Aspects of the 100 Days

During the 100 Days you will encounter a very high teaching. It is a Whispered Teaching in the sense that it must be directed only to those who are ready to receive the message. To receive the message means to receive it with clarity rather than affirming or denying. That teaching is that there is nothing to achieve. Why this is described as a very high teaching is slowly revealed. In the meantime, during the 100 days, we are encouraged to move aside from our habitual patterns and mental activities. Gradually we can glimpse our true nature, gradually we can achieve lasting happiness, happiness that is not based upon conditions suiting us.

The 100 Days points us towards that which is already in our being, if we are able to make the right efforts. This something in our being is not personal or individual, it is universal and through the process of the 100 Days we can uncover it.

The path of the ancient Taoists

Adopting the language of the ancient Taoists, we will approach the ultimate truth, the Tao, the Absolute - labels that have been adopted for that which cannot be named. The lessons, the practice, the community of beings undertaking the 100 days – they are not the ultimate truth, they are all just signs along the Way.

The 100 Days points us towards that which is already in our being, if we are able to make the right efforts.

The lessons and practices comprising the 100 Days have been refined over millennia by those who have attained union with the Tao. They adapt to the specific and special needs of the age and the cultural propensities of the people to whom they are addressed.

Once we begin to absorb and apply the teachings and incorporate them into all aspects of our daily lives, they have a fundamental and lasting transformative effect. These effects are very simple: tranquility in the daily life without the need for special circumstances; increased health; a calmative resonance that benefits all beings.

The structure of the teachings

The teachings are comprised in 81 weekly lessons and 20 or so four-weekly reviews spanning two years. The material is graded - it is a gradual, incremental process with plenty of time to allow the teachings to sink in. The minimum commitment in terms of special time set aside requires that each weekly lesson is read and a short message written at the end of the week, usually a Wednesday.

These are some of the key aspects:

Joy and equanimity – learning how to accept all of our lives with joy and if this is not possible, then with equanimity

Harmonious being – learning to notice and stop negative habit patterns of reaction in the mind, emotions and body

Undiscriminating virtue – cultivating qualities such as gentleness, sincerity and humility in all aspects of our lives

Unconditional service – anonymously being of service to ourselves, the teachings and others, without expectation of recognition or reward

Training the mind – learning with gentle determination and diligence how to help the mind to stop its chaotic activity of thoughts, ideas, analysis, imagination, identifying with desires and aversions, etc. and to focus on being in the here and now

Moving from doing to being – letting go of images of self related to what we do, what we know and learning how to just be in whatever situations we find ourselves

Seeing Our True Nature – through all of these aspects and the others that comprise the teachings, we may begin to let go of the illusion that we are separate from the rest of the universe, to glimpse our true nature and to realise that we are each part of the whole and the whole

There is a part of all of us that resonates with these aspects, that knows they are signposts on the Way and that wishes above all else to follow them back to the source. The signposts are already in place – we only need to follow them. The 100 Days provides a framework to make the journey a little clearer, to accompany others on their journeys and to learn from our shared experiences.

Next 100 days introductory meeting in London:

Gateway to the 100 Days – Saturday 28th June 2008, 10am – 5pm, London School of Capoeira, Units 1 and 2 Leeds Place, Tollington Park, London, N4 3RF

Here's a map with directions to the London School of Capoeira

Please contact us directly if you would like to find out more about the group and how to join.

For other bookings and workshop pricing information

For more workshops in Toltec Shamanism, G.I. Gurdjieff, The Fourth Way and Taoist Chi Gung and meditation please click here