For the past five months we have been working, eating, breathing & living the ‘Wandering Dao’ lifestyle here in Yangshuo. Over this time we have learnt and integrated many wonderful Qi-gong practices, Daoist meditation techniques, substantially improved our understanding of detoxifying the body, embraced and shared within a communal environment and felt the joy of having contributed. Minds, bodies and hearts expanded we now leave Yangshuo knowing deep gratitude. As part of the wandering dao work study program, for three and a half months our daily life consisted of two hours of meditation, two hours of Qi-Gong, four hours working on a nutritional healing resource aimed at raising awareness, drinking copious amounts of tea in the company of friendly souls and eating delicious wholesome vegetarian dishes prepared by the wonderful staff at Mood Food Cafe. This is by no means to say the experience was a leisurely stroll through the park. The days were often long and as many know communal life and undertaking a strong spiritual practice includes many bumps, dips, turns and shakes. It was not the place for hiding feelings behind a smile and brushing problems under the carpet. Luckily for us we had a wonderful teacher to help guide us through this process. Throughout the work study program Daniel delivered timely teachings and helped us develop and refine many wonderful tools to directly face our inner & outer discomforts. As Daniel often quoted “Make space for pain and wisdom will grow.” The little intensified bubble of the work/study program provided the perfect laboratory … as the people, emotions and feelings came and went a deeper knowing,...
A word from Amy Katharine Evans about her own experience of Wandering Dao… Today marks a full week since I returned home from the 5 month work/study program at Wandering Dao. A full week since I last had a Mood Food smoothie or one of Ayi’s amazing soups. A full week since I drank Chinese tea the way it should be drunk (with many friends and tiny cups)… and a whole week since it’s just been me, my practice and the big wide world. It would be very easy to write a simple, complimentary summary of this program. The food, the people, the location were all fantastic. But that wouldn’t represent the real reason I applied, or the benefits I believe Wandering Dao offers. Maybe I’m a little masochistic in my approach to life, but I didn’t start the Work/Study Program expecting, or wanting, to simply have a ‘nice time’. And, to my (un)pleasant surprise, I didn’t. “Qi Gong won’t make you feel better, it will make you feel more” were Master Daniel Li Ox opening words to us on our first day. And so it has. These 5 months have been a roller coaster of emotion… meeting trauma, smiling to pain, breathing it all in and then letting it go. This is a program of self-healing, and as we discovered, that’s not always very enjoyable. In its entirety, Wandering Dao provides a ‘holistic toolbox’ of practices for exploring both your internal and external worlds and taking responsibility for what is there. The depth and breadth of what we have learnt in just a short few months could have...
An insight into the Wandering Dao work/study program from one of our students… When my partner and I first came to Yangshuo it was to escape to paradise. To sip on coconut milk in the shade of a bamboo forest, dangle off the limestone karst and hang out with the ducks in the winding rivers. For nine months we did just that… working just enough to keep the dragon from the bamboo gate. Like all naturally beautiful places many people come to Yangshuo in search of a little magic to spice up their lives. As a general rule of thumb, where there’s magic there’s money to be made… this is perhaps true nowhere more so than in China. So in true unflinching modern Chinese fashion the town of Yangshuo and its tourism industry has literally exploded. Driving through the centre of town feels more like being stuck in traffic in Beijing than being a brush stroke in a Zhang Quanzong landscape painting. Luckily for us though we did stumble across a little jewel amongst the madness… “Mood Food Energy Café” – the current place of residence for “Wandering Dao”. After our first encounters with the ‘Emerald Reviver’ and the ‘Power Smoothie’ Mood Food quickly became a regular pit stop for us. Each visit not only satisfied our bellies but also sparked our curiosity … an interesting film here, the odd meditative brain balm there, a new branch to perch on … or perhaps a new way to sit on the old one. Since our first step through the unassuming blue gates of Mood Food life has taken some curious...
Last Thursday evening Mood Food opened its doors to the movers and shakers of Yangshuo, in a fantastic event that involved great food, great conversation… and a whole load of dirt. We started with a buffet that featured all of the Mood Food team’s star dishes (there are a lot) and a fantastic documentary called ‘Dirt!’, which brings to life the environmental, economic, social and political impact that soil has. It shares the stories of experts from all over the world who study and are able to harness the beauty and power of a respectful and mutually beneficial relationship with soil. Highly recommended! Then, as if that wasn’t enough, the key event of the night was a brilliant talk by Natural Building Architect Fredrik Dolmans. Currently based in Beijing, Fredrik has worked all over the globe, focusing on the development of buildings that use local natural resources and respect the particular ecosystem of an area. Over the past few years, he has run workshops all over China. Fredrik is passionate about teaching people how to adapt building techniques to their particular environment, and is even helping communities re-discover old building methods that were close to being forgotten. Thursday’s talk was highly inspirational, and it was great to see so many people, both Chinese and foreigners, so enthusiastic about the topic of Natural Building. There were plenty of questions to be answered after Fredrik had finished, and the talking went on into the small hours of the morning. The evening had such a fantastic atmosphere, and there was a real buzz of excitement in the air. So to everyone who...
An insight into the Wandering Dao work/study program from one of our students…. In the West we have a saying ‘Time is Money’ but in Asia time is more like the rhythm of the waves, the ebb and flow of hourly, daily, annual and historical cycles. Today we spent our four hour “work” period swimming at Secret Beach and drip drying in the warm sun. Not to imply any lack of structure or discipline in the WSP as that would be far from the truth, but to emphasise the importance placed on listening to our “true rhythm”. I have found that being in true rhythm is when the quality that governs the rhythm comes from the essence of who we really are. Everything you go through brings you a deeper living experience and lessons towards your evolution. Being a part of the WSP has strengthened my honouring of each reflection as an opportunity to heal, grow and transform continuously. The art of ritual is intertwined in everything we do. We are learning to meditate not only during the 2 hours a day allocated for sitting meditation, or the hour of standing meditation … but in every step, in every breath, with every dish that we wash, and with every sip of the delectable Mood Food Power smoothie we devour for breakfast! Individually and together we are tuning into our truth … living it, breathing it and beaming it....
As students of the work/study program, we have been encouraged to keep journals, and provide written insights into our journey. Below is one students account of how things are going… As we approach the halfway mark of WSP 2015, it feels like a good time to reflect on what I’ve learnt and take note of how I am feeling. Our group is smaller now, there are only 4 of us and we have become very close. Everyday we share how we feel, where we are at and we always take the time to ask after each other. There is a feeling of family… we are all in this together! Each day presents its own challenges. That’s the same no matter where you are right? But I think I am more sensitive to it here. Part of what we are learning is how to be open to these challenges and see them as gifts rather than shutting them out, or ignoring them all together. Challenges are opportunities to learn and grow. The WSP program feels like an intensive course in the school of life! My practice is developing and carving it’s own path. I am feeling a much deeper sense of inner strength at the moment, and I know that has come from what we are learning. There are the physical sensations of Qi, which get stronger the more we practice, but there is also a more spiritual feeling of Grounding. I find it so easy to get caught up in where I ‘should’ be or what I ‘should’ be doing… but right now I know I am exactly where...
Trapped energy is like a box. So open the box! It’s not your destruction waiting inside. All you will find there is energy, which may be the one thing you are lacking. Once you realise this, the journey to healing can be fun. Like going into the attic and re-discovering little treasures from your past. There is no box you cannot open! No feeling you cannot let...
Tension comes in many forms, and is present in both our internal and external worlds. Internally, we may experience tension as a pain or trauma. But external tension can often present itself as friction within a relationship or situation. When two people have conflicting opinions, it is as if they are holding two ends of a rope. The harder they pull, they more defiant they are that they’re opinion is the right one, the more the tension increases. The rope becomes tense, taught and frayed. At some point it may even snap. But there is a simple way to avoid this… they could just let go. If you are experiencing tension with someone, let go of your end of the rope. You may only hold 50% of the problem in your hands right now, but you also hold 100% of the solution. Drop the tension. Directing your energy into these feelings of anger will only cause harm, so no matter how ‘right’ your ego tells you you are, you’re actually wrong. How can something that causes so much tension be right? It is so easy to victimise ourselves… Why is this happening to me? Why do I always have to be the one to let go? Because you can. You can handle it, maybe the other person can’t. To let go shows kindness. It shows strength. Choose to come from the point of solution rather than conflict… how can I prevent myself from being in this situation again? When viewed this way, external tensions can become an opportunity for personal growth. An exciting...
“It’s all together that we will build a better world for tomorrow. We all have within us a part of the solution. To act brings happiness.” – Yann Arthus-Bertrand Wandering Dao has a large desire to give back to the world and share the wealth of its experience, knowledge and wisdom. This desire takes many different forms… from retreats and detox programs to the development of online materials, we are always looking for new platforms from which to share and learn. With this in mind, we have an exciting new platform under development, The Community Project. Encompassing Wandering Dao’s core philosophies or community, sustainability, health and education, The Community Project will be a self-sustaining, self-sufficient Eco-Village. Throughout history, strategies that promote the separation of people and the holding of power over one another has always led to injustice and self-destruction. Moreover, these strategies have kept humanity away from its ultimate quest… that of abundance, peace and happiness. Wandering Dao aims to take these lessons and learn from them, creating a community where both power and dignity are shared equally. Using Permaculture techniques that work with the Earth and respect its natural patterns, The Community Project will be an ‘off the grid’ Eco-Village capable of accommodating 100-150 people. To create the blueprint for this project, we have been re-examining the principles that govern our existence. According to Daoist philosophy, our entire universe is one singular living organism, and every component within that employs the same organizing principles. By obeying these principles, which provide stability and abundance to all creation, the elements of enslavement, poverty and injustice are naturally eradicated. This...
Weekly insight from Master Daniel Li Ox If we’re not aware of what is an emotion, the first thing we may experience is a re-action. To describe what an emotion is, I like to break the word down into e-motion. That stands for Energy in Motion. In our daily life we are dancing in a full spectrum of vibrations, that are penetrating our field. Some of these make their way through without resistance, some with just a little, but some others create sharp re-actions as if someone had, during the dance of life, walked over our broken toe. If we do not inquire within, these strong reactions can be quite uncontrollable, and the e-motion ends up as an e-no-motion, or what we commonly call an emotional state. This can last for hours, days, months, and in some cases a whole lifetime. We must understand that emotional states are generated and reside within, they are just triggered by external situations. In Chinese Medicine we’ve known for a long time that a negative emotional state has its roots in an internal tension. The tension is not the consequence, but the cause. If we are not aware of that, we may tend to project the cause of the pain on the situation that occurs right in front of us. It seems so real and makes so much sense to our ego. But as it is coming from an internal tension, at one point all our external reality may end up stained by this one emotion, and we can feel there is no escape. We may try to change the outside world or...
