Pure and Simple

Slowly, softly, I settle back into the peaceful quiet of the woods. My trips to the Big City are welcome journeys beyond the realm of small town life. Still, though I enjoy the energy and excitement of new people and places, I feel grateful to return to the quiet of woods and sky, lake and land.

Today I drank in the silence and was grateful for its nourishment. Though this morning began with wide open golden skies this evening brings the sense and scent of rain. As I moved through my TCC practice I watched the sun dance across the trunk of a yellow birch. It leapt and twirled, shone and faded. Eventually the sunlight disappeared ... soaked into grey puffs of clouds that straddled the bridge of sky arching overhead.

I follow t'an tien throughout the TCC movements, let my center lead me through every movement beginning to end. When t'an tien leads, I relax my upper body, my arms, hands, shoulders, torso, and allow them to follow quietly, calmly. Always releasing, releasing, releasing the tension that crawls down my neck and into my shoulders. I feel the energy of movement, the flow of heat, the tingling of this intention tremble through my fingertips and into the Universe.

If my heart can become
pure and simple like that
of a child, I think there
probably can be no greater
happiness than this.

From: The Little Zen Companion
          Kitaro Nishida, p. 139