Taikokyu-ka Hello I wanted to thank everybody for putting such a great effort in for the whole year. We are a couple classes away from finishing 52 weeks of Taikokyu Live. You should be proud of your commitment. I’m certainly proud of you. Especially those of you that I’ve gotten to know over the last months by tuning in on Fridays directly so I could have a chance to meet you all. I know some of the most exciting times of the year have been taking my Taikokyu on the road with me wherever I go and elucidating that to all of you. Actually, I’ve always made time for movement so that my body doesn’t stiffen up, either through Travel itself, or sitting around, or after getting sick, or having an accident of some kind. Our bodies demand to move and it is pretty loud at times. If we simply ignore signs our body gives us, bits and pieces will just fall into disuse and at times disrepair. I know that sounds kind of glum. I don’t mean it that way really but I am saying that wherever you go and wherever you are, our bodies are there serving us so it’s a darn good idea to take care of every aspect of our movement and enhanced movement and over all Health. Now it sounds cliché but whatever it takes for us to switch on to the altruism of health then so be it. I have talked about the notion of eating well many times, this too cannot be overstated. In many parts of the world, but especially the west, the winter solstice and Christmas holidays beckon our attention and are calling us to eat foods we wouldn’t normally eat and drink things we wouldn’t normally drink, or at least not in the quantities we get exposed to at this time of year. Our fortitude to moderate the intake of the “questionable”is at peak attentiveness right now! Even though it might not seem like it, our diet and mental health are directly proportional to one another. If you can’t trust that just remember a time that you ate something that you later either regretted or it made you ill in someway. This is a great place to feel that out.

The Essence of Taikokyu from a broad perspective. It is said that the way that we nurture our lives is the acquiring that one keeps oneself as fluid and flexible and viable as possible. One should not stay still for too long, nor should one exhaust oneself by trying to perform impossible tasks. One should learn how to exercise from nature by observing the fact that flowering water never stagnates and a busy door with active hinges never rust or rots. Why? Because they exercise themselves perpetually and are almost always moving. Lao Tsu, Chinese Philosopher This of course is the essence of the aphorism: “The Rolling Stone gathers no Moss.” 転がる石に苔むさず Korogaru ishi ni koke musazu. Taikokyu aims at keeping our bodies essential fluids like our blood, our hormones, our lymph and our vital energy circulating and doing what it does best; work to carry the vital life, force energy through the body as essence connective highways. Our prime focus then, through the gateway of Taikokyu, is internal, not merely external. By getting our Essence moving, like a flowing mountain stream, through deep focused (kokyu 呼吸 breathing, balanced and rhythmic physical, exercise and movement (undou運動). The body and breath are then harmonized, and our vital energy is circulated from head to toe through every organ system, and into all the tissues, fascia and cells of our bodies. There are many priceless lessons from the great Masters that have gone into the making of our body breath awareness. The distilling down of all of this beautiful gifts and lessons has given Taikokyu the Essence of its principles. Our natural rhythmic movement is the foundation for cultivating Our Life Essence and our energetic response to daily living. The moderation in which we practice brings balance and is truly the key to the stabilization of all systems working harmoniously. Hard and strong versus soft and pliable. 強弱柔剛 Kyoujyakujugo When we are born, we are soft and flexible; when we die, we grow hard and rigid. So it is with all things under the great spirit.

When we think about breathing, we must always remember the fundamentals of what breath is to sustain life. Fact is we can go for a long period of time without food and even long periods of time without water, but we can only live for a few moments without air. Even when we consider going out there for a few moments, one cannot help but think of the amazing Pearl divers off the coast of southern Japan. The Ama 海女 can work for long periods of time collecting seaweed and shellfish, especially abalone. But they are only holding their breath for up to two minutes per dive, but in very harsh conditions. Nonetheless, the most important thing to realize is that breath can never be taken for granted and its connection to our life and overall health is not just important it is essential. Having said this, the nutritional value of breath itself is far more vital than the life essence we receive from food or water through our digestion. What’s most important is a breathing influences the bodies bioelectric balance just his diet influences the biochemical balance Basically our breathing apparatus is capable of dualistic function those functions are both cleansing like detoxing and literally cleaning the air as it’s breathed through the sinuses as they act as a filtration system. Then of course our inhalation is energizing by charging the body with a vital nutrients it gets from the air itself. When our breath is used as a cleansing or detoxification element the body cycles the air out through exhalation and this is releasing into the atmosphere things like carbon dioxide. Why this is is because as we breathe oxygen in to energize the cells in our body the process that takes place creates carbon dioxide as a byproduct. This is exactly why our body exhales carbon dioxide as it is considered byproduct waste. The fact is our exhalation breath contains many volatile organic compounds as they are sometimes called VOCs. There are more chemicals, besides carbon dioxide in these byproduct accelerations chemical such as: acetone, ethanol, and other alcohols; methanol, isoprene, ketones, water, and even hydrocarbons.