Solala Blog for week of 12/8/14

My but time doth fly by these days! My good news is that I just sold my new book on using the Tao Te Ching as a manual for self-cultivation to Sounds True, a great publisher! It will be out in the Spring of 2016. (Books, like people, take a long gestation period.)   Here’s a small taste of what will be included:   Step 52   All beings under heaven have an origin which is the Mother of all […]

Solala Blog for week of 8/25

  The wise one who preserves peace in his inner self encounters no dangers on his way. He can fight in a battle and not be harmed by weapons. He has nowhere for the rhinoceros to stick his horn. Tigers can find nowhere to use their claws. No weapon can harm him. Why is this? Because he has no place for death to enter. Daode Jing Chapter  50   Affirmation: If I am able to find true peace within myself […]

Solala Blog for week of 8/15/14

  Allowing myself to become empty I abide in stillness. The things of this world come and go as I watch, powerful within my own being. Whatever ends comes round back again. I watch this in a tranquil and peaceful state. I allow myself to return To my original nature. In doing so I connect myself with what can be called “constant renewal.” To truly understand this process  can be seen as “illumination.” To not understand that things come and […]

Fire in the Belly: Solala’s blog for 8/4/2014

            We talk a lot about the lower dantian in qigong training. Actually we use it also in meditation and nei dan (internal alchemy) practice as well. The lower dantian, while the first (if you count from the bottom) of three dantians, it is considered the foundation level. As in building a house, we have to start at the bottom, rather than at the top. Many people, on first learning meditation, want to start at […]

Solala blog 7/28/14 Dancing in the Dark

I went to a concert last week with a friend. It was outside of town in a beautiful meadow with a wooden stage at one end. It was great to be in the country and visit with various friends and listen to the deep devotional music of my friend Matura, who was accompanied by much of the cream of Eugene musicians. After his set another pretty amazing musician named Fantuzzi came up on stage and shared his wonderful heart soul […]

Solala Blog 7/16/14

  The black girl dog is Lili — short for Lilikoi (Passionfruit) — and the brown boy dog who always smiles and saved Lili’s life when she had kidney troubles as a pup is Koa (like the Hawaiian hardwood).      I’ve just returned from a trip to Boulder and Denver. In Boulder I did a short presentation to some of the good folks at Sounds True, my new publisher. It was great to meet some of the people I […]

Solala blog 5/28

Daoist Nature Meditation   There was something formed in chaos, coming before heaven and earth, existing in the silent and tranquil void. it stands alone and unchanging, It pervades everywhere without becoming exhausted, it is the mother of heaven and earth. I do not know its name and so call it Dao. For want of a better word I call it great. Being great it is far reaching. It is far reaching yet it returns to its source. Therefore I […]

Quote of the week for 5.1

Practice non-action (wu wei). Accomplish without accomplishing. Taste what has no taste. The great comes from the small. More begins with less. Return bitterness with kindness. Deal with the difficult while it is still easy. Create the large from the small. The sage does not try for greatness And so she is great. Promises made too lightly are hard to keep. Easy tasks often become difficult. The sage is always ready for difficulties And for this reason never experiences them. […]

Quote of the week for 4/24/14

The frequency of the energy radiated from one’s now mind and spirit creates an attraction for the universal energies of the corresponding frequencies, which invariably echo back as the ingredients for one’s own daily experience. This principle is the basis for all Taoist spiritual practices.                                                                   Hua-Ching Ni

Solala Blog for 4/25/14

Well it looks like once again I have been majorly remiss about adding a new blog. Life is just so darn full! We recently connected with a new printer in IL who, for the same price I have been paying for black and white printing of The Empty Vessel, does it in full color! We just did our first issue with them and it turned out great! (You can find it, the Spring 14 issue in our store.) It is […]