03 September 2005

The Other Self

When practising Tai Chi or Heartwork always try to be aware that as well as training in a new way of doing things, you should be trying to wake up to the fact that this new way is the natural way: it's the way your body and energy wants to do things when tensions are removed.

I was thinking in particular of the walking exercise below. Victoria has just gone on an 8 day walking holiday and I suggested she practice this exercise. She pointed out that her feet were really tired from the half hour we'd done together last Thursday (I must admit, so were mine) and that 6 to 8 hours a day of it would be impossible. Physically impossible I agree but energetically and internally I'm not so sure. This was something my teacher had to contend with very early on since he was driven to practice all hours of the day, most of which was time of absolute physical and mental exhaustion. So if you don't have the physical energy or the mental energy to do something then how do you do it? There is a larger part of you, operating in a different world of energy and connectedness, that can and will take over if it's given the opportunity. Relaxation is just the state you need to be in to connect with this larger part of yourself, it has nothing to do really with a lack of physical tension, it is more a resigned willingness to acknowledge that intelligence and knowledge reside somewhere other than the mind and body. So to practice 8 hours straight of anything one will need to relax, settle and open to this other self and allow it to take over. Your body and mind then ride it like a horse. This is why at Intensives we would do 2 hours without a break of Form: to try and reach that stage of the other body taking over. Those of us with a feeling for this were reluctant to stop because there is an inexorable choiceless quality to this other reality which is difficult to resist. A good teacher, by hook or by crook, will make you connect to this aspect of yourself - by encouragement, persuasion or bullying (I've known my teacher slap students quite hard across the face to bring it about). Without being connected to this the postures of Tai Chi are pretty meaningless and concentrating on technical niceties will simply avoid the issue. The Tai Chi should wake you up to this larger part of yourself. It will only do so when the mind empties not just of idle thoughts but also of the Tai Chi itself. This is not accomplished by numbing the mind (sinking into a stupor) but by entering the spirit of the postures and allowing them to breath life and enthusiasm into your slumbering higher self. Your practice then informs not just your Tai Chi but all aspects of your energy and life.

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