Wu Tao Meditation Retreat, Oct. 8-11, 2009, Santa Cruz, CA

College of Tao & Integral Health Present:

Rejuvenate your life by rejuvenating your spirit! Experience the Tao that is beyond concepts and words. Dedicate 3 days to inner discovery and profound self- honesty.

In our busy lives how often do we take the opportunity to put aside 3 days to refresh ourselves through having a direct, transforming experience?  Most people do not know how to de-conceptualize their minds from the thoughts and emotions of troubled relationships and worldly life so that they can be freed from impulses that come into our lives and enslave our lives.

Wu Tao is an intensive practice consisting of a spiritual communication method combined with meditation and movement sessions. From the retreat each participant has the real potential for achieving significant, positive change in his or her life.  It has been the experience of thousands of participants that they wake up after a Wu Tao Intensive feeling revitalized and more alive with a new energy and purpose to uplift their lives.

Benefits experienced by participants of past Wu Tao retreats:

“A deep and lasting  appreciation of myself and others”

“An intense experience of our spiritual connection with others”

“Profound inner experience is possible”

When: October 8-11, 2009
Where: Santa Cruz, California
Info: taostar@taostar.com

Downloadables:

• Flyer: Download Flyer (PDF)
• Schedule: Download Schedule (PDF)
• Rules: Download Rules (PDF)
• Registration Form: Download Registration Form (PDF)
• Documentation: Download All Documentation (PDF)

Excerpt from the upcoming Integral Way website in the fall of 2009 at www.integralway.org:

We can all achieve spiritual health. For centuries this attainment was only attributed to the mystics who spent a lifetime searching in the spiritual world. Today, this path is open to all those who are interested in spirituality.  However, most people are busy supporting their lives and feel that this pursuit is too difficult.  Is there a more direct path to understanding the mystical world and allowing our lives to be guided by a healthy spirituality?

The Integral Way teaches the simple, yet profound, universal spiritual truth that the direct path lies within each of us. This path requires us to restore our true nature by integrating our body, mind and spirit. It is not dependent on special people, such as a spiritual teacher, religious leader, or any organized teaching. We all have innate spiritual power yet our spirits are often enslaved by our busy mind and entrapped in our unhealthy body. Spiritual health is about enlivening the spirits.
Whether we know it or not we naturally evolve spiritually as we experience life, often with much hardship. Uniting with our highest spirit is the ultimate life goal to achieve our full potential. Exploring our spirituality releases our creativity and higher abilities and helps us to lead a happy, healthy life in this challenging world.

Spiritual health starts with building a grounded spiritual understanding and developing our spiritual awareness. We should not mix spiritual awareness with the daily processes of our mind. The mind experiences spiritual awareness through the reflections of the soul and the ability to be both an active participant and an observer in life. Healthy spiritual awareness allows us to receive the wisdom to glimpse and slowly become attuned to the universal truth and subtle law, which are the governing principles of life.

Here are five ways to improve our spiritual health and enliven the spirit:
*Purify the soul
*Practice meditation and chi cultivation
*Engage in selfless service
*Live with the universal subtle law
*Seek inner peace and unity

Purify the Soul: A pure soul brings joy no matter where we are or what we do. Most of our spirits are enslaved by our fixed mind, but can be purified by living a simple, reflective life free of strong attachments and emotion.  Strong feelings often arise from unknown fears and can block our awareness.  Spiritual health means having the faith and courage to overcome these fears, release negative attachments, and free the creative spirit.

Practice Meditation & Chi Cultivation: Many of the Integral Way practices have been proven to improve spiritual health. These include spiritual reading, meditation, invocations, prayers, tai chi, qigong, and connecting to nature through participation in any outdoor activity with a quiet mind and a joyful spirit.  While any healthy activity can become a spiritual practice, tai chi is one of the most effective.  Persistence with this art can improve our health, increase our spiritual awareness as well as facilitate the integration of our body, mind and spirit. To learn more here about using tai chi as a spiritual practice, or read The Path of Constructive Life by Hua-Ching Ni and Maoshing Ni, pp171-177. For beginning meditation information, click here for Dr. Dao’s meditation workshop, overview and video download.

Engage in Selfless Service: Selfless service is a way of purifying ourselves. It is also an end result of spiritual achievement.  Serving others is a form of cultivation which helps us to learn humility and dissolve the ego. Giving service is a natural part of spiritual progress and advancement because compassion, kindness and love are intrinsic to our true nature. The realization that we are all one family helping each other brings much joy and peace to our hearts.

Live with the Universal Subtle Law: Most of us obey the laws in our society and know not to get into trouble, but few are aware of the existence of the universal subtle law. This law is not imposed by any worldly authority or religion, but an inherent principle in nature.  Thus all life is subject to the subtle law.  So-called ‘karma’, whether good or bad, can be the subtle law responding to our thoughts and actions. A pure soul and true being will naturally be in tune with the subtle law. Indeed, our true being is the subtle law and the free and natural expression of our spirits in this world. To learn more about the subtle law, read Tao, the Subtle Universal Law & the Integral Way of Life by Hua-Ching Ni.

Seek Inner Peace and Unity: The fulfillment of spiritual health can help us find our inner peace and allow us to bring peace to the world. Each person is a small universe. Our ultimate attainment is to be at one with the greater universe.
Attaining spiritual health is a process of restoring our true nature, our virtuous being, as well as gaining wisdom and inner knowledge. This attainment comes from regular, persistent practice and reflective living. It is having the inner wisdom that  helps us to navigate through difficulties, like a lamp in the darkness, and guides us to live an effortless life.

Spiritual health is a key factor in achieving complete physical, mental and moral health. Many people do all the “right” things but still struggle with their health. Once they start some of the body-mind-spirit integration practices, such as tai chi, qigong, dao-in, or meditation they may unexpectedly find themselves recovering. This is because the body had called for help to improve its spiritual health. Similarly, a peaceful mind only comes from being reconnected with the spirit.

The Integral Way provides many effective practices to unify the body, mind and spirit and help people to reconnect with their true nature.  Hua-Ching Ni has spent his life writing and teaching people who sincerely seek the spiritual truth and their own spiritual progress. His books offer valuable guidance on our journey towards spiritual health.

Further reading or listening:
The Path of Constructive Life, by Hua-Ching Ni and Maoshing Ni.
Nurture Your Spirits, by Hua-Ching Ni.
Quest of Soul, by Hua-Ching Ni.
The Gentle Path of Spiritual Progress, by Hua-Ching Ni.
Spiritual Messages from a Buffalo rider, a Man of Tao, by Hua-Ching Ni.
Workbook for Spiritual Development, by Hua-Ching Ni.
Tao, the Subtle Universal Law, by Hua-Ching Ni.
The Complete Works of Lao Tzu, by Hua-Ching Ni.
The Book of Changes and the Unchanging Truth, by Hua-Ching Ni.
Meditation Series/Set (w/be sold individually and as a set) Taught by Dr. Mao

Observing the Mind
Stress Release Meditation
Inner View Meditation
Five Clouds Meditation
Minor Orbit Circulation
Major Orbit Circulation
Pain Relief Meditation
Shielding Meditation
Clearing Meditations
Standing, Walking, and Sleep Meditations

The Path of Constructive Life, a continuing teaching of the Integral Way that has passed down from 35 generations of Ni family healers and Taoist masters, empowers people to attain Five Healths: physical, mental, spiritual, moral and financial health. Spiritual Health underlies all and yet is the most difficult to define as it concerns that which has no body, form, or substance. We are able to give a definition of spiritual health in concept, such as enliven the spirit, uniting body-mind-spirit and etc, but what is an example of spiritual health in reality, that we can see and bring to manifest, or what is an example or expression of spiritual health in our modern day living?

As we began our own search for spiritual growth, we explored different religions and tapped into various teachings.  It seems to us that all of them in their own way try to help people achieve spiritual health and each came from different perspectives. It brings to mind the classic story we like so much about the blind men trying to describe what an elephant looks alike. The one who touches the ear calls out for fan; the one who touches the tail calls for rope; the one who touches the leg calls for trunk and the one who touches the body calls for wall. In the end they are all right to what they touch, but limited. The spiritual world is so vast and each of us is like a blind man who touches the elephant. Though, if we can be open and integrate them, we may get a glimmer of the unity of all.

We also enjoy studying the success stories, those rare beings who have seemed to achieve that spiritual serenity, compassionate, all seeing, and some are quite powerful in their healing ability or displaying almost supernatural powers. The history is rich of how most of them have achieved themselves in deep mountains or in monasteries where one often has to renounce the world. Our modern world seems a long distance from that. We often wondered whether spiritual health is even attainable in a world like ours?

We, like many of the people in this journey, have been drawn to many old and new teachings and benefited greatly. We used to go from one seminar to another and our heart and attention were constantly out to search new and exciting teachings. Until we encountered Hua-Ching Ni’s books and the teaching of the Integral Way, where we felt like being home. From our experience, his philosophy of natural living incorporates and is distilled from many of the great teachings, as if the blind men with the elephant were finally given sight. His books and teaching has brought us back to be ourselves, to work and deal with the issues and problems within and around us.

As we work consciously with our emotions and problems that come up through our daily living, we find, not only we are uplifted from the situation, but our kids also seem to have an easier time to work through similar problems that they seem to have inherited from us. Similar things have happened to us when we resolve the conflict with our parents. By working through our own issues, we are able to truly accept and respect who they are, and this frees us from many entanglements from the past and allows us to enjoy the world as it is. These internal works have brought calmness and peace to our living as well as many blessings.

We have been able to squeeze a half hour to an hour to do our daily practice, either chi movement or meditation to help us. We have to admit that it is not easy to cultivate constant calmness while running a business and a household of 3 generations and facing this ever-challenging world at the same time. We understand why in the early days people went to the mountains and other secluded places to cultivate and we have sometimes thought of those ourselves. Though we may obtain calm surroundings and have time meditating 12 hours a day, the emotions within still need to be resolved no matter where we are, if we truly want to gain spiritual attainment.

Living a Constructive life requires a good spiritual energy. It is an expression of our spiritual health. Attaining the Five Health is the fruit of our cultivation, practicing and living in this modern time. Here we share the following except from the upcoming new Integral Way website about how to achieve Spiritual Health. More information on other five Healths and chi practices from this tradition can be found at www.integralway.org in the fall. You are also welcome to join the community where there will be much sharing and dialogs in how to attain the power of the Five Healths.

Photo of Dr. Dao at the 2009 Yo San Graduation

The future holds great promise for Traditional Chinese Medicine in this country and the world.  As the medicine evolves and integrates into the contemporary health care landscape, we are witnessing gradual acceptance and utilization of this medicine everywhere.  But first, we need to look at where we are today and how we got here.

It does not take a genius to appreciate and understand the problems we are facing today in our healthcare system in the United States.  In fact, the system we have today, if you can call it a system, is broken.  It was long ago, not a sustainable model, not a model of mutual benefits, but a model of mutual squeezing, cost cutting and see how which side will win out in the money game in the disguise of taking care of our citizens.  We saw how de-regulation and so-called freedom in the market principle has caused hyper-inflated assets in our financial sector.  There is no difference in the healthcare sector except with a few extra wrinkles.  In the pursuit of science and better healthcare, we spend billions of dollars every year in this country and in this world in coming up with innovations, drugs, and new procedures that can better our health.  Sometimes it does achieve its objectives but sometimes it is just an upgrade like buying a car adding options of a leather seat instead of staying with the regular cloth seat.  It does not necessarily add values to our bottom line health but it does add value to the bottom line of these great companies that invent these new mousetraps.

I have nothing against mousetraps.  I remember growing up living in Taiwan where an occasional mouse would venture into our home¬ always hunt for food in our kitchen.  As the elder son of the family, where my dear brother is frequently excused from such burdensome tasks, I was alone responsible to catch it and dispense with it properly.  As a person who does not like to see blood splattered on the kitchen floor, the good old fashion spring-loaded bar mousetrap is completely out of the question.  The Glue traps are awesome but just seemsed to be a little too inhumane for my little mind at the time.  I decided to use a live-catch cage mousetrap as the gentlest way to deal with these little guys.  I tried different baits ranging from Kung Pao chicken, pork Chu Sui, shrimp wonton, and my mom’s out-of-this world paper-thin crepe filled with azuki beans, and mung beans, but there were no takers.  I guess the bait choice was just too rich for the little guys.  Finally a little cutoff piece of peanut candy did the trick.  But what now; where am I going to dispose this little fellow with red anxious sad eyes staring at me from his prison cage?  There is no way I can just let him out a few blocks away from home.  Not only are the neighbors going to be extremely upset with me, tell my mother and have me grounded for the entire weekend, but the little fellow may just make it right back to our home again anyway.  So I decided to strap the cage to the back of my bicycle and travel briskly in the dark of night to a deserted cemetery a few miles away with no houses around.  I would then let the mouse out and pray the people who live underground will not come and haunt me for letting the mouse out in their backyard.

Fast forward to recent times; I live up in the Palisades, by a canyon.  For whatever reasons, we get the occasional mouse in our house.  Maybe I have grown up, but these mice are huge, I think we can call them rats instead.  Again, for whatever reason, none of my family members would like to have anything to do with it.  Some revered elders from back in the old days have mentioned how you know you have married the right woman if she screams and jumps onto your arms if she sees a traveling little fellow across the floor.  Well, I got one of these women at home.  But these elders have never told me how to deal with children that are also afraid of these little creatures.  So I got into my car and made it to the local Morris Hardware Store.  You should see the plethora of mousetraps in just one aisle.  There are the good old standbys like the spring-loaded bar mousetraps but now coming in a variety of materials and even colors.  There are glue traps that emit the latest Channel Coco no.5 as if the mouse really can appreciate perfume.  Then there are advancements; wow - electric mousetraps.  It claimed a no fuse battery-powered little blue-boxed shocker that is clean and even has a little red light that flashes on top if you catch one.  I was excited.  I bought one of these, got home, put in a few batteries and let it rip.  Yes, I did catch one mouse and it worked as advertised until one day, for whatever reason, the mouse did not die, woke up and flew out the thing and almost knocked me over.  I think the contraption is either short-circuited or the battery ran out.  Anyway, I resorted back to the old-fashioned mouse cage.   By the way, they are American-sized and they are huge!  It is working marvelously again.

So just to be certain, I am not against new ways of catching mice.  I am for it.  Just like in medicine, we will always invent new procedures and new ways of dealing with diseases and illnesses.  Technological advances are essential and downright necessary.  But new way is not always better, and old way is not necessary bad.  I think our focus is just a little off.  Like catching mice, instead of focusing on catching them which can be an endless task.  We need to focus on where is the source of the mice population and how we can control her population.  We are focusing so much on dealing with diseases, we have not focused enough on the importance of prevention and the concept of good health.  We do not have a healthcare system in this country, we have an illness care system.  If we do not reduce the amount of illnesses, the costs of illnesses care will continue to rise astronomically.  We need to have a long-term view of how our society can promote and encourage good health.  This takes determinations on our part to require every businesses and government in our country to have a sense of long-term ethics.  This requires every citizen to understand that freedom comes with responsibility; we need to take good care of our health by having a good life style and eating habits.    This is back to the basics, creating families, creating good meals, and creating good health.  You as graduates have been endowed with this education of long-term thinking and wide viewpoint.  Pick up your needles and brew your herbs, probe and prod wherever you can to get rid of illness, promote health, and encourage peace and love.  Now this is the real stimulus package.  Go and fulfill your dreams, the true American dream.