The Story

When East meets West… when Lao Tzu wrote down the 81 verses of the Tao Te Ching 2,500 years ago in ancient China, he may not have realised the impact its philosophy would have millenniums later in the West and the newly-emerging profession of life-coaching.

When Julia from Taiwan met Nick from England on a coaching course, they didn’t realise at first that they had a common interest in the work of Lao Tzu. This joint interest soon became a course project. As we explored a few verses of the Tao, we began to see how Lao Tzu’s teachings could be related to personal development and coaching principles.

On this blog we intend to continue this work by exploring one verse of the Tao Te Ching each week. We invite you to join us on our journey and add your own thoughts to deepen our learning. How do you interpret Lao Tzu’s message? And how does it speak to you as a coach?

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Verse 55

He who is in harmony with the Tao is like a newborn child.
Deadly insects will not sting him.
Wild beasts will not attack him.
Birds of prey will not strike him.
Bones are weak, muscles are soft,
yet his grasp is firm.

He has not experienced the union of man and woman,
but is whole.
His manhood is strong.
He screams all day without becoming hoarse.
This is perfect harmony.

To know harmony is to know the changeless;
to know the changeless is to have insight.
Things in harmony with the Tao remain;
things that are forced grow for a while,
but then wither away.
This is not the Tao.
And whatever is against the Tao soon ceases to be.

[For Personal Development]
  • Unconditional love matches the vibration of your inner being. You more fully sense your inner being as you stay connected and tap into the frequency that feels good.
  • Animals can smell fear. They attack only when they feel threatened. So do human beings.
  • Pain is born of attachment wanting to feel a certain way and being averse to other feelings.
[For Coaching]
  • Our clients are fully capable of producing designated levels of performance that exercise influence over events that affect their lives.
  • We allow the who of our client without judgment, and thus the safe space is formed
  • We create our reality all the time through our thoughts and pictures in our mind. Ask and it is given.
  • Coach the essence and focus on significant emotions, values and ways of being of the clients, which do not change with symptoms or surface problems.