D.T. Suzuki when I was studying with him, said the ego has the capacity to cut itself off from experience - whether it comes through the senses or through dreams - and it can also flow with the experience. It has that capacity.
In other words we can change our minds, so that rather than concentrating on our selves in self-consciousness, we can become attentive to environment-outside like today, or be, so to speak, zero in the contemplative setting.
I thought that instead of taking the conventional discipline of sitting cross-legged that I would take this other way. If I approach the world of relativity free of my likes and dislikes, so that when something happens that I don't like, instead of continuing to say I don't like, I ask myself why don't I like it? then here is a clear possibility of changing my mind.
I proceed from one composition to another in a similar way.And then you can take all kinds of things as guides. In other words, you can become an observer of your work and the effect of your work both on yourself and to a lesser extent on other people.
John Cage

Vision in Relaxation

Shaman, salespeople, hypnotists even tai chi practitioners know the fastest way to positively influence the mind is to start with the body. We start with the body because it requires less effort to make a physical change than to change your state of mind. For example most people can't change from tense to relaxed through mental effort alone.But you can easily produce a more relaxed state by making a physical change - such as going for a walk, practicing some tai chi, or by having someone massage your shoulders.
Here is one of my favourite "instant relax exercises " that can be done anywhere for an immediate calm.

Fix your gaze on something directly ahead of you without changing your focus in any way. Allow your peripheral vision to widen.
Without moving your eyes, gradually expand your vision so you can take in more and more of the space around you.
If it feels comfortable, you can take it further; just relax and allow your vision to widen...until you can sense not only the things beside you, but behind you as well.
Now you have a 'visual sense' of being centered and relaxed.

Vision in Learning

Often we pay so much attention to learning the physical postures and applications in T'ai Chi that we forget about how we learn. We learn best by using our whole bodies.

I find that when I am trying to figure things out, like a new posture, my focus can become narrow. This is what most of us were taught in school; paying close attention meant shutting down our awareness into a narrow, concentrated point. This is useful in some cases, like solving a maths problem, but counterproductive when learning T'ai Chi. When I catch myself in 'narrow focus' , I soften and widen my vision.

When our vision de-converges our plain of focus remains the same but our view widens. Even without moving our eyes we take in more visual information around us. This peripheral vision produces a much different type of understanding, one that is broad and holistic and very conducive to learning.

This is not to say that narrow, or converged, vision is not useful in T'ai Chi. When we want to analyse and perfect a posture or when we want to express energy in an application, narrow focused vision is best. For example , the energy delivered in an application can be greatly increased by using our eyes .

Beginners often look down as they yield and this dissipates their energy into the ground . By simply lifting their gaze, the application becomes 100% more effective.

Thayumanavar one of the great saints of Southern India has left the following challenging poem:

      You may control a mad elephant;

      You may shut the mouth of the bear and the tiger;

      You may ride a lion;

      You may play with the cobra;

      By alchemy you may eke your livelihood;

      You may wander through the universe incognito;

      You may make vassals of the gods;

      You may be ever youthful;

      You may walk on water and live in fire;

      But control of the mind is better and more difficult.

Autobiography of a Yogi

Ward Off Energy

Here is an approach to Ward Off energy using some of the techniques I learned from Dr.Fehmi in my training with him and from practising with his CDs.
To begin, adopt the posture shown here by Michael.
Relax and feel your feet on the ground. Feel your head as if it is connected to heaven by a string. Now become aware of, and feel, the space around your body and the space between your arms and your body. Now bring your attention to your breath. Breath into your neck, filling the whole area with energy. When breathing out leave this space empty (and full of space). On the next breath fill the neck again and expand your awareness into your shoulders breathing in energy and as you breath out leave the whole area empty and full of space. Repeat the process , breathing next to and filling right into your elbows. Then to your wrists and finally right to the finger tips. Each time you breath out feel your arms becoming more empty, more full of space. Now stay in this posture and allow yourself to become aware of the space around your arms and between your arms and your body. Allow yourself to feel the aliveness of the space between your body and your arms. As you practice, your experience will become more rich, more full, and more fun.
I would love to hear this exercise works for you too.

Finally REALISING that I practice not to get somewhere but to be here now !

More about Lester

Lester . . . “Wait a minute!” he thought. “If happiness is when I’m experiencing love for the other one, then that means happiness is a feeling within me.
“And if I felt unloving in the past? Well, I know I can’t change the past, but could I possibly correct the feeling now inside myself? Could I change the feeling to love now?” He decided to try it. He looked at his most recent unhappiness, the day he left the hospital.
“First,” he asked himself, “was I experiencing a lack of love that day?”
“Yes,” he answered aloud. “Nobody gave a damn about me, not the nurses, not the orderlies, not even Dr. Schultz. They did not care. As sick as I was, they threw me out, sent me home to die so they wouldn’t have to watch one of their failures . . . well, the hell with them. They can all go to hell.” He was shocked at the vehemence in his voice. His body trembled with rage and he felt weak. He really hated the doctor: He could feel it burning in his chest. “Oh, boy,” he thought, “this sure isn’t love.”
“Well, can I change it?” he asked. “Is it possible to turn it into love for the doctor?”
“Hell, no,” he thought, “why should I? What did he ever do to deserve any love?”
“That’s not the point,” he answered himself. “The point is not whether he deserves love. The point is, can you do it? Is it possible to simply change a feeling of hatred into a feeling of love—not for the benefit of the other person but for yourself?”
As the thought crossed his mind, he felt something break loose in his chest. A gentle easing, a sense of dissolving, and the burning sensation was gone. He didn’t trust it at first. It seemed too easy, so he pictured again the scene with Dr. Schultz in the hospital. He was surprised to find that it brought only a mild feeling of resentment rather than the previous intense burning hatred. He wondered if he could do it again.
“Lets see,” he thought, “what did I just do? . . . Oh, yes. Can I change this feeling of resentment into a feeling of love?” He chuckled as he felt the resentment dissolve in his chest. Then it was totally gone and he was happy. He thought of Dr. Schultz again, pictured him in his mind and felt happy, even loving. He saw now, reliving that last meeting, how the doctor had hated to tell him the things he had to say. He could feel the doctor’s pain at having to tell a young man in the prime of his life that his life was over. “Dr. Schultz, you son-of-a-gun,” he said, grinning, “I love you.”
“Well, it worked on that one,” he thought. “If my theory is sound, then it should work on everything.” Eagerly, he began trying it on other moments, and the results were consistently the same. Each time that he asked himself if he could change the feeling of hostility or anger or hatred to one of love, the dissolving process took place. Sometimes he had to repeat it over and over until he felt only love for the person. At times, the entire process would take only a minute or two; at other times, it might take him hours of working on a particular person or event before his feelings were only loving, but he would doggedly stay with it until it was completed on each person and each incident.
His entire life came up for review in bits and pieces. One by one, he changed to love all the old hurts and disappointments. He began to feel stronger as the weight of his pain dropped away. He was happier than he had ever been in his entire life, and he kept it going, feeling even more happiness with each new thing corrected.