Let Our Practice Sing For Us

On New Year’s Eve day I asked my senior exercise classes what they hoped for in 2015. World peace was the second most popular answer after good health. This is such an overwhelming thought considering all the strife worldwide. A discussion ensued about how having the wish is not enough, that we should contribute or take an active part toward world peace. But how? A couple answers included “being loving” and “being peaceful in our own actions.”

I mentioned that I was working on not using the word hate, as in “I hate how that looks” or “I hate it when that happens” or “I hate that feeling.” The word can too easily pop out of my mouth, and so I am trying to be aware and turn the word hate into “dislike” or some other softer term. Saying hate puts an unsettling vibration into the ethers. The same goes with our actions. If they are violent I feel there is a release of energy that goes beyond the immediate surrounding action.

Mahatma Gandhi said,

Your beliefs become your thoughts,

Your thoughts become your words,

Your words become your actions,

Your actions become your habits,

Your habits become your values,

Your values become your destiny.

The future depends on what you do today.

When we do our T’ai Chi Chih practice we are working with energy, the life force of the universe. It is not something that is contained inside of us and stops at our skin. With regards to energy, we are permeable beings. As we move, not only do we begin to stimulate, circulate and balance energy within us, but we are also affecting the energy around us. As the vibratory influences of our practice build we are affecting energy far beyond our immediate vicinity. The circular soft movements, combined with our intention and focus, have an effect far beyond our individual self. We are creating vibrations that ripple outward.

If you think of our world, our universe, as one big web of threads of energy connecting everything and everyone, it would make sense that our actions tug at these threads and send vibrations along them. If the vibrations are fluid and harmonious a beautiful melody of love and joy and contentment can be felt.

I was in Jordan last month and part of the trip included a few days in the desert and staying in nomad-style camel hair tents. One night a couple of the men performed on handmade instruments and sang love songs. Then they asked if our group would like to reciprocate. My mind raced to find a song that would connect our worlds and I decided on Red River Valley. I explained through an interpreter (because they only spoke Arabic) about cowboys and how they live out in the countryside away from cities, as the Bedouin do, and that this was a love song. I said that the Red River Valley was different than their red cliffs and dessert but just as beautiful. They seem to appreciate the effort. The point is that love, beauty and kinship know no boundaries.

As a community of TCC practitioners, let us make 2015 a time more harmonious and beautiful by sending peaceful vibrations along the threads of life surrounding us. Let our practice sing for us. Share the song of peace and love through our actions. As Justin wrote in the Photo Text, “If enough people do T’ai Chi Chih we might even have peace and love in the world.”