Anchored In Awareness (November 2008)

Our lives are full of harsh, hurried, and stressful situations. T’ai Chi Chih provides the balance by bringing softness and lightness into our lives.

In our TCC practice it’s important to balance the softness of the practice with focused attention. If the mind is allowed to wander, the Chi may rise, giving way to ungrounded movements. I’ve experienced this when doing a lot of TCC at workshops or annual conferences, where I have been distracted and not kept my attention fully present and inwardly focused. It results in headaches, lightheadedness, giddiness, and unwise decision-making. When our attention is focused below the waist, it draws the energy downward and promotes grounding.

Softness is not completely limp and without form. A certain amount of effort is used to shape the movements. And if the legs were completely soft we could not stand. So it is with our mental attention. We do not rigidly fix our attention on one spot, working to have no thoughts or trying to empty our minds. We work with our concentration to keep the mind inwardly focused, attentive but not grasping. The mind is alert, fully present, but it is not a calculating, judging, or questioning mind. It is a feeling, aware, and observant mind.

It takes effort and dedication to delve deep into the heart of TCC. When first learning the practice we are mostly concerned about how to physically do the moves: Are we soft; do we flow; are we doing the movements correctly; are we completing the weight shift? After learning the outer form, so to speak, our attention is free to move inward. We begin to work with concentration and the mind.

At this point we need to do very little. The body remains soft and undemanding, responsive to the mind. Through awareness, our body is reminded to stay soft and open. Through awareness, we maintain our grounding connection, feeling rooted in the soles of our feet. The body has already been taught these lessons. Our focused attention gives reminders to the body to respond. We do not have to do anything. Just allow.

Training the mind to keep it focused and not let it wander in a hundred directions is part of the practice of TCC. Sometimes we might want to drift off into nothingness, leaving behind our worries, but we always have to come back to here-and-now. Nothing will be changed; we will have only escaped from our problems for a short time. But if we do TCC with full awareness, staying grounded, then the Chi has a chance to flow, balance, and begin to bring change into our lives. Justin Stone has often mentioned about the many letters he has received from TCC practitioners stating that TCC has changed their lives.

TCC is a soft and yielding practice. Yielding the mind to stillness rather than chatter. Yielding to inwardly listening. Allowing the body to be moved by the flow of the Chi rather than trying to do it right. But the practice is anchored through grounding and awareness. Delve deeper. There is always more to learn. There is always less to do.