Seek Peace Within

Justin Stone has often said that the interior landscape is far more vast than anything in the material world.

This statement may not make sense to people who focus on acquiring things to validate their sense of self-worth. Perhaps this statement doesn’t even register on society’s radar screen, where much of the focus is external on bigger, better, and faster and on buying even more stuff.

The frenzied pace of the world seems to be sweeping people into a river of chaos, confusion, fear, unhappiness, uncertainty and imbalance. Stress and burnout seem to be THE NORM.

What are we to do to keep up and survive as we continue to gobble up life? This continual fast pace is taking a toll on us as individuals, as a society, as a nation, and as a planet.

Let’s consider that perhaps the world has gotten into such an extreme state of madness and turmoil because of the cumulative effect of several billion individuals’ dissatisfaction and inner turmoil. Imagine that the current state of the planet is simply a mirror image of the cumulative inner landscape of billions of people! The violence and aggression in the world reflects the violence and aggression within us as individuals. How many people can truly look in the mirror and feel love and acceptance for themselves? How many of us are self-critical and judgmental? Aren’t these forms of violence? How many of us add stress to our bodies through consumption of alcohol, sugar, caffeine, nicotine and a poor diet? Aren’t these forms of pollution? How many people are battling illness and disease? Doesn’t this sound like war?

What can we DO to s-l-o-w d-o-w-n and savor life? We can start first by BEING rather than DOING. Practicing the T’ai Chi Chih form in a mindful manner is an excellent way to begin to slow down and get in touch with our inner landscapes.

Additionally, reminding our T’ai Chi Chih students (and ourselves) to return the attention to the soles of the feet and take a deep breath, gently allows us to bring our focus to the present moment. The habits of worrying about the future and obsessing about the past often melt away over time, as we repeatedly focus on the moment and breathe deeply. We begin to concentrate on our interior landscape. After experiencing an hour or so of quiet, we begin to get in touch with those areas that are out of balance. As the mind begins to quiet down, the body follows and becomes relaxed (and vice versa). It is common for tension, stress and worries to fall away.

Many people are amazed when they experience feelings of peace and quiet during a T’ai Chi Chih class. Such feelings are often a dramatic contrast to what they are used to experiencing. Eventually this peaceful and quiet awareness spreads into our lives as we practice daily, the T’ai Chi Chih form.

Imagine feelings of peace and quiet BEING THE NORM in our lives, in our society, in our nation and on our planet! Is it crazy to think that the condition of the planet is just a mirror of our cumulative inner landscape? Who knows? But wouldn’t it be nice for each of us to contribute to peace by starting within?