As a recent homework, Katie was asked to devise an athletics game to keep healthy.  A copy of the rules for it turned up in the front room a while later, just on their own.  Taken out of their original context they actually made pretty good reading in their own right – perhaps as advice on life in general, we thought?  We all need a few rules now and then…. Katie attended the Bodhicharya summercamp for the first time this year and took refuge, aged 8, seeming to know exactly what she was doing without much input from mum.

The Rules

If you drop anything or go off course, you must go back to the beginning.
 
Don’t run past obstacles, actually do them.
 
Don’t try to stop the opposite team.

Try your best!

Katie is on the left here, with big sister Lara

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Years ago I was sent a short video taken by a student visiting Bodhicharya Retreat Centre in Sikkim with Ringu Tulku.   It was on the Bodhicharya email list – maybe you saw it too?  The filming followed Rinpoche’s footsteps as he walked down the winding forest trail to the retreat centre.  As I watched the video it looked a little bit magical but I felt quite sick because, although I felt drawn there, I was sure I would not have the chance to visit this place for many years, if ever.  As a mother of younger children, I felt I had left my travelling days behind with the old backpack I had swapped for a Volvo and holidays in Cornwall (also very lovely I have to say).  India had passed out of my league.

But then life turned rather challenging, demanding more of me than I would usually be able to come up with.  I received another email notifying of spaces on the October Vajrasattva retreat at Bodhicharya Retreat Centre.  I found myself starting to pretend quietly that I could go on this retreat if I needed to.  Vajrasattva is my main practice and 2 weeks, the length of this retreat, was how long I had decided I should give to retreat, weighing up my various responsibilities to practice and to other people.  At the beginning it was just pretend.  I could not really see myself travelling to India at this stage of my life.  But, not being entirely stupid, if I was going to continue to believe I could go I had to put things into place to make it possible, at least in theory.   So I found myself getting an Indian visa, flight details, a room reserved, should I by some miracle make it.  And I started wondering to family members if they might like to come and stay while I was away to help look after my two daughters.

As the retreat drew nearer, the problems I had sought the support of practice for, had become manageable.  Knowing a retreat is coming up is magic for me and it had worked this time.  Obviously nothing really changes except my attitude, but it gave me strength and I could support those around me again.  And things turned alright again.  Maybe Vajrasattva was shining through the stuff of life a little, albeit dimly sometimes.  But in a way he was already starting to show me more how I can be.  By now everything was in place to go on the retreat – the old traveller side of me, who knew how to organise ‘travelling’ things, was quite handy to have inside me somewhere.  It would have been rude not to go after all.

This was how I found myself following fellow retreatants down the winding forest path that descends the hillside to BRC.  It was Oct 29^th – Lhabab Duchen, celebrating the day the Buddha descended from one of the heavens to teach.  It was a bit magical: the forest steaming away on either side with insects galore and massive spiders – with massive webs to match.  Orchids trailed through the trees and panoramic views stretched out at turns in the path.  I took a photo nearly every step to show the family back home.  There is no road to BRC, only this single-track foot pathway.  Everything that built this special place was carried down this path.  Having laboured taking only our small packs down with us, we heard the stories from Pema, Rinpoche’s brother, and marvelled at this feat.

We passed through the gate and were regaled with row upon row of prayer flags.  Great swathes of white billowing flags followed by rows of lapis blue, all the colours singing out their prayers on the breeze.  The centre itself has a genius and quirky design.  To the thinking mind, one keeps getting confused what level one is on, what wing of bedrooms one has walked into.   Everything is square on but the squares never join to make a whole square.  But to the heart it all makes perfect sense.  The shrine room is right at the heart of the centre, double floored with a balcony around the edges upstairs.  This balcony also houses a small library area and gives way to far-reaching views on all sides.  Below the shrine room the little kitchen leads to a dining area and on further to a terrace.  We had our breakfast usually on this terrace, looking out to the mountains with no words to disturb the wholeness.   Later on there were jolly lunches with Rinpoche here too, a big long table laid out in celebration of the days he would come and teach.  The bedrooms are arranged in wings of four rooms with a bathroom.  I know it is not your priority on retreat, but it was very nice to have hot water to shower with and clean bathrooms.  And even the toilets here must have some of the best views in the world.

Rinpoche would come and go, as his schedule allowed.  We would never know for sure when he was coming back next but we had all we needed and got on with our practice.  Every two or three days he would arrive and teach.   This balance was precious.  Then, during our afternoon practice on the second to last day, I was practising in my room.  My gaze had fallen on the movement of the greyish clouds out of the window – swirling slowly in a rhythm of their own, free to float and drift and form and re-form.  Slowly it dawned on me that they were no longer being entirely grey.  Colours were forming in the grey.  A rainbow was materialising before my eyes.  It felt auspicious and hopeful and happy.  

A great big rainbow spanned the whole valley before the retreat centre.  It arched over Gangtok, the other side of the valley from us, where Rinpoche’s family home lies.  It was glorious.  A few retreatants were pacing the various rooftops at different levels, but many were locked in practice in the shrine room or their own rooms.  I’m not sure what the etiquette of these situations is but this was a rainbow to be shared.  I went very quietly into the shrine room, asking the Lama’s permission via Ani Wangmo at the front, and was given the go-ahead to tell everyone what was going on outside.  We all emerged to view this majestic example of nature being nature, our eyes looking through the practice of Vajrasattva.

This is what is, for me, the message of retreat.  The grosser ways of living are pared away for a while and allow us to see life afresh, a little more lightly, a little more as it is.  We no longer have ‘To Do’ lists.  We only really have a ‘Be’ list.  In that state the simple magic of life’s subtle, but continuous, affirmation is found.  We find ourselves with it and remember again it is everywhere:  all of life is ‘OK’.  It is all magical in its unending arising and disappearing.  There is nothing in life that cannot be OK.  Because it all hangs together in this light, ever-changing way.  Just like the rainbow materialising and hanging there while it did.  The great potential of life is held in everything. 

I am one of those people who loves to be on retreat.  But I have found, for me, it is not the whole answer.  Retreat can become your prison and everyday life your soaring freedom, just as easy as the other way round.  There is a great wisdom in life that seems to balance everything out, isn’t there?  If we do too much of one or the other (retreat or putting it into practice with the rest of life), we get the signals to lead us back to more of the other.  If we stay true to our heart and the present moment expression of life – and the principles of dharma we have learnt – reality unfolds itself and dharma unfolds through us.  Well, this is my clearest experience.  And I think there is something infallible in the process. 

Now at home, every time I open up my computer this picture (above) greets me.  It was the view out of my retreat room in Sikkim for those two weeks.  It reminds me; it gives me a little extra space to work in somehow: Tibet is just the other side of that far ridge of mountains.

About the Author:

Mary Heneghan has worked as an acupuncturist for the last 10 years or so.  She lives in the multi-cultural area of East Oxford with her husband, who is a doctor, and her two daughters, aged 9 and 11.  She studied medicine and psychology before training in acupuncture and now balances her clinical acupuncture practice with dharma: following the teachings of Ringu Tulku, contributing editing work to the Bodhicharya publishing team and teaching kum nye yoga.

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When did you get the wake-up call?

At the end of the 70s when I was working for Air France as a steward I became aware I had to find the answers to the metaphysical questions I had been asking myself since childhood, it was becoming urgent, it was impossible for me to spend all my life without taking care of the spiritual dimension that I felt was essential to my life. I had felt this from the age of 7 and told my parents that I wanted to be a Christian monk. Nothing was pleasing me more than visiting monasteries or any other Christian holy place. Around the age of 25, when my life was seemingly balanced on an emotional and professional level, a part of me was in a state of permanent dissatisfaction, a kind of non-completeness, I then started my quest, first in Catholicism and then in oriental traditions as I became disappointed by the answers I found in Christianity.

Was there a particular event that made you “ leave it all behind” or a long series of global and/or personal issues?

When reading the life of Buddha, I felt very deeply that in there was an answer to my quest. That path seemed logical to me and I started devouring a huge number of books on the Dharma. The more I read the more deeply in tune I felt with this doctrine.

What difficulties did you encounter?

I did not encounter any apart from, at the very beginning, some uneasiness towards Christ and his teachings. My choice was somewhat a betrayal but the dilemma quickly disappeared and I took refuge as early as 1983.

Did you meet one, or more special Buddhist or Buddhists who inspired you and helped you along the path?

After taking refuge, I met Kalu Rinpoche in Paris. I did not feel anything special on my first encounter but on my second meeting I felt the arising of an intense devotion, an uncontrollable, powerful devotion that resulted in endless sobbing. It was uncharacteristic behaviour, far from my rather Cartesian and reasonable usual ways. I had difficulty explaining it, feeling a limitless opening of my heart mixed with a great confidence.
 
When and how did your life on the Dharma path start?

From that time, as soon as I had a few days’ leave, I would take a plane to India and spend several days a month in Sonada, in Kalu Rinpoche’s monastery, near Darjeeling. Rinpoche introduced me to the preliminary practices and on my request gave me the Chenrezig initiation in his sitting-room. The idea of becoming a monk emerged again in my mind and I asked for part-time employment in my professional capacity in order to live in India as often as possible. I took the Bramacharya vows in 1985 and with Kalu Rinpoche’s agreement, I started getting ready for the traditional three year retreat by studying Tibetan, the different rituals and by freeing myself from any affective attachment. In 1987 I took the Guestsul vows with Kalu Rinpoche. These are the basic monastic vows and in 1988 I went into retreat in Burgundy (France) until 1992. At the end of this retreat, I took the Guelong vows with Bokar Rinpoche. These are the vows for fully ordained monks.

How did it all unfold from becoming a monk, to becoming a lama, to becoming responsible for Bodhicharya-France?

After my retreat ended, I had 6 months of solitary retreat and understood that living as a hermit was not for me. After being a Lama for a few months in a centre in Normandy, Bokar Rinpoche allowed me to teach within my own association. In 1997, I moved to Strasbourg to create a centre upon the request of a small number of practitioners there. I met Ringu Rinpoche in 2002 when I invited him to come to Strasbourg. When Bokar Rinpoche passed away in 2004, Ringu Rinpoche agreed to my request to become the spiritual authority of the Strasbourg centre and of other groups of practitioners in several towns in France. Our centre then took the name “Bodhicharya-France”.
In 2008 we bought a property near the village of Lusse, in the Vosges mountains while maintaining a meditation group in Strasbourg and I settled in this new monastic centre.

You have a gift for languages. Was learning Tibetan challenging and how long did it take you to do so? Why did you learn Esperanto? Do you use Esperanto a lot?

Learning Tibetan was not difficult but I speak it really badly because I was too lazy to learn it in greater depth!
I learnt Esperanto because I found the idea of creating an international language interesting not to say brave. It is a pity that it is often considered with contempt and not taught. Esperanto is easy to learn and is as rich a language as any other. Learning it as a second language would create equality for all humans. We did not create the European currency with the ‘internationalisation’ of a national currency!

Any other hidden talents? (painting, sculpture, writing, music…?)

I studied opera for several years. My grandmother on my mother’s side was an opera singer and she transmitted to me the taste for this particular art.

Why did you choose the Lusse area?

We were looking for an isolated place, in the country-side but not too far from big towns and cities in the East of France. The Vosges met the criteria. We were really made to feel welcome by the inhabitants of Lusse and the region.

Is the Buddhist Sangha around Lusse growing? Is it local or from a fairly wide area?

Overall the Sangha has grown since we started in Lusse. About fifteen persons from the surrounding villages come to the centre for practice weekends and the monthly teachings.
The tcheulings or meditation groups affiliated to Bodhicharya-France cover the greater part of eastern France (Alsace, Bourgogne, Champagne-Ardenne, Franche-Comté and Lorraine regions) as well as the South of Paris region.

Any on-going projects to develop the centre at Lusse?

The centre is currently being renovated. The dormitories are all turned into en-suite single bedrooms or en-suite bedrooms for two. We decided to take on this renovation to better fulfill the objectives of the centre, that is, to allow monks and nuns to live in accordance with their commitments and also to allow secular visitors to spend a few days in retreat and meditation.
This renovation will be spread over several years depending on available finance.

How many nuns and monks are living in, if any?

We are three monks, one nun and two secular persons in full-time residence at the centre.
 
Any regrets?

None.
 
In your opinion, what aspects of their behaviour should individuals change to make the world a better place?

To work to transform their minds while becoming aware of the misguided working of their minds and following the Buddha’s instructions. People are expecting too much from outside themselves, from society, from others, from the state, etc.

You have the environment at heart. What measures are you able to take at Lusse?

We have started a small plot for organically grown vegetables, we are all vegetarians and we are also vigilant in avoiding any waste, in particular energy waste. We also protect the animals around us especially in the winter months.

Do you remember a funny event that happened to you as a Buddhist?

I would have to think about it!

Are you a busy lama or a lazy lama?

I am rather an active lama, I teach a lot, in eight towns every month, once a month in Berlin from next January and also in other European towns. I also contribute to “la Fête du Bouddha” that takes place every year in Strasbourg which is open to the public at large and which regroups all the various types of Buddhist communities in Alsace, providing inter-faith exchanges.
I initiated the building of a school in India called “Une école à Bodh Gaya” in a small village close to Bodh Gaya. There are three hundred pupils, all born into the misery-ridden untouchables. The education is free as is lunch and medical care. It is essentially financed through donations and a sponsorship system. To the school, we have added the building of a dispensary where care and medicines are free for the local people. A male and a female nurse are working full time in this medical centre.
And finally we have opened a vocational training centre for the women of the village. Up to now, several of them have completed seamstress training validated by a state diploma which would allow them to be salaried if need be. So I go to India at least once a year to check it is being run well.
Visit the link: http://ecolebodhgaya.pagespro-orange.fr

Any particular message you would like to send our readers?

Anyone is able to give a spiritual dimension to their life, with love, compassion and respect for all that live.

Photo of Lama Tsultrim by Thierry Duparquet,  Summer Camp 2010.

For more information about Bodhicharya France please go to http://www.bodhicharya-france.fr/

About Jet Mort

Translator English-French and vice-versa for Bodhicharya.

I moved from South-West France to England when the  Miners’strike was coming to an end.  I taught in three private schools in North-west Cumbria then joined a local comprehensive and left my babes (kids) some fifteen years later when my husband retired.
I met RTR in Samye-Ling ,Scotland and took refuge circa 1992 while he was there.

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Throes of Upheaval

We live in troubled times; ecologically, socially, politically and economically, our planet seems to be in the throes of upheaval. In a constantly changing world many of us may feel that life is increasingly out of our control as we struggle to maintain a sense of order and harmony. Nevertheless, in times where everything seems to be falling apart, we can regain control by deciding to live according to the Dao.

Living according to the Dao means living a simple life, respecting the resources of the planet rather than overusing and wasting them. The seasons show us that all times of expansion are followed by contraction and to disregard this law and endlessly expand leads to a massive contraction causing great suffering. Thus we need to stop recklessly consuming and head instead for the secondhand shop, become greener in our outlook and recycle, stop using chemicals in our houses and gardens, use the car less or not at all, and try to take our holidays locally rather than using up gallons of aviation fuel. In these small but significant ways we can take responsibility and positively affect our capsizing world. Feeling as if we can make a difference we will have a greater sense of control over chaotic outer circumstances.

Being at Ease

But however much we may change our behaviour we may continue to feel a strong underlying sense of uncertainty as we face these troubled times. When reacting with fear and confusion to a rapidly changing world we need to remind ourselves of the words of Chuang Tzu, the Daoist sage, who said in response to his own era of upheaval; “The ten thousand things may all be capsizing and turning over at the same time right in front of him and it can’t get at him and affect what’s inside – so where could he go and not be at ease?”

Changes that come at us unexpectedly, whether due to sudden loss, ecological upheaval, illness or to any of the ‘ten thousand’ things that life throws at us, may naturally provoke our inner uncertainties. We may try to protect and insure ourselves against unforeseen changes and fear anything that threatens our security, but ultimately we need to accept life’s ever changing nature, live simply and cultivate being ‘at ease’.
At times of upheaval the Daoist will focus on being at ease by practising centering techniques such as the Chi Kung exercise below. By aligning with the centre we are able to feel grounded and stable in body, mind and spirit whatever the outer conditions of the world. We may never control all the outcomes of our efforts to change the world, but the one thing we do have control over is our attitude towards our feelings of insecurity. And as we feel more at ease so, like ripples from a pebble thrown into a pond, our calmness will radiate outwards and help others to calm their anxieties.

Balancing Heaven and Earth.

If you are feeling anxious and off-centre – be reminded of the Daoist way and simplify your life as much as possible to help yourself and the planet as a whole. Having made outer changes, take the opportunity to practise the following Chi Kung exercise daily. Working inwardly with the life-force in this way will help you to feel more fully present, grounded and connected to handle all of life’s changes more easily. Furthermore, by doing this exercise and bringing your inner capsizing world back into balance, you will make a further positive impact on the chaotic conditions of the outer world.
• With feet parallel and knees slightly bent, imagine you are holding a ball in front of the naval, the right hand under the left;
• Breathe in, on the out breath stretch the right hand above the head, pushing upwards with the palm, and push the left hand down by the left side with your palm facing the floor.
• Breathe in as you bring the hands to cross in front of the navel, pushing the right hand down by the right side and the left hand over the head;
• Repeat evenly and rhythmically matching breath to movement and affirming that whilst one palm connects with the earth the other connects with heaven. Visualize ‘heaven’ as your individual human consciousness uniting with the ‘earth’ – the outer collective world. In this way remind yourself that these two aspects work together – as your individual inner state feels calmer, you will positively affect the outer collective world.

This article first appeared in Positive Health Magazine.

Vicki McKenna Lic Ac trained as an acupuncturist at the College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in Leamington Spa with Professor Worsley from 1981, gaining her Lic. Ac. in 1984, and has been practising acupuncture in Scotland since then. She can be contacted on vickimckenna51@hotmail.co.uk

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An enforced week of being stuck indoors, due to illness, had me reflecting on an email I received recently from a friend.  My friend had attended a large Buddhist gathering which, on the whole, she had enjoyed but she also wrote, ‘I didn’t feel there was much kindness going on’.  Her words struck a cord with me because I knew exactly what she meant.

In work situations where we have to take part in various seminars and presentations, we rarely expect to come across examples of kindness or caring.  And when it does happen, we are usually pleasantly surprised because it is seemingly ‘out of context’.  But, for a Buddhist, when we attend teachings or centres or study groups and come into contact with fellow Buddhists, there is maybe a certain amount of expectation that we will be, at least, kind to each other. There is always so much lofty talk about compassion and Bodhichitta, and aren’t we encouraged to aspire to become Bodhisattavas?  So, why is it often so difficult for us to just be truly kind to each other?

It may be that when we attend these large Dharma gatherings and are caught up in the moment that we simply forget what it is to be kind.  Perhaps we are so in awe of the teachers and will do anything to be near to them that we don’t notice someone sitting next to us who is having a hard time. And maybe the teachings we hear so many times just don’t reach our hearts but stay closed in the part of our brain that tells us that we are ‘good Buddhists’ because we have a great teacher and receive deep teachings and know all the right Buddhist buzz words. But, still, we don’t know how to be good human beings.   

A number of years ago I read a book titled Random Acts of Kindness (365 Ways to make the World a Nicer Place) by Danny Wallace.  Danny is an English author and ‘personality’ and the reason for writing the book was to document an experiment where he tried to form a cult, just to see how easy it was to do that. He realised early on that any cult or group needs a common purpose or goal and he decided that his cult would have the common goal of random acts of kindness.  It’s an interesting book because it starts off just as a kind of a joke and develops into something rather profound.   At the end of the book, the readers are encouraged to take a pledge to perform random acts of kindness (which are anonymous). And what are these kind acts? It isn’t giving large amounts of money to good causes; it isn’t anything big at all.  It’s something as simple as smiling at a stranger or giving up your seat for someone, leaving a biscuit on a colleague’s desk just because they look a bit down.  And the biggest realisation that came to Danny? It’s, as we all will know from Dharma teachings, that just from performing these random acts of kindness, we will feel good too!

HH Dalia Lama is known for saying that his religion is kindness and we all solemnly bow our heads in admiration of this wonderful human being.  But why is it so difficult for us to follow his example? Most of us will not reach the level of a Bodhisattva in this lifetime but what we can do is simply be kind to each other.  And as we watch the Dalai Lama meet someone, and he takes their hands in his and he smiles and looks into their eyes, can’t we see that he is giving us his greatest teaching? Because it is something we can all do. We can all make kindness our religion each and every day.  As His Holiness says: ‘Be Kind whenever possible. It is always possible.’       

About the Author:

Margaret lives in Scotland and has been trying to understand and practise  Dharma for about forty years. She has been a student of Ringu Tulku since 1993.

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Where the fountains of passion
Lie Deep
The heavenly springs
Are soon dry

Self Importance

Recently I found myself fiercely determined to be ‘in the right’. As I tried to maintain my argument I became aware that I was feeling off balance, hot and bothered. As I stuck passionately to a favoured theory I realized that I was now breathing rapidly from my upper chest, and I was starting to feel exhausted! By wanting to be right I was cultivating self-importance and tying myself up in knots. I could feel the chi rising to my chest and head, and by my strong desire to win my ‘opponent’ over to my point of view, I was constricting the free flow of my energy, and risking my health and wellbeing.

Chuang Tzu the Daoist Sage described the true Daoists in this way:

‘Minds free, thoughts gone
Brows clear, faces serene.
Were they cool? Only cool as autumn.
Were they hot? No hotter than spring.
All that came out of them
Came quiet, like the four seasons.’

From these words we see that the Sage has let go and is empty of self. He is not concerned with being right but with living in harmony with Nature.

Being in harmony with Nature, the Daoist aligns with universal chi – the innate intelligence of the universe. There is nothing particularly mystical or ‘airy-fairy’ about this. All living organisms live in accordance with the life force. A flower closes on a cloudy day and opens when the sun shines – it obeys its instinctual, intelligent nature. When we are furiously determined to be right and cling to a viewpoint, we distance ourselves from the here and now because we are so caught up in defending our position. In this way we lose touch with our life-force, our innate intelligence. When we lose touch with our inner harmony we are no longer able to respond appropriately to what is happening, and end up feeling overheated, scattered and drained.

Being Yourself

When we are determined to be right this means we are afraid of getting it wrong and looking foolish. By being open to making mistakes, accepting our flaws, and being able to laugh at ourselves, we relax and allow the chi to flow. Being yourself and not worrying about being right, you lighten up in an argument and ask ‘tell me what you think?’ and respond ‘How interesting, I never thought of it in that way!’ Interested and open, quiet and cool, you learn more about yourself and the person with whom you are having the discussion than when full of bombast and self importance.

Even though empty of self, you can still feel deeply about a cause, have an opinion, and feel strongly about something. Chuang Tzu said that “The true men of old were not afraid when they stood alone in their views”.

The mark of the wise Daoist is that even though she may hold a point of view she does not cling to it, and is not interested in being right if it means creating an imbalance in the life-force. The balanced mind is never for or against anything – it remains unperturbed, quiet and cool in its reactions and responses, accepting and relaxing.

Being inflamed with the need to be right encourages an imbalance in Fire and Water. Firstly be aware of your breathing – if you are breathing rapidly from the chest then allow your abdomen to expand as your diaphragm moves down in a full breath, then let your abdomen relax as you exhale completely. Try the following to quiet and cool the fiery heat of self-importance:

Awakening the Kidney Chi

• The acupuncture point Kidney 1, known as ‘Bubbling Spring’, is on the sole of the foot between the second and third metatarsal bones in the crease formed when the toes are flexed. Allow two thumbs to meet at this point, press firmly and rub each foot in a clockwise direction for at least three minutes;
• The point Kidney 3, known as ‘Greater Mountain Stream’, is just behind the inner anklebone. Press firmly and rub each ankle in a clockwise direction for at least three minutes;
• A point associated with the Kidneys can be found on the Bladder meridian, running down the back on either side of the spine. Place your hands on your hips and bring your thumbs to rest about three inches on either side of your spine. Press firmly and rub each side in a clockwise direction for at least three minutes.

As you relax affirm; “Letting go of needing to be right I align with the life-force, feel relaxed, cool and quiet”.

This article first appeared in Positive Health Magazine. See www.positivehealth.com

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Vicki Mckenna trained at The College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in Leamington Spa with Professor Worsley from 1981 gaining her Lic Ac. in 1984 and has been practicing acupuncture in Scotland since then.

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Not Enough Time

Picture the scene in my flat earlier today. I am sitting quietly sipping my breakfast tea when the phone rings and at the same time my front door buzzes. I know I have an appointment in an hour and had not planned on these diversions from my timetable. Suddenly the sense I had of my day stretching out in front of me vanishes and instead I feel pressured. No longer feeling leisurely, I feel overstretched and harassed and, in the fifteen minutes that it takes to deal with the callers both at the door and on the phone I feel as if five minutes have gone by.  

Later that same day I take a walk in a park and sit quietly on a bench looking at the sky.   I feel at one in the stillness of the landscape and when I look at my watch I am surprised that only a quarter of an hour has passed –  in this  calm space it seems as if I  have been here for a leisurely  half an hour. Interestingly, I feel refreshed and re energised whilst it seems as if time has slowed down and stretched out.

Looking at these two episodes we can conclude that time is relative – it is perceived passing at different speeds according to how we feel inside ourselves. When we are flustered and pressured we feel time speeding up and when we are calm and tranquil we will have an expanded sense of time or as if we have all the time in the world. Furthermore how we experience time has an impact on our health and research shows that when we let go of feeling pressurised by it we experience more health benefits.

How did we come to create this idea of time and allow it to develop into a tyrant that impacts on the quality and length of our lives? The “western” or Judaeo Christian view of time is linear which is to say it is seen as a line that travels from the past to the present to the future. The personal development teacher Steve Taylor sees linear time as a result of our having developed strong egos. He writes:

“Our strong ego structure gives rise to …’thought chatter’, the habit of constantly talking to ourselves inside our heads. …We seem to have lost control of this mental talk…our egos won’t stop talking to themselves… (and) this constant stream of thought chatter …gives rise to our strong sense of linear time. Almost all of it is concerned with the state of the future and the past in some way – memories of past experiences or plans, daydreams and projections of the future.”

Our ego based perception of time has its uses –it allows us to order and organise events and get things done at set times- doubtless it has developed as a survival tool – but it also means that we no longer live in the present. Living in the past we regret tasks undone and pressure ourselves to complete tasks set up for the future. In this way we have created a tyrant out of time, we feel stressed and suffer.  But with a little training of the egoic mind we can ensure that time is no longer a tyrant squeezing us with its demands. And one of the best teachers to show us how to handle and train the time conscious ego is the Daoist.

Cycles of Change

Whereas our 21^st century view of time as linear is a result of a strong and rigid ego developed over millenia, the Daoist experience of time is to see it as cyclical – as cycles of change. For example the seasons change from spring through summer to late summer, autumn, winter and back to spring. This is observable truth unlike the idea of linear time which is an idea imposed upon reality. We in western culture have divided time up mathematically into hours, minutes and seconds and given names to months and days. We have separated ourselves from the natural world by creating arbitrary divisions of time and as we try to meet the demands of these divisions through rigid timetabling and multi tasking, unsurprisingly we may well feel pressured. Instead the Daoist aims to consciously be part of the whole, part of the cycles of change, and respond in harmony to them. This means getting up with the sun and later bedding down as it sets, living in a way that calmly responds to the needs of the present moment rather than the demands of a man made timetable.  

The Daoist practitioner lives in harmony with the cycle of the Five elements, drawing in during winter and expending more energy in the summer. She eats at a time when the stomach chi flourishes and sleeps when the kidneys are at their lowest ebb of energy. Living in harmony with these natural cycles she is quietening her heart rate and lowering her blood pressure alleviating stress and lengthening life. Furthermore certain practices help the mind to become yielding and still. Practises such as Chi Gung, Tai Chi and meditation are central to the Daoist training of the egoic mind – they slow it down to experience timelessness.  In my own practice of Daoist disciplines I have noticed that time seems to stop as my mind stills, my breathing quietens. In this way I am able to live more in the moment and less according to a rigid plan worked out by my more cerebral chatterbox ego. And no need to get rid of my diary- I will still make that 11.30 appointment to the dentist but I won’t have been thinking of it beforehand (getting stressed) and if something crops up I will be flexible enough to reschedule if I am in this state of quietude and tranquility. Some multitasking is unavoidable but we should be aware not to overdo it.

Our modern 21^st century world has many comfortable pluses but it comes with a price. As we rush about multi tasking making time our enemy and feeling stressed we deeply affect our health and well being.  The Daoist way of living according to natural cycles, rather than strictly in accordance with linear time, and through the cultivation of inner stillness and tranquility, brings us back into harmony in body, mind and spirit. Practise this mindfulness exercise to help you be more aware of the here and now, to slow down and develop an expanded sense of time.

Mindfulness exercise

Make a set of cards divided into different senses containing instructions like: “Sight: look  at your hands, paying attention to the different lines, textures and shades.” And “Taste: eat a piece of fruit carefully and pay attention to the different flavours and sensations.”  Or “Touch: go into your living room and feel the fabrics, the cushions and rugs.” Or “Smell: visit a park and smell the plants and flowers.”  And “Listen: open the window and listen to the sounds in the street.”  For each sense make 5 cards with different instructions. Choose one per day and be aware of how vivid and intense your senses are by the time you have worked your way through all 25 cards. Notice how time slows down as you focus on the activity in the moment.    

 Sources

1.Taylor Steve “Making Time” Icon Books 2007

This article first appeared in Positive Health Magazine. See www.positivehealth.com

 ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Vicki Mckenna trained at The College of Traditional Chinese Acupuncture in Leamington Spa with Professor Worsley from 1981 gaining her Lic Ac. in 1984 and has been practicing acupuncture in Scotland

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