Inhabiting Our Own Being

As my health returns so, too, does my life of the mind. It's exciting to regain my ability to read, think, and contemplate ideas and philosophies once again.

Today I dived back into words and ideas with a vengeance. First, I reviewed Lao Tzu's Tao Te Ching, Verse 81. Indeed, after two to three years of studying this text verse by verse in one of my T'ai Chi Chih classes tomorrow is the day that we read and discuss the final verse of this classic text.

I realized this morning how much nicer it feels to be in my T'ai Chi Chih practice than it feels to do my practice. Being in the practice reminds me of what researcher and meditation instructor, Jon Kabat-Zinn, describes as mindfulness and heartfulness. Mindfulness, Kabat-Zinn, reminds us in an interview with Krista Tippett (aired on Being, January 27, 2011), is a way of being. Says Kabat-Zinn:

It means resting in a kind of awareness that is so stable that it's not thrown off by the comings and goings of events within the field of awareness.... So we actually haven't had that much experience in inhabiting our own being. It's kind of almost foreign territory.

I'd venture a guess that that is why T'ai Chi Chih practice feels so good. We drop into being and treat our practice (and, consequently, our lives) as if they truly mattered moment to moment. Those moments of attention and intention add meaning to our lives.

The past few days I've practiced my T'ai Chi Chih with the intention of being in the practice rather than merely doing the practice. It is a different experience somehow. For one, when I am in my practice I'm not judging, I'm sensing and experiencing. Also, when I choose not to do but simply be there is less effort on my part and more of a feeling of flow ... and freedom.

During this evening's practice my heart started to beat fast. I cut practice short, sat down, and brought attention into my heart area. Then I breathed, sent myself Reiki, and mentally slowed myself down into a quiet state of peace. Within a minute or two my heart rate returned to normal. Perhaps in those few minutes I truly was inhabiting my own being....

Live by Emulating the Sea

Our driveway desperately needs major care and attention after large portions of it flowed downstream with the rain yesterday. Unsure whether I could hold my TCC class outdoors this morning I walked carefully around the grassy yard of the Bell Town Hall to determine if it was waterlogged. Nope.

Hurrah! Our group joined together in a beautiful, sunny, breezy outdoor practice.

One class member arrived during the second half of the form as we performed Pulling Taffy Variation #1, Anchor Step. She told the group later that it was fun to see us move ... we looked beautiful. She also commented about today's reading of the Tao (Verse 66, "Living by Emulating the Sea,") that many people are drawn to the Bayfield Peninsula because of Lake Superior, our own inland sea. "It feels so peaceful and powerful," she said.

That, I replied, is how we also feel when we do our T'ai Chi Chih practice: peaceful and powerful. As we emulate water in our practice and in our lives we soften, flow, and release tension in our movements and we go with the flow in our life choices, decisions, and attitudes. When we maintain that feeling of flow, all is well.

Dyer's interpretation of the first line of this verse reads:

Why is the sea king of a hundred streams?
Because it lies below them.
Humility gives it its power.

His instructions and advice later in the chapter reiterate two key points: Be humble. Never put yourself above others or see yourself as superior to anyone.... Become a servant, not a dominator....

Many of us who live here on the Bayfield Peninsula are surrounded by watersheds, streams, and rivers that flow to Lake Superior. There is no question that Lake Superior contains a special power and beauty that draws us to her. We live in a location that allows us--perhaps more than others--to have insight into this verse of the Tao. To suspend the ego and release the need to control others, though, is an ongoing challenge.

T'ai Chi Chih practice is a gift and a tool that reminds us, teaches us, and encourages us to live by emulating the sea....

Living & Moving in Harmony

A world of white greeted me today. Snow everywhere ... on tree branches, the ground, packed against the top, front, back, and sides of my car, plastered against house windows. It took effort to get to class in the snowy, subzero and single digit temps, but, as usual, it was wonderful to share the chi with today's small group of students.

A nice reading of the Tao, Verse 49, in our continuing TCC class. Wayne Dyer calls this verse "Living without Judgment" and his translation of Lao Tzu reads:

The sage has no fixed mind;
he is aware of the needs of others....

The sage lives in harmony with all below heaven.
He sees everything as his own self;
he loves everyone as his own child....

In harmony with that reading, Wayne Dyer asks each of us to begin to see ourselves as a person who notices rather than judges, a person who lives beyond judgment. Simply by changing our attitude toward ourselves and others we create the potential for a world of greater peace and tranquility.

Of course t'ai chi chih practice is the perfect forum for practicing acceptance and nonjudgmentalism. Our TCC practice requires us to soften and relax: first, our bodies, then our emotions, minds, and spirits. That is one of the reasons why t'ai chi chih practice feels so good ... we let go of muscular tension, mental-emotional stress, and automatic judgments in order to flow with softness and continuity. We become like children. We lose all pretense and expectation. We choose to simply be, moving softly and slowly in this moment ... now.

Justin Stone, the creator of T'ai Chi Chih Joy thru Movement, says it this way (from: "Spiritual Stories-Volume I"):

In truth, it is difficult to find a displeasing aspect in nature, if one looks with a quiet mind, not concerned with its own problems.

When the mind is transparent and pure, as if reflected on the mirror-like surface of the water, there is nothing in the world that you would dislike. When it is serene as the light breeze in the sunshine, there will be no one whom you would like to forget.