For many years I looked into self-improvement. I practiced activities such as: Martial Arts, Tai Chi ( a moving meditation), Qui Gong (a Chinese healing exercise system). I was so into them that I eventually taught classes on these subjects. Martial Arts have an element that is very much about the deconstruction or dissolving the Egoic self or attachment to the self. I spent many years meditating trying to watch the breath and slow down thoughts. I even did a 10 day silent retreat in a Buddhist monastery. All I ever seen to achieve, especially after a concentrated spell of meditation over a period of time, was a temporary calmer state of mind, but a feeling of being slightly disconnected and remote, which I don’t think would have been very beneficial long-term. To have continued these practices, I probably would have had to go and live in a cave . But what would be the point of living on the planet isolated from others?

(Meditation Art by Maria Nguyen)