Categories: Teacher Experiences & Reflections
Stability in the World
By: Steve Ridley
Serene contentment in the midst of change is an attribute that T’ai Chi Chih practice helps cultivate. Our world is a manifestation of ever changing forces that are complementary and antagonistic and these forces are at work within each of us. Through T’ai Chi Chih we can achieve internal and external stability by balancing the activity of yin chi and yang chi.
Change is built into the fabric of nature, though there is a viewpoint that reveals this ongoing activity of opposites to be a united process that springs from pure, creative intelligence. This creative intelligence is referred to as the “Supreme Ultimate” in T’ai Chi terminology, and it is the only true stability. To know the Supreme Ultimate is the deepest aim of T’ai Chi Chih practice, and when this goal is realized, there is nothing else to be known, for within the Supreme Ultimate, the Essence, all is contained.
– Steve Ridley
Denver, CO
Topics: Chi and Intrinsic Energy, Chinese Roots, Deepening Practice, Heightened Awareness, Yin and Yang
Originally appeared in: Summer 1989