“May you live in interesting times...”
In a class a few weeks ago I mentioned I wished I were a Poet or Preacher or someone who could speak courageously and elegantly to the times, but I’m not. I’m a Qigong & Tai Chi Teacher. To my amazement I’ve been teaching over 30 years and have been in the practice arts for almost 50. So whereas I may not have a poem I’ve created or a sermon to offer, I can share my experience of feeling my feet, breathing in and breathing out, over many decades. I can confidently tell you that my chosen practices have accompanied me and thousands of people I know all over the world through a great many “interesting times.” There is nothing that can convince me they will not now as well.
Practice is for today and it’s also for tomorrow. There is a long view with what we do. We boost our long term health - physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. We feel refuge with others we may not even know, in a calm, joyful place together, participating in interesting activities.
Most essentially though, practice trains this mind of ours, wading through so much chaos, to be perceptive and grounded. Clear and pliant. As Chen Xiao Wang, the legendary Tai Chi Grandmaster says, “the most important thing is to make your mind like a Tai Chi Ball.” It takes time and commitment to learn a form, to become physically and mentally pliant, to see beyond our own internal and external biases, but it’s a worthy endeavor. You may ask me, “how does raise and lower arms, inhale, exhale do that?” All I can say is, try it.
And so if you have not, pick a practice. If you have lapsed, recommit to one. For those of you who have one, go deeper. If you think you do not have time, you do. Whatever practice you choose and stay with will accompany you during all times, good, bad and interesting. It will keep you, as it has me, in your body and grounded. Feeling your feet and breathing.
Everything changes, we can’t ever really know what that means, so it is crucial to make choices everyday to stay present and healthy and flexible. To that end, Tai Chi & Qigong are among the really great choices to make.
There is another great Chinese saying, “May you live an ordinary life.”
Keep Breathing Friends. Feel your feet. See you on the floor.
Kim