I was practicing qigong with my favorite qigong Master Nick Loffree last evening. He had recorded a thanksgiving practice entitled attitude of gratitude. I am one of his regulars but this title caught my attention more so than some of the sugar sweet gratitude practices offered during this season. I appreciate his care with the title, attitude being our guiding path towards gratitude. I like Nick because he is more than the average qigong teacher cueing form and correct flow of energy and healing. Of course, he does all this BUT he uplevels his teaching to include dharma talks at time, psychology and always spirituality. This is what makes a Master to me, some of my favorite Christian yoga teachers I call master weavers because they thread the spiritual teaching through their classes that inspire far beyond the physical and mental benefits seen with time on the mat in more traditional yoga classes.

Back to Nick’s oh so inspiring class and some of the threads he wove threw. He spoke ever so humbly and with grace not judgement about learned hopelessness with chronic illness, mental and physical. When we fall into these patterns, we can literally rewire our brains to amplify pain receptors and to default to negativity. He suggests finding small measurable practices such as qigong or finding gratitude in the small wins such as considering right now all my basic needs are met, I am warm enough, nourished enough and have enough breath to practice qigong or simply live with gratitude for another day, enough energy to meet the day. He also asks us to consider gratitude for gravity and the sun warming the planet and us even on the cloudy days.

Nick referenced a famous verse from the Sermon on the Mount from Jesus, this is sometimes called the upside-down sermon, because Jesus was asking his audience to look at the way they are living completely different. This is something we could all revisit once in a while, more on this amazing sermon in a future blog, well it might take serval because of the breadth of it. Nick quotes Matthew 25:29 – For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them.

I don’t know about you, but I found this verse hard to grasp growing up in church. Perhaps another version of this verse will shine the light towards Nick’s insight. Here is the New Living Translation: To those who use well what they are given, even more will be given, and they will have an abundance. But from those who do nothing, even what little they have will be taken away.

So, I think what Nick was trying to teach was that we may have very little but if we have a grateful heart that takes delight in all things we can truly live an abundant life. If we always see the glass half empty, see the world as out to get us and accumulate material wealth and not wealth of the heart and spiritual well-being we truly have nothing.

We all have fluctuations of the mind and heart; this is called having a human experience. I sense collectively particularly America and many more nations have been walking through this. However there comes a time to reassess and perhaps seek out the Masters when our scales too often tip toward negativity and glass half empty thinking. Our attitudes truly mater, they can be cultural or learned behavior from our families of origins but ultimately, we must choose to steer our ship in a way that makes sense for us. What teacher inspire you? I have many and they often shift over time, a few include Jesus Christ, Thich Naht Hanh, Mark Nepo and yes Nick Loffree. I find movement practices such as qigong and well guided yoga classes help to move our bodies to access the expansiveness of the heart. When we are able to do this in our own way, we can walk a bit taller and perhaps embody some of the light and life filled qualities of Christ such as gratitude, humility, kindness, surrender and peace. Just to name few. Nick embodies many of these qualities as well, we all can if we choose to walk this way.

I hope Nick won’t mind that I share a bit of his closing mediation/ prayer. Nick keeps things universal knowing that is the scope of his qigong training which I would hazard to say leans more toward Buddhist philosophy using words such as the energy that sustains all, creative spirit, the universe or simply that which is beyond our understanding that ties us all together promoting a healing back drop to life if we so choose to have eyes to see. BUT once in a while Nick alludes to his Christian faith which is not at odds to his eastern philosophy practice but compliments it with a mist of humility and grace that is hard to ignore. As the practice closes Nick shares a beautiful heart felt sentiment “I do not know why you made me, but I see everywhere I look evidence of your love for me”. Could this be the open-hearted lens that we move into this season with?

I leave you with two of my favorite quotes from wisdom teacher, poet, author and fellow human Mark Nepo. First of clearing our eyes, or we could say the eyes or our hearts to see more purely: In the same way that we have to clean wax from our ears and dirt from our eyes, we’re all asked to clean out our conclusions and judgments, which block our heart from meeting the world. And the illumination of spirit that occurs when we do the work to truly live with more simplicity, gratitude and clarity. The further I wake into this life, the more I realize that God is everywhere and the extraordinary is waiting quietly beneath the skin of all that is ordinary.