In and Out of Your Shadow

"I measure myself
Against a tall tree
I find that I am much taller,
For I reach right up to the sun
With my eye;
And I reach to the shore of the sea
With my ear.
Nevertheless, I dislike
The way the ants crawl
In and out of my shadow."
- Wallace Stevens

My tabby cat, Tut, walks in and out between my feet as I practice taijiquan and qigong outside of my home. He enjoys playing with me as I move. Sometimes his antics can cause me to stumble a bit, mentally and physically, but mostly our playful dance makes me smile.

As for the ants, I'm sorry that I step on a few of them as I move about. I mean them no harm as they go about their work to make a living on the earth. We all have a place!

Ftiness Trends

American Council on Exercise predictions for 2006:

1. Teenagers and kids are utilizing personal trainers for sport-specific training.
2. Clubs and trainers offer more flexible workout sessions.
3. In-home training grows in popularity.
4. An increase in specialized fitness programming for older adults.
5. Simple exercise habits, such as a walk-a-day, remain popular.
6. Balance training continues to be a strong trend.
7. Employers are encouraging fitness and weight loss.
8. More and more restaurants are offering healthier nutrition options.
9. A growing tendency to blend popular mind-body programs such as yoga and Pilates with more traditional forms of exercise.
10. Functional fitness continues its strong presence in personal training sessions and group fitness classes.

Bubbling Up

"Spiritual life is like living water that springs up from the very depths of our own experience. In spiritual life, everyone has to drink from his or her own well."
- St. Bernard of Clairvaux

I have been reading "Light on Life" by B.K.S. Iyengar (Rodale, 2005). A deeper well for satisfying one's spiritual thirsts.

Stronger Hips

Researchers at McMaster University near Toronto, Canada, have found that the best predictor of cardiovascular disease is not Body Mass Index (BMI), the commonly used ratio of weight to height; but, instead, the waist-to-hip ratio - simply your waist measurement divided by your hip measurement. The researchers analyzed data from the Interheart study of people in 52 Countries; comparing 12,461 people who had suffered a heart attack with 14,637 people free of heart disease.

A person, for example, with 36" Waist and a 40" hip measurement would have a waist -to-hip ratio of 0.9.

Having a waist-to-hip ratio of over 0.85 for women and over 0.9 for men indicates greater risk for heart disease.

The risk increases continuously with higher waist-to-hip ratios. Those in the highest fifth of people studied were 2.52 times more likely to have a heart attack than those in the lowest fifth.

Aging and Exercise

"The number of over-55 health and fitness club members has increased nearly sixfold since 1993, to 10.2 million, according to a recent study by the International Health, Racquet and Sportsclub Association. They now account for a quarter of all memberships."
- AARP Bulletin, January 2006, "Pumping Platinum", p. 3

Fitness in Your Fifties

"As age increases, body wisdom increases, but basal metabolism and hormones related to muscle building decrease. There is an abundance of wisdom gained from experience but the body is not a responsive to exercise nor does it recover as fast from vigorous workouts. Still, one can live fully and train regularly during the later years by structuring the environment so that goal enhancing behaviors are rewarded."

- Frank Zane, Fabulously Fit Forever Expanded. Zananda, 1993. p. 30

Growing Younger

I recommend reading the following book:

Grow Younger, Live Longer: Ten Steps to Reverse Aging. By Deepak Chopra, M.D., and David Simon, M.D.. New York, Harmony Books, 2001. Index, references, p. 64. ISBN: 0609600796.

“You can reverse your biological age by:

1. Changing your preceptions.
2. Enjoying deep rest, restful awareness, and restful sleep.
3. Lovingly nurturing you body through healthy food.
4. Using nutritional complements wisely.
5. Enhancing mind/body integration: breathing exercises, yoga, tai chi.
6. Exercising regularly: both strength and aerobic conditioning.
7. Eliminating toxins from you life.
8. Cultivating flexibility and creativity in consciousness.
9. Maintaing loving relationships, and cultivating love towards others.
10. Maintaining a youthful mind.”

Staff Weapons

Links, Bibliography, Quotes, Notes

Martial Staff Blog

I attended the YogaFit Level II Workshop on Saturday and Sunday in Sacramento. 18 hours of Yoga! I'm a bit tired.

Confucian Wisdom

K'ung Fu-tzu
Confucius
551 - 479 B.C.E.
Links, Quotes, Bibliography, Sayings, Notes

Some thoughts from Confucius on self-improvement:

"The perfecting of one's self is the fundamental base of all progress and all moral development

He who conquers himself is the mightiest warrior.

A gentleman considers what is right; the vulgar consider what will pay.

To be able under all circumstances to practice five things constitutes perfect virtue; these five things are gravity, generosity of soul, sincerity, earnestness and kindness.

Our greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall

The superior man is firm in the right way, and not merely firm.

The man of virtue makes the difficulty to be overcome his first business, and success only a subsequent consideration.

If one's character is rectified, then things will get done without orders. If one cannot rectify one's own character, what has one to do with rectifying others?

Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without."

Rose Bowl - College Football Classic

Who could ask for more? Texas 41, USC 38! A real thriller!!

This outstanding football game at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, will be remembered and talked about for a long long time.

Having watched all the USC football games this year, and having followed USC sports since I was 8 years old, naturally I was a little disappointed that USC could not win and be the first team to win the national championship three years in a row. But, it was a terrific season (11-1) with many memorable games: Oregon, Notre Dame, Fresno State, UCLA, and Texas.

Football is a fine "team" game, but Vince Young from Texas was so outstanding in his play yesterday as a fine running and sharp passing quarterback that he stood head and shoulders above everyone.

A Tasty Fact

"This cabbage, these carrots, these potatoes, these onions ...
will soon become me.
Such a tasty fact!"
- Mike Garofalo

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."
- Anthelme Brillat-Savarin


"Your body is a field of energy, transformation and intelligence made out of the food you eat. A sugar molecule in the apple you ate at lunch yesterday may be a part of you stomach lining today. An amino acid from the side order of cottage cheese you ate may be a fiber in your bicep muscle. An iron molecule from you spinach salad may already be part of the hemoglobin in one of you red blood cells. You become what you eat.

One of the four things happens to every molecule you ingest: (1) it is transformed into a structural part of you body; (2) it is used for energy; (3) it is stored for possible future use; or (4) it is eliminated."
- Deepak Chopra and David Simon. Grow Younger, Live Longer. 2001, p. 64.

Thoughts Return From Winter Skies

 

"There is a privacy about winter which no other season gives you .....
In spring, summer and fall people sort of have an open season on each other; only in the winter, in the country, can you have longer, quiet stretches when you can savor belonging to yourself."
- Ruth Stout

"Antisthenes says that in a certain faraway land the cold is so intense that words freeze as soon as they are uttered, and after some time then thaw and become audible, so that words spoken in winter go unheard until the next summer."
- Plutarch, Moralia

Some words spoken in the summer quickly evaporated and
fled into into the heavens. These thoughts were dispersed to
the far corners of the earth. Ripening in the skies they waited.
Joining the great northern flow they came home and with the
long winter rains they were heard again on their mother soil.
They spoke gently of rebirth, renewal, and revitalization.

 

Green Way Wisdom - Winter

Daoist Medical Qigong Center

Michael Rinaldini is the director of the Daoist Medical Qigong Center in Sebastopol, California. It is an affliate branch of BaGua XunDao Gong Qigong Center, Beijing, China. Mr. Rinaldini is also a Certified Teacher of Master Wan Sujian's Bagua Xundao gong qigong system. He is an acupressure and Tuina therapist (CMT). His trainings in qigong include three study trips to China, and in August 2003, Michael was ordained a 22nd generation Daoist Priest (novice) in the (Longmen) Dragon Gate sect. He was given the name "Dao Li-Chang."

Northern California Taijiquan and Qigong Directory

Qigong: Bibliography, Links, Guides, Resources

Happy New Year

Best Wishes for a Healthy, Happy, and Productive 2006
May Your T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Qigong and Yoga Practices Flourish

 

"I prefer winter and fall, when you feel the bone structure in the
landscape - the loneliness of it - the dead feeling of winter.
Something waits beneath it - the whole story doesn't show."
- Andrew Wyeth

 

A Plum Orchard near Red Bluff, California

Winter brings us cool temperatures and steady rain.
This causes the grasses to grow again.
All our fields are a vibrant bright green.
Such Beauty!
A suberb place for Taijiquan.


Green Way Wisdom - Trees and Orchards

 

Happy New Year

May each of you have a healthy, happy and prosperous New Year.
May 2007 bring more Good Will in the world, and good harvests in the fields.
May Peace and Blessings Come to You and Your Family this New Year.
May each of us do something practical to help the Earth Heal.

"The Art of Peace begins with you. Work on yourself and your appointed task in the Art of Peace.
Everyone has a spirit that can be refined, a body that can be trained in some manner, a suitable path to follow.
You are here for no other purpose than to realize your inner divinity and manifest your innate enlightenment.
Foster peace in your own life and then apply the Art to all that you encounter.
One does not need buildings, money, power, or status to practice the Art of Peace.
Heaven is right where you are standing, and that is the place to train.
To truly implement the Art of Peace, you must be able to sport freely in
the manifest, hidden, and divine realms."
- Morihei Ueshiba, Aikido O'Sensei, 1883-1969, The Art of Peace



Aikido Founder Morihei Ueshiba watering his garden.

 

May each of you accomplish all of your New Year's Resolutions.

I usually do make a few "New Year's Resolutions." This year I called them:

11 Things Mike Garofalo Will Accomplish in 1,0001 Days

I played a bit with developing another list called:

101 Things to Do in 1,0001 Days

If you are curious, you can read some of the lists of "101 Things to Do in 1,001 Days" created by other people.