HERE-AND-NOW PLACE

It has been almost a month we’ve been waking up before the sunrise at Bai Ma Shan in Hubei province, greeting the sun while doing morning Qigong, having meals under the open sky in the inner courtyard of the Five Immortals Temple. It is wonderful to feel like home, 24 hours a day by the nature, to drink coffee on the “view terrace” looking at the clouds sliding down the green mountains, to beat the drums at 5 in the morning, to greet temple’s guests. This is absolutely a new life experience, to find new energy and power inside instead of getting lost in it.

When I came here, I was in wonder with how clear, bright and alive the eyes of the people who welcomed us were. And now, with my eyes getting clearer and brighter, the barrier that divides the world into “mine – not mine” and “I – not I” is getting thinner every day.

It was a week ago we completed the Daoist Medicine course – absolutely practical. We were learning from master Li Shifu about cupping, collecting Artemisia to make moxa sticks (for warming up acupuncture points), recognizing herbs and preparing medicine. Moreover, some of us overcame the fear of fire and needles. With more confidence we could then learn fire healing and acupuncture, all used by ancient Daoist doctors.

It is hard to call this place a school, even harder a healing center (but some people here are healing and recovering very fast, sometimes it seems like a miracle). It is a Temple, also a home, from Shifu’s words, a home of the Universe. And he is right, it is a HERE-AND-NOW PLACE.

You could expect mountain life to be constant and stable, nothing much going on, but it is NOT! Every day is not the same, sometimes the scenario is too complicated and everything is changing so fast. And the only possibility to keep going with this life is – to be here-and-now. THERE IS NO LATER!

And this is really a great lesson I‘m learning here – from our classes, everyday life, communication among us. The universe created many scenarios even for this small place, could you imagine how many scenarios there are in a city, a country, and in the world? So, everything is possible when you do and live here-and-now. And I am learning it.

I am also learning how to let go of all the expectations and fixed points in the past or future, so that more energy can be released in unpredictable ways, but always – in the right direction.

And another lesson is – simple life, simple thoughts, which is really complicated for a “city person”. And for sure, I am lucky that I have the support from this place and from people we are living with, from the family, from whom I’m always learning and I am endlessly thankful for!