Why an eCourse?
I have come to realize that far too many people interested in Cheng Hsin are unable to attend the workshops necessary for a meaningful and prolonged study of the Cheng Hsin work. The mind work translates well to an e-course format, and although a serious martial student would want to train with me in person, it is also possible to make significant gains in body-being development via an eCourse.
After years of meeting my readers and also answering questions through e-mail and the newsletter, it’s clear that progress can be made through written communications. Perhaps this is because all Cheng Hsin work deals with a student’s perception and experience, even when those are grounded in one’s body and actions. Whether you study it in written form or in workshops, an open investigation will create useful new distinctions in your experience — body, mind, or consciousness.
I created the eCourses as a way to provide access to the Cheng Hsin work for those who might not otherwise participate, and to continue to support those who do participate beyond their workshop attendance. Even so, as an introduction, a year-long course may seem a bit lengthy or expensive for new people just “sticking their toe in the waters” of Cheng Hsin, so I’ve created the “mini” eCourses. These eCourses are shorter and cost less than the serious work involved in undertaking the longer eCourses, but the spirit and quality of the work is just as high.
You can use these mini courses to help you decide if you’d like to pursue a more complete and comprehensive study of this work. I also invite you to consider attending the Fall and Spring workshops at the Cheng Hsin Center in Texas. These are intense and impactful events, and will allow you the opportunity to venture into realms of experience that are virtually impossible to approach by yourself.
What’s the format?
All the courses are listed here. The ecourse format is a year long, and the mini-ecourse is just 6 weeks.
Each year-long ecourse generally consists of 40 lesson plans given over a twelve month period. Every week or so you will receive an e-mail containing the week’s daily lessons on a new theme. Each week you will have a specific assignment — usually in the form of a question or something to observe throughout the day. Most weeks you’ll also be given an exercise or writing assignment to help clarify and ground that week’s lesson.
Each mini-course consists of 6 lesson plans given over a 6 week period. Each week you will receive an e-mail with a PDF file of the week’s daily lessons on a new theme. Each week you will have a specific assignment – usually in the form of a question, exercises; or something to observe, study, or practice throughout the day. Most weeks you’ll also be given an exercise or writing assignment to help clarify and ground that week’s lesson.
In both formats, the lessons themselves are often fairly short and simple, but they’re meant to be contemplated and experienced rather than just read. The lessons are also progressive, building on the previous material as you go, so it’s important to keep up. People report that spending even a few minutes on an assignment will resonate with them all day, even when life’s demands encroach on personal study time. The work is always about you and your own experience, so most of it can be done simply in the course of living your life. Of course, the more you put into creating an experience of the assignment, the deeper your understanding will be.