Musings on Softness (November 2010)

“It is the absence of any pressure, moving slow motion in a dream, that allows softness to prevail.” It didn’t quite work that way at the start but softness is prevailing. In May 2009 I herniated a disc that would take until December to right itself. During that time T’ai Chi Chih was often one of the few things that brought relief. My practice took on a whole new dimension of softness as I sought to relieve the pressure and the pain that had become such the “new normal” for my lower body.

In early July 2010 something else triggered a fresh flare up, and four weeks later it still gives new meaning to moving “slow motion as in a dream.” Tonight, I’ve been sitting at length rereading recent Vital Force articles on softness. As I gingerly rise I am keenly aware of the softness in my moving … though more to avoid pressure rather than due to the absence of any pressure. My lower body is clearly guiding the movement rather than my head. I could even sense that my tan t’ien was leading.

Later I went for a leisurely walk through a wooded trail, ending up in a tiny clearing by a lake dotted with ducks. Before long I was drawn into another TCC practice, flowing with the ripples the ducks were making on the water. Blue sky dotted with tiny passing clouds, a cooling breeze, the earth beneath my feet, a radiant sun above and greenery abounding … it all left me feeling both grounded and lifted high – softly cradled and flowing, feeling something else deep inside me soften and let go a little more. Absence of pressure indeed, allowing softness to prevail. Savoring the experience. Funny how life’s challenges have a way of bringing us back, to quote T.S. Eliot, such that “we know the place as if for the first time.”