In Toronto, meditation means sitting in silence on a cushion. But in Tai Chi practice, meditation is very different.
The Breath Set at Rising Sun beautifully lays out the basic principles of our work. In the third round, we hear the instructions, “Mind and breath to center; eyes to hands”. When Sifu taught this to me as an instructor, he explained that this brings focused intention to the interior (mind and breath to center) and then to the exterior (eyes to hands).
Back and forth. Interior. Breath in. Exterior. Follow hands.
Sifu went on to explain that this is characteristic of Daoist meditation. That familiar cushion sitting style of meditation is an entirely interior focus. The internal-external meditation in Tai Chi gets your mind and your body on the same page. But that page is moving, constantly opening and closing, just like we are throughout our regular day-to-day.
For years, the meditative aspect of Tai Chi did not click with me. It felt like there were so many things to pay attention to that my mind was constantly roaming through my body. And then it would still get distracted and roam out to think the usual scattered, mundane thoughts.
Then I read a tiny line in the Taijiquan Jing* that unlocked the door.
“The qi is excited. The spirit is gathered within.”
The qi is excited means there is movement. Forward, backward, left, right, up, down. The body is free to move in all the ways it can. This is the exterior. When we say, “Eyes to hands,” it is to bring awareness to this movement.
The spirit gathered within is the phrase that first caught my attention. It is the phrase I have to remind myself over and over again as I practice the form. Spirit, at least as its described in Chinese medicine, is the kind of awareness or consciousness that is innate to all living things. I have also heard Sifu describe it the ability to be inspired and to envision the future.
We could write a whole book on this idea of gathering the spirit within. It is a central part of maintaining health and longevity in the classics of Chinese medicine. But rather than sit here and ramble on about it, I will simply leave you with those words. Take them in your way. Meditate on them. Repeat them in our mind as you practice your form, and as you walk down the sidewalk.
Gather the spirit within
Gather within
Within
∞
* The Taijiquan Jing is one of the Tai Chi Classics, a collection of short writings on the principles of Tai Chi practice.
Henry Claflin is an instructor at Rising Sun School and an apprentice to Sifu Paul McCaughey. He has a private acupuncture practice in downtown Toronto.