Graceful Conclusion (February 2023)

Justin often said, “We come back to a graceful conclusion,” when ending a set of movement repetitions. When I was first learning T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) I did not feel graceful, so this phrasing kind of annoyed me. I did recognize we were concluding a particular movement set, but the word conclusion felt too final to me to use it every time when finishing a set of repetitions. It felt more like it should be used at the end of the whole practice, bringing the whole practice to a graceful conclusion. Now that I could get behind.

Over the years I have used various phrases at the end of a movement set — “return to stillness,” “close,” “flow back to stillness,” “bring the movement to an end,” “last one.” There never seemed to be one phrase that fit each time.

Words are powerful. Words connect with our senses. If someone says, “my roses are just coming into full bloom in my garden,” we each have a picture of what that might look like with its colors and shapes. But we also might remember smelling roses and even though there isn’t a scent at the moment, our body reacts with a smile of remembrance and a good feeling of that deep inhalation and trying to categorize a flower’s particular smell: floral, sweet, woodsy.

Words make us feel not just do. Graceful, flowing, slow-motion are all feeling words. Just saying these words not only represents an action, as moving slowly or moving in an even fashion (flowing). They also have a feel connection for us. For teachers it is important to consider the words we use. Do they really express what we are trying to get across to students?

Maybe there was a particular feeling Justin was trying to convey with his closing phrase? Even if one doesn’t feel graceful when closing, maybe hearing the word “graceful” will transmit the feeling we want to emulate. Maybe just hearing the words we will be more graceful, soft, and conscious of how we close. Maybe hearing the word “conclusion” will help us let go — be in the present, concluding the movement being performed and not moving onto the next but really letting go into the present ending, not in the past, not yet moving onto the next movement. It is important in that ending time to be fully present in the stillness and sink downward grounding, physically and mentally.

When practicing with Justin he often seemed to conclude with a thud, really ending the repetitions with a forceful downward drop, bending the knees. There was a sense of continuity, but it was not slow and graceful like a ballerina’s movements. He ended the movements with finality. Maybe the thud I felt was his way of saying “get down, feel this, be here, pay attention.”

Maybe this is too much, as Justin called it, “tearing the wings off of the butterfly,” analyzing too much. But that is my nature. I would like to hear from other teachers who worked with Justin how they interpret “graceful conclusion.” Did Justin ever talk about those words? Please continue this discussion by sharing your thoughts in The Vital Force for the next issue.

I would also like to ask that all practitioners of TCC explore that time between movements. Are you really sinking down, bending the knees? (There is no need to stay in a deep knee bend but following Justin’s example we should bend more than just a bit initially.) Are you fully present, not in past or future? Have you let go completely? Explore the graceful conclusion.

Soft Words

Reflections on experiences noticed during TCC practice, or food for contemplation.

Lisa Stroyan, Fort Collins, Colorado

If softness feels like stability

And surrender is arriving, not falling

Working is without effort,

And flowing is through stillness

Then I am like air,

I am like water

I am filled with sunshine

And anchored like home.

If the expansion is all encompassing,

and contraction not empty nor hard;

and circularity arises out of center…

Can words convey the meaning of Chi?