Nature and Meditation
Nature and Meditation How can you model your life after nature? “Wu wei” is an important concept in the ancient Chinese philosophy of Taoism. It is used to describe nature and as a way to model our lives. “Wu wei” translates to mean “effortless action” or “action of non-action.” While this initially might seem paradoxical, the idea is that nature has a way of moving, changing, and acting without effort. A river floats downstream rather than up the mountain. It uses gravity and other elements to pave it’s path naturally. A river is both strong and gentle. So to should humans attempt to live their lives. As a guided meditation…
What is Mindfulness?
If meditation is reaching a point when you have no thoughts, mindfulness is having one thought at a time. Furthermore, it is the ability to choose a thought wisely and move to the next with intention and fluidity. As a meditation and mindfulness instructor, I use a metaphor (stolen straight from the ancient Taoist text, “The Toa Te Ching”) to explain this to my students: the metaphor of the bowl. The usefulness of a bowl comes not from its material but rather, the empty space it creates. From this space comes its ability to hold things. A bowl is not the things that it holds. Similarly, we are not our…
