What is Meditation? Perhaps the most confusing thing about meditation today is that the word is being used for many different ideas, and sometimes these ideas will conflict. Can someone be considered meditating if he/she is standing, moving slowly, or moving quickly? That is, does meditation have to be done sitting still? What if there is music or what if it is silent? Some people view meditation as a way to achieve some mental benefits such as reducing stress. Some look at it as a... [more]

What is Shaolin Meditation? Shaolin Meditation is a discipline that stems from a philosophy called Chán 禪 (pronounced 'Ch - ah - n' in Mandarin Chinese with a rising tone). It’s well over 1,500 years old and was initially conceived by an Indian prince named Bodhidharma who first established Chán at the Shaolin Temple in Central North China around 500 AD. Since then, the ideas of Zen have evolved a little differently all over the world. The word Chán 禪 is more commonly known a... [more]

Wisdom What is wisdom, and why is it important? Learn what the ancient Shaolin teachings have to say about it, and how we can renew our passion to actively pursue wisdom. You can watch a recorded workshop session with Master Dao on this subject here: https://www.stqitoronto.com/index.php/s/b/learn-about-wisdom-with-clarity What is Wisdom? In the English dictionary, wisdom is generally defined as having good judgement about a particular idea or action. For example, one may qu... [more]

Learn About Wisdom with Clarity Participate with Master Dao in this Recorded Shaolin Chan Dao Meditation Workshop The written blog about Wisdom for this workshop can be found here: https://www.stqitoronto.com/index.php/wisdom... [more]

The Shaolin Seven Points Sitting Meditation Method The traditional form of the Shaolin Sitting Meditation is a Still Meditation exercise. The goal of the exercise is to continually lessen mental activity. The 7 Points or Steps of Sitting Meditation are: 1. Seated Position 2. Straight Back 3. Shoulders Back and Chest Forward 4. Hand Position 5. Neck Straight and Head Levelled 6. Tongue on Roof of Mouth 7. Eyes Click the links above to view more details about each poi... [more]

The Seated Position of Seven Points Method Sitting Meditation These seated positions are some of the more common positions of the Shaolin Seven Points Sitting Meditation. There are many different ways to be seated. Try these first to see if they will work for you. You can even lie down on your sides with one hand propping the head up and the other resting on the thigh. What is important is that you find what suits you best now. You can always work your way towards other seated positions. Cu... [more]

Self-Wisdom is about you understanding yourself, the reality and environment you are in, and your interactions. Improving self-wisdom is a shortcut to finding peace and stillness for yourself. What is wisdom? Is it that important that we need to make it a priority in our lives? Master Dao clarifies the idea of wisdom in this article: Wisdom Below is a brief description of 4 key principles of Chan-Dao to achieve self-wisdom. In the future, Master Dao will provide more in-depth a... [more]

Our ability to understand and manage our perceptions is one of the principal ideas of Chan-Dao for achieving self-wisdom. The focus of this blog is to understand what perceptions are and how our brain organizes them. By taking this step to understand our perceptions, we begin the journey to develop ‘clarity’. Perceptions A 'perception' is one aspect of interpreting the world and your reality. You can also think of it as an idea. For example, you may perceive that an object that ... [more]

Our ability to understand and manage our emotions is one of the principal ideas of Chan-Dao for achieving self-wisdom. This blog focuses on understanding what emotions are and how our body and mind are affected. By taking the step to understand emotions, we begin the journey to develop ‘calmness’. Emotions An emotion is a physical sensation resulting from a chemical reaction in the body and can be stimulated by the mind or external factors. Let’s break th... [more]

The topic of 'Subconscious' is an important one, and is one of the 4 key components of Shaolin Chan-Dao wisdom. Before continuing, we recommend you first study the previous two key components: perceptions and emotions. This article brings clarity to the existence of your life partner, the subconscious. You will discover that your Subconscious Partner does exist, that you can understand it, that you can communicate with it, and that you can even work with it. Everyone needs to take Thi... [more]

Virtues have been around for thousands of years and are established through culture, religion, societies, and other social groups. They help to guide our behaviour towards a common standard so that we can live more peacefully. The Shaolin Virtues is not that different from other virtue systems, except that its goals are to help us reduce suffering through a simplified system of teachings. It consists of six virtues that teach us how to understand ourselves and the world, so that we can redu... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Focus? The Shaolin Virtue of Focus is about the will power to concentrate one’s mental energy. It is easy to get distracted. One must stay focused to have a clearer perspective, develop awareness, and understanding of oneself. When you are not focused, you may forget what’s important, carry out a task poorly, and get confused easily. How Will the Shaolin Virtue of Focus Help Me? By developing your Shaolin Virtue of Focus: You will improve the... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Perseverance? The Shaolin Virtue of Perseverance is about the willpower to continue when things become difficult. When faced with a challenge, it is too easy to give up. One must learn to push on and develop new perspective. When you persevere, you develop more stamina and strength so that things become easier. When you do not persevere, you become weak and stagnant like a pool of stale water. How Will the Shaolin Virtue of Perseverance Help Me? By de... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Strive? The Shaolin Virtue of Strive is about the willpower to improve. It’s not so easy to make the decision to learn new things and improve oneself. One has to overcome low spirits, low energy, or face oneself humbly. When you strive, you open new doors and broaden your understanding. When you do not strive, you close your doors and lose the opportunity for growth. How Will the Shaolin Virtue of Strive Help Me? By developing your Shaolin Virtue ... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Respect? The Shaolin Virtue of Respect is about understanding and navigating the many systems of rules that we follow. Examples of systems of rules include government, local laws, home, parents, religion, social, and school. We must respect the many systems of rules, including those that are not written down, in order to foster fruitful communication. When you understand how to respect people and systems, you will develop friendly relationships and inc... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Compassion? The Shaolin Virtue of Compassion is about understanding how people suffer and how people behave. It is a powerful idea that requires a strong foundation in the Shaolin Virtue of Focus because one can only understand others as much as one understands the self. When you are compassionate, you develop the ability to help others more effectively. When you are not compassionate, you wallow in selfishness and fear which can cause great suffering t... [more]

What is the Shaolin Virtue of Leadership? The Shaolin Virtue of Leadership is about working together to solve problems. It is the most powerful virtue because when people unite, they can solve any problem together. True leaders require the command of all the other five Shaolin Virtues in order to be truly effective. When you provide leadership with others, problems are identified, solutions are provided, and appropriate action is taken. When you try to provide leadership on your own, yo... [more]

How to Achieve Peace and Happiness The ideas of peace and happiness are important for a fruitful life. They are both closely related to mental health and often discussed together, yet these are two different ideas. One of the key goals of Shaolin Chan is to help people achieve peace and happiness. So let’s look at finding peace first - what does it mean and how can ancient wisdom and its lessons help us achieve it? What are Peace and Tranquility? When people think about ‘... [more]

The Power of Learning to Go with the Flow Sometimes making a choice in life can be difficult and instead of moving forward, we find ourselves stuck in one place. So, what does 'Going with the Flow' mean and how does one apply this concept in life so that one can move forward? Can it be bad to go with the flow? Master Dao will answer these questions and more. Let's begin with a story. The Flowing River Story It is a beautiful day, and you are surrounded by mountains and water. Y... [more]

How to Manage and Deal with Stress What is Stress? Stress is an uncomfortable emotion that can accumulate and significantly drain your energy. Stress comes from pressure to meet an expectation and has an impending time limit. Too much stress can make you feel worn out, develop anxiety, and lose sleep. In this article, we attempt to apply the teachings of Chan-Dao to the idea of stress, in the hopes to help us clearly understand it and manage it better. Where Does Stress Come ... [more]

How to Deal with Anxiety What is Anxiety? Anxiety is a feeling of 'worriness' resulting from uncertainty. Some major sources of anxiety are social (expectations and judgements from society, family, and friends), financial well-being, mental and physical well-being, and death. It doesn’t take much for anxiety to manifest and some suffer much worse than others. It can keep you up at night, make you feel stressed or nervous. It can lead to unwanted behaviours such as inability ... [more]

How to Overcome Regret Have you ever strongly felt that you made some poor choices, said something, or did something, that you wish you did not? Every time you are faced with a similar situation, you feel regret and suffer internally. In this session, we will explore the idea of regret, to better understand and accept the choices we have made so that we can move forward peacefully. What is Regret? Regret is a negative feeling that results from something you di... [more]

How to Boost Your Self-Esteem Poor self-esteem can be debilitating due to a lack of confidence. It causes stress and anxiety. It can prevent you from making decisions in a timely manner or going after what you want because you fear a negative outcome. Today, we will explore the idea of self-esteem, learn to assess it more clearly for ourselves, and then take fruitful action so that we can be at greater peace with ourselves, and live life more positively and confidently. What is Se... [more]

How to Become More Disciplined Do you feel you need more discipline in your life? Not feeling like you are disciplined likely means you are feeling stress and anxiety. It is a common concern and perhaps this article will help you through it. What Does Being More Disciplined Mean? We need to first establish what being more disciplined means. To do that, let’s have a look at some common examples of how we use this word in the context of our day-to-day lives. I need to be more d... [more]