Dear Reader,

As we begin shifting into longer days in the northern hemisphere and start transitioning to a new year, I'd like to share with you some hopeful words, ideas, and images.

What I have for you today is a self-swaddling analogy birthed while immersed on retreat in November; the poem I shared on Fun Night (Embroidered Cloak); and an invitation to glimpse the beginnings of a long-term plan creating community that upholds and models Ren Xue wisdom as captured in the documentary Healing Land: A Journey to Nature.

But if this is as far as you make it in my letter at this busy time of year, please accept my sincerest wishes for you and your family to have a loving and warm holiday season. May your Qifield be bright and ripple out with expanding hope and joy.

With gratitude for your courage and life cultivation efforts,​
Stephanie

Self-Swaddle

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When my first child was born via an unplanned caesarian, the nurse gave us a little lesson on swaddling - how to wrap an infant up tight in a blanket so they’d stop flailing and calm down. I would later spend many years learning about the softness of blankets and the calming of brainwaves; how weighted blankets and child-chosen small spaces help neurodivergent kids; and how this world is not well set up for the gifted and highly sensitive. But what I learned soon after that early blanket lesson, was that swaddling like that did not work at all for my child.

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What my child needed was to be next to me, skin-to-skin, and then have us both wrapped in a blanket to be soothed.

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In other words, not all swaddles are created equal.

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Perhaps you’re asking yourself why I’m writing about this when normally I talk about life cultivation and poetry?

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It’s because when I invite you into Yuan Gong practices and Ren Xue theories, I often talk about them as a way to anchor into your inner calm. In some ways, it’s a practice of learning to self-swaddle. It’s much more than this of course, but for now I’m talking about the swaddling parts and as I just mentioned, not all swaddles are created equally. Today I’d like to dig a little deeper into this idea.

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My understanding of calm, relaxed, and natural has changed a great deal over time. I hope it continues to change because it is a beautiful and fascinating inner journey moving me into new and varied states beyond simply calming my nervous system. Beyond anything I’d ever sought out, because how do you ask for something when you haven’t yet learned that it exists?

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As many of you know, my annual retreat with Yuan Tze is a non-negotiable part of my life. It is my time to immerse in the practices and teachings, wrap up in the Qifield, and give myself longer periods of time to stay inside. It’s a process and as much as I’d like to say I’m in a deep inner state all the time or can get there in an instant, it takes me time to cultivate that – especially when I want to learn the next new stage.

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One of the things I received some inner direction about for last month’s retreat, was to have a deeper look at “ding.” This means a deep inner quality of remaining undisturbed. I was also given some difficult imagery and states of the world to bump me along into testing this out for myself and I was able to do this in a way that was new for me. The important part here is – why.

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There are many layers of “why” -years of practice, allowing myself a calm and still state for hours as best as I could even after the end of lectures, time in resonance with people who have fully open hearts (The Theory of Jingshen talks about resonance as being a natural ability of the heart), a small understanding of what’s possible, and how to work towards dissolving into this possibility of a different state again. An understanding based on progressive experiences at the heart of the Ren Xue retreat Qifield.

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It’s helpful to know this is possible so I can emulate it again. It’s helpful to have been open to the stillness and quiet necessary to know it’s there so I can work towards it on my own too. It’s helpful to know enough that I understand that I don’t actually know much at all and that I still need to allow myself long periods of time focussed inwardly and cultivating inner stillness, no matter what I’m doing.

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It's helpful that when I began Ren Xue, there were senior teachers who modelled their deep respect and humility to be doing this work and in doing so, let me know how special this Qifield is.

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And so, when I invite you into these teachings, I am inviting you into a very special Qifield that wraps you from the outside in and the inside out with a softness, stillness and peace that is beyond what my words can explain. But I try to explain it so that if you accept my invitation to do a practice, join us at retreat, or participate through the recordings you will have an awareness that something very special is possible.

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That the reasons for cultivating quiet, stillness, and calm are so that you can experience this specialness and have it as a reference to emulate when you need it most. Being in the Qifield is very powerful. And, HOW you are in the Qifield has a significant impact on what you can experience. Not all swaddles are created equal.

Embroidered Cloak

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Stitched into the edges

cloaking our existence

is your life.

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Sewn in each moment,

you see patterns

taking shape.

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Some choice in the colour of your thread

and the direction of your needle

in your own little corner.

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But what’s happening on the other side of that cloth?

Another picture

is being threaded

together with the intertwining stitches

of each person, each tree,

each breath you cannot see.

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The whole cloak

with colours you’ve never imagined,

landscapes you’ve not yet seen,

threads that sparkle with the essence

gleaned from all the lives embroidered with yours.

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The background is pure black

-not the dull kind

-not the dark kind

but the black pureness of origin,

the brightness of possibility

and the universal substance

that flips Yin to Yang and back again.

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Each turn expanding the size of the cloth

as existence broadens outward

~the cloak itself uncloaking what wasn’t there.

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~Stephanie Ross, October 2024

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This beautiful short film (less than 30 minutes) follows some Ren Xue 'pioneers' who are creating a space that fosters healing and transformation, both for themselves and for others, by harmonizing with the natural environment and embracing the principles of Ren Xue. Healing Land captures their dedication to building a sanctuary that embodies peace, balance, and a deep sense of purpose.

It is filled with hope and joy -- just the beginning to what we can create collectively to uplift this world in a purposeful and healing way.

I'm Stephanie Ross, a senior Ren Xue Yuan Qigong teacher, poet, and writer living on Vancouver Island, Canada. You can learn more about me and life cultivation or read some of my poems and articles on my website.

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What's Coming Up

Qi Writers ~ an online pattern exploratory circle. Qi Writers is a sharing circle, patterns class, and small group (often a heart mediation) in which we also write. It was inspired by my own Ren Xue practices, writing life, experience in writing circles and facilitating a variety of groups over the last decade. Next Course: TBA JOIN the WAITLIST

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Private Sessions Support yourself and enhance your life-cultivation with a private, confidential, session catered to your needs. Draw upon Stephanie's decade+ of experience and the richness of a comprehensive life-cultivation system to uplift your wellbeing and wisdom. LEARN MORE and SCHEDULE

Photo Credits. All photos are taken by me, Stephanie Ross, unless otherwise stated. Private Sessions photo: Jax McAllister. The aurora by Jonny Gios courtesy of Unsplash; The Healing Land photo is courtesy of Ren Xue of the Americas.

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