The latest surge in all-things-Chinese-health-related, gives me both hope and disappointment.

Because I know that this medicine is exactly what's needed right now and the surge will introduce its wonders to many.

And at the same time, I know that the appeal will quickly fade once people realize there's no hack, short-cut or quick-fix anywhere to be found.

It's a path of skill, dedication and mastery.

And it doesn't have to be mastery in Tai Chi or anything obviously health related. It could be...cannolis ; )

See how & let me know your thoughts.

Blessings!

Randal

Takeaways:

1. The practice of Tai Chi serves as a profound method for cultivating self-discipline and mastery in one's life.
2. Achieving mastery in any discipline requires unwavering dedication and the willingness to engage in repetitive practice over an extended period.
3. The disparity between internal worth and external validation significantly contributes to the challenges encountered in the realm of addiction.
4. Mastery enables individuals to establish meaningful connections with others through the sharing of acquired skills and knowledge.
5. The journey of mastery is analogous to the adage of 'chop wood, carry water,' emphasizing the importance of consistent effort in all endeavors.
6. In the pursuit of mastery, one learns that the process of continuous improvement is intrinsically valuable in itself.

Chapters:

1. 00:00 - The Surge of Interest in Tai Chi
2. 01:01 - The Journey into Tai Chi
3. 05:07 - The Journey of Mastery
4. 07:01 - Exploring Internal vs External Validation
5. 11:23 - The Path to Mastery
6. 12:38 - Exploring Paths of Mastery

Companies mentioned in this episode:

1. Wall Street Journal
2. Instagram
3. Chinese Life Force Institute
4. https://www.randallyons.com/

As a longtime practitioner of Tai Chi, a doctor of the medicine, I'm getting a real kick out of the latest surge in everything health related Chinese.

There's a recent Wall Street Journal article, instagram influencers.

It's just exploding.

And I'm seeing these advertisements for Tai Chi.

This is my grandmother on day one.

After 30 days of practice, this is what she looks like now.

Tai Chi would be exactly what is needed by the majority of western population and for that exact reason, west, why a majority of the western population will not do it.

Let me explain.

Welcome to the Sober Shaman Podcast where we explore ways to make the spiritual practical and apply these medicines to the recovery from addiction and trauma.

I wanted to do the Kung fu, jumping, kicking, spinning, you know, the cool stuff.

And he said, all right, but what you're gonna have to do is you're gonna have to do Tai Chi along with it.

Okay, I guess we could do that.

So I began simultaneous study of the Kung Fu and the Tai Chi.

So I was getting my kicking and spinning and hard style stuff with the Kung fu and with the Tai Chi.

We started with the oldest, simplest people form, really physically, the basics and the whole form.

Sun Family style probably takes about 25 minutes to do all nine sections.

The whole form was broken down the way I learned it into those nine sections.

About 25 minutes.

We spent a whole year doing 25 minutes.

We spent a whole Year doing 25 minutes.

It was very detailed instruction.

The end of that year.

All right, thanks Sifu.

Ready to move on to a little more jumping and kicking with.

What's the next level we're getting up to?

Slow down there.

You haven't grasped the pebble from my hand quite yet.

We're doing one more year.

Sammy's same exact form.

One more year.

Same thing.

The same thing I just learned for a whole year.

Yes, same thing you just learned for a whole year.

One more level deeper.

So.

Alright, fine.

Good.

We did it.

There was a lot more to learn and the more I learned, the more I learned that I didn't know.

Interesting to start getting these kinds of messages.

Oh, I thought that was it after the year and I was ready to move on to the next.

This is exactly part of the problem.

No.

Even after I had put in all that time, one year of effort for 25 minutes.

No, doing it again for a whole year, repeating the whole thing and got to the next level.

End of the second year.

Thank goodness that's over.

How about some of this sword?

What about that knife stuff?

Come on.

How about one more year?

So wait a minute.

You want me to do a third year on the old people's form one more time?

Yeah, you need a third year.

Well, that's a blow to the ego.

Okay, fine.

Now all of this to say, yeah, I needed it, and I probably needed more after that, but that was pretty much all he could squeeze out of my attention span at that age, at that time.

So what's my point here?

Three years spent learning 25 minutes mastery.

This is what we're talking about.

And it's not about Tai Chi.

It's about mastery of anything.

These skills are applicable to life, to anything.

Discipline, self discipline is exactly what's needed in the West.

Which is exactly why it's not going to get taken.

Because mastery is about becoming better at this one thing.

It is internal.

I'm getting self worth.

I'm getting self ability.

What do I do with this?

I share it.

I have a purpose.

It gives me meaning, it gives me genuine connection that whatever I've mastered as a product I am able to offer and to share and is recognized for how good it is I put in the work.

No one can give that to me.

No one can take it away.

These are exact terms that I use in recovery and in the west.

It's more concerned with, generally speaking, more, not best.

In other words, more from the outside.

Money, likes, fame, investment, recognition.

This external validation versus internal worth is part of the inherent problem at the core of an addiction.

Seeking more to fill the void, to soothe the wound, to satisfy the need.

Whereas with mastery in and of itself, this is the thing, ah.

That fills the void.

Because I have something worthwhile to then share to, from a place of love is then received.

I make that connection with the person.

My mastery could be in cannolis.

I could make the best darn cannolis.

In the mood for a cannoli and let's so people will come and tell me how much they love my cannoli.

It goes to my head, but it also goes to my heart.

My gift is received.

It makes me want to make more cannolis tomorrow.

Not just so that they show up, so that I get more and I can pay the bills.

Of course there is a logical side to this, but it's bigger, it's deeper.

When talking about the void or the wound or a need, these are different things.

When it's more from the external versus sharing and a desire to be even better.

Chop wood, carry water.

I'm going to do my best to make these cannolis to practice my Tai Chi.

They are the same thing.

I'm going to apply my mastery to everything in my life.

How you do one thing is how you do everything, generally speaking.

So when we master something, we take that framework, that self discipline, that self worth, that something that no one can give you and no one can take away, and we then apply it towards another gift that we have to share with this world.

And mastery is a path.

Chop wood, carry water.

One step after the other, one day at a time.

It's kind of boring, which doesn't appeal to the Instagram grid work necessarily.

Of course, there's ways to make it interesting.

Right.

But it appeals to mastery to be recognized as and for a particular skill that is independent of the external validation.

There's the magic, that's the gift.

It can be Tai Chi, it can be cannolis.

The point is, when we do it, this is exactly the medicine that can take care of the core of an addiction, can be one of the.

One of the medicines that we apply at the core of our addiction.

So when I see the Wall Street Journal article, when I see the ads that pop up on my YouTube, when I get the notifications from people telling me about, hey, Randy, what about this guy and Tai Chi?

30 days.

What do you think?

I look and sound like Wong.

You took took to my 60s.

But I get to say that now where I just get to answer him like how he used to answer me.

Yep.

That was pretty much the whole of the answer.

And then he would say, practice.

Oh, but I read about the Lao Tzu, and it's got this.

And ask the most direct questions, Practice.

He was giving me the path to mastery.

I didn't know it, but I knew it and I appreciated it.

And there was something about it that I knew he mastered and I wanted some of that.

And we see that in recovery when new people are at the meeting and they're searching for sponsors.

There's a resonance there.

I don't know what it is about that person.

They've got something I want, they've got an answer.

And I don't even know what the question is.

Boom.

That's the form of mastery.

So go practice.

And if you want to begin Tai chi and do it for 30 days, that you got to start somewhere.

But as my teacher would say, don't think you're a big shot after 10 years, I think that's what he said to me, basically, his blessing to me was, okay, you can go teach now on your own, but don't think you're a big shot.

That was his blessing.

So go ahead, go practice.

And I wish you the best Tai Chi or cannolis or whatever you do in your form of mastery.

Let me know in the comments below what paths of mastery have taken you to certain levels.

Maybe you're sticking to one.

Maybe you've tried a few of them in your recovery.

I'd love to hear.

Till next time, Blessings.

Thanks for listening to the Sober Shaman Podcast, where we explore ways to make the spiritual practical.

Please subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.

Send me any questions or comments you have.

Check out the website randallions.com I look forward to hearing from you.

Until next time.

Blessings.