Spring 2016 Newsletter
(March 2016)
Dear Living Tao friends:
Another year has flown by and I am about to leave for Switzerland for my annual reunion with all our European friends in Winterthur during Easter Week.
Since my letter to you last Autumn, our “Tai Ji Dance” danced on with another annual Thanksgiving Week at Esalen Institute with many old friends returning faithfully every year. Esalen was going through major renovation which moved us to the Big Dance Dome by the Sea to celebrate the Autumn. Amory Lovins joined me again after being in China with our Lan Ting Institute in the early summer, to continue our weekend sharing of “The TAO of Global and Personal Ecology”. Unfortunately, for 2016 with a new shift in scheduling at Esalen, our usual time of the week following Thanksgiving will be changed to the week prior to Thanksgiving – November 13-18, 2016. We also need to suspend the weekend with Amory until after 2017, when we will hopefully return to our normal timing.
The good news is that, after having to suspend my March teaching at Esalen these past two years due to the early Easter Week time conflict with the usual Joseph Campbell (birthday 26th) Week, I will return once again in 2017 to resume my weekend of joint teaching with Bob Walter on “MythBody to Live By”, March 24-26th 2017, staying on as teacher-in-residence during the week, and continue with our “Creative Tai Ji Experience” weekend March 31st to April 2nd in 2017. (Be sure to make a note of the change in 2016 for the new time of November 13-18th and to return in March of 2017).
Suzanne and I spent the Holidays with daughters and grandchildren, and sister Yuliang and brother-in-law Donald and families in Portland before flying to Kauai to participate at the Wellness Expo again in late January. Kauai, where we held the first Hawaiian summer seminar in 1975 for Living Tao, is also our favorite island in Hawaii. I am delighted to have established this kindred connection with many friends there, including Char Ravelo of Hawaii’s Inspiration Magazine (“humanity’s journey to wellness”), who organizes the annual Expo, and our own Tai Ji friend, Marian Head and her husband Glenn who supports the Wellness Expo and hosts me each year.
Kauai_WellnessExpl
My time in Kauai was perfectly synchronized for me to spend a few days in Honolulu to visit with Mrs. Jean Erdman Campbell to help celebrate her very special centenary year with a series of celebrations beginning with my visit with her in an event at the Still and Moving Center, and followed by a performance of her dances by the local dancers at the University of Hawaii’s Kennedy Theater, and a banquet for her Erdman-Dillingham families and many former dance theater company members and old friends from the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It was very very special.
I returned from Honolulu in time for my 14th consecutive annual teaching at the Evergreen College in Olympia, Washington. This was the 2nd cycle of the Chinese Monkey Year there for me. Being associated with the Nature’s Moving Forces of FIRE this year, the Fire Monkey became the animated theme to open the Friday evening with a performance from a scene from the Monkey King Opera, guided by the former Beijing Opera star performing the title role, with 30 students, in full face-paintings, costumed with stage weapons playing the demons, combating the Monkey King, in a glorious opening gala. Very festive and exciting. Before my lecture-presentation, the new president George S. Bridges presented me with a “Certificate of Appreciation” for my “consecutive years of leading Lunar New Year Tai Ji Seminars and outstanding contribution to students, faculty, and staff of the Evergreen College.” It was a total surprise. I was very moved and honored indeed.
River House Heritage Seminar soon followed. Our guest teacher Deng Ming-Dao had to cancel last minute because his wife Betty had a sudden health crisis, having to be submitted to the emergency hospital. We were all very worried and sorry to miss his presence and his usual guidance in drilling us with the structured Ba Ji forms in our 3rd year, and to continue with the Wind and Thunder motifs. Fortunately, the group was well in tune to continue with a shift of emphasis in my taking over the overall instruction, going even deeper into the symbolic metaphors to return to the creative process, learning to re-invent the forms, to absorb a multi-dimensional ways of learning, practicing with “Beginners’ Mind” of what we have learned and to move forward, letting go of having to concretize the learning, allowing time in the future to mature into deeper and gradual evolvement into our perpetual learning of the “still-to-be” knowing. All in all, as a group, it turned out more than satisfactorily and rewarding mutually, in our receptivity to receive the legacy openly with more respect and humility.
Betty Deng is still recovering slowly at this time. We invite all our Living Tao friends to join the Heritage Seminarians to gather healing and comforting CHI-eers to continue sending our good wishes to Ming-Dao and his family during this long period of recovery.
Also, during the time together at the River House, we became aware of how many of our close family members and friends are also suffering from illness and poor health at this time. It has become increasingly urgent and timely for all of us to be grateful for our relative good health and well being, to share this gratitude and support one another in our joint daily practice, to generate better CHI to sustain our health and heal our aging and ailing bodies with the High Spirit of Living Tao. Learn to ask for support and to receive it graciously in our daily meditation and practice. Think of one another and continue to spread good CHI-eers all around us in our circles of Living Tao Family all over the world.
HAPPY EASTER when I go to Winterthur to rejoin our European friends at our annual coming together to welcome Spring. Every year, we tune in to this time of symbolic spiritual Resurrection and Renewal of Everything coming alive in the universe. The Cycle Song of living and dying and resurrection and rebirth… the cycles will go on and on as we dance our dances of living.
I wish you ALL a New Spring and a very Happy and fulfilling New Year of the Fire Monkey, learning to release the Grasping Hand to submerge into the Pure Spring of New Consciousness of Being. Once again, let’s learn to chant and enact the dance of the ultimate RELEASE to be FREE:
“The Monkey is reaching for the Moon in the Water
Until Death, he will never give up…
If only he would let go of the grasp and
Submerge into the deep Spring
The Light will shine from All ten directions!”
HAPPY FIRE MONKEY NEW YEAR to you ALL,
Chungliang
