Embracing Emptiness

The pandemic and an especially long, cold winter in Minnesota this past year certainly were challenging times. I noticed many people around me so unhappy, uncomfortable, depressed, and impatient in this time of isolation and emptiness. But I noticed that I did not feel that way. Did my T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) practice help me be more comfortable in that quiet space?

I found myself hearing that still small voice which led me in new directions in my textile design work. I had been too busy with busyness to hear it before. My TCC practice became deeper than ever. Teaching on Zoom became a real joy as my students shared profound wisdom and became connected spiritually as never before. That empty time was really not empty at all.

Justin wrote in his book, Spiritual Odyssey: “Within this emptiness is a circle, and within the circle are the mountains and lakes. There is nothing empty about emptiness!”

While studying Japanese Flower Arrangement we learned that in an arrangement the empty space, or ma, is more important than what is actually there because the empty space gives the viewer a chance to use his or her imagination to fill in the blanks. 

Lao Tzu wrote in the Tao Te Ching:

Thirty spokes join together in the hub.

It is because of what is not there that the cart is useful.

Clay is formed into a vessel.

It is because of its emptiness that the vessel is useful.

Cut doors and windows to make a room.

It is because of its emptiness that the room is useful.

Therefore, what is present is used for profit.

But it is in absence that there is usefulness.

How does our TCC practice help us to embrace this emptiness? While it can be discussed on an intellectual level our practice trains us to embody it. We don’t have to think. We just feel it and learn to yield to it.

The transitions in our movements from front to back, side to side, up and down, and movement to movement, are all places to which we can pay attention. By really slowing down at those times we begin to feel that empty space, like the space between our inhale and exhale, that space we do not own or control. By lingering in that space, we begin to feel something else moving us, rather than us forcing the movement. We wait, suspended like a huge pendulum, before moving back again. In that space we find the universal, God, the Tao, the Holy Spirit, whatever you choose to call it. We yield to that force, move in unison with it, let it lead us rather than us forcing it and being the one “in charge.”

When we learn to be in that emptiness and yield to the universe we are flowing with the vital force, riding the waves, getting rid of all artificial manipulation. It feels delicious and can yield profound results. Why not give it a try?

As I write this summary of my conference presentation my husband has just tested positive for COVID-19. Sigh… guess there is more emptiness ahead, but I’m ready for it.

Pyramid Poems

thoughts

be like

passing clouds

and do not stay

to block the

light of

Chi

— Sally

sun

water

seedlings feeds

lovely flower

it’s fragrance

rewards

all

— Susan Pedersen

I

open

my mind to

t’ai chi chih and

welcome the

flow of

Chi

— Mary Doucette

move

slowly

shifting weight

patience – patience

floating gait

soundless

mind

— Carolyn Powell

clouds

floating

billowing

building skyward

ominous

rainfall

life

— John Payette

I

need t’ai

chi chih as

a way of life

to help me

just let

go

— Bobbie Weichman

a

spirit

enlightened

like a bird seeks

nourishment

shelter

god

— Ramona Z.

hands

moving

gracefully

one high one low

circular

balance

Chi

— Marcia H.

white

puffy

flexibly

sailing across

the vast sky

passing

clouds

— Jan K.

blooms

explode

amidst green

impressionists

golden

glow

joy

— Jan K.