Ran Chen
Taoist Wisdom Teacher
About
Ancient Chinese wisdom understands the world in a simple way. Just like Confucius noted, ‘Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.’ and Lao Tzu mentioned ‘Seek simplicity, grasp the essential, overcomes selfishness and wasteful desires’. We don’t need a lot of gears to live a fulfilling life. In human history, the timeless Chinese wisdom has inspired each generation to solve the contradictions inside oneself and attain enlightenment about life and well-being.
Taoist wisdom is an ancient philosophy designed to help us live a healthy, meaningful and harmonious life. It’s key practices focus on universal, holistic, and peaceful principles such as living in harmony with nature and natural order. At Awake we believe that Taoism is the ultimate system for living a peaceful, happy life. Learning to integrate this knowledge into your everyday experience is at the heart of our approach.
In the modern world it is rare to find a fully functioning philosophy to live one’s life too. This ancient system is designed specifically to live a happy life. With that in mind we are very excited in bringing it into the limelight.
8 Week Course
This is a world that is flooded with tons of information and countless big words. However, ancient Chinese wisdom understands the world in a simple way. Just like Confucius noted, ‘Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.’ and Lao Tzu mentioned ‘Seek simplicity, grasp the essential, overcomes selfishness and wasteful desires’. We don’t need a lot of gears to live a fulfilling life. In human history, the timeless Chinese wisdom has inspired each generation to solve the contradictions inside oneself and attain enlightenment about life and well-being.
Aiming at bringing ancient Chinese wisdom into real-life, this 8-week programme is designed to present the most fundamental ideas from ancient Chinese wisdom in a simple form, to inspire a better understanding of the self, the world and how to achieve internal harmony. Important themes to be discussed include conceptions of the Tao, the Yin-Yang, the Confucian perspective of self-cultivation, Tao Te Ching and key ideas in the I Ching.
Week 1: Introduction to the heart of ancient Chinese wisdom
According to the ancient Chinese wisdom, there is a pattern behind the world that keeps the universe balanced and ordered. Everything is connected and follows some eternal principles. This week’s course introduces these eternal principles: The Way, The Change, The Cycles, and Yin-Yang. By the end of this week, you will have a thorough understanding of the cornerstones of ancient Chinese wisdom.
Week 2: Living in harmony with nature
Taoism believes that nature has its rhythm to control how things change. This week’s course is all about living in harmony with the seasons and different time of the day, both physically and emotionally. By respecting nature’s rules and being in tune with it, we can build a peaceful mind to live more naturally.
Week 3 :Confucian perspective of self-cultivation
Jun Zi is a term that appears more than any other in the Analects of Confucius, which describes a model of Confucian ideal person who practices self-cultivation in daily basics. This concept sets up codes of conduct that every educated person aims to work towards in ancient China. This week’s course is about understanding the basic codes for self-cultivation and discovering how these methods can help you promote your self-development.
Week 4: The art of action and non-action
Both Confucianism and Taoism bring us enlightenment in significant ways. Many consider they are full of contradictions regarding the opinion on taking action and not taking action. In fact, contradictions are not seen as problems. These two systems are in a kind of yin and yang balance together, where Confucianism pointed out when to step forward and make actions and Taoism suggested when to step back. This week’s course is all about discovering the pearls of wisdom in action and non-action.
Week 5: The pursuit of the middle way
Does the middle way mean we are not aiming to achieve the best of ourselves? The answer is no. We will delve into the layers of meaning of the middle way this week and find out how this concept can benefit our daily life.
Week 6: Adversity, prosperity and the in-between
In Chinese wisdom, the heart of the wise man is tranquil, no matter going through peaks or valleys. In this week’s course, we will look at verses about these patterns in a life path to learn how to set aside impatience and build a calm and peaceful heart.
Week 7: Key lessons from Tao Te Ching
Tao Te Ching has eighty-one short sections of universal wisdom on a political, social and personal level. In this week’s course, we will learn the basic ideas about this book and dig into some of the key verses to find out how we can reflect them in the way we live our life.
Week 8: Key lesson from I Ching
I Ching is also called the Book of Changes. It is one of the oldest books in the world. You will have a brief idea of what this book is about how you may use this book in the future to inspire a meaningful life.
Training Class
Our training classes are can be larger group experiences, depending on how many people sign up. They allow you to learn key skills in an online group hosted by our expert therapists . They are a mix of teaching, therapy skills and learning about the different systems and therapies that you can apply to your life. Ultimately we are teaching you new skills so that you can help yourself and deal with the challenges you are facing.
Our training classes are a great way for you to begin your learning experience.