“Man cannot live by bread alone, and beauty, romance and noble ideals are among the foods that the soul needs to stay in health. We know that without certain foods the body will grow sickly and deformed, and so it is with the soul. It can no more keep its health on knowledge and duty than the body can live on bread and water.”
Violet Mary Firth (Dion Fortune)
Martial arts are not purely about fighting skills, they also focus on inner development, touching that part of us that seeks higher things (our spiritual aspirations). Tai Chi Chuan was originally created for the purpose of fighting but at the same time it was also aimed at preserving and prolonging life. It is the martial art of scholars, painters, poets, musicians and chess masters. It was developed and devised for spiritual cultivation, irrespective of one's personal religious convictions.
Tai Chi is practised with a spontaneous manner and training should be carefree and joyful. The low flowing movements allow the body to relax and become calm, this induces external tranquility which then becomes internal. If a person becomes centred this tranquility is then projected outward again. You are integrating body and mind to achieve harmony of the outer and inner self.
Tai Chi also doubles as a supplement to traditional internal cultivation, technically it is a standing meditation of slow concentrated movements... To the average western mind meditation means dwelling in contemplation in a sitting or certainly static position (just like your probably doing right now) but over a prolonged period this can lead to numbness and a lack of circulation in the body. However Taoist meditation has far more reaching implications. Meditation need not necessarily be motionless, when a person commits their entire mind and body to a certain performance, no matter wether they are concentrating on sweeping a floor or walking along a beach absorbed in the moment they are said to be in meditation. Tai Chi Chuan may be considered to be the ultimate moving meditation, a meditation in motion, an active meditation.
The ancient Taoist sages maintained that :
"Meditation in activity is ten thousand times superior to meditation in repose."
The methodical and protracted introspection made possible by meditation is of vital importance to the growth and maturity of each and every individual who studies the martial arts.
The form is a type of ritual performance that draws our attention inward to where a lifelong journey of harmony is pursued. It develops in one the virtues of love, creativity and harmony - all of which allows you to extend yourself to others i.e. enlarging your sphere of goodness by helping other people to do good. The better you get the more positive an influence you will become.
With ones attention turned inward Tai Chi form becomes a conduit through which a deeper understanding of the self brings one that much closer to realising ones purpose and position in life in general, and the world in which one dwells.
The arts originator Chang Sang Feng sought perfect body control, where one movement would blend seamlessly with the next. So he organised together the actions of the snake (a symbol of renewal) and the crane (a symbol of longevity), along with the movements of clouds, water and trees swaying in the wind. He called upon the yin/yang principle where opposites interact with one another.
There is a tendency in modern life to cut people off from their kinship with the world of living nature. Tai Chi is a path where personal growth and improvement not only reach your physical being by putting you in touch with nature (and your sense of oneness with it) but also make you a part of nature itself... for example by training before a sunset your actually become part of the landscape, every texture, colour and sensation speaks to you - such sublime things strike home in our hearts, they are things we respond to, that stir us, that rouse and generate strong waves of emotion. Meditation is in some ways a mental process that directs the mind inward and outward at the same time. We obtain detachment from our environment and surroundings by subsuming the ‘self’ completely in its surroundings, codifying the senses and focusing on the experience of being in that moment. This is looking inward by looking outward.
So get involved, get excited, get passionate about what you are doing. Tai Chi is the art of listening fully with your body, mind and heart, you learn through feeling and intuition, you are balancing physical and non physical by mastering the ritual of silence, breathing and meditation. Get outdoors, out in nature, train in tranquil surroundings - on the hills, in the woods, near water...master silence and listen to the night wind, it has a lot to say to those who would only listen.
Due to the very nature of its training with its emphasis on gracefullness and harmonious energy flow it is instrinsic to the development of mental freshness and cosmic harmony so the more you train in the form the more you will know yourself. Tai Chi form is there to enhance your life, to enrich it and to inspire you, because when we are inspired a love of life springs from us. Practiced every day the form is a daily reminder of the spiritual dimension in our lives, a focus for meditation, prayer, poetry and creativity.
END NOTE:
The ancient library at Thebes housed one of the biggest collections of classical literature and metaphysical works in the world. Unusually for such an impressive and austentatious building it had carved above its door just four words:
'MEDICINE FOR THE SOUL'
Blessings
Mathew
It feels like the beginning of a wonderus journey