Qigong Class Schedule: July 20 - 26, 2026
The Ball in the Mountain Stream
Alan Watts (1915-1973) Chungliang Al Huang (b. 1937 - still going strong)
The wildfire smoke has finally cleared! You’ll probably agree that days of murky, polluted air made it very challenging to relax and “go with the flow”. It helps to remember that Lao T’zu’s Tao Te Ching was written during the similarly extremely troubled times of the “Warring States Period” in China (403 to 221 BCE). Life has always been full of ups and downs. Early Taoist philosophy, including the important concept of wu-wei (not forcing), offers practical ways to deal with disturbance, whatever its source.
Whenever we practice the Wu-ji (“limitless, boundless”) posture in Qigong, we tune into the energy of non-force as we fortify the skill of effortless acceptance. We can do this throughout our day: it’s especially helpful when stress or conflict flares. This isn’t mere passivity, however. Here’s how East-West philosopher Alan Watts describes it in his book The Watercourse Way: “Wuwei is to roll with experiences and feelings as they come and go, like a ball in a mountain stream, although actually there is no ball apart from the convolutions and wiggles of the stream itself.” This is called “flowing with the moment”, though it can happen only when it is clear that there is nothing else to do, since there is no experience which is not now. This now- streaming is the Tao itself, and when this is clear innumerable problems vanish. For so long as there is the notion of ourselves as something different than the Tao, all kinds of tensions build up as between “me” on the one hand, and “experiences” on the other. No action, no force (wei) will get rid of this tension arising from the duality of the knower and the known, just as one cannot blow away the night. Light, or intuitive understanding, alone will dissipate the darkness. As with the ball in the stream, there is no resistance to the up when now going up, and no resistance to the down when now going down. To resist is to get seasick.”
Don’t you love that?!
Alan Watts was brilliant. He also had a great sense of humor. His good pal and co-author of The Watercourse Way, Chungliang Al Huang, writes about Watts in the introduction: “He easily lifted the usual academic seriousness, along with dutiful learning, to new and higher planes of joyous playfulness in natural growth.” Al Huang probably wrote much of the chapter quoted above, since Watts died before being able to complete the book. According to Watt’s widow, during the last evening of his life, he played with balloons. “He described the weightless, floating sensation as being “like the spirit leaving my body”, writes Al Huang. In the night he went on to a new journey of the spirit, riding the wind, laughing joyously.”
Workshops, special events, and class schedule in July
Harvesting the Energy of Trees with Qigong, at Kripalu. July 26-29. This workshop is fully registered, but there’s always room for one more! Join me and my wonderful colleagues John and Mary Platt at this relaxing, rejuvenating, and friendly retreat where we work directly with the healing essence and aromas of the various trees on the beautiful Kripalu campus. It’s a true step away from stress and into arms of nature/ Harvesting the Energy of Trees with Qigong | Kripalu
Online Zoom classes are cancelled on Sunday, July 26 and Tuesday, July 28, as I’ll be teaching at Kripalu. Our final Zoom Qigong class for the summer will be Thursday, July 30.
July 31, Millbrook Library Online-In person Qigong, 10-11 am. Please register at Millbrooklibrary.org for this free, beginner friendly class.
Looking Ahead
Qigong for Late Summer, Innisfree Gardens: Sunday, August 16th. Go to “events” at Innisfreegardens.org for details.