Articles & Podcasts
Regain & Maintain Your Health
| Past Sightings |
|---|
Balance and Imbalance |
The Tao of Health
New York Times
Health Section
Teahouse Experiences
Conscious Connections
Living in Stress-filled Times
We live in stress-filled times, there’s no doubt about it. Much of our time is taken up managing fear stemming from international turmoil, economic anxiety, concerns about the safety of the food supply, and other “macro” situations - on top of the normal challenges that come from “chopping wood and carrying water.”
Stressful times indeed, and at the same time, you have the capacity to control what you focus on, and the power to make the practical decisions that foster calm in the midst of the storm. Variations of this
simple insight have been echoing in the literature of consciousness throughout the generations.
To know this, rather than just hope that it’s true, you need a way to experience calm and balance when the ground shakes, the wind blows, the rivers rise - or whenever you feel like you’re having a bad day.
Read the articles, “Entering Sacred Space,” and “Stressing Health” to find out things to do to inflate the ‘protective’ energy that fosters your physical, mental, and spiritual health - and by extension, the health of the world around you.
Late Summer Haiku
A fall breeze
leaves blowing across
the gravel
~ lao xian
Enjoying
sitting between clumps
of bamboo.
~ ronin
Yin and Yang: Your Health and Your Life
The concept of Yin-Yang calls your attention to the need for a sense of balance in your life—and how this balance is already built-in to life itself: You breathe in (yang) ... you breathe out (yin). You get tired and go to sleep (yin) ... you awaken with energy (yang).
Your Health
This idea of balance is represented by the Yin-Yang symbol, shown on this page.
Think of the circle as representing your life and its circumstances. Let the white side represent health, and the dark side, illness. The components of Oriental Medicine work to keep your energy (chi) strong, as represented by the wide portion of the white side of the symbol; but if your energy (chi) weakens, illness— represented by the wide portion of the dark side—begins to appear. As you rebuild your energy (chi), illness dissipates and health reappears.
This is the change that needs to be balanced throughout your life, and is represented in the Yin-Yang symbol by the dots, which tell us: In health is the potential for disease, and in disease is the potential for health.
Your Life
By practicing exercises such as Chi Kung and Tai Chi you can become adept at spotting yin and yang in operation—in your body, in your mind, and in the behavior of those around you. This power of observation enables you to predict the outcome of events and gives you the opportunity to make the necessary adjustments along the way to maintain your health and well-being.