Do you know that sensation you get when someone sincerely asks you what's been going on... and you feel that pregnant pause when your body/mind/spirit is simply consumed with the sheer volume of things that you've been experiencing recently... and you barely know where to start?

...well, I barely know where to start :))

In the past two months since posting my last Breathe Deep eNewsletter, I have been in California teaching Qigong and working with the Department of Education... then in Australia also teaching and establishing the software in the yoga community, working with the great team I am building there and negotiating with a large university in Sydney... then I led the annual Qigong Study Trip to Thailand after which Daisy and I taught a great Qigong workshop in Holland thanks to fabulous organizers and now friends... and at this moment I am in Italy, reveling in the completion of teaching Qigong workshops, visiting my family, and meeting with excited public school administrators and hospital physicians about the WujiTech software.

Within this amazing flow are a thousand stories...

I am so grateful for the opportunity to share and inspire where I can... and throughout, I learn so much about life, about the amazing nature of the human spirit, about how I can continue to open my heart and really live this life in an authentic way.  Traveling is such a critical part of the human experience.  It is in our genes to migrate, to move around, to explore.  From the beginning of our sentient roots we as a people have responded to climate changes, to redistributed resources, to our inner drive to explore and discover.  Within our genes is the cellular memory of our ancestors.  This in some way is a common memory since as we bore down into our ancestry we see how much we all share.  Just as recent research into global genetics shows that we all have descended from a single female (that fact alone should end all wars!) we all energetically share a common thread, a common living spirit. 

Essential to this spirit is to know the part of us that is more than our physical structure, more than our mental musings, more than our emotional drives.  As I travel and meet hundreds and hundreds of people, it is easy to see the commonality of human spirit.  For me it is much easier to see what we all share in common than to see any differences.  Sure, the cheese is much better in Italy, what can I say? :))  But the essential nature of people everywhere is so alike.  When you peel back the color of skin, the language we speak, and yes, the quality of cheese, well, what are you left with?

This "remainder" is what I most enjoy exploring.  Practicing Qigong helps me access the perception and sensitivity I long for to be able to "see" and "feel" that essential "remainder" in people.  Qigong practice helps us develop our empathy, as it opens us to connecting with the energies around us.  As we practice Qigong's breathing exercises, we are reminded to draw in the Qi dancing around us.  Qi rides on the oxygen that every tree and plant produces... so with each breath, we not only inhale oxygen and absorb/connect with Qi, but we merge with the trees and plants.  When we exhale, our metabolic processes produce carbon dioxide... in these molecules also dance Qi... and the trees and plants absorb the CO2 and Qi... merging and meshing with us.  This exchange is an easy example for us to embrace... and it is the same for us with rocks and with all "inanimate" objects... just as it is the same for us with every person and animal.  Qi rides on every atom and thus every molecule... and since last time i checked, everything in this Universe is based on atoms, then we are all entangled (a quantum physics term actually) with one another. 

If Qi rides within every atom, then Qi is in fact everywhere.

This takes a fair bit of trust to accept, but it is the only concept that makes sense to me.  We live in an abundant Universe, an infinitely abundant Universe.  To embrace this infinite nature of things is to embrace the infinite nature of ourselves.  This pushes us to take a very responsible view of life.  Why? Well, because if we move away from a scarcity view of limits (where we can easily become a victim of life) and move into a embracing a world view of abundance, then we have to accept that EVERYTHING is possible.  We are pushed to remembering - on the deepest level - that all we need energetically is within our ability to receive it. 

In an infinite Universe, you are ALWAYS at the center.

(check your math, this is true.)

What a thing to accept... If you are in the center of an infinitely abundant Universe, then everything is within your reach.   If Qi rides on every atom, then everything is infused with Qi... and if every atom is essentially energy... then YOU are a living, breathing, thinking, dreaming field of energy, bound together by atomic forces that convince you enough that you are solid... and it's good to embrace our solidity (it makes driving cars, hugging, and eating cheese much easier for instance :))

Taking the energetic perspective, you can embrace this infinite nature of things easier.  As energy, you can glimpse how this thing called Qi can dance to enliven energy/matter to vitalize every "thing" and every thought.  As energy, you can begin to understand how you can affect the world you are "Dreaming" every moment.  If thoughts are energy and all things are energy... then your thoughts (what the ancient Chinese referred to as "yi") are entwined (entangled) with all matter... and each thought exerts some force on all things.

That is what makes this path one of joyful responsibility.  It is our "ability" to "respond"... to the energy and "things" and "thoughts" around us... just as it is the "respond-ability" of the "things" and "thoughts" and energy around to move and dance with us...

Qigong practice continues to wake me up to this... to push me to remember this truth... to remind me that I am "Dreaming" this experience in a most wonderful way... wide awake, here and now... With each breath in my practice I am asked to drop into that place of quiet, of inner peace... to discover what it means to embrace my energetic nature... and to bring it into practical application in everyday life...

I was all ready to catch up on a backlog of important work the other day... my workshops here in Italy were finished... I allowed myself to start drinking espresso again (hey, everything in balance :)) I have much to do to keep this WujiTech software project moving forward and with a good internet connection here at my cousin's lovely home in Rome, I was all ready to focus.  Alas, another cousin decides that she and her husband must take me off to the mountains for a couple of days... but, but... it's springtime in central Italy... it was an offer that I couldn't refuse (and if you know the Garripoli family, you had BETTER say yes...) So I find myself in a magnificent mountain retreat... an hour away from Rome but centuries back in time with very few people around... a 13th Century bridge named after my namesake St. Francesco (Francis) extending over a crystal clear stream... we stop to purchase food supplies in a little country store that rivaled any variety in New York City... and then up further in to mountains... pristine quiet... and as my family members open their place up, I go for a walk to do some Qigong... the ground is a tapestry of colors... thousands of flowers create a rainbow carpet that asks you to walk consciously and gently so as not to disturb a single one... it is a fabulous display of Qi, of life itself pressing from the Earth Mother upwards... I find a quiet place in the forest... infinite trees take their places up and down the hillside... seasons upon seasons of fallen leaves cushion every step... there are no weeds or much undergrowth, save some grasses and a mushroom here or there, and yes, the plethora of flowers...

I begin the Swimming Dragon Qigong... slow, sweeping movements... my hands reaching out and around in an elegant arc seem to pass through the tree trunks... my feet sink deep into the leaves, drawing the Earth energy up and receiving my energy back down... my breath joins with the soft breeze and takes me up into the canopy of bright green leaves... Then I hear some footsteps... not human though... My eyes are closed as I get into my Qigong moving meditation deeper and deeper... but the footsteps continue... and then a whinny, and a snort... and I open my eyes and dozens of wild horses are walking all around me, casually eating  what little grass there is.  The cavalinos (colts and foals) come closer than the mature adults, curious.  My slow movements and breathing don't seem to disturb them, but I carefully slow down my Qigong and squat down, continuing my conscious breathing and appreciating the power of these amazing and free creatures.  They exude grace and strength.  They don't have any marks on them from saddles or bridles, even the older mares.  They live in these mountains at 1,500 meters above sea level and graze wild, as nature intended.  I felt so blessed.

Qigong is quiet and powerful practice... these wild horses were not put off by it in the least... a bit cautious, but very accepting.  I could feel that natural urge for us all to merge... to accept that we were of the same "herd."  I wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.

After what seemed like forever, I heard the sound of humans.  Talking loudly and carrying on in the distance.  The black and white stallion, who remained at the back of the herd the whole time, raised his head and let out a loud whiny.  They all seemed to know what this meant and turned to follow him up the hillside and deep into the forest.  A cute colt  came up to me for one last smell and then joined the herd, up and away from the noise, from the racket that we associate with humanity...

Thank you for reading this edition of Breathe Deep... I hope to see you at an upcoming Qigong workshop or on a China or Thailand Study & Healing Trip.  I wish you, your family and friends well... and hope that you can find time to embrace the quiet you need to heal and grow...
Kahuna Valley
P.O. Box 1921, Kapaa, HI 96746, USA

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