Practice by the Day, Week, Month, Year....

Calmness in quietude is not real calm; when you can be calm in the midst of activity, this is the true state of nature. Happiness in comfort is not real happiness; when you can be happy in the midst of hardship, then you see the true potential of the mind.
          From: Back to Beginnings: Reflections on the Tao by Huanchu Daoren, p. 34

After a super busy day at the library I'm back at home and ready to settle in for a quiet night. First, though, I performed my T'ai Chi Chih practice with my quiet reflection staring back at me from the dark window glass. I've discovered that even though I may prefer to do a morning TCC practice I'm often greatly helped by a practice that follows--and transitions from--busyness in order to stimulate relaxation and rejuvenation.

Daoren's quote (above) reminds me of Justin Stone's definition of Seijaku (advanced TCC) which he calls "Serenity in the Midst of Activity." Maintaining calm in the middle of noise and activity is a real challenge (I realized today what a different workday Wednesday is after experiencing this morning's storytime for children and receiving and processing three full crates of books, CDs, and DVDs from other libraries in our system).

It is wonderful to achieve calmness in quietude but I usually don't feel the same dramatic effects as when the mind and senses are overwhelmed, overstimulated, or overloaded. Going from calm to calmer is nice; feeling deep stillness in the dead center of frenetic noise and activity is heavenly.

As usual, it's all about practice. First the mind must realize that it is busy. Then the mind must learn to detach from its whirl and swirl of thoughts and feelings. Day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year.

As the Dalai Lama says in this quote from The Mystic Vision for November 16: Now is the time when your action is practise.

We are the Earth

Another evening spent anticipating rain ... lately it's a daily occurrence. It is now dark and overcast, the air is heavy with humidity, and it is oh so quiet.

If you will think of ourselves as coming out of the earth, rather than having been thrown in here from somewhere else, you see that we are the earth, we are the consciousness of the earth. These are the eyes of the earth. And this is the voice of the earth.
     --The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell from The Mystic Vision (p. 109)

It's easy to feel myself of the earth when I live so closely connected to it. I watched a hummingbird sweeping up and down, up and down next to its feeder during my TCC practice. I felt the cooling breeze on my skin and heard the bird sounds emanating from the forest. Mother Earth/nature/the forest canopy calms me and brings me peace.

TCC practice flowed by quickly and smoothly. My back felt sore from picking raspberries and blueberries today so I promised myself that I'd end my day by lying on the Chi machine and relaxing into its gentle side-to-side movement. This day is soon done....

Wordless Mysteries

Though this day is, again, shrouded in darkness, my heart lightened through my practice of qigong and T'ai Chi Chih. I've felt the Vital Force energy vibrate through me and it reminds me that all is well.

While reading The Mystic Vision this morning I came upon an interesting and empowering segment that introduced the theme for the month of June, "Wordless Mysteries":

The real war in the modern world is not between democracy and communism or between capitalism and totalitarianism or between liberalism and fascism. It is the war for the mind and heart of humankind between two completely different versions of reality: the version that materialist science, most contemporary philosophy and most modern art gives human beings, as driven, dying animals in a random universe (a version that many institutionalized religions unconsciously abet with their emphasis on human sinfulness and powerlessness) and that version of humankind's essential divine destiny that mystics in all ages have discovered and struggled to keep alive..... Bhagavad Gita: He is forever free who has broken out of the ego cage of I and mine to be united with the lord of Love. (p. 88)

What a wonderful freedom to be released from the polarized world of either-or and right or wrong into the wide open spaces of love, acceptance, and compassion.

This is one of the gifts of T'ai Chi Chih practice .... it offers us the opportunity to realize and experience a different reality. In its special moments of peace, quiet, and serenity we can remember that no matter how driven, judgmental, or power-hungry we or the people around us may be, we can always return to our Self, to that place of pure self awareness that is one with all Life.

When we connect with the Chi, we can step out of the materialistic pursuits and destructive tendencies of our human culture and reconnect with the spiritual powers of the Universe. We can heal our brokenness; we can become whole. 

The Flute of the Infinite

It's another day of wonder brimming with sun and silence! After an early morning snowshoe through the forest, a high near 60 degrees, and a midday nap, I headed out onto the deck in late afternoon to move through TCC while temps hovered in the upper 40s and low 50s.

This is a wonderful time of the year to practice outdoors. Number one reason: no bugs! Number two reason: it's warm but not too warm, it's cool but not too cool.

I closed my eyes several times during practice. It was long enough to forget the several feet of snow that lay all around me. Still, I felt comfortable--almost hot--as I moved. An occasional breeze slid over the snow-covered Earth, was ice-cooled, and reminded me that spring won't arrive for several more weeks.

Today's quiet air filled me with peace and I rested in the silence, breathing deeply, softly, slowly....

Ramana Maharshi said, 'Silence is unceasing eloquence.' From the silence of the Presence, messages of love are trying to reach us at every moment from every corner of the universe. Always to be receptive to this music, and so learn how to live in compassionate harmony with it, is the goal of the realized life....
          From: The Mystic Vision, "The Flute of the Infinite: The Spirit," p. 38

Peeling the Layers

Fat, furry flakes covered our snowshoe tracks near the house this morning. Now the sky is spotted blue amid generous clouds and occasional threads of sunshine weave their way through the trees.

Though my legs were tired from my two classes last night, today's practice felt good ... easy. Daughter in the Valley has always brimmed with energy and now that I've slightly revised Daughter on the Mountain Top that, too, feels more energized, fuller.

I'm aware as I move that I'm still readjusting, realigning, and revisiting each and every movement searching for additional ways to deepen my practice, relax my body, and  inspire a freer flow of Chi. As I reevaluate my moves I realize that t'ai chi chih isn't doing t'ai chi chih. Still, I believe that when these changes settle into my body and mind I'll return to a place of greater trust in my practice and the ABCs of TCC (activating-balancing-circulating the Chi) will take care of themselves.

I'm continuing to peel the onion, stripping away unnecessary layers of skin, carving out bruises and unhealthy spots, and moving toward the center. Meister Eckhart talks about this process in today's reading from The Mystic Vision:

A man has many skins in himself, covering the depths of his heart. Man knows so many things; he does not know himself. Why, thirty or forty skins or hides, just like an ox's or a bear's so thick and hard, cover the soul. Go into your own ground and learn to know yourself there.

Embedding Myself in My Body

The sun's gleaming yellow eye stared straight into my eyes this morning as it peeked over the rim of the Earth into a new day. My fingertips were brushed with golden light as they Push-Pulled their way through the TCC form. And quickly--too soon--the sun lifted into the sky.

This morning I feel incredible gratitude for the on-going gifts I receive from the TCC retreat I attended at the end of January. This time of joining with others in our practice and receiving refinements, suggestions, and questions from Sr. Antonio was just what I needed to refresh and renew my practice. It pulled me out of my doldrums and pushed me past the repetitive patterns I'd established in my regular practice into new possibilities ... new opportunities. In a sense, I suppose, my practice and I have been reborn.

I'm still fiddling with the intricacies of how to glide effortlessly through each movement pattern but there's a new layer of softness and relaxation, a deeper understanding of my body and how its movements affect what I feel and experience as I move.

But what is this transformation? The soul discovers its source of being in the Spirit, the mind is opened to this inner light, the will is energized by this inner power. The very substance of the soul is changed; it is made a 'partaker of the divine nature.' And this transformation affects not only the soul but also the body....
               From: The Mystic Vision, February 19 

Being a Refuge

Light snow falls gently throughout my practice.... Not heavy or wet like the snow that pounded the eastern seaboard this past weekend leaving--according to my sister who lives in Baltimore--at least two feet in its wake. Not prolific and wind-blown like the snow predicted for the Chicago area over the next several days. No, light, gentle, easy ... similar to a soft, relaxed t'ai chi chih practice.

I watch dashing, dancing grey squirrels flit across acres of snow and up and down trees while I move. Truly, these small gleeful rodents fully exhibit the meaning of joy thru movement. There is incredible grace, flow, effortlessness, and beauty in their movements.

I continue to refine individual movements as I glide through my practice. Always, always I keep my focus on t'an t'ien and my gradual weight shift forward and back, side-to-side.

This is so good for me to return to the beginning once again. Observing everything. Noticing. Changing. Feeling. Experiencing.

At the end of practice I sit quietly and allow myself to receive. I feel grateful to have one thing only to focus upon; being in this moment, welcoming it into me. For these few minutes I abandon my efforts of doing, judging, or achieving. I simply am and ... it's wonderfully freeing.

... be ye lamps unto yourselves, be ye a refuge to yourselves. Betake yourselves to no external refuge. Hold fast to the Truth as a lamp; hold fast to the Truth as a refuge. Look not for a refuge in anyone beside yourselves.
                         The Buddha
                         From: The Mystic Vision, p. 30

Following the T'ai Chi Chih Path

Glorious sunshine! Snow sparkles glitter over rooftops, hillsides, and railings. The temperature gauge creeps slowly up from 0 to 5, then 10 degrees, and higher still.

"It's supposed to get up to 20 degrees tomorrow," said one of the clerks at the grocery store last night with a mixture of hope and excitement in her voice. Today, as I see it happening, I'm excited too.

During today's practice I begin to integrate the teachings from our t'ai chi chih retreat and practice of last week. Of course, every single movement can be improved and deepened; the Chi allowed to circulate more freely. I recognize how much I have inadvertently adjusted my t'ai chi chih practice to accommodate an old knee injury that never fully healed.

I also notice, though, that as I reach a deeper understanding of how to move my body, how to allow t'ai t'ien to lead me through every movement--every step of the heel, every lift of the hands and arms, every circling of energy from foot to foot (yinning and yanging)--I'm more free to ride the flow of Chi.

After nearly 15 years of t'ai chi chih practice it's exciting to experience an ever-deepening level of energy, to open myself to more softness, to sink myself deeper into my root. I'm still learning to be patient ... and trust.

         All Paths Lead to Me
Life is a challenge          * Meet it
Life is a gift                   * Accept it
Life is an adventure       * Dare it
Life is a sorrow             * Overcome it
Life is a tragedy             * Face it
Life is a duty                  * Perform it
Life is a game                * Play it
Life is a Mystery            * Unfold it
Life is a song                 * Sing it
Life is an opportunity     * Take it
Life is a journey             * Complete it
Life is a promise            * Fulfil it
Life is a love                  * Embrace it
Life is a beauty              * Praise it ...
               Seen in a draper's shop in India
               From: The Mystic Vision, p. 24