Day 19  Mon  19th January - A Peaceful Environment

Here, everything has been carefully planned - in accordance with Taoist traditions - to reflect, nurture, stimulate, intensify, or soften energy, depending on the location and the activities done there. The architecture, the decorations, the furnishings, flora, paths, practice spaces, areas for relaxation and so on, all support an ideal environment for cultivating qi. Of course, when one is outside of a retreat centre, then things are usually a bit different! So, what do you do when you return to the hustle and bustle, the less ordered, the confusing or chaotic, which may exist around you in the place where you live?

 Of course if at all possible, you can choose when and where to be exposed to such energies, but sometimes it seems there is no choice. So, one’s recourse is to keep up consistent qi cultivation practices, as the stronger you are in these, the better able you are to navigate yourself through all manner of situations and environments without being overly depleted. In fact, many of the techniques we are learning here can be applied  fairly quickly when one needs to fortify oneself, or protect one’s energy from leaking out.