Spring Cleaning Season Begins

Karen and I live in a home on a five acre parcel of land south of Red Bluff, California.  We both are employed at education jobs in our area.  We have a number of large yard and garden projects that have kept us busy over the many years since 1998.

We kind of flow with the seasons.  Our springtime weather is perfect for new yard, home and garden projects.

Today, for example, I want to move storage containers from the garage to outdoor storage sheds.         

We recently enjoyed visiting our children and their families and vacationing for one week in Portland, Oregon.

I've been reading biographies: Arthur Schopenhauer, Frederick Nietzsche, John Dewey, Immanuel Kant, Sigmund Freud, Ludwig Wittgenstein.

I've been reading a lot of the writings of John Dewey (1859-1952). 

My science interests are varied.  Just read Brian Greene's "The Fabric of the Cosmos."  Fascinating stuff about the physics of the infinitesimally and incredibly tiny, at and below the level of organisms, organs, drops, microscopic, cells, molecules, DNA instructions, atoms, qwarks, forces, and the space-time aberrations of Quantum Land and String Land.  Learning about the five senses of human beings and other animals is interesting to me. 

  "Galileo Galilei's used a compound microscope in 1625, and he called it the "occhiolino" or "little eye."  The first detailed account of the interior construction of living tissue based on the use of a microscope did not appear until 1644, in Giambattista Odierna's L'occhio della mosca, or The Fly's Eye.  Electron microscopy emerged in the 1940's."
-  Microscope in Wikipedia

Mission Statements

“That man is successful who has lived well, laughed often, and loved much, who has gained the respect of the intelligent men and the love of children; who has filled his niche and accomplished his task; who leaves the world better than he found it, whether by an improved poppy, a perfect poem, or a rescued soul; who never lacked appreciation of earth’s beauty or failed to express it; who looked for the best in others and gave the best he had.”
-  Robert Louis Stevenson 1850-1894

"On 3 December 1894, Robert Louis Stevenson was talking to his wife and straining to open a bottle of wine when he suddenly exclaimed, "What's that!" asking his wife "Does my face look strange?" and then collapsed.  He died within a few hours.  He was forty-four years old." RLS
 
"This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people ... re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss what insults your very soul, and your very flesh will become a great poem."
-  Walt Whitman 1819-1892


 
"The focus of my life begins at home with family, loved ones and friends. I want to use my resources to create a secure environment that fosters love, learning, laughter and mutual success.  I will protect and value integrity.  I will admit and quickly correct my mistakes.  I will be a self-starter.  I will be a caring person.  I will be a good listener with an open mind.  I will continue to grow and learn.  I will facilitate and celebrate the success of others."
-  Merlin Olsen 1940-2010
 

Lifestyle Advice from Wise Persons

The Most Valuable Science

"Botany I rank with the most valuable sciences, whether we consider its subjects as furnishing the principal subsistence of life to man and beast, delicious varieties for our tables, refreshments from our orchards, the adornments of our flower borders, shade and perfume of our groves, materials for our buildings, or medicaments for our bodies."
-  Thomas Jefferson 

Spirit of Gardening

The Tripwire of a Smell

"Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains; another, a moonlit beach; a third, a family dinner of pot roast and sweet potatoes during a myrtle-mad August in a Midwestern town. Smells detonate softly in our memory like poignant land mines hidden under the weedy mass of years. Hit a tripwire of smell and memories explode all at once. A complex vision leaps out of the undergrowth."
-  Diane Ackerman  

The Five Senses

Benefits of Walking

Recent studies have indicated the numerous "mental benefits" of walking such as: slowing mental decline, lowering Alzheimer's risk, improving sleep, improving mood, and improving concentration.
-  The Mental Benefits of Walking from Arthritis Today, 2010.

"For someone who walks regularly, their body is better able to deliver oxygen to all systems, including the brain, because they’ve improved their cardiovascular function. Not surprisingly, regular walkers report better mental clarity and ability to focus. Creativity is enhanced because walkers have the ability to relax their mind and let it wander around while they’re walking. Outdoor strollers can have the benefit of beautiful scenery as well as just seeing things from a different perspective, which stimulates creative thought and the imagination.  Whether you want to improve your body, your mind or both, the benefits of walking should encourage you to make the time to do it."
-  Mental Benefits of Walking, Creating a Good Life
Scientific studies have shown that their are numerous benefits of walking: improves insulin sensitivity and thus prevents diabetes, improves one's sex life, saves you on gym costs, can reduce the need for certain medicines, reduce fibromyalgia pain, helps with overcoming certain cancers, reduces stroke risk, and improves memory.
-  The Eight Astonishing Benefits of Walking, The Mother Nature Network

Walking: Quotes, Sayings, Poems, Information

Relaxed Awareness

"Do the small things of life with a relaxed awareness.  When you are eating, eat totally - chew totally, taste totally, smell totally. Touch your bread, feel the texture.  Smell the bread, smell the flavor.  Chew it, let it dissolve into your being, and remain conscious - and you are meditating.  And then meditation is not separate from life."
-  Osho  

Meditation

The Beauty of Inflections

"I do not know which to prefer -
The beauty of inflections
Or the beauty of innuendoes,
The blackbird whistling
Or just after."
-  Wallace Stevens, Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird, 1923

"Listening is a magnetic and strange thing, a creative force. The friends who listed to us are the ones we move toward, and we want to sit in their radius.  When we are listened to, it creates us, makes us unfold and expand."
-  Karl Menninger

The Five Senses

Listening and Hearing 

Sufficiently Thankful

"I do not wish to die -
There is such contingent beauty in life:
The open window on summer mornings
Looking out on gardens and green things growing,
The shadowy cups of rose flowering to themselves-
Images of time and eternity-
Silence in the garden and felt along the walls.
The room is suddenly filled with sun,
Like a sacrament one can never be
Sufficiently thankful for.  Door ajar,
The eye reaches across from one
Open window to another, eye to eye,
And then the healing spaces of the sky." 
-  Alfred Leslie Rowse  

The Five Senses

Seeing, Looking, Vision

 

Realize Your Personal Legend

"It's a force that appears to be negative, but actually shows you how to realize your Personal Legend.  It prepares your spirit and your will, because there is one great truth on this planet: whoever you are, or whatever it is that you do, when you really want something, it's because that desire originated in the soul of the universe.  It's your mission on earth."

-  Paulo Coelho, The Illustrated Alchemist: A Fable About Following Your Dream, translated from the Portuguese by Alan R. Clarke, paintings by Moebius, Haper/Flamingo, 1988, 1993. 

Doubting Makes Sense at Times

Many times I have read or listened to some unjustified or outlandish claims about the value or benefits of yoga or qigong.  Some claim one can obtain amazing, otherworldly, special or magical powers (siddhis) from the practice of these arts.  Some claim that all kinds of ailments, diseases, and illnesses, both physical and mental, can be cured or overcome with diligent "correct" practice. These arts are also connected with religious viewpoints (e.g., Taoist, Hindu, Tantric, Buddhist) that also make some questionable claims about the benefits of various spiritual practices. Some extraordinary anecdotes are very suspicious and should be doubted. 
There are definitely benefits from the correct and sensible practice of various mind-body arts and spiritual practices; and, there are definitely limits to these benefits.  Keep an open mind, be somewhat skeptical, courteously question, and test claims against reality.  Look at the other side of the coin.  Don't believe all that you hear or read.  Weight anecdotal claims against common sense, averages, and personal differences.  Be careful of an over reliance on magic.  Avoid being gullible.  Respectfully listen to "authorities," but do not always accept their recommendations and claims on blind faith.  Watch out for fakes, phonies, and hucksters.  Keep a clear understanding of the limitations of your own body and mind and how certain practices might not be beneficial to you and even detrimental to your health and well being.  Do some research, listen to other experts, read widely, get a second or third opinion, and think clearly and wisely. 
Willpower and faith have a place in beneficial body-mind practices, but cannot force or control the flow of the Tao just as you desire.  Accept some defeat, loss, failure, errors, misinformation, and falsehood as part of the reality of the life and mind.  Uncertainty and chaos also share in the spotlight on the stage of life. 
Two books that I have read might help you in keeping a more level perspective on these topics with respect to the practice of Yoga:

The Science of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards  By William J. Broad.  New York, Simon and Schuster, 2012.  Index, bibliography, notes, 298 pages.  ISBN;  9781451641424.  VSCL. 
The Hindus: An Alternative History  By Wendy Doniger.  New York, Penguin Books, 2009.  Index, bibliography, notes, 779 pages.  ISBN: 9780143116691.  VSCL. 

Set Fire Dubstep Dancing

Marquese "Non-Stop" Scott does a new Dubstep Dance called "Set Fire."  Tai Chi Chuan dancers might pick up a few new moves from Marquese ...

Dao De Jing, Laozi, Chapter 27

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu
Chapter 27

"A good traveler leaves no tracks,
A good speaker is without flaw.
A good planner does not calculate.
A good doorkeeper does not lock, yet it cannot be opened.
A good knotter does not use binding, yet it cannot be undone.
Therefore, the sage is good at his earnest demands upon people.
So no one is left out. 
No talent is wasted.
This is called being in the tow of enlightenment. 
And it ensures the good person.
For everything that is good is the teacher of the good person.
For everything that is bad becomes the resource for the good person.
No need to honor the teachers. 
No need to love the resources. 
Though knowing this is a great paradox,
It is the subtle principle."
-   Translated by Edward Brennan and Tao Huang, 2002, Chapter 27   
  
"The conduct of the virtuous leaves neither trace nor clue.
The words of the virtuous afford no ground for fault-finding.
The projects of the virtuous require no intrigue.  
When the virtuous are obstructed in their policy, though there be no bolt to the door which shuts them in, it yet cannot be opened.
When the virtuous enter into relations with others, though they be not bound by the ties of contract, they yet may not release themselves from their obligations. 
Thus the Sage ever uses his goodness in saving others; and therefore there are none who are abandoned.
He ever uses his goodness in saving the inanimate creation; and therefore there are none of these who are abandoned.
This is called being doubly enlightened.  
Wherefore the virtuous man is the teacher, or patron, of the bad man, while the bad man is employed as material, on which to work, by the virtuous man.
If the bad man does not reverence the other as his teacher, nor the good man love the former as his material; then, in spite of any wisdom either may possess, they are both greatly blinded.
This doctrine is both important and sublime."
-   Translated by Frederic H. Balfour, 1884, Chapter 27     

"A good traveler leaves no trace.
A good speaker makes no slips.
A good accountant uses no devices.
A good door needs no bolts to remain shut.
A good fastener needs no rope to hold its bond.
Therefore the wise are good at helping people,
and consequently no one is rejected.
They are good at saving things,
and consequently nothing is wasted.
This is called using the Light.
Therefore the good teach the bad,
and the bad are lessons for the good.
Those who neither value the teacher nor care for the lesson
are greatly deluded, though they may be learned.
Such is the essential mystery."
-   Translated by Sanderson Beck, 1996, Chapter 27  

"Good travelers leave no trace nor track,
Good speakers, in logic show no lack,
Good counters need no counting rack.
Good lockers bolting bars need not,
Yet none their locks can loose.
Good binders need no string nor knot,
Yet none unties their noose.
Therefore the holy man is always a good savior of men, for there are no outcast people.
He is always a good savior of things, for there are no outcast things.
This is called applied enlightenment.  
Thus the good man does not respect multitudes of men.
The bad man respects the people's wealth.
Who does not esteem multitudes nor is charmed by their wealth, though his knowledge be greatly confused,
He must be recognized as profoundly spiritual."
-   Translated by Daisetsu Teitaro Suzuki and Paul Carus, 1913  , Chapter 27 
 
 

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu: Introduction, Bibliography, Commentary, Chapter Index  

Chapter 27 of the Dao De Jing by Laozi: Text and Commentaries  

Index of English Language Translators of the Tao Te Ching 

Ripening Peaches: Taoist Studies and Practices  

Chapter and Thematic Index to the Tao Te Ching

The Practice of Walking

"I was the world in which I walked."
-   Wallace Stevens, Tea at the Palaz of Hoon

"Allow walking to occupy a place of stature equal with all the other important activities in your life. As difficult as that might seem, here's how to do it. Make it a practice. That's right. Turn your walking into a vehicle for personal growth as well as for fitness. This will add a higher level of integrity and intention to your approach because you will find that it is a way to deepen and upgrade your relationship to your body. Instead of merely giving your legs a good workout, you'll be practicing to relax more, to breathe better, to expand your vision, to open up your range of motion, to increase your energy, to feel and sense your body. The list is exciting - and endless. With all of this to look forward to, your walking program will take its place alongside everything in your life you value most, and you'll be amazed at how easy it is to schedule time for something you really love to do."
- Katherine Dreyer, Chi Walking, p. 56

 

Chi Walking: The Find Mindful Steps for Lifelong Health and Energy. By Danny Dreyer and Katherine Dreyer. New York, Simon and Shuster, Fireside Books, 2006. Index, 258 pages. ISBN: 0743267206.


"Walking I am unbound, and find that precious unity of life and imagination, that silent outgoing self, which is so easy to loose, but which a high moments seems to start up again from the deepest rhythms of my own body. How often have I had this longing for an infinite walk - of going unimpeded, until the movement of my body as I walk fell into the flight of streets under my feet - until I in my body and the world in its skin of earth were blended into a single act of knowing."
- Alfred Kazin, The Open Street

"If you look for the truth outside yourself,
It gets farther and farther away.
Today walking alone, I meet it everywhere I step.
It is the same as me, yet I am not it.
Only if you understand it in this way
Will you merge with the way things are."- Tung-Shan

 

     "Walking meditation means to enjoy walking without any intention to arrive. We don't need to arrive anywhere. We just walk. We enjoy walking. That means walking is already stopping, and that needs some training. Usually in our daily life we walk because we want to go somewhere. Walking is only a means to an end, and that is why we do not enjoy every step we take. Walking meditation is different. Walking is only for walking. You enjoy every step you take. So this is a kind of revolution in walking. You allow yourself to enjoy every step you take.
     The Zen master Ling Chi said that "the miracle is not to walk on burning charcoal or in the thin air or on the water; the miracle is just to walk on earth." You breathe in. You become aware of the fact that you are alive. You are still alive and you are walking on this beautiful planet. That is already performing a miracle. The greatest of all miracles is to be alive. We have to awaken ourselves to the truth that we are here, alive. We are here making steps on this beautiful planet. This is already performing a miracle. But we have to be here in order for the miracle to be possible. We have to bring ourselves back to the here and the now."
- Thich Nhat Hanh, Resting in the River

 

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   

Eight Immortal's Taijiquan Cane Form

Here is a T'ai Chi Ch'uan Cane form that I enjoy practicing and have taught to many of my students: 

The Eight Immortals Cane Form.  Created by Master Jesse Tsao from San Diego, California.  Part I of this cane form is based on the Yang style of T'ai Chi Ch'uan.  This form has 36 movements.  

Traditional Tai Chi Eight Immortals Cane, Routine One.  Demonstrated by Master Jesse Tsao.  Instructional DVD, 64 minutes.  Produced by Tai Chi Healthways, San Diego, 2008.  Routine One is based on the Yang Style of Taijiquan.  Master Tsao developed this cane form himself, with grandmaster Zhu Tiancai's support. 

Traditional Tai Chi Eight Immortals Cane, Routine Two (Cannon Cane).  Demonstrated by Master Jesse Tsao.  Instructional DVD, 65 minutes.  Produced by Tai Chi Healthways, San Diego, 2008.  Routine Two, Cannon Cane, is based on the Chen Style of Taijiquan.  Master Tsao developed this cane form himself, with grandmaster Zhu Tiancai's support.  

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, bibliography, 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.  Related to Mike's popular webpage on the Staff.

Toju Zenchu brandished his staff before Daoist Shifu Miao Zhang and challenged him "Miao Zhang, speak and you get whacked with Nanten's staff.  Do not speak and you still get whacked with Nanten's staff."
Shifu Zhang stood up quickly, lifted his cane strongly in defense, and quietly said, "Yunmen's shit stick stinks and Nanten's staff is cracked!  I am leaving now to take my evening walk. Goodbye."  

Garden Preparations

Karen and I have been working in our garden a lot in the recent weeks.

Our large "Sunny Garden" needed some work: weeding, fertilizing, tilling, pruning, thinning, etc.

Here is how the area looked before we began our work project.  The first photo is a view to the south.  The second photo is a view to the north. 

Here is how the Sunny Garden looks after our gardening efforts.  I removed the dying Lelyandi cypress tree at the south end of this garden.  All the weeds were removed and placed in the compost pile at the north end of this garden area. 

We still have swiss chard, cabbages, onions, garlic and other winter plants in this garden.  This past weekend we took a chance and planted two tomato starts in this garden.  Our frost date is April 10th, so we will need to protect the tomatoes if the temperature should drop.  We still have some tilling and weeding left to do in this garden; however, the bulk of the preparatory work will be accomplished before April. 

Here is a view to the west.