WUJI: NO-Polarity
To Know Taiji, one must practice Wuji…
Be Still and Quiet…
Observe EVERYTHING happening around you…
Now shift ALL of that focus to just yourSelf…
Notice any undue Effort or Tension…give it to Gravity instead…
Notice your BReath…Notice your Breath…Notice the Motion…
Notice the RHYTHM…
Notice the Pace…
Relax and just let it happen
This Is;
The Practice
On the spiritual Path, every single moment is part of your Practice.
Whatever you are doing right now, is what you are Practicing.
What are you Practicing right now?
In our Wednesday AM TaiChi class, we discussed the importance of practicing outside of class, even if it is something very small or seemingly inconsequential.
The important thing is that we are developing the capacity to focus and invest some Time and Energy in the present moment.
The ability to be mindful in this manner gradually expands, and as it does, the scope of our Practice also expands.
When practicing a TaiChi movement or posture, what other qualities are you Practicing?
Judgment?
Jealousy?
Frustration?
Relaxation?
Contentment?
Taken in its broadest sense, every single moment of Life is your Practice.
How you choose to respond to, and engage with, the world and your experiences is your true Practice.
What are you Practicing?
“The Present” is perpetually renewed and you must become adept at flowing with It.
The instant you try to pin it down you lose It, so the only option is to keep a very casual focus, not thinking or analyzing anything, just allowing yourself to observe and notice Things…
If you are truly doing this, there will not be sufficient Time to Like or Dislike anything. It takes too long to discern and contemplate.
Nothing should make sense or no-sense.
Making Sense takes too much Time.
Staying in this radical state of “Is”-ness can be difficult, which is why there are Practices, and why most of us need to Practice daily!
This morning we were reminded that the quintessential skill of genuine TaiChi Practice takes less than three seconds.
Cultivating Awareness of your Body and Mind happens the instant you allow it.
Checking in with your posture and making physical adjustments can happen in less than three seconds.
Noticing that your Mind is wandering, and bringing it back to the task at hand, can happen in less than three seconds.
The only impediment to Practice is your commitment to the belief that you cannot.
Taichi might be best translated as Paradox.
Extreme Polarity, Ultimate Limits, or Vital Axis are more literal renderings of the term, but if we want to maximize the efficiency of our understanding, Paradox is the idea we want to discuss.
The fundamental duality of our Reality is expressed as Yin and Yang. Traditional Chinese Medicine says there are two primary forms of Energy (Ch’i), there is Yin Ch’i and there is Yang Ch’i.
Taichi is even apparent at the level of Ch’i.
The arguably most-fundamental substance in the Universe, the Ch’i, is still subject to the principle of Taichi.
Taichi is apparent in all facets of existence.
The uniquely Human polarity of Good and Bad is the most interesting.
All of our desires and preferences have an opposite. I like many things so much, that I can barely tolerate their absence. I am trapped in my preference so strongly that anything other than my preference makes me a mess. Siddhartha Gautama recognized this, which is how he became known as the Buddha.
Much of the difficulty in the Human experience is self-imposed by our strong preferences. We are trapped in the matrix of Taichi, perpetually bouncing between our feelings of highs and lows.
When we have properly understood the nature of Taichi, we can readily understand the value of Wuchi.
Wuchi means that the polarity has been removed, there is no Good or Bad. Wu is emptiness, or non-being. If we lose our preferences, then anything is essentially Good. If we look at things truly and objectively, without filtering information through our matrix of Taichi, the world looks very different than we are used to.
This is the true purpose of all Taichi Practice, to break out of the paradox by seeing the prevalence and absurdity of it. There are numerous beneficial side-effects, which vary by method and intention, but the most important benefit of Taichi Practice is gaining the perspective of Wuchi, which allows you to find Peace despite the constant churning and change that is Life.
Out on The Way, there comes a point where you either turn left or right. It’s a fork in the road, as They say. If you turn left, you will encounter a wide-variety of distractions and oddities. There are countless details, funny little snags and plenty to chew on; Zigs and Zags galore.
If you turn right, there is a much cleaner experience. Things are fairly straightforward. The path is well-maintained and very obvious. No frills or fanfare, just a path to follow.
This is how it is.
And it isn’t the case that you cannot switch. If you turned right and wish you hadn’t, you can struggle through the untamed brush and arrive on the other path. Likewise, if you turned left and are overwhelmed by it’s lack of clarity, you can trudge through to the other path (it’s easy to find, since it’s so predictable!).
Ultimately, both paths work. They lead to the same destination.
The funny part is, the destination is where you were before you ever came to the fork in the road. The Beginning is the End.
And yet, once you’ve set out on The Way, you have to pick a path. Turn left, or turn right. It doesn’t matter which path you take, but you will have to walk it (or bounce back and forth between them) because that’s The Way. IT. IS.
You can use the methods of thinking and analyzing to get there. You can use the methods of chaos and intuition to get there. It won’t make a difference in the end because getting there means arriving HERE.
We’re out on The Way for a reason. Most of us are living out the fable of the Musk Deer.
This poor ol’ Musk Deer roams the forest, searching for the source of the marvelous scent he has picked up on. Looking everywhere, he never seems to find it. Forever seeking, never finding, because the scent is coming from him. If he just stood still, he’d be all set.
We are very much the same. We seek peace. We seek relaxation. We seek health and wellness, among so many other things. None of them are meaningfully outside of ourselves. That isn’t the Nature of Things.
You cannot experience anything outside of yourself.
You ARE an experience.
It’s already happening.
ALL THE TIME.
The Mind and Body are doorways. TaiChi and Yoga are doorways. We are invited to walk through if we choose. Some doorways take us to the left, others to the right. All of them are useful, all of them are valid.
But you have to go through. You have to keep walking.
The need to understand the path is a wall.
Attachment to the path is a wall.
You have to keep walking.
If you just sit down and refuse to keep walking, you will only delay your arrival.
It does very little good to be mad that you are out and about. We have to get back.
So you just keep walking the path.
And when you finally realize you have re-arrived at the “destination”, you simply stay for as long as you can.
All these paths and doors will lead you to that place. But you have to do the walking.
And when you find yourself “There” (which is to say “Here”) you have to do the staying.
And inevitably, by our own design or not, you will end up lurching off the mark again and have to take another walk.
And each time this occurs, we run into the forks in the road; so we choose a path and we walk it until we get back again.
There isn’t much else going on with this “Being Human”.
Find your doors and go through. Acknowledge your path and keep walking.
If you’re already There (again, read: HERE), then just stay put.
Don’t put up a wall where you’ve been given a door.
Surely everybody knows the phenomenon: you go to the bathroom and the result doesn’t match the expectation. You might think you’re going to evict days worth of food and get rabbit pellets. You might plop down expecting nothing to happen at all and require the courtesy flush! That’s life, eh?
Practice sometimes feels the same way.
Oftentimes when it seems like our efforts won’t be fruitful is when we get the wildest results, or have the most incredible experiences.
If ever there were a meaningful case for DailyPractice, surely this is it.
There are no guarantees that we will have epiphanies or transcendent highs, but if we don’t attend to Practice we are assured to not have such moments.
The Gretzky-classic goes, “You miss one-hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.”
Even when it seems irrelevant or unimportant, Practice.
There aren’t substitutes or shortcuts. You just do the work.
Sometimes it will feel wonderful and amazing.
Sometimes it will feel procedural or difficult.
But Practice is not about how it feels in that moment. It’s about tending to the moment, no doubt, but Practice is largely just for Practice’s sake. You do it because you can.
Because you want to.
Because you have to.
Because what you develop through Practice pays off when it’s time for “performance”, so to speak.
You don’t have to like Practice to get results. But you will have to do it.
Shit.
Om was The Word/
That still Occurs/
PeacePeacePeace…
Chathuranga Dandasana (Four-Limbed Stick Pose?!)- a staple of American Yoga.
In vinyasa classes all across the country, countless iterations of “high to low plank” are unfolding. In general, this is probably great news. However, there are surely some statistics to demonstrate at least some kind of measurable effect from all of these repetitions.
According to the ____, and certainly by my accounts as well, all this “Chathuranga” business is causing some injuries among the growing number of Americans attending yoga classes. Repetitive movements and stress on troublesome joints seem to be the most common culprits cited by the ____ percent of people who report having been injured as a result of their yoga practice.
While some people (high Pitta, anyone!?) truly thrive on the ecstatic and empowering action of holding (as well as flowing to, or through,) Chathuranga Dandasana, many Bodies simply don’t need that type of work. Indeed for those among the statistic, it has ultimately proven harmful.
Sometimes we allow the will of the Sangha to string us along. There are certainly instances when it helps to utilize that group energy to inspire and motivate our practice, but it’s useful to remember that Practice is about opportunity rather than obligation.
The “Chathuranga” flow in vinyasa class reminds me of the bottomless baskets of chips and salsa you sometimes get at a Mexican restaurant. You can eat to your Heart’s content, yet still more and more will keep coming. If you have a delicious entree in the kitchen though, you might not want to fill up on just chips and salsa.
I often find that during power-flow classes, even something basic such as a Corepower C1 class, I will politely decline some of the early refill offers on my chip-basket.
As I’m eating the main course, however, I will delightedly dip several chips at once and savor the crunch and the spice (if the salsa is sufficiently bold, that is!).
The unlimited-chips offer isn’t going to be rescinded if we don’t eat enough chips.
It isn’t a limited-time offer.
Chathuranga Dandasana isn’t going to vanish from Reality just because we decide to not play it on a loop.
Even if we’ve been modifying to the most gentle variation we can find, it’s fine to let a “Chathuranga” pass by; it might even feel sublime and divine.
If only once-in-a-while, enjoy the act of not-pushing, of not-racing.
When you partake of the Chathuranga Dandasana, be fully present and committed to it. If we’re careless with alignment and technique, it’s just as well to lay off.
Chathuranga on purpose, with Intention.
Or skip it, with that same purpose and Intention.
It comes back to the familiar refrain we’ve all heard, and many of us have said- “listen to your Body.”
When the Body is not craving chips, don’t eat chips. If the crunch of those tasty triangles is calling, then eat ’em all up!
The “Tai Chi Walking” exercise is well-known and widely-practiced.
A walking meditation…
It’s worth remembering that
what we’re really practicing
is a single Step.
Many times.
Returning
to the steadfast
wuji.
Yin-Yang-Yoga 