New Life & New Year

As 2014 begins, Leonard and I are feeling most blessed to be in the midst of a superlative privilege, that of becoming grandparents. Healthy and strong twin girls were born to our daughter and her husband in late December.

I am elated to share this news with you, but what does it have to do with qigong? Well, everything! Babies and young children can be our greatest teachers in many levels and layers of our life – this every parent knows.

But those who have the privilege to simply be with babies, to gently hold and observe a baby, can learn some of the most fundamental of qigong teachings.

The first is how to let go and relax. A well-fed baby can look like a drunken master, not a care in the world, sprawled out with abandon. As adults, can we re-learn how to let go so fully?

Watch a baby breathe, the gentle expansion and contraction of the abdomen, the seemingly effortless up and down of the diaphragm—can you remember how?

Hear the uncensored cry, the fully engaged body, mind and spirit speaking the truth of the moment.

Perhaps most profound is to witness the openness with which a child can behold the world. This quote says it well:

“Children are natural Zen masters; their world is brand new in each and every moment.” – John Bradshaw

While holding our granddaughters, I perceive a kind of complete harmony within – nothing needs to be changed or different than it is, well except maybe a diaper!

I encourage you to be like a baby or young child, with a clean and keen awareness for every moment, relaxed and open, breathing in the belly. These are the ways nature intended us, and this is our original nature – it is also the way of qigong.

Thank you for indulging this new grandmother. Wishing you all abundant blessings in 2014.