Healing Hamilton

Assisting you on your path to physical, emotional, mental and spiritual well being.


Friday, May 6, 2011

Watcha doin'?

"Watcha doin'" has got to be the most common question we ask others.  And when we're asked ourselves, we'll take time out of our busy schedule to answer.  "Oh" we say "I finally got the garage cleaned out.  And I  took all those books over to my neighbours yard sale.  I've just finished washing the car and now I'm driving the kids to soccer practice."  A typical Saturday?  Too bad!


In my opinion, our rush-about society puts far too much emphasis on doing.  We need more practice at just "being".  I know there's a lot of pressure not to be idle, not to waste time, to squeeze in just one more thing between finishing the laundry and putting the kids to bed.  So how do we make time to just "be"?

Sneak it in!  Hide it in the doing!  A great way to accomplish this is through Tai Chi. 

 
Tai Chi takes a lot of doing at first.  You attend classes to learn the postures and the names of the movements.  Depending on the form of Tai Chi you choose, you'll have between 30 - 100 movements to learn.  Memorizing the sequence can take some time, but once you've got it, you can start to focus on the application of the movements (remember Tai Chi is a martial art!).   Then, with continued practice Tai Chi becomes moving meditation.   As you learn to relax your mind and rely on muscle memory, the movements begin to gently flow one into the other.  The doing seems to melt away, leaving only the being. (It sounds wonderful because it is!)

So from the outside, people can see you're busy doing...attending classes, performing the sequence, applying the postures.  But on the inside your meditating, relaxing, just being....it's the perfect cover.

7 comments:

  1. There's a reason we're called human BEINGS, after all...

    As far as I'm concerned, "doing" is just the noise a bell makes :-P

    And the Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, wisely wrote that one who speaks loudly but without love is only a tolling bell. Love is in Being, and Being is in the Moment. Love is the hic-stans and the nunc-stans, the endless eternal Here and Now.

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  2. @Karen Walker - it's ubiquitous! Yes, Tai Chis is a great way to focus energy. It was through Tai Chi that I came into the healing energy arts.

    @Mojo - LOL at turning "doing" into a one syllable word. And a great segue into a thought provoking comment - thanks.

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  3. This sounds so familiar. For me, it is not Tai Chi, but Running. When I run, everything is almost automatic, so the mind escapes from the body and goes on its own wanderings. I am seen as doing something, but only I know that what I am doing is actually meditating.

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  4. I agree; everyone should find some way to relax. Whether it's Tai Chi or Chai Tea (or Thai food), our society has to remember to take a breather once in a while. I'll leave the meditation for others, but I really could use a nap...

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  5. @Rayna Natasha Iyer - yes, it does sound like we're experiencing the same thing... just using a different tool to get there.

    @Nate Wilson - a nap is always a welcome idea.

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  6. hello - thanks for the comment and follow. I have been off here for a whole so sorry not to respond until now. Glad you survived the challenge. I will be following in about 2 secs.

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  7. @David L. Macaulay - thanks - every new follower is much appreciated!

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