Chi Habit

21/04/2014

New Taichi classes now in 3 days and places :
a) Mondays 6:30pm at UP ISSI in Diliman QC
b) Saturdays 8:30am in Legaspi Active Park in Makati
c) Wed 5:15pm at Good Qi Circle in Perea, Legaspi Village, Mkti.
Call Ed Sevilla 0917 549 1949

26/05/2013

http://bit.ly/chihabit

This Workbook Journal is a 21-day, bite-sized, application of modified healing and martial spirit of Tai Chi and Qigong. It is programmed as daily life practices within one's busy lifestyle to become effortless habits after 21 Days.

04/09/2012

Afterword (2): “Gold Residue”

“Don’t flush down the gold dust with the bath water.”

After 21 days of Chi Habit practice, some real value must have develop in us. These have value more precious than gold. Why then should we flush them down into forgotten memory, when they can be salvaged and invested?

Our Experience in "Chi Stance":
- What is the value of a good impression emanating from a smart, upright and confident posture?
- What is the value of health emanating from relaxed muscles, settled internal organs and open and dilated blood vessels that allow circulation of blood to flow harmoniously throughout our body?
- What is the value of a calm and focused mind, at our beck and call?

Our Experience of "Heart Kung Fu of Tai Chi Thinking":
- What is the value of a creative mindset that “could defeat a thousand pounds with four ounces?”
Or, the Kung Fu heart of “eating bitter, until bitter tastes good?
Or, “embracing the tiger, like loving our enemy as ourselves?”

Our Experience of the "Heart Kung Fu of Journaling":
- What is the value of a minute of reflection?
- Like, the value of a mirror to see ourselves like no one would venture to tell us?
- Like, slowing down to watch that we may be rushing down to fall on a cliff?

These are some of the “gold dust”, that can increase our value in a priceless way. Value that may have escaped the eyes of the bank appraisers, but they are the solid marble steps that would lift us to our next level of personal progress and growth.

It is an improvement, a development, a step forward that we cannot ignore to simply be washed down the drain like street dust and dirt.

How can we salvage this value?
The learning and experiences we have gained in 21-Day program are like these gold dust – too light and few to be impressive . . . so easy for us to arrogantly dust off as insignificant.
But these are like the tiny seeds of a giant tree - that would bear the fruits of precious habits. These are the humble beginnings from where greatness comes from!

Now, is not the time to stop, to let go and to forget. Now, is the time to take stock, learn and prepare for the next steps?

Yes, the 21-Days is not perfect, maybe far from it . . . but it is an attempt . . . the learning experience . . . the stepping stone!

Yes, we will continue and improve. It will just be a matter of time, when we will not just be sweeping fine gold dust, but picking up solid gold nuggets!

*Please review the introductory videos below.

04/09/2012

Afterword (1): “Tai Chi with Time”

Chi Habit: Hi Chi Habitues!

Our guest, Raymundo Roberto (Bobby) is a professor at the Asian Institute of Management (AIM), and multiple awardees in Tai Chi competitions at the Wushu Federation of the Philippines. He has participated in the 21-Day Chi Habits to help critique the program. Here are his initial comments along with my (unsolicited) rejoinders.

Bobby: (For the moment) . . . I just want to focus . . . on your call to subdue the tiger . . . how to live . . . there is something deeper to the things that cause stress . . .
Stress is not an enemy or a ferocious tiger to be subdued. It is part of us. It is something we have to live with. If it becomes too strong or overpowering, we accept it and neutralize it.
Some people neutralize using the meditative aspects of chi practice.
Some pray and commune with the Almighty.
Some take a cup (or cups) of coffee or tea.
Some watch a TV show or surf the Internet.
Some go out to appreciate a park or even a patch of flowers.
It means taking a break from the pressures of needs to be finished – a time off.
A “living four ounces (of strength)”, a yin against a yang.
We accept the stress because we need to do whatever we have to or should do.
Did we lose? For a while.
Did we win? For a while.
It is a cycle that continues and repeats.
Chi Habit: In our “Embracing the tiger”, “tiger” refers to stress and its cunning way of creeping into our life while “embracing” is the tai chi way of dealing with it.
It is the tai chi way of not resisting force, but to yield with a welcoming embrace – as a technique and prelude to neutralizing the tiger’s attacks of creating stress in us. This embrace is the opposite response to resisting or simply avoiding. It means to be open but evasive rather than closed and defensive. This disposition allows us to be more calm, relaxed, focused and creative. So, what do we do after yielding? Yielding opens us up to a wider array of creative responses rather than the usual and limited defensive response. Yes, it does not guarantee success. What it guarantees, are more creative options that we can explore, options that would otherwise not even be considered. And a chance to learn from this life’s situation.
Bobby:
So, how exactly do we neutralize the stress?
We learn as the stress seems to choke us.
What should we learn?
We have to understand its inner structure.
Where did it come from?
People say it is from too much work. As a teacher, consultant, researcher, entrepreneur and student, I have learned that (stress) is not from the amount of work, but . . . what I have to do given the time that I have. I was a slave of time and my sense of masterful outputs.
If I had very little time, I used to not play taiji. I had no time to work on my health problems. I finished my workload even if I did not sleep, thinking that I can rest tomorrow.
Lately, I have been trying not to fight against time. Time will go on whatever I do. I try to work on the important things that I have not given enough effort. I return to the others at another time. I accept that time is superior and it goes on. My teacher used to tell me that there is always someone better than me on any day. Perhaps, it is more like several, including time, instead of just someone.
So, I do my best and that is enough.
Chi Habit: I agree, neutralizing or dealing with stress is opportunity for learning. In fact, we may extend this to the notion that “stress is a great teacher, whose lessons we should be grateful for”. It is interesting, how you have related stress with time –
- how we define our relationship with time determines our stress;
- that time is not our enemy, because we cannot defeat time;
It is also interesting, how you have posited/accepted that time, among “others” could “defeat” you.
This acceptance, even, resignation to certain superiority of “others” to us, I believe, is the beginning point of “embracing”. It is, however, not the end – there is always that creativity to “win against a thousand pounds with four ounces”. For sure it may not be today, but perhaps, “a hundred loses (and learning), would lead to a hundred winnings (from the resultant competence/learning).”
Bobby: That work may be masterful on some days when I am better, and lousy on others when someone else is better. I play taiji and qigong whenever I want some time off, including practicing with friends. Whatever time, it’s okay. If it is just a talk instead, it’s okay (which is what my wife, another practitioner, loves to do). I yield to the structure of stress that is composed of time and doing the best every time. But I neutralize them just before they can overwhelm me, in the nick of time. I invest in temporary loss and win to learn to be better.
Better at what?
Better at flowing back after neutralizing.
Better at aiming, targeting and expanding.
Aim to use time to be a better person through the stress.
Target the center of my life by doing things for something bigger than myself.
Expanding by getting others to work in the same direction and carry more of the workload so everyone will have more time.
Subdue the tiger?
Just for a very short time. There is always another set of work and stress coming my way (apologies to the Sinatra and videoke people). But I know its structure better every time. Life consists of continuing cycles of play where I aim to only be better until something new shocks me. Then I have to empty my cup again and learn again by working my qi or chi whenever I give it time. I also open myself to other ways to expand my qi through prayers, meditation, family talk, a drink or two with friends, even experiment on a different diet or write this letter – occasions to discover and learn more of life, or the grander scheme of chi.
Chi Habit Response: Thank you Bobby, for that enlightening comment. We are waiting for your other promised “afterwords”, as well those from others. : )
Ed Arcilla Comment
Thanks, Ed,

Although I have not done the physical Chi, I read through the comments and somehow it already gives me calming effect. More Chi Power!
ED ARCILLA

04/09/2012

Comment of Bobby
Some Views on the the 21-Day Chi Habit:

To my shifu, mentor, partner, friend and fellow taiji practitioner,
First of all, please accept my apologies for not making any comments during the 21 days as you asked me to do twice before. I hope this first letter can give some sense of where I am regarding this. There are several aspects of your program that are essential to appreciating how chi and qi works. I know I will give them over time. I just want to focus in this letter on your call to subdue the tiger.
I have come to learn in my and our practices and in my attempts to extend them to how to live that there is something deeper to the things that cause stress, at least to me and in my view. However, this is just the perception of one “stress addict”, as you have been calling me. If there is anyone else like me, I would just like to share to that person.
Stress is not an enemy or a ferocious tiger to be subdued. It is part of us. It is something we have to live with. If it becomes too strong or overpowering, we accept it and neutralize it. Some people neutralize using the meditative aspects of chi practice. (I will discuss the chi stance in the next letter.) Some pray and commune with the Almighty. Some take a cup (or cups) of coffee or tea. Some watch a TV show or surf the Internet. Some go out to appreciate a park or even a patch of flowers. It means taking a break from the pressures of needs to be finished – a time off, a living four ounces, a yin against a yang.
We accept the stress because we need to do what we have to or should do. Did we lose? For a while. Did we win? For a while. It is a cycle that continues and repeats. We learn as the stress seems to choke us. What should we learn? We have to understand its inner structure. Where did it come from? People say it is from too much work. As a teacher, consultant, researcher, entrepreneur and student, I have learned that it is not from the amount of work but from my view of what I have to do given the time that I have. I was a slave of time and my sense of masterful outputs.
If I had very little time, I used to not play taiji. I had no time to work on my health problems. I finished my workload even if I did not sleep, thinking that I can rest tomorrow. Lately, I have been trying not to fight against time. Time will go on whatever I do. I try to work on the important things that I have not given enough effort. I return to the others at another time. I accept that time is superior and it goes on. My teacher used to tell me that there is always someone better than me on any day. Perhaps, it is more like several, including time, instead of just someone. So, I do my best and that is enough. That work may be masterful on some days when I am better and lousy on others when someone else is better. I play taiji and qigong whenever I want some time off, including practicing with friends. Whatever time, it’s okay. If it is just a talk instead, it’s okay (which is what my wife, another practitioner, loves to do). I yield to the structure of stress that is composed of time and doing the best every time. But I neutralize them just before them can overwhelm me, in the nick of time. I invest in temporary loss and win to learn to be better.
Better at what? Better at flowing back after neutralizing. Better at aiming, targeting and expanding ( what you refer to as xing, yi and jing). Aim to use time to be a better person through the stress. Target the center of my life by doing things for something bigger than myself. Expanding by getting others to work in the same direction and carry more of the workload so everyone will have more time. Subdue the tiger? Just for a very short time. There is always another set of work and stress coming my way (apologies to the Sinatra and videoke people). But I know its structure better every time. Life consists of continuing cycles of play where I aim to only be better until something new shocks me. Then I have to empty my cup again and learn again by working my qi or chi whenever I give it time. I also open myself to other ways to expand my qi through prayers, meditation, family talk, a drink or two with friends, even experiment on a different diet or write this letter – occasions to discover and learn more of life, or the grander scheme of chi.

04/09/2012

Day 21 of 21-Days: The Last Minute

Do you recall the last mile of a long trip? Where at a distance, you can see the silhouette of your destination? It is now just a day, and the trip is done.

It is also, like running the 21 mile marathon. I remember when I run my first one. As I get down in the homestretch, I know I am almost there, but not quite. I feel the fatigue from running what seemed like infinity, and I felt my legs like heavy bricks that I could hardly drag. But, the end is near . . . and I could almost touch it, at the end are my friends cheering me up, waiting to congratulate me.

And now I ask, so you would have done it . . . yes, it is indeed a no mean feat . . . you will now belong to the elite few who have finally done it! But at the back of my mind I wonder, is that it, climbing the mountain for the simple reason that it is there?

Actually, this time, it is not just simply to prove that I can do it. Rather, it is to prove that I can create a habit . . . and since life is just a collection of habit . . . this is my first step of many to recreate my life!

See you tomorrow for the three “c’s” – conclusion, celebration and continuation . . .

04/09/2012

Day 20 of 21-Days: Winning the Last 2 Minutes

Our 21-Days of Chi Habit and its 9-Days of Preparation now comes to the closing seconds, minutes, hours and days. It is ending a "process" - as in the last days of pregnancy before childbirth, or the last leg in a race, or the last days in a fruit season before we harvest. All the caring, waiting and anticipation are finally coming to a fruition.

Most definitely, there is something that we have to do - like a pregnant woman, we are expecting to give birth, give birth to a new habit, a brand new baby habit, still unable to stand on its own, to feed or care for itself, it still has to be nurtured through infancy, childhood, teen years and into adulthood. It is however, a definitely welcome addition to our family of habits.
This new habit or habits that we will be giving birth to will eventually provide us numerous benefits, day-in and day-out as the saying goes. Endless source of joy, happiness and convenience. That is the reality of life.
That is the simple karma of living. We will reap what we have painstakingly sown.

Do you feel the new life of the habits you have sown? It definitely is alive with a life of its own! Still precarious but definitely alive and kicking! We need to acknowledge its presence, give it a name, have a little celebration! That is what we need to prepare for to
welcome this new Chi Habit into our life!

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Comment by Joel Onofre:
From the last email, I realized how friends can be so manipulative sometimes, and often without meaning to be so nor to cause harm. I also begin to be curious on how to "yield and lead" as a form of self-defence against "friends".

It seems to me that this soft approach is perfect for us Filipinos who are very sensitive with our feelings. In a Tai Chi "round about" way, we can softly yield as not to hurt feelings with a straight forward and outright resistance. At the same time, to be able to gently lead the other to a way of thinking that would save him/her as well as ourselves from succumbing to the wrong way for friendship's sake. How this is done definitely requires serious thinking, but I think saving friendships is worth the trouble.

Chi Habit Response:
Thank you for your insightful comment.
Most definitely, while the Tai Chi Classics provide us with brilliantly wonderful concepts, these have to be brought down to the level of practical, and tested applications. More so, for its daily life, "non-martial, application.

How to yield gently to a friend's foolish exhortation would definitely require a well thought response that may not exist in our repertoire of daily life Tai Chi skills. Further, it may still require the Kung Fu type of training to execute it well. For sure, our initial applications may be as bungling as a child's immature response.

But, that is the basic Kung Fu philosophy - initially it is going to "taste bitter". We'll probably bungle it during the first few attenpts. But, sooner than later, we would gain the deft touch of a Kung Fu master, and dissolve the problem without "firing a single shot" while leaving a "the sweet taste of kung fu in our mouth".

04/09/2012

Day 19 of 21-Days: Simultaneously Yield & Lead

“The Tai Chi Mind is the epitome of the Yin and Yang that is embodied in the Chi Stance.”

The common and untrained reaction is an “either-or” option. Seldom does one have simultaneously opposite intentions as in – to yield and lead, be both an intention to care and disable, or to smile within the potential and capacity to attack. In a martial situation – to be just one or the other, would be either stupidly naïve or unwisely paranoid. Such is the demand of the situation because the situation deals with unknown intentions in a martial situation.
How about in ordinary life?
Wise people believe that the reality is seldom what we perceive. To believe otherwise to is taint our perception with that unfounded belief and then go from being partially deluded to being seriously deluded. The suggestions that flow from this are concrete and specific ways to increase our everyday centeredness, balance and groundedness – all qualities of Chi Stance.
For example?
It is a common belief that we should be generally trusting and not paranoid. That if we are not trusting, it means that there is something wrong with us. But, wise people advise that it is “better to start as enemies and end as friends”, rather than “start as friends and end as enemies”. And there is real wisdom in this – if we start out as friends before checking the other person, chances are we would be full of wrong expectations that are just waiting to manifest. However, if we put to rest all potential disagreements and misconceptions by spending time in objective investigation, we would have a better picture to judge on how far we can be trusting and on where we should rightly be suspicious about.
Chi Stance gives us the objectivity to observe and the right stance to allow the other person to present him/herself. More so, it gives us the opportunity to objectively observe our own tendencies that give out to others our own vulnerabilities, for them to take advantage.

04/09/2012

Day 18 of 21-Days: Winning Means We Accept & Learn

“A hundred losses equal a hundred learning situations and these 100 learning lessons, if learned lead to ultimate mastery.”

In the 21-day Chi Habit program, were we looking for 21 days of victory against our Tiger?
If so, we must be frustrated. Despite our goal’s ease and simplicity, we may have already encountered various humbling defeats from the Tiger. And also, the Tiger might have also put in our mind that –
- this is a silly program anyway, or
- I was really busy and compared to my issues, this program is dispensable, or
- I didn’t really think, that I would finish this, I was just trying it out, or
- I don’t want to sound like a sour grape, but, I could really spend the five minutes a day committed to this to something else. (Really, like what?)
Ultimately, each and every reason can be developed by our creative mind. And they can all be convincing, particularly to our own selves.
But, perhaps we are simply going through a familiar routine. It is a convenient routine that we have used time and time again to justify why we have quit. And looking back, isn’t this so? Is there a litany of half-way abandoned dreams?
But this time it would be different. We would stop this habitual tendency that is now unfolding and create a new pattern – “accept and learn”, instead of “quit and justify”.
Winning in this 21-Day is not the glory for the ego, it is the humbling acceptance of loss and even humbler and nobler “picking up the pieces” that nobody wants to do. Most people would rather:
- “go to the bar for a drinking spree to forget”,
- “watch TV, and drown in inanities”, or
- “drown in some really relevant endeavor”.
The important point is to recognize the repetitive pattern. Here is the real victory against the Tiger. That we have seen, we have accepted, and we have learned. Because this time we have not lost, we have truly conquered!

01/07/2012

Day 15 of 21-Days: Journal to Embrace the Tiger

There is a famous poetic name for one of the movements in Tai Chi called – “Embrace the Tiger and return to the mountain”.

Chi Habit interprets this saying to mean as follows:
1. We are now familiar with our legendary Tiger – the nemesis of our positive resolutions to establish good habits. In fact, most of us now have our first hand encounters with the Tiger and his warrior wits. Actually, he has always been a part of our lives and personal history since ever. Except that, we have not named it, we have not become familiarly cognizant with its characteristics and power, and we have not fully recognized it as our true nemesis. And now, we have been formally introduced, we have looked at it face to face, we have actually been duped by it, it has laughed at us in our defeat and sometimes, we have even winked at it challengingly, as if to say “bring it on!”
2. Embracing the Tiger, would be like the embrace by Manny Pacquiao of Timothy Bradley. Coming from Pacquiao’s mindset, that the opponent is not a real enemy. The enemy is actually, the embodiment of the opportunities to bring out our highest level of proficiency in training and actual combat. He is an indispensable ingredient in our ongoing “game of life”. For how else can we truly grow in excellence without a real challenge? Thus, this embrace is from deep in our heart, an embrace of gratitude – a “thank you for coming into my life to provide the indispensable and otherwise missing challenge to make my life truly meaningful.”
3. Returning to the mountain is like returning home – the place where we come from and to where we return to, literally and figuratively. The mountain of the inner space we return to, to find reconciliation with the many conflicts in life. To us as Tai Chi warriors, all these conflicts are simply various forms of the Tiger manifesting – all the events and situations that make up the plots of our life’s story. Life would not be life without these conflicts. We are truly thankful of life, even when we do not yet understand it. So, we need the daily recluse of the mountain and an embracing heart-set to return back to the eventual reconciliation and stillness in the ‘Wu Chi’ of our daily minute of Chi Stance.

As a Tai Chi warrior, we are committed to look at life this way. Any other way would lack the challenge, learning and meaning that “Embracing the Tiger and Retuning to the Mountain” deeply provides.

29/06/2012

Day 14 of 21-Days: Tai Chi Mind - “Investing in Loss”

Student:
Teacher, do you mean to say that the kung fu of Chi Stance can be done for even just a minute! And that is already kung fu? That’s too easy for kung fu, isn’t it?

Teacher:
If you can do correctly for a whole minute, everyday, for 21 days – then you really have a kung fu heart. Is it that easy? Not if you have not done it correctly, as follows:

A. Chi Stance Ingredients:

1. Posture is:
a. Upright and Aligned (like suspended from a string)
b. Relaxed (body weight is settled underside/underneath each and every section of the body)
c. Feet Grounded with the calm sensation of rooting down into the ground like a tree
2. Mind is:
a. Calm and
b. Focused in adjusting the posture and breathing (not restless and wandering from one throught to another)
3. Breathing is:
a. Smooth
b. Even
c. Continuous and flowing (not stop and go)

B. Chi Stance Duration:
a. 1 minute (of focused, concentrated, uninterrupted awareness and intention)
b. Continuous for 21 days

Apparently, everyone agrees that while it is not only doable, it is in fact quite easy. However, very few have really accomplished it. Everybody dismisses it as easy, but the failure rate in fact is extremely high. And to aggravate the situation, people further take this lightly - that it is because it is so easy that they are not challenged enough to take it seriously. Seriously?

Actually, this high failure/low accomplishment rate is sufficient proof to us that many people are no match for the kung fu of their own “Tiger”. The Tiger easily lulls them into the complacency of the “speedy rabbit” as it eventual losses with over-confidence to the simple consistency of the “slow turtle”. The fact is, since we lack alert unawareness, we become “no match” for the Tiger’s wits.

Student:
I feel shame : (

Teacher:
And this is the Tiger’s real kung fu . . . as the book, Art of War puts it, “to win a battle without having to fire a single shot”. A simple psy warrior-ship, easily did the job “without even getting off from the Tiger’s desk!”

However, let us cheer up!
Tai Chi Thinking will not allow us to take this humiliating defeat sitting down. Yes, we know that this time the Tiger has outsmarted us.

But, we now have the Tai Chi mind of “investing in losses”. Loss is not really a loss if we obtain valuable learning from it. Because, in the end, even after “hundreds of losses”, our final win would gain us the undefeatable kung fu training that inevitably leads to competence - to ultimately reap “a hundred wins in as many battles”.

27/06/2012

Tess Colayco Comments on “Acting on Deadlines”:
In my view, a few minutes of "pure" mindfulness while doing the Chi Stance enable a person to have high quality responses to whatever he's going to do at the next moment and the next and the next. As the author of "Power of Now", Eckhart Tolle says, life is all about the NOW. It's good to know that I can always go back to the Chi Stance to help me live a more conscious and therefore, a richer and more fulfilling life, one step at a time, one breath at a time, and one day at a time.

Chi Habit Response:
I was doing Chi Stance, while passively reading your comment, just allowing the idea from your words to resonate with concepts, ideas in my head and feelings and sensations in my body. And a thought jumped out from years of martial training – how to have an instantaneous, unpremeditated response to an unexpected deadly attack? You know . . . the kind that used to mesmerize me while watching Samurai movies in my childhood (yah, I know, ages ago). Anyways, it made me think . . . Their calmness and oneness with the “here and now” must have come from a deep and unconditional surrender to the “whatever” of life and death. A faith, I never really fathomed as far as they are concerned, but I’m sure, it is one that I have to sooner or later reconcile with, – right Tiger? : )