25 May 2018

Yielding

Mark has been rereading some of John Kells' writings and sharing them on Tuesday this week as we worked deeply on push hands. 'Outreach, enter, join, accompany, linger'.

Very different from 'get out of the way', 'do whatever works' and 'deflect to maintain ward-off', which I have also heard for 'roll-back' on my T'ai Chi travels...

All of the above can be made to work, by which I mean, you will not get pushed over at that precise moment. Does that constitute success? Is a young birch sapling the same as a telegraph pole or a rotary clothes dryer?

More importantly, what does your regular practice cultivate? When you are old and not so strong and  fast, what will you have left to rely on? For a woman, of average height and build, such as myself, it was never worth investing in getting to be the very strongest or very fastest, as it would have been impossible. Of course I aim to be fit, have good posture, and I do attend to my physicality. The T'ai Chi Classics exhort us to be softer, more responsive and more aware every day. This we can do until we are old and venerable. It improves all of life vastly, and makes us more likely to evade life's blows and flourish even in hard times. Also, if you want to be walking and living freely in your old age, and not having falls, then T'ai Chi is proven to aid this.

En route, the practice of T'ai Chi Ch'uan is rich, interesting, relaxing and wonderful, means you meet superb folks, make good friends and have some exercise each week. These alone would be worth the effort. You may, incidentally, attain the pearl of great price.

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