Char Marie, L.Ac.

08/17/2026

One morning, when I had gotten up early to go out and have coffee at the sunrise, I brought along my camera with a new lens so I could try it.

I was driving along route one in westbrook and I pulled over.Because I just love the way it looks when the sun is coming up over a road, very early in the morning.

I thought I would test out my new lens and see what happens. And it turns out, I just keep looking at this photo.I just love it so much.

It's because I could feel that moment.

The time we live in, we have easy access to taking photos with our phone and so even if you don't have a camera, this is accessible as a way of capturing a moment to remind yourself of the feeling later.

I find this is a very healing thing to do.

When I look at this photo I can smell the ocean, which is right around the corner, long island sound. I can hear the sound of the birds and occasionally a car that will come by.

I can smell my coffee that is in my car and I feel the softness of my sleeves pushed up on a hooded sweatshirt because it was a cool morning.

Every little detail matters.

When you put your mind into a place that is beautiful and enjoyable, or very special for whatever reason, you can recreate that feeling of peaceful or happy energy. When I first started to study qi healing and Chinese medicine, i did not have a camera and cell phones were not even a thing yet. But computers were a thing, and I had one at home. And I would pull up different nature scenes that were far away. And I would look at them, while I did my standing practice.

Sometimes I would take a photo from a magazine and put it up and sit down and begin to meditate with a beautiful place in nature.

The neighborhood I lived in, had parks and gardens for the public to visit, and so sometimes I would just open the window and look down at the eastman garden, and I could see it from my living room and I would just take that energy and feel happy about it.

There's different ways to access things like this, even in your memory. But I just love photography so much, and I think one of the reasons why is because of the way we can capture the energy of a moment and bring it into the future.

Of course, documenting things that are not pleasant is also necessary with photography and journalism. It is extremely important for history to document these things. But i'm not talking about that right here, but that in itself has its own lessons to be learned. And is very important.

But for the purpose of this little post, I am writing. I'm talking about something that makes you feel peaceful and like everything is right with the world.

Sometimes i'm surprised at what photos I really continue to look at over and over and over again. And I realize that they usually are things most people wouldn't consider to be good photos or even artistic at all. Many times it's just some random photo I took of a moment in time.

For example, something like this, yeah, it feels every day, but it's really not because when you think about the time of day.And how the sun is coming through and the feeling of everything I described, it's a special moment for me.

For me, photography is sort of a gratitude, practice, in a gigantic way actually. Because I know that not everyone has access to a camera or a car to drive or to be close to certain things. No matter where I am, I would be taking photos, but I am grateful for all of the above. And there isn't a day or a moment that goes by that.I don't think about that in every move I make. It's huge for me. And so later, when I look at these photos, I feel that happiness and like my life is full with beautiful things.

No matter what challenges we face, we could find beauty in a cup of coffee, for example. A simple photo of that has often saved my day.

What things matter to you the most, and why do you like the feeling of them?

Ask yourself questions like this. And then, try my exercise of taking a photo of something that makes you feel that way. Then, when you are having a quiet moment or just contemplative, or maybe even not such a great day, you can look at it and recreate that feeling in your heart and mind and body.

And spirit.

I just wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out...

Try to capture a few images of simple things.In your everyday life that you enjoy.And you will see that it brings happiness to other times and also a reminder of the best things in our life often being the very most simple things.

Enjoy your days in good health.

Remember to take care of yourself and look out for each other. 🙂

08/01/2026

This is a good article.

Quiet Virtue in a Culture of Attention
Modern life rewards visibility. Public figures, businesses, and ordinary individuals are encouraged to promote themselves, express opinions quickly, and remain constantly present before an audience. Influence is often measured in followers, recognition, and the ability to command attention. Even generosity and moral conviction can become public performances, carefully displayed so that others will notice.

Daoist virtue points in a different direction.
The Chinese word dé 德 is commonly translated as “virtue,” particularly in the title Dàodéjīng 道德經, often rendered as the “Classic of the Way and Virtue.” Yet the English word can be misleading. Virtue frequently suggests moral correctness, obedience to accepted standards, or a list of admirable qualities. Daoist dé includes ethical character, but it also carries the sense of inner integrity, natural potency, and the particular way in which the Dao becomes present through a person or thing.

A person possessing dé does not merely appear good. There is a consistency between the person’s nature, conduct, and place within the larger order of life.

Read our full article at: www.qi-journal.com/3557

07/17/2026

水滴石穿，绳锯木断� (Shuǐ dī shí chuān, shéng jù mù duàn)
“Dripping water penetrates stone; a rope used as a saw cuts through wood.”

Both images seem impossible at first. Water is soft, and a rope is not a blade. Yet when a small action is repeated steadily, its cumulative effect can overcome something much harder and stronger.

The combined saying appears in the Song dynasty collection Hèlín Yùlù (鹤林玉露): “One coin a day becomes a thousand coins in a thousand days; a rope saws through wood, and dripping water penetrates stone.” The original story concerned the gradual accumulation of wrongdoing, but the expression came to represent perseverance more broadly.

Its lesson is not simply to work harder. It is to continue applying effort in the right place. A drop of water succeeds because it falls repeatedly on the same point. A rope cuts because it moves back and forth along the same path. Scattered effort may consume energy without producing much change. Consistent effort develops direction as well as strength.

This principle is easy to recognize in taijiquan, qigong, meditation, calligraphy, or any traditional art. Ten attentive minutes practiced each day may accomplish more than an occasional long session. The body gradually changes, coordination becomes more refined, and ideas once understood only intellectually begin to become physical knowledge.

The saying also carries a warning. Small habits accumulate whether they are beneficial or harmful. A minor fault repeated daily can become firmly established, just as a constructive practice can become a source of skill and health.

Great changes are often less dramatic than we imagine. They begin with an action small enough to repeat, guided by patience, accuracy, and time.

06/27/2026

06/27/2026

Most of us were taught that human beings have five senses: sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. But the body also has ways of sensing itself from within. We know when we are balanced or unsteady, tense or relaxed, hungry or full, calm or agitated. These inner perceptions are so ordinary that we often overlook them, yet they are central to Taijiquan, Qigong, meditation, and the broader practice of nourishing life.

Two modern terms might help explain this inner awareness: “proprioception” and “interoception”.

Proprioception is the body’s sense of position and movement. It lets us know where the arms, legs, spine, and joints are without needing to look. When we shift weight, step, turn, or raise an arm, proprioception helps the body understand its own shape in space.

Interoception is the sense of the body’s internal condition. It includes awareness of breath, heartbeat, hunger, fatigue, warmth, tension, pain, and internal arousal. It is one reason emotions are felt in the body, not only thought about in the mind. Anxiety may appear as shallow breathing, a tight chest, or a nervous stomach. Calm may be felt as slower breath, softened muscles, and a settled abdomen.

Together, proprioception and interoception expand the way we understand internal practice. Taijiquan (tàijíquán 太極拳) is not only a matter of skeletal alignment or graceful movement. Qigong (qìgōng 氣功) is not only breathing and simple exercises. Meditation is not only quiet thinking. All three encourage and train the practitioner to listen inward.

Read the entire article at www.qi-journal.com/3552

06/05/2026

This is so very true, and in fact, I think after reading it this morning, it just makes me a little bit happier to know that twenty minutes in the morning spending that time is so important and making the time... it's good to have a reminder like this in the times we're living in, when it's easy to wake up and feel bombarded by news that is not good.

Even the most positive and gentle people among us will feel angry or shocked at this world sometimes and having a little reminder doesn't hurt. It really affected me to see this post this morning, in a very good way. So i'm sharing it. Maybe others will feel the same.

One thing I do know is that if we make ourselves into better people and more calm and gentle, it does help with the overall picture of having a better world.

Raising our own consciousness contributes to the well-being of the whole…

05/25/2026

About a week ago I took this photo from a high cliff, looking down at the ocean where I like to go. It is in rhode island and a lot of photos I take are from that area.

I wanted to share it because it's an example of really appreciating things from a different view.

I don't know there's something about the color here or just the feeling of the way the water is moving and the ocean is just being itself... I just really appreciate this view, and I thought others might as well.

So that's about it, and I hope whoever sees the post enjoys the view as much as I do. Enjoy your days and have good health.

05/22/2026

I know this isn't the ocean, but the ocean is on the other side of this pile of rocks and sand.

I still love taking a photo of all that every time I go here just about every time.

There is a magical quality to it for me. For about five years now, I have been going to this place.And I go usually before the sun is up and there's usually nobody there but maybe one car or two. People who like to fish and walk.

But there's something about the solitary feeling of it, and knowing that on the other side of this hill that is made of sand and rocks, there is an incredibly beautiful and powerful ocean that holds answers and wisdom and inner strength and humility.

The thing I like about the ocean the most is it makes me feel very tiny.

Always before I go to the other side of this hill, I will spend a moment just really enjoying this view. But more than that is the sound, and the earth's rumbling, when your feet touch the ground, you can feel it even if you're still in your car from when the waves break.

When I was leaving this beach the other day, the one thing that I kept saying in my mind was that this beach is about powerful shore break.

The waves break hard when they break on the sand here, and sometimes there's a very steep incline of sand to go into the water when it's pretty strong wave time.

Even when they're not very big waves, they can make a rumble in the earth for your feet to feel.

On the other side of this sand and rock hill is the most powerful healer because it makes us small. When we are small, we can be open to the idea and the fact that things are bigger than us, and we can allow that power to come in.

You can't let that power in if you think you're bigger than it.

Something I really like about this beach is that almost everyone I see who goes here approaches it with reverence, with whether it's conscious or not.

You can feel it.

It was a gift to spend five days near the energy that I love the most in this world.

05/20/2026

💛💛💛