Ok, first off, the name of the project is misleading. It's a lifetime of diligent action, but I figured that would make people unsubscribe from the blog right away. Nobody wants to read a story with no ending. Or, rather, one that's way far in the future.
I have actually been sitting on this thing for about two weeks, because I wanted to make sure that I knew what I wanted to do. I also thought it was silly to blog about it, because I always blog about this stuff, and surely people are sick of it. On the other hand, it's my party and I'll cry if I want to.
I'm going to start a very basic, integral, program. I don't want to overload myself. I want to create something I can maintain and grow as my time and energy gradually open.
Body
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- Biking (I already do this, just want to be more mindful)
- Weight lifting (short, intense, mindful practice twice a week - loosely based on the FIT approach)
- My diet is in good shape, so no worries there
The "body" piece is listed first for no particular reason. What will it accomplish? Well, for me, a good functioning body is the basis of all my other practice. How can I practice without a body? More subtly, my ability to truly connect with my patients is significantly reduced when I am in pain, exhausted or otherwise impaired. Also, I study poorly or not at all when I'm run down. Body's important, folks.
Study
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- An ongoing project with Heiner Fruehauf, to be finished in 3 weeks - yikes.
- Ongoing blogging over at Deepest Health - focusing on the basics, acupuncture and herbs. Plus weekly updating around this project.
- Mastery of Chinese language - beginning with Classical Chinese as taught by Rick Goodman in his fine series of books.
- Some side reading I'm doing in Integral theory, which is a recent interest of mine.
- Creation and teaching of classes at NCNM - most importantly Herbs Lab, this will be my second year teaching it.
The "study" piece is what I privilege anyway. This list is significant in the way that it is much smaller than a comparative list I might have written a few weeks ago. I'm taming my inherent tendency to study everything all at once. I'm focusing on projects I MUST do, and because of the streamlining I've already been doing - they all line up nicely.
Spirit
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- Daily meditation, starting at 20 minutes (this is a downgrade to help it stick)
- Intention setting before sessions with patients
- Qigong practice, starting at 40 minutes twice a week (again, this is a realistic starting point)
This is probably my biggest problem area. It's horrible. Part of it has to do with my tendency to create an unrealistic practice schedule, which I maintain for a time and then lose. I don't care how long I can do Qigong or meditate - I just want to do it regularly so the benefits can accumulate. We'll see if I can scale up and if I should. It's not a contest. It's a project.
Shadow
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- 3-2-1 (a specific Integral practice)
- Acupuncture treatment
This is something discussed in "Integral" circles, but it's nothing fancy. It's simple, really. Through living as imperfect beings in an imperfect world, we develop dark spots. They're fine, really, but they go around messing with us and mostly we don't know it. This is the stuff unearthed by psychotherapy, the stuff treated through various "psychologically" oriented systems of acupuncture, and so on. I've done a lot of work here, but it's not done.
The 3-2-1 practice is something I just learned about in reading, and I'm going to try it. It's basically a way to consciously come into relationship with those weird, hidden places in the psyche. I'm also going to figure out who I'd like to see for acupuncture. True disclosure - I haven't been treated in... um, a long time.
Other
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- Begin charting a path towards playing music again
Through some meditation and a Yijing reading, I've realized that I really lack a space to be creative in my life. Sure, writing is creative. Filling formulas also liberates a certain creative impulse. But, I love fine art and music. Particularly music. Nothing quite "takes me there" like a great piece of music and I admire people who play music well.
I used to play guitar, self-taught, but plateaued in my development and never wanted to pursue training. I'd like to right that wrong. I'm going to take it easy on this, since there's so much else on my plate. But, it is heartening just to consider it.
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What's all this about? I'd like to begin the process of consciously moving myself in the direction of mastery within my chosen profession. Everything I've read indicates that burying myself deeply into the basic information of Chinese medicine is critical. However, even more critical than that is developing my SELF. Developing my internal landscape. Increasing my capacity to sense and feel. Fine tuning the instrument of my mind and body. Calming myself. Seeking steadiness and clarity. We'll see how it goes.
This blog has turned into chiefly a personal development blog. It's mostly a journal for myself and myself only, but sometimes has bits of information of interest to others - thus I've made it public. I do share random weirdness I find on the web, reflect on features of our shared existence, and so on.