A Moving Mantra

A mantra can be a sacred verbal formula using words or vibration as a spiritual conduit. Continuously repeated, a mantra can instill a one-pointed concentration allowing the release of extraneous thoughts. Using a mantra can transform our awareness of the small self, the every day person we usually identify with, to the Self, that which is connected to All, the Divine that is in all of us, the universal life force, that essence of something greater than us. Name it what you will.

T’ai Chi Chih is a mantra using the body. We do not engage the mind with concepts, thoughts, or desires. We use no words, other than in the Six Healing Sounds. We move with awareness, a soft alertness, not spacing out and without mental engagement. We allow our attention to remain low, on the tan t’ien or the soles of the feet, giving the mind a one-pointed concentration.

TCC is the formula and our bodies the tool. As we repeat the movements over and over again, the world we live in melts away and is replaced with gratitude, a sense of peace, joy, acceptance of all that is – without judgment, an openness, and a vast feeling of love. We are not aware of these feelings at the time because the mind is still and not engaged. Often it is after practice that we recognize how we feel.

Doing TCC our movement becomes a mantra of the body. Each repetition affords us an opportunity to be a bit softer, to let go of one more thought, to feel the flow of effortless movement. As the external melts away we open to the inner world of spirit. In the movement and stillness that is TCC, this body mantra has become a spiritual conduit for us.