Energy in Motion

In his explorations of the imagery of his dreams, he comes to an understanding that the outer world and the inner world reflect each other. This is  one of the premises of both the I Ching and our Taijiquan form. He talks about his prophetic dreams of Europe covered with blood and ice dreamed in 1913 before the First World War. He realizes that if he can dream about such devastation it is part of his psyche and so part of him. He takes responsibility for the murder for it is the killing of the other, the non acceptance of that part within us and exporting it into external reality. We are all participants for we are exporting that part outside of us instead of welcoming it inside. If there is greed and wanting something for nothing in our society we have to accept our own greed. Not deny it or suppress it but acknowledge it and integrate it. Let it find it’s rightful place. That idea of dealing with the outside from within has always drawn me to Jung’s work but now through Taijiquan I understand it better. I feel my jealousy, my wanting the easy way , my competitiveness. They are  within me. It echos the idea of Jihad in Islam but mostly connects  me to the Taijiquan form.

In the form, the first part creates the basis of our practice. We learn to relax, to root, to move from the center, change directions, to listen, to fill and empty. Many of the basic applications are also apparent – moving out of the way; the importance of the legs and the unimportance of the arms and many more – all can be taught in the first part. We ground ourselves in the principles, and then are ready to move into the second part of the form to Embrace the Tiger and Bring it back into the Mountain.  One of my students, a wonderful and perceptive martial artist who uses Taijiquan in sparring said that the second part seemed dangerous to him, too risky to use. It needs a deeper level of Sung, the sinking into the Tan Tien and the root, and the unifying principles of Taiji.

As I have come to understand it, one of the many layers of interpretation of the second part of the form is about engaging with the tiger. The tiger in China symbolizes Yin, the earth energy, our unconscious. We embrace it at the beginning of the second part, embracing that which we see as the other, but is really our own inner turmoil. We then move through all these very difficult postures and applications that challenge our ability to stay soft and relaxed. I tend to tell my students that the middle part of the form is the chi breaker for it is so hard for a beginner to do without tensing up and disrupting the flow of chi. But when we have mastered these parts we come to the last few postures of the form. We learn to Ride the Tiger,  to subdue and guide our inner nature. And before the closure we Shoot the Tiger We have overcome our inner adversity and it is gone, in the one part of the form where the eye focuses away and moves the energy out. Then we are again in peace and stillness.

It seems appropriate to post this with the entrance of the year of the tiger.

Happy New year to all. May we have happiness and prosperity and many tigers to embrace.

This image of yang within yin is the trigram of water in the I-Ching, symbolizing darkness and danger, emptiness, a pit, water flowing through a gorge. There is  hidden power in water, so resilient and soft yet when brought together so very dangerous. The power of Taiji as a martial art is in this secret danger, the hidden movement of the legs while the arms softly guide the opposing energy,  that inner core of power surrounded by softness.

It seems to me, after years of teaching, that this journey to a soft exterior and strong interior is different for men and women, though there are many exceptions. For most men the natural state is to be yang and strong on the outside, for them the idea of relaxing, letting go, becoming soft is the first issue at hand. The process is almost one of condensation, of taking this outer hardness and through rooting and form removing it from the extremities and into the center; creating a beautiful ladies hand, loose shoulders, a calm and peaceful demeanor. This is the path of becoming truly a gentle man.

For most women and for some men who are gentle to begin with the path is different. They are already soft, their limbs loose. In practice they usually need some adjusting and some removal of a buildup of emotional armor but the main development needs to be that inner core of power, that cord of steel that pulls us up towards heaven.

Where does that yang come from and how is it developed? I find myself still grappling with this. I find in me a certain fear of power, of winning, a certain willingness to acquiesce to the people and situations around me that might seem to accord with the principles of Taiji of staying soft and following, but lacks that center core of yang. In the end one tends to give power to the other person or situation instead of being able to use their power to neutralize their attacks. Another attitude that women use is to become stronger on the outside, to compete with men at their own game of outer yang but that too is not the way of Taiji.

How does one cultivate strength of spirit and that inner core of power? As I look at my own process it involves much stillness and meditation, a moving into my center not from the outside in but from the earth up. The inner core is already there. It needs to be acknowledged and nourished, a gentleness of spirit that leads to willpower and the ability to act positively in the world and defeat those that act against us from within.

And even as I write this I find the whole idea of defeat to be abhorrant for the natural inclination of yin is to create harmony and not defeat.