You Cannot Call It Old

"The Way has its reality and its signs
but is without action or form.
You can hand it down but you cannot receive it,
you can ignore it but you cannot see it.
It is its own source, its own root.
Before heaven and earth existed it was there,
from the ancient times.
It gave spirituality to the spirits and to God,
it gave birth to heaven and to earth.
It exists beyond the highest point,
and yet you cannot call it lofty;
it exists beneath the limit of the six directions,
and yet you cannot call it deep.
It was born before heaven and earth,
and yet you cannot say it has been there for long,
it is earlier than the earliest time,
and yet you cannot call it old."
- The Crookbacked Woman and the Sage
Chuang Tzu, Translated by Burton Watson, 1964

Finding the Liminal Realm

"Waking, sleeping and dreaming are liminal activities, and the very act of breathing may be construed as liminal. Spirals, labyrinths, mazes, tors, mounds, stone circles, groves and sacred enclosures are liminal spaces opening into other realities and other modes of being and thinking — as are winding woodland trails, oak stands, clear streams and mountains (I find myself thinking of the Queen Mother of the West and the mythical Peach Blossom Spring here)."

"We each approach the liminal in our own way and our own time, and the lens through which we filter our liminal experiences is a unique and very personal thing. For some of us, the gateway lies through church services and collective ceremonies — for others it is private prayer, meditation and silence — for still others, the way is through loving observation of the natural world, personal ritual, carefully crafted rites of passage and the old seasonal festivals. Sunrise, noon, twilight and midnight are liminal times of day when according to ancient lore, divination and magic could be worked by those skilled in such arts — such times would have been fearful and vulnerable intervals for those without magical gifts or the protections of the Craft."

By Kerrdelune, Beyond the Fields We Know

Please, do take the time to read her excellent series of articles on the topic.

Hardship and Calmness

"Calm in quietude is not real calm;
when you can be calm in the midst of activity,
this is the true state of nature.
Happiness in comfort is not real happiness;
when you can be happy in the midst of hardship,
then you see the true potential of the mind."
- Huanchu Daoren

Revenge

Revenge is easy to understand. It is a universal response to the anger we feel towards those who have done us harm, betrayed us, violated us, stolen from us, hurt us ... Revenge fuels more hatred.

Even the gods of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism are vengeful, cruel, and ruthless. They severly punish and seek revenge for disobedience. Their behavior sets an example for men.

Seeking revenge can become a bad habit, an addiction, a endless cycle of bad faith and violence.

Refining the Self

"Refining the self, and setting up the foundation are not a matter of forced control, forced effort, or austere practices. What the work requires is first to recognize the natural, innocent true mind, and then to use this true mind to refine the self. Then a point of celestial energy emerges within the darkness - this is called true consciousness."
= Chang Po-Tuan, commentary by Liu I-Ming

Tai Chi Classics

Reflections on the Circle

I've put together a webpage on the subject of Sacred Circles.

This webpage provides links, bibliographic citations, resources, quotations, notes, and comments on medicine wheels, henges, labyrinths, neopagan sacred circles, holy circles, the symbolism and myths about circles and spheres, the four elements, and related topics.

Those folks who walk the circle in labyrinths, walking meditation or baguazhang might find some of the information in sacred circles to be of interest to them.

How to Hit with Power

"I am a firm believer in heavy bag and percussion training. I do not like my fighters to train on a bag that weighs less than 80 pounds. The bag should have a firmness consistent with that of softened rock. In other words, whatever the filling, the bag must be quite dense. A fighter must condition his hands, feet, elbows and knees to the shock of impact. Otherwise, all other preparations for combat become useless. When properly conditioned, a fighter has no apprehension about unloading a full-power strike on the opponent. Poor conditioning leads to a fear of injury.Kinetics must be studied and understood intimately by the fighter. You can be the quickest tactician alive, but if you don’t have anything behind your strikes, you will generally lose to the more powerful opponent.Each type of strike must be broken down and analyzed for the fighter to understand how the maximum efficiency of the blow can be attained. I walk my fighters through movements over and over again, making adjustments to their body alignment. The implication here is that the coach must truly understand what he’s doing. Guessing is best left outside the ring or platform."

Kuoshu Winning Secrets
By Mike Patterson (First printed in Inside Kung Fu Magazine - August 1997)

The Music Won't Last

Dance

Written by a teenager fighting the effects of cancer.

"Have you ever watched kids
On a merry-go-round?
Or listened to the rain
Slapping on the ground?

Ever followed a butterfly's erratic flight?
Or gazed at the sun into the fading night?

You better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Do you run through each day
On the fly?
When you ask "How are you?"
Do you hear the reply?

When the day is done
Do you lie in your bed
With the next hundred chores
Running through your head?

You'd better slow down
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

Ever told your child,
We'll do it tomorrow?
And in your haste,
Not see his sorrow?

Ever lost touch,
Let a good friendship die
Cause you never had time
To call and say,"Hi!"

You'd better slow down.
Don't dance so fast.
Time is short.
The music won't last.

When you run so fast to get somewhere
You miss half the fun of getting there.
When you worry and hurry through your day,
It is like an unopened gift....
Thrown away.

Life is not a race.
Do take it slower
Hear the music
Before the song is over."

Qigong Classes in Red Bluff CA

When I teach Hatha Yoga, I also use many movements from different Qigong forms.
I also attempt to give students information about the traditions of both
Indian Yoga and Chinese Qigong.

For information about class schedules and locations, visit my webpage on the
subject.

Locations of Classes:

Tehama Family Fitness Center, Red Bluff, California

Valley Spirit Center, Red Bluff, California

Information on my yoga classes.

Information on my T'ai Chi Ch'uan classes.

Wild Goose Qigong

Wild Goose Chi Kung: Bibliography, Links, List of Movements, Quotations, Resources, Notes. By Mike Garofalo. 149 Kb. Dayan Qigong

Heart Sutra

"When the Bodhisattva Avalokitesvara
Was Discoursing in the Deep Prajna Paramita,
He Perceived That All Five Skandhas Are Empty.
Thus He Overcame All Ills and Suffering.
Oh, Sariputra, Form Does not Differ From the Void,
And the Void Does Not Differ From Form.
Form is Void and Void is Form;
The Same is True For Feelings,
Perceptions, Volitions and Consciousness.
Sariputra, the Characteristics of the
Voidness of All Dharmas
Are Non-Arising, Non-Ceasing, Non-Defiled,
Non-Pure, Non-Increasing, Non-Decreasing.
Therefore, in the Void There Are No Forms,
No Feelings, Perceptions, Volitions or Consciousness.
No Eye, Ear, Nose, Tongue, Body or Mind;
No Form, Sound, Smell, Taste, Touch or Mind Object;
No Realm of the Eye,
Until We Come to No realm of Consciousness.
No ignorance and Also No Ending of Ignorance,
Until We Come to No Old Age and Death and
No Ending of Old Age and Death.
Also, There is No Truth of Suffering,
Of the Cause of Suffering,
Of the Cessation of Suffering, Nor of the Path.
There is No Wisdom, and There is No Attainment Whatsoever.
Because There is Nothing to Be Attained,
The Bodhisattva Relying On Prajna Paramita Has
No Obstruction in His Mind.
Because There is No Obstruction, He Has no Fear,
And He passes Far Beyond Confused Imagination.
And Reaches Ultimate Nirvana.
The Buddhas of the Past, Present and Future,
By Relying on Prajna Paramita
Have Attained Supreme Enlightenment.
Therefore, the Prajna Paramita is the Great Magic Spell,
The Spell of Illumination, the Supreme Spell,
Which Can Truly Protect One From All Suffering Without Fail.
Therefore He Uttered the Spell of Prajnaparmita,
Saying 'Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha.' "

- The Heart Sutra of Buddhism



Audio version of the Heart Sutra; a reading by Michael P. Garofalo.

The Heart Sutra (PDF Version) 

Green Way Wisdom - Zen Buddhist Poems and Scriptures

Emptiness (Sunyata, Mu, Inter-Dependent Arising)

I Ching Trigrams

The Trigrams of the I Ching: Attributions, Bibliography, Links, Quotations, Notes. By Mike Garofalo. 126 Kb.

Returning to the Blogsphere

I'm now using a new Gateway computer with WildBlue as my ISP. I'm ready to begin posting to my blogs again.

I post regularly to:

Cloud Hands: Mind/Body Movement Arts

Green Way

Valley Spirit Journal

Yosemite Hiking Trip

My brother, Philip Garofalo, and I enjoyed a number of hiking adventures in Yosemite Naional Park, California, in August, 2006.

One challenging hike was a 10 mile round trip hike from Tioga Road to the top of North Dome. Here are some photos of North Dome from the Valley, from the trail, and from the top of North Dome, 7,542 feet.




Looking east from Yosemite Valley from along the Merced River. North Dome is the at the upper left.



A view of North Dome while hiking down the trail.



Phil Garofalo on top of North Dome, looking west down into Yosemite Valley.



Looking east into the Yosemite high country from the top of North Dome.



Mike Garofalo on top of North Dome. Half Dome is directly behind me.

Latest News and Quiet Period

1. Experiencing Technical Difficulties

My Sony Vaio computer has begun to malfunction. I cannot access my entire D: drive. Two visits to a local computer shop for trouble shooting have just got me back to the C: drive.

Therefore, until the new computer is installed, progams and files loaded, router network enabled, etc., I will be unable to maintain our previous Valley Spirit Center posting-publishing schedule at any of the websites or blogs we (Karen and I) create or manage.

I will not be doing any email for awhile. We will be adding new Valley Spirt Center email accounts using WildBlue, and Karen will soon have a new email address, and then leave her old email address.

I will not be responding to any email messages or posting to webpages or blogs until after September 15, 2006.

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2. Valley Spirit Center gets High Speed Internet Service

The Valley Spirit Center Office is upgrading. New shelving has been installed. New hardware and software has been installed, e.g., Altec Lansing sound system, LinkSys Wireless G Broadband router, painting, etc..

Karen is now using the new Internet connection from WildBlue. This is a high speed Internet digital connection via the WildBlue sattelite and our home equipment. She has been very impressed with the power of WildBlue.

For the last eight years the Valley Spirit Center and Green Way Research have used one EarthLink telephone dialup connection on one desktop computer running Internet uploads and downloads at less than 40 Kb a second. Now the Valley Spirit Center and Green Way Research will be running Internet uploads and downloads at betweeen 800 and 1000 Kb a second simultaneously on 2 desktops and one laptop.

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3. Mind-Body Arts

Last weekend, I attended the Master Yang Jun workshop on the Yang Long Taijiquan Hand Form in Portland, Oregon.

I will be doing some camping and mountain hiking in Yosemite with my brother, Phil.

Our fireplace art design is coming along. I will be adding a new large webpage on Sacred Circles in October.

Our kitchen garden is producing heavily at this time. Lots of watering, weeding, and harvesting work.

We both go back to work at our part-time jobs for educational institutions in just two weeks.