Monday Morning Tai Chi Training Tip # 284
The Monkey Mind
San Francisco was the center of counter-culture in the 1960’s and 70’s. I was fortunate to live there and to be exposed to so many diverse, alternative (at the time) teachings. Most of us young people were searching for meaning, and welcomed gurus and masters of philosophies that were not known to the West at the time.
One of the events was called “Meeting of the Ways” where many master teachers gave talks and led the attendees through many exotic (at the time) exercises. This is where I first meet Master Choy, and other wise persons such as Ram Das (Richard Alpers), Timothy Leary, Alan Watts, Suzuki Roshi, Yogi Bajan, Swami Vishnudevanda, and one of my favorites, Swami Satcidananda.
Note: I ended up teaching Tai Chi (now for almost 50 years), and living in and teaching Hatha Yoga at the Vishnudevanda ashram, thanks in part to these “Meetings”.
I want to share a link to a shortish essay written by Satchidananda. This was passed on to me by Gregory Johnson, who was a student of mine (started in 1974!) when I taught in Tucson, and now a close friend. When I read it, it rang so true and so much like what I have been sharing with you all. This article comes at the ideas about calming the mind from a slightly different direction. I hope you enjoy this. It is called “The Monkey Mind”.