The Tao of Stress: How to Calm, Balance, and Simplify Your Life
Read The Tao of Stress: How to Calm, Balance, and Simplify Your Life Online
Authors: Robert G. Santee
Tags: #Non-Fiction
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Publisher's Note
THIS IS AN UNCORRECTED AND UNPROOFED GALLEY
SALE AND UNAUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTION ARE STRICTLY
PROHIBITED
This
publication
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designed
to
provide
accurate
and
authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered.
It is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged
in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional
services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services
of a competent professional should be sought.
Distributed in Canada by Raincoast Books
Distributed in the UK by Constable & Robinson
Distributed in Australia by John Reed Books
Copyright ©2013 by Robert G. Santee
New Harbinger Publications, Inc.
5674 Shattuck Avenue
Oakland, CA 94609
All Rights Reserved
Publication Date: 11/1/13
Formats:
PDF ISBN-13: 978-1-60882-781-7
ePub ISBN-13: 978-1-60882-782-4
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Contents
Part 1 Understanding Stress and Taoism
1
Stress and Taoism
2
Basics of Taoist Meditation
3
Simplifying Your Thoughts
4
Simplifying Your Behavior
5
Not Interfering with Yourself or Others
6
Understanding Desires
7
Not Getting Entangled in the Activities of the World
8
Changing Your Thoughts and Behaviors and Reducing Your
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The Tao of Stress
Part 4
Stil ing and Emptying Your Mind
9
The Taoist Body- Based Meditative Core
iv
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Acknowledgments
I extend deep gratitude to my wife, Charlene; to our son, Ian, and his fiancée, Joy Watanabe; to my son, Aaron, his wife, Karen, and their children, Emma and Lauren; and to my daughter, Jenai, her husband, Jeremy Kubo, and their children, Liliana, Cameron, Kalani, and Payson. I thank them for being who they are and being an intimate part of my journey through life, for their humor and support, and for creating a peaceful environment that allowed me to write this book.
I extend appreciation to Marie Burghardt, my fellow traveler in the worlds of martial arts, qigong, teaching, Taoism, and assessment, and a great friend for over thirty years, for being who she is, and for her support, humor, insight, and therapeutic intuition.
I also send appreciation to Ronald Zelman, another fellow traveler in the world of martial arts, qigong, and teaching, and a great friend for over thirty years, for being who he is, and for his support, humor, and insight, and for the philosophical discussions we’ve shared.
I thank my weekly wise elders in my taijiquan and qigong group—
Madeline Wong, Edith Watanabe, Herb Hamada, and Jan Martin— for
their friendship, smiles, laughter, support, and great energy as we practice these wonderful arts.
I thank Xiu Zhang, my baguazhang and qigong laoshi for teaching
me these arts, for the wonderful philosophical and cultural conversations we had about them, for her insights, humor, friendship, and for introducing me to and arranging my training in taijiquan, baguazhang, and qigong in Beijing. I acknowledge Zhijian Cai, my taijiquan and qigong shifu, for his insights and for teaching me the standardized taijiquan forms, as well uncorrected proof
The Tao of Stress
as weapons, push hands, the Yijinjing, and sitting and standing
meditation.
I thank New Harbinger Publications for making this book possible.
Special thanks go to Wendy Millstine, who took the first step by asking me if I wanted to write a book and then guiding, reviewing, and editing my proposal, and to Melissa Kirk, Jess Beebe, Nicole Skidmore, and Angela Gorden for guiding me through the process and reviewing the chapters as I wrote. I also want to thank Jasmine Star for her extensive review and copyediting of the manuscript.
My thanks also go to my assistant, Jan Martin, and my secretary,
Pam Silva- Patrinos, both at Chaminade University, for their humor, assistance, and help.
x
vi
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Introduction
In a symposium on Taoism at the American Psychological Association’s annual convention in Washington, DC, in August 2011, which was probably the first such symposium that organization offered, Donald Davis, PhD, Reggie Pawle, PhD, Stephen Jackowicz, PhD, and I conducted a
panel session entitled
Building
Bridges
between
Daoism
and
Psychology:
Integrating Mind, Body and Spirit to Enhance Psychological Outcomes
. My presentation was
Daoism
and
Counseling: An Integrative Approach for
Adapting to the Environment
. The symposium was well attended and well received.
Wendy Millstine, an acquisitions editor for New Harbinger
Publications, attended the symposium, and afterward she asked if any of the panel members would like to write a self- help book from a Taoist perspective. I said yes. That was my first step, and this book is the result.
What This Book Is About
In the 2011
Stress
in
America
survey, conducted by the American Psychological Association (APA 2012) 39 percent of the 1,226 adults surveyed reported that their stress levels had increased from the previous year, whereas only 17 percent indicated it had decreased. A recent survey (Regus 2012) of more than 16,000 adult workers in fourteen countries asked people about their stress on the job. An average of 48 percent indicated that their stress levels had increased from the previous year, with 47
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The Tao of Stress
percent of workers in the United States indicating that their stress levels on the job had increased from the previous year.
This book is about the problem of stress, specifically chronic stress, and what you can do to reduce, eliminate, and prevent it. It is explicitly about the application of Taoist teachings and principles to the problem of chronic stress. Taoism, a 2,500- year- old philosophy, religion, and psychology, is a way of life that is focused on being in harmony with the continually changing world around us.
In this book, the focus is on a way of life that eliminates chronic stress so that we can be in harmony with the world around us and all of its life- forms. The specific Taoist path for eliminating chronic stress discussed here is found scattered throughout Taoist writings. However, it’s best described in the appendix of the eighth- century text
Zuowanglun
(
Discussions
on
Sitting
in
Oblivion
or
Forgetfulness
). The path consists of three interrelated and integrated components: simplifying life, reducing desires, and stilling and emptying the mind.
Taoism often makes extensive use of stories to convey its essential teachings, and I have followed that practice in this book. Likewise, I’ve followed the Taoist principle of utilizing repetition as a teaching device.
While these approaches do not necessarily align with a typical Western approach, they are part of the Taoist tradition— a tradition that excels in helping people overcome chronic stress.
The Structure of This Book
Aside from the introduction and conclusion, this book is divided into four parts. The two chapters in part 1 cover some of the basics of stress and Taoism. The remaining thee parts are based on the three components of the
Zuowanglun
. Part 2, Simplifying Life, has chapters on simplifying your thoughts, simplifying your behavior, and not interfering with yourself or others. Part 3, Reducing Your Desires, has chapters on understanding desires, not getting entangled in the activities of the world, and changing your thoughts and behaviors and reducing your desires. Part 4, Stilling and Emptying Your Mind, has chapters on the Taoist body- based meditative core and Taoism’s concept of the authentic person.
Starting with chapter 2, each chapter consists of two parts: the
mental approach to addressing chronic stress, followed by the physical
2