Parsi Times presents our readers ‘The Zen Series’ by PT Columnist, Kashmira Shaw Raj – a professional Taichi and Qigong practitioner and teacher, as also a sought-after clinical psychologist and healer. These Zen stories will resonate with you and help you connect within, at a deeper, inner level to encourage and empower you to reflect. These make for good reading across people of all ages and speak to the reader at several levels. If you’re looking to bring about a positive change in yourself, ‘The Zen Series’ will inspire, motivate and facilitate you in realizing truths about yourself and life, to ultimately set you on the path of growth, wisdom and happiness.
In this fifth part of ‘The Zen Series’, the short story about ‘Chasing Two Rabbits’ leaves much food for thought!
A martial arts student approached his teacher with a question. “I’d like to improve my knowledge of the martial arts. In addition to learning from you, I’d like to study with another teacher in order to learn another style. What do you think of this idea?’’. “The hunter who chases two rabbits,” answered the master, “catches neither one!”
[Courtesy: Zen Stories To Tell Your Neighbors]
One is never enough, is it? In our eagerness to grow, we sometimes try to achieve multiple things at the same time. We think we will be able to handle everything with equal commitment, interest and time. But pause and ask yourself… is that really possible?
Too often, we lag behind in one project because another has taken a lot of our time. Yes, we would love to learn everything quickly and it is human tendency to think more is better. But quantity should never supersede quality.
Start one at a time…
- Focus on one thing and do your best to excel at it.
- Knowing about a skill is different from practicing it. Breathing and living a skill-set can only come if there is hard work and genuine dedication.
- A good Master is a vault of knowledge. Imbibe as much as you can. Absorb the knowledge. Make it a part of you.
- Take the time to learn, understand and nurture your inner self.
- Don’t second-guess. Surrender to the process and go with the flow. Let the questions arise only once you’ve truly given it your best shot.
- Practice, practice, practice!
People spend years learning under one Master. In-depth knowledge comes with time given to observing, understanding and realizing. From the Master’s perspective, the student must be willing to do justice to whatever he is being taught, as the art and knowledge lives on through him. If he finds that there is a scattering or division of attention, he would not want to invest his time and energy in one who isn’t ready to give his 100 percent.
Take the time to reflect and think about a few things:
- What is the one thing that you really ‘want to do’ as against ‘like to do’?
- Where do you see yourself with this art a few years down the line?
- Are you doing it from a place of passion or simply for the sake of doing it?
- Are you ready to make sacrifices for it?
- Will you really do justice to all the things you are trying to learn at once?
If you are truly able to live in the moment, and are able to apportion time and energy in a manner that the one doesn’t impact the other or adversely affect you, then you are doing justice to ‘everything’. If not, do take a step back and reflect…
Kashmira Shaw Raj is a professional Taichi and Qigong practitioner and teacher. Also, a successful clinical psychologist, psychic and healer, Kashmira runs ‘The Tai-Qi Touch’ with her husband, Dr. Brijesh Raj, a healer and a Vet. Taichi practitioners for over fourteen years now, they are instructors in Sifu Carlton Hill’s Tao Taichi Qi Gong organization, and Shibashi Instructors under Sifu Wing Cheung from the Feng Shui and Taichi Institute, Hongkong & Canada.
The Tai-Qi Touch offers classes for adults and children at ‘Infinite Studio’ (Opp. Starbucks Café, Chowpatty, Mumbai). To contact Kashmira, M: 9323874418 or Email: kash.shaw@gmail.com
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