The Flowing Path

Laozi, Tao Te Ching, Chapter 11 Thirty spokes share the hub of a wheel; it is the empty center that makes the wheel useful. Clay is shaped into a vessel; it is the empty space within that makes it useful. Doors and windows are cut into walls; it is the empty space that makes the room livable. Therefore, we work with what is, but we use what is not. In other words, the empty space, what appears to be “nothing” is often what makes everything else possible. ⸻ Music. Musi

In Honor of Richard... A few months ago, the owner of a local studio reached out. She explained that a Tai Chi teacher named Richard had become ill and had been unable to teach for several weeks. He had told her it was time for someone else to continue the class, and one of my clients had recommended me. I had heard of Richard before, though we had never met. We live in a fairly small town, and there are only a handful of people teaching authentic Tai Chi—not necessarily mas

From a distance, Queen Anne’s lace looks like a single white flower. Simple, maybe even ordinary. Easy to pass by. But come a little closer. What appears to be one flower is actually hundreds—sometimes nearly a thousand—tiny blossoms woven together. And resting at the center is something many people never notice at all—a single deep purple flower. Since the flower is rather unobtrusive from afar, most people walk right past it. Not because it’s hidden. Because they never loo

It doesn’t matter whether you’re teaching the class or walking in for the very first time—whether you’ve been practicing for three weeks or thirty years. In my class, we all begin our practice in exactly the same place: standing quietly, eyes closed, settling into our own breath. Then I say, “Together, let’s inhale… exhale.” There is something profoundly humbling about knowing that experience doesn’t exempt us from the beginning. No amount of skill allows us to bypass the fir

“In the Taoist sense, diligence is about returning again and again to something with steady reverence.” —365 Days of Dao by Dae Lee Merriam-Webster defines diligence as the “earnest and persistent application of effort.” In other words, work harder, practice longer, push through difficulties. But in a Taoist context, diligence is much softer. It isn’t forceful persistence. It’s the willingness to return. Every time we practice a form, we’re not just repeating movements. We’re