Valley Spirit
Journal

Daily Reflections, Activities, Reading, Notes, Quotations, Comments, Links, References
Notes and Observations about Fitness and Well Being:
Gardening, Yoga, Strength Training, Walking, Taijiquan, Qigong, Meditation
Fitness and Training for Older Persons

February 2005

Index to the Valley Spirit Journal

By

Michael P. Garofalo
Living in the Rural North Sacramento Valley, Red Bluff, California

A Brief Biography of the Author

Michael P. Garofalo
Playing the PiPa (Lute)

March 2005 Valley Spirit Journal

January 2005 Valley Spirit Journal

Index to the Valley Spirit Journal

February 28, Monday, 2005

"If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment
and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found
the safest way to health."
- Hippocrates

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 60 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

Take my fasting blood tests at Lassen Medical Office.

I taught yoga to high school students at the Salisbury Continuation High School in
Red Bluff for 90 minutes this afternoon. These students have been removed
from the normal Red Bluff High School because of their behavior problems, violation
of school rules, emotional problems, fighting, etc.

Weightlifting for 55 minutes: Bench press, upright rows, dumbbell shrubs, incline squats,
forearm dumbell curls. Spin bicycling class with Nichole from 5:30-6 pm at TFFC.

The raspy-voiced crow
perched on a pine pole
preached the Winged Dharma;
wayward birds trembled, fearing
rebirth as human beings.

Ba Gua: Hidden Knowledge in the Taoist Internal Martial Art. By John Bracy
and Liu Xing-Han. Consulting editors: Li Zhong-Quan and Liu Men-Gen,
Beijing, China. Berkeley, California, North Atlantic Books, 1998. Index,
bibliography, notes, 139 pages. ISBN: 1556432763. MGC.

Updated links in the Ba Gua webpage.

February 27, Sunday, 2005

"Prudent, cautious self-control, is wisdom's root."
- Robert Burns

Simply Haiku - May 2004

Gardeners focus on tasks, not on themselves.
The garden is both a means to an end, and an end in itself.
The end of any gardening project is always a beginning.
Make a good start, continue a good effort, and make it good in the end.
Added new sentences to Pulling Onions.

An heavily overcast and cool day with steady gentle rain most of the day.
We relaxed, read, and did computer work most of the day.

Teach Greg Taijiquan from 10-11 am.

Yoga for Your Spiritual Muscles.   A Complete Yoga Program to Strengthen
Body and Spirit.   By Rachel Schaeffer. Wheaton, Illinois, Quest Books, 1998.
194 pages. Excellent black and white photographs by Adam
Mastoon and David S. Waitz. ISBN: 0835607631.   MGC.

Added information to the yoga webpage.

February 26, Saturday, 2005

"Because self-actualizing people ordinarily do not have to abstract need-
gratifying qualities nor see the person as a tool, it is much more possible
for them to take a non-valuing, non-judging, non-interfering, non-condemning
attitude towards others, a desirelessness, a 'choiceless awareness.' " ...
This kind of detached, Taoist, passive, non-interfering awareness of all
the simultaneous existing aspects of the concrete, has much in common
with some descriptions of the aesthetic experience and of the mystic
experience."
- Abraham Maslow, Toward a Psychology of Being, 1962, p. 38

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 60 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
An overcast and cool day with rain possible.

Teach Qigong and Taiji from 10-11 am, and Yoga from 11-12:15 am at TFFC.
I felt pretty good about my teaching presentation. I thought the workout went
well for everyone.

Lifted weights: Back and legs for 30 minutes.

Karen and I did some shopping in the afternoon. I enjoyed a 2 hour nap.

Reading books for upcoming Yoga Fit weekend workshop.

Railing against Do-Nothing Zen
Ekaku Haikuin presses that one hand, hard,
stamps his staff-
clap, clap, clap, Clap!
Shouting, spittle flying,
he prods, and pokes, and preaches
till the fawning monks scatter.
He sits alone the long cold night
gazing into the fires of hell.

Ivy crawls
the walls of Shoin-ji;
night boats pass in silence.

Refer to the book by Ekaku Haikuin, Wild Ivy.

February 25, Friday, 2005

"A man makes inferiors his superiors by heat; self-control is the rule."
- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Bench press, curls, upright rows, squats.
Work out aerobics on equipment for 30 minutes. A heavy workout today.

Coach Anyone About Anything: How to Help People Succeed in Business and Life.
By Germaine Porche and Jed Niederer. Wharton Pub., 2001. 256 pages.
ISBN: 1569120501.

Co-Active Coaching: New Skills for Coaching People Toward Success in
Work and Life. By Laura Whitworth, Henry House, Phil Sandahl, and Henry
Kimsey-House. Daview-Black Publishing, 1998. 265 pages.
ISBN: 0891061231.

Getting Started in Personal and Executive Coaching: How to Create a Thriving
Coaching Practice. By Stephen G. Fairley and Chris E. Stout. Wiley, 2003.
356 pages. ISBN: 0471426245.

Be Your Own Life Coach: How to Take Control of Your Life and Achieve Your
Wildest Dreams. By Fiona Harold.

Updated poems in February - Cuttings

February 24, Thursday, 2005

"Let’s ask God to help us to self-control for one who lacks it, lacks his grace."
- Mevlana Rumi

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants, meetings,
follow up on projects.

Weightlifting for 40 minutes: Light workout with lots of reps at 60% of maximum.
Teach the yoga class from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at TFFC.

Read about and ordered a portable MP3 Player. Mick has given me hundreds of MP3 audio
files. I should be able to use the unit at the gym in the yoga room, so I will not need to
carry CDs back and forth anymore.

wide- eyed cows
taken in a trailer--
fruit in a basket

"The cows have vanished down the road,
and the last clouds have floated away.
We sit together, the valley and me,
until only the valley remains. "
- Taoist poet Li Po.)

- Above the Fog

Sport Stretch. With over 300 stretches to improve your performance.
By Michael J. Alter. Champaign, Illinois, Leisure Press, Division of
Human Kinetics Press, 1990. Bibliography, 155 pages.
ISBN: 0880113812. MGC.

Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times. By Judith Lasater, Ph.D., PT.
Rodmell Press, 1995. 256 pages. ISBN: 0962713848.

Added information to the flexibility and stretching webpage.

"The World is my idea."
Our ideas about the "World" are our ideas;
but the real world, no matter what we believe,
still kicks us in the ass and won't go away.
Our ideas about "That" are not that.
The map is not the territory.

Beware of capitalized words.

February 23, Wednesday, 2005

"The most important attribute of man as a moral being is the faculty of self-control."
- Herbert Spencer

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants.

I came home with a crushing sinus headache. It took Iuprobrofin, sinus tablet, four
spurts of nasal spray, a couple of hours of rest, and corn bag hot packs on my sinus
area to get some relief.

Daily rain -
from the deep well
this glass of water.

February 22, Tuesday, 2005

"The seed has no idea of being some particular plant, but it has
its own form and is in perfect harmony with the ground, with
its surroundings ... and there is no trouble. This is what we
mean by naturalness."
- Shrunyu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, tricep and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls.
Teach the yoga class for Gudrin from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at TFFC.

"The Essence of True Wudang Sword." By Qian Timing. Translated by
Dr. Mei-hui Lu. T'ai Chi: The International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan,
Vol. 29, No. 1, February 2005, pp. 14-24.

Updated: Taijiquan Sword

February 21, Monday, 2005

"Think little goals and expect little achievements. Think big goals
and win big success."
- David J. Schwartz

Mick and April leave for Portland.

"Push Hands is a Game of Strategy and Skills." By Marvin Smalheiser. Based
on an interview with Abraham Liu. Reprint of 1990 article. T'ai Chi: The
International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Vol. 29, No. 1, February
2005, pp. 48-51.

Updated: Push Hands.

February 20, Sunday, 2005

"A determined soul will do more with a rusty monkey wrench than a loafer will
accomplish with all the tools in a machine shop."
- Robert Hughes

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

"You are That."
I am not That,
but part of That am I
and I a bit of That,
for the time-being,
for awhile, a lifetime,
while That changes.

"That Thou Art."
Thou aren't That,
except "That" as understood,
as idea, as assumed, as imagined;
as I
think I am, believe I am, wish I was;
while That changes what I am,
or will be.

"That" is elusive, expanding to
the edge of the Big Everything
at either end of infinity....
that is the way that That is.
Not like this piece of popcorn
on the tip of my tongue.

February 19, Saturday, 2005

"What it boils down to is this - it's up to you to
get hold of you mind, control it, quiet it. God
does the rest. And immediately, as Eckhart
says, "The being ready and the pouring in are
all one act."
- Nancy Pope, Mayorga

Teach Qigong and Taiji from 10-11 am, and Yoga from 11-12:15 am at TFFC.

I need to create a yin side of the room and a yang side of the room. I need to
add more yin sections. Today, we did longer stretches in the 3rd section of the
workout.

Valley Spirit Taijiquan, Yoga, Qigong Michael P. Garofalo, Instructor
Saturday Morning Practice Schedule Tehama Family Fitness Center Red Bluff, California

Time	Activity Style	Fitness, Mood, Energy Levels Physical Effort Required Groups Slow and Swift Focus Groups

10:00 - 10:28 am	Qigong-Yoga Fusion - Yin	Easy-Beginner, Beginner, Intermediate
10:28 - 10:30 am	Break (Drink, Wipe, Rest, Other)	All Levels
10:30 - 10:58 am	T'ai Chi Ch'uan - Yang Style 24	Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced
10:58 - 11:00 am	Break	All Levels
11:00 - 11:20 am	Yoga-Qigong Fusion - Yin	Easy-Beginner, Intermediate
11:20 - 11:25 am	Break (Drink, Wipe, Rest, Other)	All Levels
11:25 - 11:45 am	Yoga - Hatha	Intermediate, Advanced
11:45 - 11:47 am	Break	All Levels
11:47 - 12:05 am	Yoga - Hatha	Intermediate
12:05 - 12:15 am	Outgoing Mind-Postures	All Levels

An overcast and cool day in the north Sacramento valley.

Mick and April hosted a nice party for her family. They made many foods and worked hard.

"Jin Yiming's Walking Stick Exercises." By Jin Yiming. T'ai Chi: The International
Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Vol. 29, No. 1, February 2005, pp. 39-47. A 22 form
exercise system. Descriptions of each exercise and line drawings.

Updated: Staff Weapons

"Mike, came across your gardening website tonight as I was looking up info
on zhan shuang. Have to say it's a terrific compilation of inspirational quotes.
Inspiration for me anyway, since I'm a horticulturist and can relate to the humor
of heart and head that's represented. Thanks for one of the best pages
I've ever run across on the web!!!"
- Greg Nance, 18 February 2004

February 18, Friday, 2005

"Attention is the beginning of devotion."
- Mary Oliver

Mick and I sat around the house and talked all day.

Aging and Exercise: Links, Bibliography, Quotes and Resources

"Fong Ha on Yiquan Practice." Interview of Fong Ha by Robert Teachout and Kiren
Ghei. T'ai Chi: The International Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Vol. 29, No. 1,
February 2005, pp. 26-32.

Updated: Standing Like a Tree Meditation - Zhan Zhuang

"Mike, I teach religious studies at a small liberal arts college in
Pennsylvania. I just wanted to drop you a note to let you
know how much I appreciate your website. In particular,
the Zen poetry is not only beautiful but useful in helping
my students in an introductory class on Buddhism to
understand (as much as it is possible to comprehend)
emptiness. Thanks again, it is a rich, wonderful site."
- Allen Richardson, Cedar Crest College, 17 February 2005

Updated the Zen Poetry Index.

February 17, Thursday, 2005

"While doing postures [yoga asanas], as a general rule keep the airway wide open,
breathe only through the nose, and breathe smoothly, evenly and quietly."
- H. David Coulter, Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, p. 18.

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.

Enjoy breakfast, lunch, sightseeing, and conversations with Mick and April.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, tricep and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls, bicep curls with dumbells. .
I taught the Yoga class from 5:30-6:45 at TFFC.

Reference Guide to Classical Book Titles for Exercises

Chinese Qigong. By Guo Yui. A Practical English-Chinese Library of
Traditional Chinese Medicine. Publishing House of Shanghai University
of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1990.

The David Brent Wolfe Dictionary of Chinese Martial Arts Terms

February 16, Wednesday, 2005

"Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving
his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude."
- Thomas Jefferson

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants.

Mick and April arrive from Portland to stay with us for a few days. They will be
planning their wedding. I came home early to join in the conversation.

Fallproof!: A Comprehensive Balance and Mobility Training Program. By
Debra J. Rose. Human Kinetics Pub., 2003. 299 pages. ISBN: 0736040889.

Exercise for Frail Elders. By Elizabeth Best-Martini and Kim A. Botenhagen-Digenova.
Human Kinetics Publishers, 2003. 228 pages. ISBN: 0736036873.

Stiff fingers —
shattered light bulb
underfoot.

"While Waiting for Your Teacher." Wendell Anderson. T'ai Chi: The International
Magazine of T'ai Chi Ch'uan, Vol. 29, No. 1, February 2005, pp. 6-7.

Updated: Teaching and Learning Taijiquan, Qigong, and Yoga

February 15, Tuesday, 2005

The best way to get something done is to begin.

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, tricep and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls.
Yoga class with Gudrin as our teacher from 5:30-6:45 p.m. at TFFC.
She gave me good advice about teaching when I am ready and have
learned a move thoroughly. We talked about how demanding yoga
can be for beginners.

Yoga in Chairs. Instructional videotapes and DVD's by Liz Franklin.

Senior Citizen Exercise and Dance Videos

Stronger Seniors. Instructional videotapes/DVDs by Anne Pringle.

Fitness After Fifty. Instructional videotape/DVD by Pat Anderson.

“It’s a multi-dimensional view of reality wherein humans can influence physical reality.
My view is that we are all spirits having a physical experience as we ride the river of
life together. We have a bio-body suit surrounding us, made of four layers. The outer
most layer is the electric monopole substance layer—that’s our conventional world. The
first inner layer is magnetic monopole substance layer—that’s the coarsest layer of the
vacuum. It’s another part of physical reality. The next inner layer is the emotion domain
substance layer, and the fourth inner layer is the mind domain substance layer. This is
like a kind of diving bell. There’s a portion of our spirit self inside this device. The spirit
activates the device through intention. The action of our vehicle interacting with the world
builds infrastructure into the various layers of the bio-body suit. The more infrastructure
there is in the layers, the more of the high-spirit self that can enter the vehicle. Then the
vehicle becomes more conscious. As it becomes more conscious, it has more
awareness to things it could never perceive before.”
- William Tiller, How the Power of Intention Alters Matter

Yoga theory often talks about levels or sheaths of personhood and energy-power
that interlace or overlap the human mind-body.

"Hi Michael,

I felt moved to write you a quick email of thanks. I'm a
guy/photographer/artist/treehugger in San Fran who is spending the
evening finding tree quotations (attributed of course) on the internet.
This to put on a series of bookmarks I'm publishing on 100% recycled
paper of course - no trees will die from my printing tree-loving quotes.

The flip side will display excerpts of my photographs, from a fine art
project I'm involved in, a labor of love called The TreeSpirit Project.

(If you're curious, you can see the original imagery depicting
human-tree interconnection at: www.TreeSpiritProject.com )

But regardless, thank you so much for doing all the hard work in
compiling all this tree lore. It is so obviously for you a labor of
love as well.

All the best to you, Michael. - Jack"

Dear Jack,

What a wonderful project. Best wishes. I'm sure you will have many
fine ideas. I will visit your website today.

Thanks very much for the kind and positive feedback about my webpage.

All the almond trees is my area seemed to produce white blossoms just
today. Very dramatic. Truly awesome.

I made a clumsy poem about trees being
cut down: http://www.gardendigest.com/concrete/cvp217.htm

Have a fine winter,

Mike Garofalo

February 14, Monday, 2005

"The time to begin most things is ten years ago."
- Mignon McLaughlin

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

Work for CUESD from 7:00 - noon. Research, reading and writing.

Attended the Tehama County Commission on Aging meeting at the Red Bluff
Community Center, 2-4 pm. Listened to presentations on a variety of topics.
I gave out a written statement of my interest and qualifications, and said
a few words. The group voted to recommend me to the County Supervisors,
and Supervisor Willard was very positive.

Weightlifting for 55 minutes: Bench press, upright rows, dumbbell shrubs, incline squats,
forearm dumbbell curls. Spin bicycling class with Nichole from 5:30-6 pm at TFFC. Enjoyed
a long chat with Kevin Weaver about Taijiquan.

Center for Healthy Aging. Oregon Health and Science University

National Institute on Aging.

Center for Healthy Aging Newsletter

Aging Resources

Certificate in Gerontology - Shasta College

University of Wisconsin Gerontology Certificate

Growing Old is Not for Sissies II: Portraits of Senior Athletes. By Etta Clark.
Pomegranate Communications, 1995. 113 pages. ISBN: 0876544782.

Staying Strong: A Senior's Guide to a More Active and Independent Life.
By Lorie A. Schleck. Fairview Press, 2000. 160 pages. ISBN: 1577490975.

Aging and Exercise

"Dear mike, what has been the most profound experience, or life transforming event,
in your quest, or endeavor? What was it that inspired you to create the web site?
Did you run into Babaji in Sacramento, and if so, what the hell was he doing, hanging
around a bunch of communists? [joke] mark"

"Mark, I've never met Babaji, nor a communist worth listening too for very
long. I pretend to myself that I meet Master Chang San Feng every
so often.

I'm not sure which website of mine you visited, that might have led to your
question. Gardening, Zen poetry, Taijiquan, blog?

When I was 15, I read "The Story of Philosophy" by Will Durant and "Zen Flesh
and Zen Bones" by Paul Reps. Those two books got me going along
a different path - mostly uphill. But, after 59 years of climbing the view
gets more unusual every day.

Mike

www.egreenway.com

February 13, Sunday, 2005

"There is no sudden leap into the stratosphere... There is only advancing
step by step, slowly and tortuously, up the pyramid towards your goals...."
- Ben Stein

A gentle cool rain fell all day. The rain helped the fertilizer we had scattered on trees
and shrubs last week soak into the soil. We relaxed around the house and read.

Authentic Movement Institute Founded in 1993 by Mary Starks Whitehouse.

California Institute of Integral Studies

Tom Kurz's Secrets of Stretching. Instructional videotape by Tom Kurz. 92 minutes.
Stadion Pub., 2004. ASIN: B0002TR2Z0.

Classical Stretch: The Esmonde Technique. Instructional DVD by Miranda Esmonde-White.
Navarre Corp., 2003. ASIN: B0000B1A30.

T'ai Chi in a Chair: Easy 15 Minute Routines for Beginners. By Cynthia W. Quarta.
Fair Winds Press, 2001. 240 pages. ISBN: 193141260X.

The Complete Book of Isometrics: The Anywhere, Anytime Fitness Book.
By Erin O'Driscoll. Hatherleigh Press, 2005. 200 pages. ISBN: 1578261678.

Flexibility and Stretching

February 12, Saturday, 2005

"Tomorrow is the day when idlers work, and fools reform."
- Edward Young

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 60 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips. An overcast and cool day.

Teach Qigong and Taiji from 10-11 am, and Yoga from 11-12:15 am at TFFC.
I spoke about the muscles of breathing in both classes. I referred to these muscles
many time in different types of stretching exercises.

Worked outdoors on riding lawn mower and mowing. It takes lots of time and money
to keep equipment functioning properly.
Added notes to my Red Bluff Notebooks.

I spend some hours reading about Zen Master Hakuin Ekaku:

Wild Ivy: The Spiritual Autobiography of Zen Master Hakuin. Translated by
Norman Waddell. Boston, Shambhala, 2001. Index, bibliography,
extensive notes, 177 pages. ISBN: 1570627703. MGC.

Hakuin would go to sleep in a meditation posture, be covered up by an assistant,
and remain in the position all night. He was strict, yelled, and struck his students.
He hated "do nothing" Zen. Zen was hard work, hard training, total dedication for him.

Added information to Zen Poetry Resources.

Added a new poems to my collection: Above the Fog.

Update links to stretching and flexibility.

February 11, Friday, 2005

"Love winter - when the plant says nothing."
- Thomas Merton

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 60 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

Tai Chi Chuan with Kevin from 9-10, and Pilates with Nichole from 10-11. The leg
lifts and rotations while lying on one's side were very demanding. After the
class, Nichole asked me about how she did. I gave her positive feedback, which
she deserved. I need to ask for feedback from students and staff about my
own teaching.

Karen and I went to Chico for Chinese food and browsing at the big used bookstore
in downtown Chico. A number of huge sycamore trees caught our attention as we
walked about downtown.

"It is equally relevant to the interests of relatively healthy people who are interested in exploring
the farther reaches of human potential and examining the intrinsic role we have as humans in
maintaining homeostasis on the planet, otherwise known as Ecopsychology. Approaches
embraced by humanistic therapists include: Bioenergetics (Wilhem Reich, Alexander Lowen),
Sensory Awareness Through Movement ( Moshe Feldenkreis), Focusing (Eugene Gendin),
Authentic Movement (Mary Whitehouse), Encounter (Carl Rogers, Will Schultz, National
Training Lab, and many others at Esalan and elsewhere), Rational-Emotive Therapy
(Albert Ellis), Reality Therapy (William Glasser), Analytical & Archetypal Psychology
(C.G.Jung, James Hillman), Psychosynthesis (Roberto Assagioli), Gestalt Art Therapy
(Janie Rhyne), Existential Analysis (Rollo May, James F.T.Bugental), Logotherapy
(Viktor Frankl), Self-Disclosure (Sidney Jourard), Conjoint Family Therapy (Virginia
Satir), and Neuro-Linguistic Programming (Richard Bandler & John Grinder)."
- Association for Humanistic Psychology

Fitness for Seniors: Amazing Body Breakthroughs for Super Health. By
Frank K. Wood. FC&A Publishing, 2004. 392 pages. ISBN: 1890957755.

Senior Fitness Test Manual. By Roberta E. Rikli, and C. Jessie Jones. Human
Kinetics Pub., 2000. 161 pages. ISBN: 0736033564.

Received a nice package from Dave Titus, Master storyteller and string artist.
Dave sent me two of his books, a packet of note cards with string figures, and
a newspaper. I will review and update my string figures webpage. I also need
to get my new string figures carrying box ready and artistically decorated, as
well as practicing some new figures in my demonstration routine.

February 10, Thursday, 2005

"Energy and persistence conquer all things."
- Benjamin Franklin

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 12:00 am.  Writing, meetings, training employees.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, triceps and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls, bicep curls with dumbbells. .
I taught the Yoga class from 5:30-6:45 at TFFC.

Senior Journal: Fitness and Exercise Articles, links, information.

"An estimated 13.4 million Americans practice yoga or other mind-body
exercises such as tai chi, according to a 2003 survey by the Sporting
Goods Manufacturers Association. Of those, an estimated 1.6 million
were 55 or older."
- Red Bluff Daily News, 8 Feb 2005, 6A.

Updated my online resume. Prepared my presentation for the
Tehama County Commission on Aging. Applied for membership to the
California Yoga Teachers Association and the American Library Association.

On the way home from the gym last night, I noticed the moon in the
western sky. The sky was very clear with many stars visible. The moon
appeared to be a black disc in the sky with a brilliant bottom edge. It was
a dramatic sight in the early night sky. The moon beginning to wax again,
after the black night of the new moon last Tuesday.

February 9, Wednesday, 2005

"Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday."
- Don Marquis

dragg'n my mind
round and round —
angry eyes

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants., training
employees.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Bench press, upright rows, dumbbell shrubs, incline squats,
forearm dumbbell curls. Spin bicycling class with Jenny from 5:30-6 pm at TFFC.

The New Ourselves, Growing Older: Women Aging with Knowledge and Power.
A Book for Women Over Forty. By Paula D. Soress-Worters and Diana Laskin Stegal.
Illustrations by Roselaine Perkis. New York, A Touchstone Book, Simon and Schuster,
1994. Index, extensive resources guides, 531 pages. MGC. ISBN: 0671872974.
In cooperation with the Boston Women's Health Book Collective.

Updated webpage on Fitness for Aging Persons.

Distance Learning Resources for Aging Studies

CSU Chico

"With 3.3 million residents age 65 and older, California is home to the largest elderly population
in the United States. This age group is expected to have an overall 112 percent increase between
1990 and 2020."
- CSU Sacramento Gerontology Program

February 8, Tuesday, 2005

Someday is not a day of the week.
Today is the main training day.
A training day without some improvement is a wasted day.
No strain, no pain, no train ... no gain.

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Helping with personnel evaluation and
review projects all day.

Updated Above the Fog.

Weightlifting for 65 minutes: Pull downs, triceps and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls, leg presses, upright rows, bicep curls. .
Yoga class with Gudrin as our teacher from 5:30-6:45 p,m. at TFFC.

Began Atkins Induction eating program again, and reducing calories.
Now on the final push to my March 12th goals for weight training,
rope skipping, extra yoga work, studying yoga texts, studying
ACE texts, and weighing in at 267 pounds. 32 days of vigorous
daily training!!

Betty Yarber leaves for Exeter after visiting for over three weeks.
We all enjoyed a very nice visit and trip to Oregon.

February 7, Monday, 2005

"Spontaneity begins with a subtle and delicate detachment, a gentle and
patient distancing from what is learned, from what is considered, and from
what is owned as personal. The purpose of detachment in Taoism and Zen
is to provide the necessary space in which direct and spontaneous action
can occur. Such distancing prevents the doing from being crowded by
deliberation. At the same time, it permits a special closeness.

Slowly, by standing aside from oneself, the doing begins to happen
easily because it is unimpeded by ownership. Deliberation recedes.
Distancing reveals an inner center of balanced emptiness that is full
yet devoid of explanation, always ready because it is always receptive.
The empty center is a formless wisdom that is entered by gently opening
to its emptiness. The distancing, the separation, the detachment creates
an opening that fills with spontaneity."
- Ray Grigg, The Tao of Zen, p. 296.

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

Reading and writing during the day.

Podiatrist appointment. My foot problems have greatly improved over the last year.

I helped Betty with various appointments, getting medicines, getting ticket for bus
trip to Exeter, and we all went out for dinner. She leaves on Tuesday night.

Rereading one of my favorite books on Taoism and Zen:

The Tao of Zen. By Ray Grigg. Boston, Charles E. Tuttle, Inc., 1994.
Book Sales, 1999. Notes, 357 pages. MGC. ISBN: 0785811257.

Bodyweight Reduction Progress Michael P. Garofalo

Date	Weight - Pounds	Weight - Kilograms

October 1, 2004	287	131
November 1, 2004	283	129
December 1, 2004	278	126
January 1, 2005	274	125
February 1, 2005	272	124
March 1, 2005	267 Goal	121

February 6, Sunday, 2005

"In matters of style, swim with the current; in matters of principle,
stand like a rock."
- Thomas Jefferson

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips. Teach Greg Taijiquan from 10-11.

We worked on pruning in our yard. We burnt our large pile of garden cuttings,
prunings, dead material, fallen branches and twigs, and weeding. Watched
some of the Super Bowl football game between the Philadelphia Eagles and
the New England Patriots. Reading in the evening.

I strayed off the new diet the last couple of days. I will return to the program
on Monday.

NeuroLinguistic Programming makes the following assumptions (i.e., presuppositions,
givens) in order to enable real change:

"Communication is more than what a person is saying.
Nobody is wrong or broken. People accomplish what they are currently accomplishing.
Persons have all the resources they need.
Behind every behavior is a positive intention.
Every behavior is useful in some context.
The meaning of a communication is the response you get.
If your are not getting the response you want, try something different.
There is no such thing as failure. There is only feedback.
Having choice is better than having no choice at all.
In any system, the element with the most flexibility exerts the most influence.
The map is not the territory.
If someone can so something, anyone can learn it.
You cannot fail to communicate."
- NLP by Holistic Online

my breaths
mix with fog —
cold ears

February 5, Saturday, 2005

"I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than
to be a success at something you hate."
- George Burns

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.
200 rope skips.

peeping killdeers harmonize
with roadway hum —
piercing sun

Teach Qigong and Taiji from 10-11 am, and Yoga from 11-12:15 am at TFFC.

Added poems to Cuttings: February.

Take books up to Cal's Books in Redding.

Don Miguel Ruiz's " Four Agreements":
1. Be impeccable with your word.
2. Don't take anything personally.
3. Don't make assumptions.
4. Always do your best.

February 4, Friday, 2005

"There can be no real freedom without the freedom to fail."
- Eric Fromm

I did my Morning Exercise Program for 90 minutes: Walking, Qigong, and Taijiquan.
Learning and practicing the Wild Goose (Dayan) Qigong 64 Movement Form.

Taijiquan and qigong class led by Kevin Weaver for one hour at TFFC.
Pilates class led by Ginger for one hour.

Get gardening tools and equipment ready. Mow lawns, pruned and cleaned up
around the yard.

hundreds of bees
humming —
cypresses in bloom

AAD GURAY NAMEH                           I bow to the Primal Wisdom
JUGAAD GURAY NAMEH                   I bow to the Wisdom through the ages
SAT GURAY NAMEH                            I bow to the True Wisdom
SIREE GUROO DAYVAY NAMEH      I bow to the great unseen Wisdom
- A chant from Kundalini Yoga

February 3, Thursday, 2005

"We must walk consciously only part way toward our goal,
and then leap in the dark to our success."
- Henry D. Thoreau

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing, meetings, training employees.
I was the announcer for the District's Spelling Bee competition for 5th and 6th
grade students from 3 schools. Over 200 people came to the event at the
Maywood School. It was a tense but fun event.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, triceps and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls. Used Gatorade drink portion for 10 gm
of carbohydrates as a workout boost. I am really making good progress
on pull downs and can really pull down some heavy weight.
I taught the Yoga class from 5:30-6:45 at TFFC.

"So far as motivational status is concerned, healthy people have sufficiently gratified
their basic needs for safety, belongingness, love, respect and self-esteem so that
they are motivated primarily by trends to self-actualization (defined as ongoing
actualization of potentials, capacitates and talents, as fulfillment of mission (or call,
fate, destiny, or vocation), as a fuller knowledge of, and acceptance of, the person's
own intrinsic nature, as an unceasing trend toward unity, integration or synergy within
the person."

"These healthy people are there defined by describing their clinically observed
characteristics. These are:
1. Superior perception of reality.
2. Increased acceptance of self, of others and of nature.
3. Increased spontaneity.
4. Increase in problem-centering.
5. Increased detachment and desire for privacy.
6. Increased autonomy, and resistance to enculturation.
7. Greater freshness of appreciation, and richness of emotional reaction.
8. Higher frequency of peak experiences.
9. Increased identification with the human species.
10. Changed and improved interpersonal relations.
11. More democratic character structure.
12. Greatly increased creativeness.
13. Certain changes in the value system."

Toward a Psychology of Being. Abraham Maslow. New Jersey, Van Nostrand,
1962. 3rd Edition, Wiley, 1998. 320 pages. ISBN: 0471293091. pp.23-24

"Another way in which Maslow approach the problem of what is self-actualization is to talk
about the special, driving needs (B-needs, of course) of the self-actualizers. They need the
following in their lives in order to be happy:"

"Truth, rather than dishonesty.
Goodness, rather than evil.
Beauty, not ugliness or vulgarity.
Unity, wholeness, and transcendence of opposites, not arbitrariness or forced choices.
Aliveness, not deadness or the mechanization of life.
Uniqueness, not bland uniformity.
Perfection and necessity, not sloppiness, inconsistency, or accident.
Completion, rather than incompleteness.
Justice and order, not injustice and lawlessness.
Simplicity, not unnecessary complexity.
Richness, not environmental impoverishment.
Effortlessness, not strain.
Playfulness, not grim, humorless, drudgery.
Self-sufficiency, not dependency.
Meaningfulness, rather than senselessness."

- C. George Boeree's short essay on Mr. Maslow.
When embarking on the path of "self actualization" here are some key aspects
(i.e., Big Needs, Growth Motivators) of psychological maturity:

February 2, Wednesday, 2005

"Our goals can only be reached through a vehicle of a plan, in which we
must fervently believe, and upon which we must vigorously act. There
is no other route to success."
- Stephan A. Brennan

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants, service
to students at Maywood, photography projects.

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Bench press, upright rows, dumbbell shrubs, incline squats,
forearm dumbbell curls. Spin bicycling class with Jenny from 5:30-6 pm at TFFC.
Drinking Gatorade about 20 minutes before and during cycling really gave me a boost
of energy. I will use a half a scoop of Gatorade in 24 oz of water which gives
me 10 gm of carbohydrates, and drink half before my weightlifting and half afterwards
before yoga or spin.

When I came home, I told my wife I went to spin class. She teased me about first
trying to be a yogi and now a spingali.

Added poems to Above the Fog.

The oldest groundhog
died before dawn -
the rain stopped.

When some of the French and Poles and Danes fought a guerilla war against the
Nazi's as "The Resistance" we called them heroes. When Americans launched
sneak attacks on the British invaders in 1812, after the Brits burnt the White House to
the ground, our fighters were considered patriots. Now, when an Iraqi is furious about
Americans overthrowing his country's government, killing is wife and child in a bomb
attack, and destroying his home and business, and then engages in guerilla attacks
against Americans, Bush calls that fellow a "terrorist." Now, anyone who
fights us is a terrorist. How can this be the truth? Using guerrilla tactics against an
unlawfully invading foreign power, engaged in a preemptive attack, that has superior
forces and military equipment is common practice. Were the Chinese people
"terrorists" when they resisted the Japanese in the 1930's? According to Bush,
Iraqi is now a hotbed breeding ground for international terrorism - and this after
spending 200 billion and suffering 5,000 casualties in our "War on Terror." Either
we are loosing the war, or Bush is tripping over his confusing doubletalk. What
Bush calls a king of spades is actually a two of clubs. His map is not the territory.

The applause at these spectacles is tiresome and faked to me. Burp! ... applause.

February 1, Tuesday, 2005

"The most important thing about having goals is having one."
- Geoffrey F. Abert

Work for CUESD from 7:30 - 4:30 pm. Writing and managing grants,
meeting at Olive View. .

Weightlifting for 45 minutes: Pull downs, triceps and shoulder pull downs,
leg curls and reverse leg curls.
Yoga class with Gudrin as our teacher from 5:30-6:45 p,m. at TFFC.
I was stiff, sore, and tired by the end of the Yoga class. I may need to
drink more water with some carbohydrates around 5:10 pm during the
weightlifting phase of the workout.

Read the book:

Awakening the Spine. By Vanda Scaravelli. The stress free new yoga that works
with the body to restore health, vitality and energy. San Francisco, California,
Harper San Francisco, 1991. Index, 191 pages. MGC. ISBN: 0062507923.
The book consists of short chapters on a variety of yoga themes. Of particular
note are her comments about the spine and feet. The poses demonstrated are
for very advanced yogis. Lots of encouraging words for senior yogis.

Added links to my Concrete-Visual Poetry website.

Started using the small portable RCA digital audio recording/playback unit.
I keep it with me at all times to record my various random thoughts and ideas.

Almost finished reading the Bhagavad-Gita for the third time.

"I came across your web site tonight at "random"...your name sounds familiar to me
from a retreat back in 1985 at the Zen Center in Rochester. Then I shared a room with
someone that I always remind warmly. When I asked him what do you do for a living
he joyfully answered: " I do gardening with all my heart and besides that I am even paid
for it !! " Along the years I kept that joy alive in me when at times I have to remember
my work is a blessing too.

Maybe you are the same guy, maybe not. But in the Finnish winter evening I have had
a fiesta solo in my heart with your site that seems to be rooted with the same spirit of
that guy in Rochester. Thank you always,"
Hernando Sabogal, Dragsfjärd, Finland, 1 Feb 2005"

Hernando Sabogal,

Thank you for the kind and positive feedback about my website.

I've never been to New York, but we have all been to that place
in the heart, mind, and spirit that has been pointed to by the
good women and men in both our time, and by people living
centuries ago. The essential virtues uplift us through the years.

Best wishes for a fine winter,

Mike Garofalo

www.egreenway.com

A New Weekly Workout Plan

Monday
Beat around the bush
Lift myself up by the bootstraps
Make mountains out of mole hills
Get all fired up
Jump to conclusions
Climb the walls

Tuesday
Drag my heels
Make my point
Push my luck
Pull my own load
Hit the nail on the head

Wednesday
Bend over backwards
Jump on the Band Wagon
Grab all I can get
Run around in circles
Shoulder my share of responsibility

Thursday
Shop till I drop
Hang loose
Grind to a halt
Rest and recuperate

Friday
Push it to the limit
Pull out all the stops
Add fuel to the fire
Pave the roadway to hell
Throw it all away

Saturday
Open a can of worms
Put my foot in my mouth
Start the ball rolling
Go over the edge

Sunday
Pick up the pieces.
Wade through the morning paper
Lift my spirits
Toot my own horn

Michael P. Garofalo's E-Mail

Zen Poetry

Cuttings: Haiku and Short Poems

Cold Mountain Sages

The Spirit of Gardening

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