It was a lovely morning for tranquillity in motion by the lagoon at Dee Why today even with the chilly wind blowing in from the west. One practitioner said it was 5 degrees earlier in the morning, and it didn’t seem to be too much higher at 7.30 when I arrived for Tai Chi Sword either!
The bird wildlife down there is always impressive and today two Willie Wagtails played near us again. Are we observing the birds or are they observing us doing tai chi? We should be more like the birds, graceful, effortless, spontaneous. Their presence reminds me of the Taoist philosophy to be free as a bird, free of the dusty world that we live in. It is easy to feel that way while you are doing Tai Chi.
For the last two sessions we have been trying to focus more deeply on some specific tai chi movements, to be more mindful and conscious of where certain postures have strength and where that strength merges into weakness. We are experiencing this with the transitions into and out of the posture “Asking the Question”. Keeping the mind, body and energy integrated is the key, more easily said than done.
Happy practising.
AUG
2012
About the Author:
Tina Barry started learning tai chi in 1994. She became very interested and fascinated with tai chi having found a great and wonderful teacher, Grandmaster Ho Lo at the Tai Chi College of Australia. Tina has continued to study tai chi intensively under the guidance of Grandmaster Ho Lo since that time. Grandmaster Ho Lo’s understanding and teaching of the art of tai chi is deeply profound and Tina has grown, developed and nurtured her own immense appreciation for it with the aid of his incredible teaching. Tina’s understanding of the subtlties of tai chi continue to develop under Grandmaster Ho Lo's patient guidance. It seems the more she learns, the more there is to appreciate and understand and Grandmaster Ho Lo’s intensive teaching has remained inexhaustible after all these years. On occassion Grandmaster Ho Lo allows Tina to lead the students at the Tai Chi College of Australia through the tai chi form, appreciating her expression of tai chi. Sometimes Tina thinks perhaps she is getting it right!