Tai Chi Bloggin' - What 4?

OK, I know of some tai chi-ers who would never ever want to read any of these blogs, or any other tai chi blog. It’s an experiential thing and words just don’t cut it. Tai chi is not verbal. I basically agree with that assumption. It’s all in the doing.

In general, in life, I love to argue and be right. Convincing you of my rightness is great fun. But in tai chi, especially with this blog, I’m not really interested in being right or being wrong. I’m not interested in pitting my opinion against your opinion, as if the holder of the best opinion makes you better somehow, or me less somehow. I basically assume many statements today will be altered tomorrow. This is but a moment’s observation that I’m enjoying.

How often are conversations a battle of words? “I think/feel the sky is blue.” “Well I see/feel the sky as red.” And it ends right there. We agree to disagree. I have my opinion. You have yours. No one died, but this is not so interesting is it?

Another verbal game is the battle of the info-maniacs. The person with more information and data is the winner here. This is a bit better I think because at least you learn something factual. Perhaps. Facts are always clothed in context and context can be harder to express or even hard to see in many cases. I have looked at various narratives, personal and not personal, only to see it later in a completely different light. My contextual awareness changed and I was forced to arrive at a different conclusion. In the battle of the facts, you may be ignoring emotions aroused in yourself or the other person. (Self recognition pains me here!)

By expressing my tai chi opinions, I want you to explore better approaches or new attitudes in practicing tai chi. They can be my ideas, or they can be completely different ideas. Perhaps my idea has sparked yours. New views lead to new things to try in tai chi practice.

You may think my idea is all wrong. Some would end the conversation right then and there and feel some sort of satisfaction. Nope, this is not the point. I’d hope your next step is to discover what you think you should be doing and then go out and prove your point by practicing it. Tai chi, in part, is about moving forward. I hope my words stimulate some action, or a change in the way you work with others. I want them to be tested in your body, not rejected in your mind. Or even accepted in your mind. Prove it in your body. Or disprove it in your body. Explore, discover, verify.

Then we have something to offer each other when we share our words and experience. And so it goes.

That’s my idea of play.