Take Small Steps, Build Confidence Gradually

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Take small steps, show that you can do something. Confidence gradually builds up from these.

From Self-Confidence, to Great Undertakings

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What it Means to be Confident

Being confident can mean different things for people.  So you might consider what I write about, and how I implicitly define it, but I encourage you to reflect on confidence and arrive at your own meaning.

Yours truly

My main sport is road cycling.  I love the rush of the wind against my face, and I love the camaraderie and competitiveness of riding with friends.  When I lived in Dubai, it was a great community that rode early Friday mornings, for 80 - 120 kilometers, and returned for breakfast together.  

For a long while, I'd  have terrific training sessions during the week, but inevitably hit the wall during those Friday morning rides.  I'd straggle back with a couple of other riders who were dropped, too.  I studied my body, and altered several things in my training and preparations. 

To make a long story short, I was now consistently riding with the lead group and occasionally mixing it up with the guys on sprints.   

I also made mental adjustments, one of which was this:  I imagined that I was the best rider in the lot and believed that I could smoke anyone of the others with my cycling strength and speed.  In reality, of course, I was not the best, because there were very fast riders among us.  

But what I imagined and believed were hallmarks of the confidence I built.  For a long time, I was very frustrated with hitting the wall and getting dropped, but I proved that I could figure things out and make effective changes.  I was already pretty strong and fast, but my improved performance was proof positive that I could be stronger and faster.

This confidence was a positive vicious cycle, as it actually helped me to ride even better.  The better I rode, the more confident I became.  

I knew I could do better, and I did.  Confidence was in my mind (belief), my spirit (purpose), and my body (muscles).          

Where does T'ai Chi come into the picture?  

I have been studying and practicing it since 1978.  I am energetic by nature and therefore engage in many activities, and T'ai Chi is the underpinning to everything I do.  For example, it teaches me how to be aware of what is going on outside of me and inside of me.

It encourages me to follow the Tao, the way of nature. In this regard, I realized I was pushing my training way too much. T'ai Chi helped me to ease up, reflect more, and make adjustments.  Practically speaking, the way of nature meant I had a strong body that also had limits. T'ai Chi prompted me to train, prepare and ride within that strength and those limits, and I realized there was quite a reservoir inside me.

Finally, sitting in meditation alone wasn't going to keep me fit.  T'ai Chi was a perfect activity for me as it kept me calm and rooted, while building up my body, too.  Over time I could do more things physically, and the more I could do, the more confident I became that I could keep doing those things.  And more.   

One World, One Breath

In 1999 a global event was born that has now expanded to hundreds of cities in over 70 nations, a global family of personal and global healing health education events held every year... 

World T'ai Chi & Qigong Day... coordinates a global health education effort to expand the use of T'ai Chi and Qigong into society on many levels: healthcare, corporate wellness, prison and drug rehabilitation, public education, senior care, and much more. 

The free Medical Research Library at www.WorldTaiChiDay.org provides evidence of how these mind-body tools can save global society trillions of dollars annually in future health costs. 

You'll find a global T'ai Chi and Qigong teacher directory... [with] local contact information. 

You'll also find free online lessons, learning and teaching tips, and much more. 

The motto of the global event is "One World ... One Breath." 

Qigong means "breathing exercise in Chinese.

Qigong - or Chi Kung - basically means the cultivation, development or study of our life energy.  Some practitioners focus on this.  T'ai Chi is the broader, more elaborate practice, which also includes Qigong.  Qigong may very well look like T'ai Chi, because it relies on proper movement, posture and breathing.  For the most part, they're the same.  But I believe it's good to know how they are different and related.

Moreover, chi is sometimes spoken of as breath, which it is, as part of our broader life energy.

That said, I cannot say enough about how good this annual, worldwide event is.
  

Richard Jesaitis on World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day

Richard Jesaitis speaks on World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day, an annual worldwide event held on the last Saturday in April at 10 AM local time, which was April 27th this year.  He conveys a good knowledge and spirit about this ancient Chinese exercise, especially when he points that T'ai Chi brings the body, mind and spirit together.  It is both holistic and wholistic.  

Moreover, it's good to emphasize another point:  That it is the mind - i - that commands the energy - chi.  The chi then directs the body.  That floating sensation or appearance that Jesaitis refers to is real, and the diligent practitioner comes to know the effortless power of T'ai Chi.  

"It was the first thing I did in my life just because I loved to do it. So every day going out, is still a journey to try and reach a higher level, because you can never attain the ultimate but you know it's there. So you struggle to attain a little bit more everyday. And it beats jogging."

World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day

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I found this article on Google News - World T'ai Chi and Qigong Day - and I was moved.  

[Bill Douglas and Angela Oi Yue Wong Douglas] initially created this global event to educate the world about the profound health benefits of tai chi and qigong and to thank Chinese culture for this gift to the world. However, over time the event also became an opportunity to bring people together all across the world, to connect for the purpose of personal and global health & healing, adopting the motto “One World … One Breath.”

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Warm kudos to the Douglas couple for engendering a viral phenomenon on this ancient Chinese exercise.

Harvard Medical School Guide to T'ai Chi

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Conventional medical science on the Chinese art of Tai Chi now shows what Tai Chi masters have known for centuries: regular practice leads to more vigor and flexibility, better balance and mobility, and a sense of well-being. Cutting-edge research from Harvard Medical School also supports the long-standing claims that Tai Chi also has a beneficial impact on the health of the heart, bones, nerves and muscles, immune system, and the mind. This research provides fascinating insight into the underlying physiological mechanisms that explain how Tai Chi actually works.

Reference:  The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi: 12 Weeks to a Healthy Body, Strong Heart, and Sharp Mind (Harvard Health Publications).