Soften Into the New Year

I frequently recall a phrase in my own practice, Justin Stone’s reminder that “softness means lack of tension.” As I think about a New Year resolution that might help my practice, I set my intention for more “letting go.” More softness means greater Chi flow.

I continue to discover that during a weight shift, the leg and knee receiving the weight often becomes the culprit for holding surreptitious tension, which in turn causes the upper body to be less soft or tense up.

T’ai Chi Chih and Seijaku provide us with helpful analogies to life’s resistances. Recently, one Seijaku Zoom course participant shared how Seijaku had allowed a new breaking through resistance to a willing to let go and grieve a loss after many years of side-stepping this process. They believed this had caused health issues during those years.

As a possible antidote, I suggest a keener awareness of the knee of the leg receiving the weight, and more consciously feeling how that knee is letting go from the very beginning of that weight shift and continuing through to its completion. Is it softening/letting go, or is it tensing up? A leaning torso and a stiffened pelvis can be caused by stiffening/tensing of the supporting knee.

Try this to begin to expand awareness: At the start of the forward weight shift (or side-to-side), feel as if that knee is leading the weight shift, like the horse gracefully and effortlessly pulling the sleigh. On the back weight shift, feel if the tail bone is leading the body in the backward glide. Does that back leg begin folding (i.e. knee releasing) immediately? Does it continue to do so to the end of the weight shift? When the weight is fully back, on a relaxed leg and knee, it feels like sitting in a comfortable chair.

More simply put, feeling the knee as letting go and softening, rather than bending more or bending sooner, is a more useful and helpful awareness.