Dedicated to Great Grandmaster Willem Reeder (Liu Siong)
photo from http://www.tibetantaichi.com/LiuSeong.htm
Relaxed Awake is a general attitude toward being, however we are discussing an attitude with Tai Chi practice in mind.
Relaxed Awake
Movement timed to our breath.
Counting breaths, measuring time,
For each stance, each moment, shifting.
Each stance only a temporary milestone,
Along a long journey of 108 Long Form kata.
Movement happening in a relaxed manner.
Not-holding, embracing, stillness, a pause.
Not-pushing, feeling volume, allowing space.
Not-pulling, connecting, centering inward.
Tension and compression always coexist.
Balancing tension and compression,
Being the synthesis of cohesion.
Being fully awake each moment,
Is all that is needed to
Maintain balance.
Physical form ebbs and flows, always cycling. Round and round she goes, where she stops no one knows.
Stance flows into stance and there exists a pause between. That's the wide open door right before it closes. Or, the fully closed door right before it opens. The opening at the end of the Blue Tube Ojai Portal.
The pause right after in-breath and right before out-breath is different yet similar to the pause right after out-breath and right before in-breath. Observe this difference from complete breath to complete breath, multiple times in a row and achieve Heightened Awareness.
As the kata progresses through 108 stances, it is joined by relaxation and awareness. The intrinsic nature of breathing overrides willfulness. The breath slows down on it's own. The mind settles and movement tends to Stillness.
Breath is the ever-cycling junction between self and other -- between our individual mind/body/spirit and the greater Universe Of All Existence.
By itself, the kata slows down always, never done slowing down (Hexagram 64). Observant consciousness (different from controling consciousness) relaxes control, but at the same time becomes more awake. Relaxed Awake Tai Chi.
The system which slows down informs a self-governing process. If the observer/performer is successful in Turning The Light Around, then powerful life-energy pours forth from the Fountain Of Youth.
In other words, the physical body has an innate ability to slow itself down when our mental complex releases control and observes our inner processes with continuous, un-interrupted attention. The observed lengthening of intervals influences conscious processes in general. Stillness increases for all processes at the root. Profound stillness opens etheric channels of communication with the Essence Of Life.
Ultimately the kata performs as a self-governing feedback loop resulting in an increased flow of life-energy accompanied by bliss, peaceful mind and healthy body. Relaxed Awake Tai Chi.
Karma Lodro Gyaltsen
Tom Greenbaum
20201104
