*The Crane
flies alone yet not alone. Notice the shadows of cranes accompanying him. The crane is centered and focused, like Tai Chi practice. The crane is a Tai Chi Master! He can be still, even for hours, then strike with great power!
Patience brought energy. Brushing in the colorful cloud background gave no hint to cranes appearing spontaneously several years later. Intuitive painting opens many surprise packages. My art work took on new dimensions of color and light after practicing and then teaching Tai Chi.
**Goal teasers-tips to achieve your goal by Dr. Paul Lam
Spend more time planning
You might have noticed people who are very busy get things done. Perhaps you're like that. But have you ever noticed that at the end of the day, somebody else with abilities similar to yours achieves a lot more without being as busy? Chances are this person spends more time planning.
You need to identify what contributes more significantly toward your goal and what contributes less. You need to be clear of your goal, then spend time planning how to work effectively toward it. If you have to spend 80% of your time working with tasks that only contribute 20% toward your goal then you need to re-examine how to spend your time more effectively. Plan to spend more time on the 80% and you will achieve a lot more.
Resources:
Dr. Paul Lam is a family practice physician in Sydney, Australia. He travels the world to promote Tai Chi for Health. DVD's such as Tai Chi for Arthritis and many more, workshops, instructor training, forum, music Cd's newsletter
*The Crane: Poem by Dahlis Roy
*Excerpts from Universe: Shadows of Cranes by Dahlis Roy from Dr. Paul Lam's online newsletter, Dec 2004, published with permission
**Goal teasers-tips to achieve your goal by Dr. Paul Lam reprinted from Dr. Lam's online newsletter, July, 2002 Articles reprinted with permission.
Universe Shadows of Cranes, oil painting by Dahlis Roy
A spontaneous joy of creation is shifting in by bits and pieces. When my son, Rob, taught me Tai Chi, he had me follow him silently as his teacher taught him. After the first five minutes of practice, I felt better. We practiced every day then twice a day in short sessions. I gradually gained enough strength to follow for twenty minutes at a time.
"Mom, you think too much!"
"Just Be!"
"There is no right or wrong in Tai Chi, it just is."
"Mom, you're not leaving the house without practicing Tai Chi!"
I was in my head, analyzing, fretting...my hands and feet were in unbalanced positions. I have to let go and relax into the experience of this silent joy of increasing health and strength.
Eight months later, I asked Rob to take me to Tai Chi class and meet his teacher, Jiong Gu, originally from Shanghai. Dr. Gu, a Doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine, led a group outdoors. The air was crisp and bright. I positioned myself behind the back row, not in it! Soft strains of music from China floated upward. The group circled and turned like a flock of cranes. When the class stepped backward to face me, I already knew the "hit the tiger" move without looking back at the group. Dr. Gu later said, "Rob, good teacher."
Several years later, Dr. Gu promoted me to teacher of Tai Chi...and my entire life began to shift and turn into a higher ways of thinking, seeing, living, and being. Rob adds, "Tai Chi enters the entire arena of your life, taking you beyond limits of what you already know."
*"Practicing good virtue...the energy of love, joy, kindness, gentleness, respect and honesty....," Mantak Chia, Healing Love Through the Tao. Inner peace appears.
The leader in traditional Chinese Tai Chi teaching is not always in the front row! The leader may shift around, watching energy of the students and admiring their progress. Who is the leader? Where is the leader? The leader is within. A true leader does not have to lead, he or she is content to point the way.
Good Walking Leaves No Track Behind It, Lao Tzu, Tao te Ching
Yang Family, Creators of Yang Style Tai Chi, history, workshops and more
Terry Dunn, Yang Style Long and Short forms, Flying Phoenix Qigong
Masters He, Weiqi; Lin, Hou Seng; Wing Cheung 18 Form Tai Chi Qigong (Shibashi) can be done as a warm up for Tai Chi or by itself.
Paul Lam, M.D. worldwide Tai Chi for Health Programs, beginning DVDs and all levels of practice, workshop, newsletters, forum
Sunrise: Mountain, painting by Dahlis Roy, vision of Rob practicing Tai Chi
Divine Timing
Searching for a shamrock photo for Silver Stars and Moonbeams post was an adventure. The photo "I" had selected seemed not to upload on time?
Leaving the computer, I searched through my hard copy prints for an alternative picture. The adventure began! Groups of photos came tumbling out of physical folders with welcoming love. Treasure chests of jewels present themselves "right now!"
This is a spiritual journey through time: family, friends, scenes, animals, paintings. Many friends are also going through their stacks of pictures. All memories are unique, our moving individual slide shows shift along our timelines into the timeless.
My Dad shares his love of photographs. From early on, I was taught to handle the crisp shiny black and white prints only on the edges. I saw boxes of yellow negatives. I was allowed to play with some of those that were duplicates. My Brownie Starflash camera worked for many years. I loved that it took black and white, color prints and slides! My camera was another window into the beyond, holding hands with painting, writing, and music.
Imagine
Excavating prints of my paintings is overwhelming me with joy and abundance. I can see again, the original film prints for book illustrations and more, now made into digital for publishing or other Internet use. Digital is an expansive dimension widening our enjoyment into unlimited numbers of shots to be enjoyed, edited, or deleted later in our homes or upload directly onto websites and social media! Everyone of all ages is a photo wizard!
The journey continues for us as more photos appear, "Like the petals of a rose opening, one at a time and each in perfect order," Louise Watson, R.N.
*Golden like the morning
Silver like the sun lined clouds
Glistening like dew on spider webs
Love Is!
Chessie walks with green and gold: colors of healing and love
Chessie Walks Her Timeline, photo by Paul, published with permission
All Things Irish
Racing out of the grocery store the other day, I stopped dead in my tracks. There was a solid bank of blooming shamrock plants waiting for St. Patrick Day homes!
My picture mind rewound several scenes at once to some years ago. I had just met my Guardian Angel, Sharon when, "
My shamrocks broke out in white stars of celebration. My blue-purple violet gradually unwrapped seven lustrous flowers. As they unfolded, together they formed the shape of a heart. Seven is my favorite number. 'It is not a coincidence,' I thought. My friend Mary told me that a plant is an "always love' gift."
"What is important?" People are important. Today, this moment, is important. How can I enrich this moment in timeless time?"
Irish tunes float along. Some Irish folk music is over 1,000 years old. I am picturing Galway Bay right now, and the Aran Islands where the fisherman sweaters originate. The Isle of Innisfree music is playing. Innisfree is one of the Aran Islands in the mouth of Galway Bay. Sun setting lyrics in the song, Galway Bay always bring me shivers.
I have a jar of seashells from the Aran Islands! Treasured sweaters knit with love, every stitch has a meaning. Each thick wool sweater identified the village and the family of the men who wore the knitted patterned artwork. Men knit the sweaters as well as women!
Again I felt my knitting needles as they clicked. I meditated with the rhythm of yarn slipping through fingers. Knitting was my meditation then...and gradually Tai Chi became a more physical mediation and medication, a much needed strength and flexibility for my whole body.
I first heard the Irish music before TV was born on our Big Radio, the frequencies that changed and enriched my life then and now. Lilting Rose of Tralee and the Bard of Armaugh invites me to sing along... Armaugh was also a town in Central Pennsylvania...I thought it was spelled "Our Ma." My petite Celtic maternal grandmother, "Ma," brushes out her waist length hair in long floating silver ringlets.
Knitting a Kelly green Aran sweater for my son's Christmas gift years ago also appeared in my imagination. At that time I was learning the second part of Yang Long Form Tai Chi, the kicks, spins, and turns. I knit. I read Jou Tsung Hwa's book, The Dao of Taijiquan, one word at a time. I took notes. I practiced and re-practiced Tai Chi. I wrote the names of the 108 movements on lists: White Crane Spreads Wings. I listened to music, all kinds of music. Connecting these patterns and balance of Yin and Yang, happy goals of the heart came into being: vision to achievement and pride of accomplishment.
Years melted away when I wrote: "I learned and practiced Tai Chi Yang Long form every day, remembering Master Jou Tsung Hwa's path that Tai Chi can open the spirit to higher dimensions. When practiced as meditation, reaching even beyond the physical sequence is possible."
Today I practiced Tai Chi and loved getting lost in the form, surrounded by Irish folk music "as fair as the daughters of Erin."
Resources:
Enya,Irish music and beyond.
Irish Folk Music, various sources
Jou, Tsung Hwa. Tai Chi teacher and author. Thank you for all you teach us.
The Dao of Taijiquan, Way of Rejuvenation
Chessie with Shamrocks, photo by Dahlis Roy
The Lesson of Letting Go
Musing to myself I ask silently, "Have I taken on too much? Why?"
Then I connect to Patsy Dollar's blog and read: *"I've been soul path searching today. This is not easy. I would like to make things easy! Delegate or just relax about the deadlines I have set for myself. Perhaps that is the lesson....? Should I be less driven and more relaxed?" "I think I'll just jump right in!"
These words touch me so. Oh, we are all so there! Patsy has the courage to express these feelings. I feel like I'm an astronaut and I don't know how to work the controls. Jumping into my blog "write" now feeds me so much energy and adventure. We are all learning and living at the speed of light.
Cheetahs to the Rescue: Leftover Paint
No paint left behind. I scraped some yellow ochre, titanium white, and various burnt sienna and barn reds from my palette after painting something else and brushed them onto a blank canvas....background color. Something will emerge. What will it be? Again with the leftover yellow ochre light, I brushed in the outline of two Cheetahs running, just breezing along, smiling and enjoying the day.
Details added and a bit of shading came next plus some long African grasses. Spots appeared! Spots challenge my eyes, **"Op art painted on ancient cats." Done! Cheetahs go up on my wall to enjoy!
Some time later, I experienced a guided imagery group meditation. We were to meet a master who would teach us a spiritual lesson or direction. I entered the door of golden light and trance-ported to a cave in the earth. It was dark and golden at the same time. There were no cave drawings on the walls. I looked around, adjusting to the dim light. I had long dark hair and was dressed in a white Tai Chi coat and black silk pants. A huge male Cheetah emerged from the darkness. He was much bigger than the usual Cheetah. I shrank back a bit, not looking at him straight on as his hunting mode might take over.
As we both entered the light, we smiled in instant recognition. He bounded toward me and leaped up putting his giant clawed paws on my shoulders. He was much taller than I! I had met a Grand Master Cheetah! We circled around each other in a playing way.
WOOSH! We arrived instantly onto the African Plain of the Serengeti with Mt. Kilimanjaro looming large....
I touched paws and claws to Earth! I had become a young female Cheetah about two years of age. I was honing my hunting skills. The golden grasses were brushed by a soft breeze. My Cheetah Master crouched. He had spotted a baby antelope. I crouched too, watching the Master. He took off like lightning bolts as Cheetahs do, zero to 60 in two seconds. I stayed crouched in the grass.
My Master Cheetah caught the helpless baby easily. Like an eager cub, I raced to the scene. The Master had the antelope in his grasp. It struggled and thrashed. The Master's eyes met mine: he dropped the unharmed baby. I crouched again. The baby struggled to his feet and tottered a few uncertain steps. He walked a shaken walk. He shook himself off. His Mom called, and the freed captive began to trot, gained confidence and bounded with unbridled joy to meet his antelope Mom!
Cheetah Master, crouched, turned and looked at me. He said in silent words with his eyes, "Let It Go!"
"Let what go?" I pondered...."Oh I get it!" I need to "lighten up" and brush aside fears, energy blocks, and self preconceived deadlines. "I" have imposed these upon myself into the frantic rush of global technology and high speed chases to "achieve, create, and compete" with myself and others. I need to go with the flow and feel more intuition. "Life, let it happen!"
In a flash of light we were in a canoe on the Lake. I was human again and was paddling my own canoe! The Cheetah lounged and stretched in the warm sun. The lake was powder blue and calm with hardly a ripple. The sky was white-grey-blue and the approaching sand was golden and inviting. We jumped out of the boat onto the wet sand at water's edge. I practiced a bit of Tai Chi on dry sand while the Cheetah rolled in the warmth and pawed the air with his giant feet.
The vision faded like a rainbow prism. I was back in the meditation group. I shared my experience. The leader questioned, "The Cheetah you saw was a giant male, right? Bigger than most Cheetahs?"
"How do you know?" I asked.
"He's standing right behind you!"
Dahlis Roy: Visionary Artist, Author, and Tai Chi Instructor
Related Post:
*What kind of animal are you? Includes The Cheetah's Pattern poem
Resources:
* Patsy Dollar, music, relaxation
See Spots Run oil painting by Dahlis Roy
Where is the pink coming from?
When I uploaded the wolf sketch, Preying, in Silent Runner post, I noticed she is tinged with pink! Why? The same color wash happened when A Different Light, Mont-Saint-Michel painting went up? I chuckled and decided to let it happen! Rosy Pink is the color of unconditional love. Editing Angels are at work and play.
Sitting in a coffee shop, I scribble hurried notes on paper napkins as my friend, Joanna, goes into high gear:
"Faith is healing love in action....Total love is already there. We need to tap into this universal love to energize ourselves, not deplete our spirits. This connects to self love, self acceptance, and self esteem. Pure love is all positive energy, like changing from alternating current to direct current. There is no negative charge in spiritual love. The negative is repelled. The person and energy field is super charged with a positive healing force unique for that person and radiating outward to others. That is why Mother Teresa could do what she did!"
"Is glowing rose a color of love?" Lately I've seen this tint radiating from friends' faces. It is different from blushing, it is a pinker tint. It can be all over the face, and it lasts. "Joanna, look in your car's mirror when you leave, and see rose reflecting from your face!" Love: healing action, spreads and glows between people.
Joanna's notes end with "Each of us is here with unique gifts and talents to touch each others' lives in ways no one else can."
Later I picked up the phone, "Joanna, what do you call this friendship?"
"Dahlis, This friendship is out of this world!"
Where is the pink? It is within.
Translucent sheets of vibrant rose light color my world as I meet cosmic friends giving new meaning to "seeing the world through rose colored glasses."
The Artist's Way book by Julia Cameron Open your creative flower, discover your artist self.
Related Posts:
Writing Out Loud
Silent Runner
Color (Y)our World
Encounters With Michael
Rose of Sharon and In the Pink, photographs by Emilie, published with permission
