Weekly Tao Te Ching Verse - Week #25

Happy New Year!

So we have entered 2017. I will continue to post once a week until I have posted all 81 verses.

This last week was slow at work due to most folks haven taken PTO to spend time with family and friends over the holidays. Due to the fact that Arisa and I used most of our PTO on going to Japan this year we worked most of the week. Which was kind of too bad since my oldest, Elly, is in town for the week.

Luckily I was able to find time to organize with the Dietitian at the Hyland Wellness Center an plan to participate in the Engine 2 Seven Day Rescue. We'll be starting it a little after the official start simply due to the corporate calendar. We'll start with a "launch" on Jan. 5th, and the challenge will begin on the 10th. For those opting to, we'll have biometric screenings with simple blood work at the start and end of the challenge. It should give participants a good snapshot of how quickly a plant-based diet can improve your health. The really great thing is we already have 20 people signed up and this is with most employees out on holiday. I am confident we'll get to close to 25, maybe more. Which is pretty darn amazing since it was all planned at the last minute.

I taught my last Sober Yogi class of 2016 on Friday night at Soul Stretch Yoga with mostly new students and a larger class. My last class at Fitworks in 2016 was also the largest class yet so I'm feeling pretty good about the teaching. Of course there is so much to learn and include at times it seems overwhelming. To think, though, that I have taught 55 hours since graduating from Marni's YTT in May is pretty amazing to me. It seem so little and a lot all at the same time.

New Year's was a relatively lame affair with the family just chillin' out on the coach watching TV and the countdown. The family had sushi while I had zucchini spaghetti with my first crockpot chili - whole foods, plant based no oil version of course!

Sunday morning I did a double yoga. I headed over to Soul Stretch to take my friend Lori Palmer's class at 7:45am. Went home so I could pick up Elly and change, then Elly and I headed out to take my good friend Colleen Alber's 3rd Annual New Year's Day Hot Yoga class with 30 something other people at 3 Sisters. I think I lost 5 pounds of water weight! It was fantastic.

Verse 25

There was something formless and perfect

before the universe was born.

It is serene. Empty.

Solitary. Unchanging.

Infinite. Eternally present.

It is the mother of the universe.

For lack of a better name,

I call it the Tao.

It flows through all things,

inside and outside, and returns

to the origin of all things.

The Tao is great.

The universe is great.

Earth is great.

Man is great.

These are the four great powers.

Man follows the earth.

Earth follows the universe.

The universe follows the Tao.

The Tao follows only itself.