Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim: Food and you

Food is also created from consciousness, as everything else. Since your body is the temple of your Silent Master, give it the loving food and exercise that expresses your intent to be pure, real, and whole.

Talking about food: eating is an energy exchange and when you prepare and eat food, you are harnessing the energy in the vegetables, grains, and meats to interact with your energy, thereby creating more energy. Naturally you always want to eat the best quality food you can. But some people ask me what to do when they’re traveling and have to eat fast food at times. Because food exists in consciousness, it has the energy of consciousness. When you eat, you bring this energy into your body. If you’re in a situation where junk food is your only choice, remember that your positive attitude helps you get the best energy you can out of the food until a better selection is available.

It’s your attitude toward what you eat – no matter whether it’s vegetables or hot dogs – that is the most important thing. Of course, vegetables or and hot dogs have different nutritional value. Choose the purest and highest quality food you can in the circumstances.

The energy in foods is not all the same. Apples grown in an environment of greed, commercialism and neglect will not have the same energy as apples grown in an orchard where the farmer lovingly attended the trees, gave it the best plant foods and soil, and eliminated poisons from the environment. The consciousness involved in the creation of the apples is different in each case.

Likewise, when you prepare your food, the energy you put into the process will affect the quality of the outcome. Was your food prepared with love and care and the will to nourish? Or was it prepared with feelings of anger and resentment, anxiety and hurry? When you eat food prepared either way, it will have a nourishing quality that corresponds to the energy and intent of the preparer.

For example, remember when you invited your girl friend, or boy friend or some loved one, to a special dinner. Remember how you started out by carefully shopping for the best foods available, even making special trips to Farmers Markets, bakeries and butchers shops. You spent hours preparing that special meal, thinking only happy thoughts and how wonderful this dinner will be with your loved one. Remember the excitement and the good feelings once you were eating it together?

On the other hand, remember a time you were really upset at someone or something, and just threw together a meal in a hurry, still upset and angry. How did that meal taste? How did you feel afterwards? Chances are, you had an upset stomach or got otherwise sick.

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim: more about the body - mind connection

Let your body help you develop better mental concepts. Since your body is connected to consciousness, watch your physical states and see what they may be telling you about your thinking. Your body shows you – in one way or another – your mental state. Depressed people slouch and shuffle. Happy people have a bounce and lightness in their step. When your body is acting tired and sluggish and you know you’re healthy and have had plenty of rest, what is your body telling you? What is it you don’t want to do? What are you “too tired” to confront or overcome? What are you “sick and tired” of?

Even if you are not a “physical” person – especially if you are not a physical person – try demanding more physical action from yourself. Let this demand send a message to your mind that you want to be more free and more unlimited, whether that means getting some kind of healing, or gaining more stamina, or simply expanding your concept of yourself.

When you push yourself physically and make demands on yourself for greater physical freedom, you can’t help but grow spiritually. You are insisting that the freedom of your original self manifest physically and materially. This is why physical training is an important part of the Jung SuWon training I teach. By disciplining the body into accepting more power and more ability to perform, your mind responds with more power and more ability to perform. This interplay is energizing. The more limitations you overcome, the more of your natural energy you can experience.

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim on Body-Mind Connection

Discipline of your body works to discipline the mind. Discipline your mind and you strengthen your body.

Appreciation is the first step. What if you could use only certain parts of your body? Have you ever thought of what you would do if you had only one arm? Or no arms? Or no sight? Most people who enter my martial arts school are physically healthy and take their bodies for granted. It’s for this reason I sometimes have them try to do what they think are normal, everyday things without the use of their legs or arms or eyes. Very quickly they learn how complex the movements of their hands can be, or how precious their sight is. Your body is a miraculous gift. Utilize it, care for it, and strengthen it. Don’t waste it or take it for granted.

If you want greater physical freedom, you must understand that your body will respond very much to your mind, and your mind will respond to what you do with your body. Free physical movement is a picture of the free mobility of consciousness. Have you tried to play a good game of your favorite sport when your mind was preoccupied with a worrisome situation? You may have noticed that when you’re tense and nervous, your body doesn’t move freely and easily. The tense state literally tends to keep your muscles rigid. And just the reverse is true. When you are happy and relaxed, your physical movement is generally free and easy.

Even the medical profession recognizes the connection of body and mind in the physical therapy process. A person who must learn to walk again after an accident goes through many emotional and mental changes in the process of reconnecting with the walking muscles. Therapists work with the patient’s attitudes as well as with their muscle groups.

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim on exercise and nutrition

Let’s stay on the topic of exercise and nutrition for a moment. We all, as Martial Artists, know the importance of keeping ourselves fit and agile and in good shape. Even if we are so busy with other things, we must never forget our foundation and root. Our body and mind are one. Because your body is connected with your mind, bringing your body under control means bringing your mind under control. And vice versa, of course. Whatever disciplines you apply to your mind affect your body.
Since your body and mind are connected, you can use physical exercise to help purify your mind. Remember, when you purify your mind and body, you increase your energy. And you purify your mind and body by doing everything you can to remove limitation. Because body and mind are one, when you overcome physical limitation, you simultaneously overcome mental limitation.

It’s a two-way process. For instance, when you encourage your body to go the extra mile around the track, one more mile than you did the day before, you’re sending a message to your mind that says, “I can grow; I can change; I can break limits.” This good message that your mind receives when you demand extra performance from your body then goes on to encourage even better performance, and not just in running. The message will now extend to other areas of your life. “I can grow; I can change; I can break limits” could also help you create new and better procedures at work that result in a promotion or better position.

Remember at all times, that your body deserves respect. It is the most elegant creation you possess. Your body is the embodiment of ideas in your Silent Master consciousness. Just as you learn to use your mind properly, think of how important it is, then, to use and care for your body with the same respect and holiness you give your spiritual consciousness. How? Just as you properly use and exercise your thought, so you should properly use and exercise your body. You’ve begun to learn that there is much more you can do with your mind; don’t you think there is much more you can do with your body?

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim's Fisherman story, part 3

Just as he was reaching the shore, he suddenly had a fear that maybe his family had been hurt or lost. But then he heard voices calling and saw his children rushing into the ocean toward him. They all wept as they embraced, and together they walked toward the house.

As the wife saw her husband approaching with the children, she was relieved, but she began to cry as she thought of how he would beat her when he saw the burned house. She saw his smiling face coming toward her, but she cowered, dreading the encounter. When he came near, she timidly backed away, but to her surprise he reached out and embraced her warmly. She stammered as she tried to find words to tell him what had happened, but he wouldn’t listen. As he held her tightly, he wanted only to tell her that the burning house had saved his life. “ The flames shone through the darkness where I was lost at sea, “ he said lovingly, “and they guided me home! Now I have the chance I prayed for to be the husband you want and the father my children need.”

Here we see how the fisherman, through a traumatic event, completely let go of the past in order to discover his true self again. He had “lost” himself long ago emotionally and mentally. And now he was experiencing the picture of the state of mind: he was “lost” at sea, floating around in blackness. But the storm was a blessing in disguise. It as the thing that brought him back to life! Not sunshine, but rather a storm did it. Was it a trauma? Yes. But instead of giving up and drowning, he mad the storm an opportunity to remember his true self. As a result, the only thing that drowned in the dark ocean was his misery and anger.

The family likewise experienced pain and despair. The burning house could have resulted in simply a destroyed home. Instead, the house was burning for a reason! The flames were the light of life to the fisherman. They brought him home again. So, in spite of the negative appearance of this seeming disaster, in reality everything worked together for good to bring love and healing. The negative situation turned into a positive one.

Here’s something important to remember: This story ended in love and reunion instead of tragedy because the fisherman took action. Negative don’t automatically turn into positives. The house could have burned down for nothing. The fisherman could have died for nothing. If he had continued with his anger and defeatism and despair, he wouldn’t have looked around to see the tiny flicker of light, and would have surely drowned. (When we look only at the dirt on the ground, we don’t see the stars in the sky!) But instead, the fisherman changed his attitude, became open and receptive to a new state of mind. He felt remorse for the first time. And his action led his perception of the light that saved his life.

Likewise, Love is behind all the events, even the obstacles in your life, and you can hold the right ideas as the fisherman did so that everything works together ultimately for good. Cling to the truth no matter what you see happening, and the truth you hold will transform your experience.

Remember, rejoice in the lesson of the pain and hurt, it makes you stronger, and it gives you freedom. Whatever you do in your life, whatever the situation may be, you are in control of your life. The power is in you; it is your personal choice what you do in your life. Even when you are all alone in the middle of the ocean! Or in the middle of the ocean of life! Take charge!

Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim's Fisherman story - part 2

The fisherman was so busy complaining he didn’t notice that a dark storm had been building and was just about to turn violent. In a matter of minutes, massive ocean waves were writhing and churning furiously. His little boat was cast about like a helpless twig, and then suddenly the boat exploded into tiny pieces. The fisherman was cast into the water. Desperately he groped for the largest piece of the fragmented boat he could see, and he clung to it, struggling to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, the storm tore through the village as well. The fisherman’s family was at home when it hit. Without warning the roof suddenly crashed down upon them and flames shot out from the stove. Flames began engulfing the house quickly, and although they tried to put out the fire, all was to no avail. Frightened for her children’s lives, the wife was almost more afraid of her husband’s rage when he would return to find the house burned down. Still, she sent the children to the docks to look for him since he hadn’t returned on time.

The children were likewise frightened as they ran to the docks. Even though they normally thought only of how they feared their father, now they truly worried that he was in danger. At the docks, they saw that most of the fishermen had returned safely, but their father was nowhere to be found. They called and waited.

At sea, the storm had finally abated. But it was totally dark. There in the black of night, the fisherman floated, weeping and clinging to the piece of wood, very very alone. All his life he had been an angry man, taking for granted all that he had and complaining about everything. Now he was going to die alone in the middle of the darkness and a vast, compassionless ocean. Strangely, his thoughts turned to his family. He thought intensely about how he had never told them he loved them, and he he’d never taken any time with them. He really did care for them, and now he deeply regretted his miserable life and how he had never known any joy or warmth. At that moment, he wanted to be with his family more than anything in the world.

But where was the coast? He couldn’t see in the darkness, so he couldn’t tell which direction to swim. Tired and cold, he was ready to give up hope, but suddenly off in the distance he saw a faint glimmer. Yes, it was there, a small light off to the side. He started swimming toward the light. With each stroke, he began to plan how he was going to change things, how he was going to be the husband and father he’d never been. For hours the light guided him, until finally he began to see his fishing village in the distance. The light was bringing him home, so he pushed himself even harder.

Read more next time..... :)

A story by Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim: The miserable Fisherman

Here is one of my favorite stories of Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim:

See what you can learn from it, and how you can apply it to your own life. Which of the characters in the story is most like you? How can you change? How can you apply the lessons of this story to your life? So let’s sit back and relax…..

There was once a fisherman who was always angry and miserable. He had no belief in the goodness of life, never expected any pleasure, and never looked for any happiness. He never expressed any love or affection, and often vented his rage by beating his wife and children. His family was terrified of him, and everyone who knew him avoided him because of his wrathful behavior. His wife and children often wished he would never come back from his fishing trips.

Let’s stop here for a moment. Does this scenario sound familiar to you? Are you like the fisherman, or like his wife? Or if not, do you know of someone who is? Have you tried hard to change your situation, or have you accepted it as inevitable fate? Let’s read on.

One day, the fisherman left for the docks after his usual morning of screaming at his “lazy, good-for-nothing” children and railing at his wife for the breakfast that was never cooked right. Do you act like that sometime too, my dear reader? Do you sometime just seem to get up out of bed on the wrong foot and let everyone know about it? Or are you on the receiving side, and your partner always finds fault in you? Are you meek and submissive like the wife in the story, or do you fight back? What are you doing about it?

The fisherman didn’t do anything but go out to sea as usual, ignoring his feelings and that of his family. Out at sea, the fish weren’t biting, and the fisherman worked himself into an even meaner state. He cursed that he didn’t deserve such a hard life and worthless family and how nothing ever worked out right for him.

Does that sound familiar? Do you sometimes blame your circumstances when things don’t go as you would want them to go? What do you think you should do instead?

.....and stay in tune for the rest of the story.....