Re-Membering Who We Are....

When it comes to suffering injustice, there are two types of people. The first says, 'I can't wait to turn around and do this to someone else.' The second says, 'This was done to me, and I do not want to do it to someone else.'

When it comes to spiritual accomplishments, there are two types of people. The first says, 'I will press on for myself because my knowledge was won so dearly.' The second says, 'I will help others, because I know how difficult it is to walk a spiritual path.'

When it comes to facing death, there are two types of people. The first says, 'My life is at an end, and I am bitter.' The second says, 'In sharing, I became more than myself and cannot die.'

          From: Everyday Tao, p. 129, "Compassion"

This morning's final T'ai Chi Chih class practice was ideal: perfect weather, perfect silence, and, afterward, a feeling of lingering peace. One added bonus: a class member brought blueberry cobbler to share with the group. Perfection plus!

I look forward to a teaching break of several months in order to focus my attention on other people and projects. Nevertheless, I'll miss the wonderful energy, unity, peacefulness, and discussions that this special group of people share when we come together.

After TCC practice today we continued our discussion of Buddha's Brain, Chapter 9, "Compassion and Assertion." One student commented that through the softness in our TCC practice comes the ability to be assertive. I think that's true. As we become better acquainted with our true selves through regular practice of T'ai Chi Chih we become more easily able to speak from our stable, secure, and virtuous core of being. We can speak our truth and pursue our aims because no matter what other people do, their behavior is not controlling us (p. 145-6).

I read this quote by the Dalai Lama on the internet recently: Compassion is the radicalism of our time.

And here's how highly acclaimed meditation teacher Jon Kabat-Zinn writes about loving kindness (compassion):

We resonate with one another's sorrows because we are interconnected. Being whole and simultaneously part of a larger whole, we can change the world simply by changing ourselves. If I become a center of love and kindness in this moment, then in a perhaps small but hardly insignificant way, the world now has a nucleus of love and kindness it lacked the moment before. This benefits me and it benefits others.

          From: Wherever You Go, There You Are: Mindfulness Meditation in Everyday Life, Jon Kabat-Zinn, p. 162

Just like T'ai Chi Chih and seated meditation, compassion takes practice. See "A Guide to Cultivating Compassion in Your Life, with 7 Practices" by Leo Babauta (http://www.dailygood.org/). Daily T'ai Chi Chih practice is an effective way to begin the development of self-compassion as well as compassion for others. Still, it's merely the first step down a long, winding path of self-development. Each step, each technique, each tool, and each conscious moment of being help us to re-member the person we're meant to be....

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....