Distracted By Counting

Something wonderful just happened. A few weeks ago I discovered my cable TV had a soundscapes station with excellent music to accompany my T’ai Chi Chih practice. I now listen to music, face a window overlooking trees, start to move and count. It was the counting that used to bother my practice. My meditation classes are geared to stilling the mind, and I wanted that when I practiced the movements.

This morning as I was listening to the music, facing the window and counting, I suddenly realized I was looking out a window with eight panes. If I moved my eyes from pane to pane and added one more I could listen to the music, do the movements, and still my mind … which freed it to focus on grounding and gently moving. I remember my teacher using trees as a guide for us being rooted. It might have been my imagination but as I took the Cosmic Consciousness Pose (unhampered by counting) I was more fully aware of the tree and its stability. Concentrating on that, I held the pose longer than my usual nine seconds. But then again, I wasn’t counting. But it felt longer.

By Mary Tafoya, Westminster, Colorado

Circle moving

front to back

side to side

hands and bodies

moving in unison

energy moving

Chi flowing

breathing deeply

a disparate group

of people

moving

as ONE.

Slowly breathing

in and out

softly moving

front-to-back

side-to-side

consistently

leading from

the tan t’ien

bending the knees

and elbows

moving gently and softly

energy moving

Chi flowing.

Chi

Energy

Gentle strength

flowing in

stillness and

Peace.