When I stepped out the door this morning, I felt as if I was entering a jungle. The trees were still bare of leaves, of course, the sky still visible through the tall grey trunks and branches of poplars, oaks, birches, and maples in our yard, but overriding it all was the lush melody of birdsong descending from those branches and working its way directly into my heart. The atmosphere resounded with excited, joyous song.
A bit later the kitten and dog joined me on the deck, each of us engaged in our own practices; the dog chased after his first squirrels of the season, threatening them with a strong, quick bark and Chiripa scurried across the deck in mad pursuit of the abundant crop of flies that buzzed busily through the sunshine-filled air. I practiced a mix of TCC and Seijaku in the 60 degree heat as I breathed in air and light.
My practice felt good in body and soul as I alternated three TCC repetitions with three Seijaku repetitions then back to three TCC repetitions per movement. The "holding fast and letting go" of Seijaku offers a decidedly different experience of the energy than regular TCC practice. It takes more attention and intention but the intensity of energy it provides is markedly different.
There's an energy and excitement to this day, too, and rather than sit in a dark room in front of a computer screen I'll abandon it all to the glory of this day. Premature spring--by one week only--here I come!
Sunday, March 14, 2010
Saturday, March 13, 2010
A Welcome Tonic
A foggy haze encircled me as I walked outside to release the geese from their barn this morning. Earlier I watched white-tailed deer, one, then three more, graze quietly through the forest. The smallest--and probably youngest--deer ventured near the bird feeder to nibble delicately on a tender branch while the others gazed from afar quiet as garden statues.
I slipped Justin's Seijaku DVD into the player this morning and followed along. I was certified in Seijaku (Advanced T'ai Chi Chih) in 1999. The training occurred several months before my father's death and, preoccupied with Dad's declining health, I neglected to practice Seijaku regularly. Today, though, I felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend. It felt comfortable, familiar.
Pam Towne, one of TCC's teacher trainers, encouraged me during a phone conversation late last year to return to Seijaku. She suggested that I simply incorporate it into my daily TCC practice, perhaps alternating it within the regular nine repetitions. I intuitively knew the time would come when I could/would revisit Seijaku and ... today is that day.
It feels right, good and appropriate that I'm returning to Seijaku now. My body is in desperate need of it and I sense that its Serenity in the Midst of Activity will provide a welcome tonic in my life.
I slipped Justin's Seijaku DVD into the player this morning and followed along. I was certified in Seijaku (Advanced T'ai Chi Chih) in 1999. The training occurred several months before my father's death and, preoccupied with Dad's declining health, I neglected to practice Seijaku regularly. Today, though, I felt like I was reconnecting with an old friend. It felt comfortable, familiar.
Pam Towne, one of TCC's teacher trainers, encouraged me during a phone conversation late last year to return to Seijaku. She suggested that I simply incorporate it into my daily TCC practice, perhaps alternating it within the regular nine repetitions. I intuitively knew the time would come when I could/would revisit Seijaku and ... today is that day.
It feels right, good and appropriate that I'm returning to Seijaku now. My body is in desperate need of it and I sense that its Serenity in the Midst of Activity will provide a welcome tonic in my life.
Friday, March 12, 2010
A Still-Point of Peace...
One-half hour of peace. This evening I sink into my t'ai chi chih practice outside on the deck. Yesterday's rains shrunk the snowpack, shriveled the piles of snow lining drive- and roadways, exposed areas of leaves and dirt in the midst of the forest, and revealed rivulets of running water.
It's a quiet, chill, cloud-covered day and still there's this: one-half hour of peace. I am grateful for this peace and calm and quiet, grateful for time by myself to sink ever deeper into silence. During an earlier phone conversation with my brother we shared today's challenges and difficulties and he wondered aloud what wisdom might be contained in 365 Tao. As is often the case, the words I found were just right. It read, in part:
It's a quiet, chill, cloud-covered day and still there's this: one-half hour of peace. I am grateful for this peace and calm and quiet, grateful for time by myself to sink ever deeper into silence. During an earlier phone conversation with my brother we shared today's challenges and difficulties and he wondered aloud what wisdom might be contained in 365 Tao. As is often the case, the words I found were just right. It read, in part:
The mind that turns ever outwardYes, I desperately needed today's t'ai chi chih practice. The swirls abated, the mind calmed, the body slowed, and peace prevailed. Shhhh....
Will have no end to craving.
Only the mind turned inward
Will find a still-point of peace....
True reality lies in withdrawal from the swirling variations of the outside world. It lies in looking within and then slowly peeling away the layers of subjectivity. What will remain is not a core of objectivity, but a kernel of truth that absorbs rather than reflects. If we enter into this kernel, our minds cease to continue their habits of creating stimulating realities, and we enter into a silence that feels perfect and whole. (p. 71)
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Originating Spirit is Everywhere....
Predicted fog shrouded the morning and now lies, thick, beneath an intense battering of heavy rain and hail. Thunder rumbles across the snow-encrusted landscape and I remind myself that it is still winter in the Northland.
It's a moisture-laden day and I hear a number of comments about stiff, sore knees during my morning TCC class. Our group practice ends in deep silence, each of us resting quietly in the shared feeling of peace before we turn onto the individual path of our day.
Today we read and discuss the 52nd Verse of the Tao, "Living by Returning to the Mother," per Wayne Dyer. In this chapter of Change Your Thoughts-- Change Your Life Dyer advises us to close our eyes and seal our ears to ensure that our spirits aren't frittered away on worldly activities. He writes:
It's a moisture-laden day and I hear a number of comments about stiff, sore knees during my morning TCC class. Our group practice ends in deep silence, each of us resting quietly in the shared feeling of peace before we turn onto the individual path of our day.
Today we read and discuss the 52nd Verse of the Tao, "Living by Returning to the Mother," per Wayne Dyer. In this chapter of Change Your Thoughts-- Change Your Life Dyer advises us to close our eyes and seal our ears to ensure that our spirits aren't frittered away on worldly activities. He writes:
Use fewer words; commit yourself to long periods of listening; and eliminate giving advice, meddling, and participating in gossip.... When you're inclined to get into other people's business, remember that your eternal Mother's one and only voice is silence. (pp. 254-55)I'm grateful and blessed to be a teacher and guide for others as we move through this wonderful regenerative time of silence known as t'ai chi chih practice. With silence comes peace and with peace comes a welcome re-entry into a very special place, a place where no-thing is judged as inferior or unwanted anymore because ... we are all One.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Chi Whiz
Rain began late morning and continues. Our early evening weather is liquid, drippy, runny wetness falling upon frozen, crystalized, subterranean wetness.
It's odd for a rainstorm to hit before the final snowstorm of the season--and yes, I guarantee there'll be another big snowstorm before the end of March--because that's just the way the weather works in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota (in Minnesota huge snows usually blow through during state high school basketball tournaments).
Given the abundance of moisture in the air I turned off the humidifier and listened to unceasing drip-drops during my TCC practice. Push-Pull and Pulling in the Energy filled my hands with a strong pulsating energy that reminded me of last night's discussion about Chi.
One class member mentioned that she'd always thought of Chi as an electrical charge but recently wondered whether it may be more like a chemical reaction that circulates through the watery composition of our bodies. I realized that my knowledge and experience with Chi has always been based on one thing: how it feels.
I moved slowly through much of my day and now, post-practice, I'm revitalized and calm ... very calm.
It's odd for a rainstorm to hit before the final snowstorm of the season--and yes, I guarantee there'll be another big snowstorm before the end of March--because that's just the way the weather works in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota (in Minnesota huge snows usually blow through during state high school basketball tournaments).
Given the abundance of moisture in the air I turned off the humidifier and listened to unceasing drip-drops during my TCC practice. Push-Pull and Pulling in the Energy filled my hands with a strong pulsating energy that reminded me of last night's discussion about Chi.
One class member mentioned that she'd always thought of Chi as an electrical charge but recently wondered whether it may be more like a chemical reaction that circulates through the watery composition of our bodies. I realized that my knowledge and experience with Chi has always been based on one thing: how it feels.
I moved slowly through much of my day and now, post-practice, I'm revitalized and calm ... very calm.
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
A Mystery
Today began with a totally unexpected and wonder-filled realization: My injured knee seems to be improving! Something clicked. I suddenly understood that while I've practiced TCC outdoors this past week I haven't used a knee brace and ... my knee feels fine. No pain. No swelling. It doesn't exactly feel normal but it does feel better.
I remembered my conversation with Ed Altman during my Seijaku training and certification in 1999. One of my ankles was stiff, sore, and painful so I asked for Ed's input on how I should/could move. In response he asked me whether there was any chance that I anticipated the pain and modified my movement before I shifted my weight forward. Sure enough, when I checked it out, I realized that I was making subconscious adjustments to my practice.
My recent experiences with my knee lead me to believe that yes, I've done it again. Since the January TCC retreat, though, I've pushed myself to readjust my stance and concentrate on fully shifting my weight. Could I truly be improving? After all the stories I've heard from other t'ai chi chih teachers about positive changes in their health and well-being, I shouldn't be surprised.
Tonight's TCC classes were a tremendous pause in the busyness of daily life. Prior to class students discussed what they think Chi is and how they envision it moving and working in their bodies. It was evident during the discussion that each person had a slightly different way of expressing what Chi is to them. Though they may not understand it exactly they can still feel it and know that it impacts the mind-body. Clearly, Chi is a mystery. And, so, for that matter, is my knee....
I remembered my conversation with Ed Altman during my Seijaku training and certification in 1999. One of my ankles was stiff, sore, and painful so I asked for Ed's input on how I should/could move. In response he asked me whether there was any chance that I anticipated the pain and modified my movement before I shifted my weight forward. Sure enough, when I checked it out, I realized that I was making subconscious adjustments to my practice.
My recent experiences with my knee lead me to believe that yes, I've done it again. Since the January TCC retreat, though, I've pushed myself to readjust my stance and concentrate on fully shifting my weight. Could I truly be improving? After all the stories I've heard from other t'ai chi chih teachers about positive changes in their health and well-being, I shouldn't be surprised.
Tonight's TCC classes were a tremendous pause in the busyness of daily life. Prior to class students discussed what they think Chi is and how they envision it moving and working in their bodies. It was evident during the discussion that each person had a slightly different way of expressing what Chi is to them. Though they may not understand it exactly they can still feel it and know that it impacts the mind-body. Clearly, Chi is a mystery. And, so, for that matter, is my knee....
Monday, March 8, 2010
Happy and free ...
Tonight's TCC practice slowed me down and offered relaxation and peace after a long day of balancing checking accounts, locating and finalizing paperwork, and beginning the long, tedious process of collecting and organizing income tax materials.
I'm continually amazed by how different--and how much better--I feel after a mere 10 or 20 minutes of TCC practice. Of course, I should no longer be surprised by its transformative effects since I've been practicing some form of t'ai chi since 1988. In fact, every t'ai chi chih teacher I've ever met has their own personal story of improved health, revitalization, or some other positive life change they've experienced as a result of TCC.
Today's T'ai Chi Chih Facebook site included an article just published: "Through T'ai Chi Chih, Highland man finds calm focus, wellness, serenity." That man, Peter Gregory, tells of his own struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). He admits, "I just could not quiet my mind to save my life."
After experiencing the energy flow and peaceful focus offered by t'ai chi chih Gregory decided to become certified as a TCC teacher. "This is not something to grasp intellectually," he says. "You have to feel the energy flowing through you, you have to feel the calmness after the practice, you have to feel how you have energy throughout the rest of the day."
Gregory's right, of course. But, me, I have a short memory. I have to be reminded of t'ai chi chih's benefits day after day, practice after practice. When we have a harmonious flow of energy, says Gregory, we are happy and free... Yes! And tomorrow--both during and after I've completed my TCC movements--I will once again be reminded of that fact....
I'm continually amazed by how different--and how much better--I feel after a mere 10 or 20 minutes of TCC practice. Of course, I should no longer be surprised by its transformative effects since I've been practicing some form of t'ai chi since 1988. In fact, every t'ai chi chih teacher I've ever met has their own personal story of improved health, revitalization, or some other positive life change they've experienced as a result of TCC.
Today's T'ai Chi Chih Facebook site included an article just published: "Through T'ai Chi Chih, Highland man finds calm focus, wellness, serenity." That man, Peter Gregory, tells of his own struggle with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). He admits, "I just could not quiet my mind to save my life."
After experiencing the energy flow and peaceful focus offered by t'ai chi chih Gregory decided to become certified as a TCC teacher. "This is not something to grasp intellectually," he says. "You have to feel the energy flowing through you, you have to feel the calmness after the practice, you have to feel how you have energy throughout the rest of the day."
Gregory's right, of course. But, me, I have a short memory. I have to be reminded of t'ai chi chih's benefits day after day, practice after practice. When we have a harmonious flow of energy, says Gregory, we are happy and free... Yes! And tomorrow--both during and after I've completed my TCC movements--I will once again be reminded of that fact....
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