 262.  

Way of the Short Staff.  By Michael P. Garofalo, M.S.  A comprehensive guide to the practice of the short staff, cane, jo, walking stick, gun, zhang, whip staff, 13 Hands Staff, and related wood short staff weapons.  A detailed and annotated guide, bibliographies, lists of links, resources, instructional media, online videos, and lessons.   Includes use of the short staff and cane in martial arts, self-defense, walking and hiking.  Separate sections on Aikido Jo, Cane, Taijiquan cane and staff, Jodo, exercises with a short staff, selected quotations, techniques, selecting and purchasing a short staff, tips and suggestions, and a long section on the lore, legends, and magick of the short staff.  Includes "Shifu Miao Zhang Points the Way."  Published by Green Way Research, Valley Spirit Taijiquan, Red Bluff, California.  Updated on a regular basis since October, 2008.  Filesize: 265Kb.  Related to Mike's popular webpage on the Staff.

"Zhaozhou, who had been in poor health, asked his friend Miao Zhang, "Do the bees have Buddha nature?"  Miao Zhang smiled and said, "The roses are so fragrant today, and the cherries so sweet.  Let's walk in the garden and leave our crutches behind." 

    Gathering together in an orchard of blooming sweet lime trees, the students waited for their esteemed teacher, Kasyapa.  Slowly walking down the dirt path, relying on his danda walking staff for balance, Kasyapa joined his students.  He sat quietly for a long time, enjoying the fragrance of the lime blossoms.  Finally, he raised his danda staff.  Everyone stared at Kasyapa - serious, intent, focused, and silent.  Only Shifu Miao Zhang smiled, and then lifted his cane and pointed at a lime blossom.  Kasyapa pointed his danda at Shifu Zhang.  Another transmission was completed.  The sacred thread remained unbroken."
- Shifu Miao Zhang Points the Way

 

 

Zen Master Hakuin (1686-1768) painted a Dragon Staff with a horsehair whisk attached.  He gave the above painting to a lay student who passed the Zen koan, "What is the sound of one hand clapping." 

A Fig Leaf Fell on My Fingers

As I played with the Yang Long Form, each of my steps crunched leaves under my feet. As I reached down to pick up the needle from the bottom of the sea, I picked up a few leaves from the graying autumn grass. As I crossed hands in the horse stance, a fig leaf fell on my fingers.

"despite fascination
do not be concerned
that form is emptiness
and emptiness is form
It is All
a brown falling leaf
no different
from
anything
else."
- Michael McClure

"Last day of September,
dead leaves dropping--
form is emptiness.
First day of October,
ditch completely dry--
emptiness is form.
- Michael Garofalo, Above the Fog

Poetry by Mike Garofalo

Cloud Hands Taijiquan

Months and Seasons Quotes, Poems, Sayings, Verses, Lore, Myths, Holidays Celebrations, Folklore, Reading, Links, Quotations Information, Weather, Gardening Chores Compiled by Mike Garofalo
Winter	Spring	Summer	Fall
January	April	July	October
February	May	August	November
March	June	September	December