Monday, 26 May 2025

Beyond the surface

Tai chi has again delivered some great lessons this week. 

White stork spreads its wings has not felt good for a while now. What I thought was more of a timing issue turns out to be more of an issue with releasing. After talking with Sifu Dennis I quickly realized what was missing. I’d been too focused on releasing my hands and lost sight of the fact they are connected to my arms, shoulders etc. I wasn't committing to the release. it was definitely a aha… duh, me moment. In a good, way! 

This has also led me to thinking and evolving my understanding of contraction and expansion, both internal and external. When I apply my new understanding of releasing and incorporating more of the body, I realized this will also naturally improve contraction and expansion and flow.


Sunday, 18 May 2025

Life is Beautiful

A friend commented recently that life is art. And that got me to thinking about how truly beautiful life is. I found that as I reflected on this, my awareness and appreciation grew and I could sense the beauty of life expanding and growing inside me. I felt gratitude and grounded and that in itself is a huge gift.

This feels especially important right now because having gratitude and feeling grounded is helping me to better navigate my life and the world around me. You see, my feelings are really all over the place lately. There are times when I feel a zen like quality to my life filled with peace, joy and contentment and then other times when I feel a bit at odds with many things. It feels as if I'm on a path of awakening and having a difficult time letting go of what was and navigating the ongoing expectations of our western culture. 

I know there are time frames in my day where I’ve allowed mediocrity to creep in, but even when Mastery feels like an uphill battle, it is still there and has not been forgotten or set aside. Every positive choice I make keeps me on the right path.

These past few weeks I’ve had to really push myself to blog. What keeps me going is knowing how well it has served me and keeps me anchored. I know If I allowed myself to stop I would be left with big gaps making it even harder to move forward and as I've said many times before I would not be where I am today without the blogging. 

I could allow myself to focus on only the zen like quality to my life and completely ignore the areas I'm struggling with, but I know if I was to do that it would feel like I was taking many steps backwards. Obstacles, distractions and struggles are all opportunities for learning and growth. My dog trainer reminded me of this recently. 

There are no wrong choices, only different paths and timeframes to get to our destinations so I will continue to reflect and search out answers to questions I'm not fully aware of and explore this beautiful life I'm living. 

This is currently my Kung Fu!


Sunday, 11 May 2025

The Power of Eyes


Use your eyes! Look in the direction you are intending to go, is something we hear often from our instructors. So this is not a new concept and I know it has succeeded in planting some seeds. It is because of those seeds that I am able to make my own discoveries and nurture what has already been planted. 

Practicing Tai Chi in class a few months ago is when I first consciously chose to pause during a transition and look in the direction I was about to go. It was during a tricky transition and for some reason out of the blue a past lesson came to mind. I know I shouldn’t be surprised, but wow.. , looking in the direction I was intending to travel made a positive impact. 

I am learning that making use of the eyes needs to be done with the correct timing. If I don’t commit to the previous move before changing the trajectory of my eyes, the desired or optimal results are not the same. I have found that when using my eyes with intent and proper timing, it actually helps to naturally engage the six harmonies and facilitate transitions and better technique. And I've been able to connect and experience the power of my eyes during sections of all of my forms. There is still lots of work to be done and I'm sure more exciting discoveries to be made.

Sunday, 4 May 2025

Change Is In The Air

Change is in the air. It's everywhere in some form or other. 

Change has become a big aspect of my life lately. It has and is playing a huge role in my personal life, various aspects of work, family and kung fu. I feel as if I've been bombarded with changes this year. A constant barrage of stuff to deal with. The work changes are the most challenging for me. And even worse I know I've been here many times before. Just stop already! Ugh...! 

When it comes to my personal life, I find it a bit easier to adapt to change. Most likely this is because I am my own boss and therefore feel I have more control, especially when the change is a personal choice or  created by me. Even with outside factors at play there is a measure of control in how I respond or react and how I take care of myself all within a safe space.

When it comes to change in and around the workplace, it can feel like things are unsettled. And when I think on this, I feel there is a component of vulnerability and sometimes even a fear of the unknown depending on the circumstances. This can create a feeling of lack of control, which I can see now has caused me in the past to resist. Being in a place of resisting and reacting makes it much more difficult to respond in a healthy way and find ways to adapt. 

What's made a difference this time around was my awareness of this as a repetitive lesson and having dealt with similar issues and feelings. It started with the awareness and then continued to build with some reflection. At first there was a bit of initial frustration having to deal with a repetitive life lesson specifically around work changes and then as I sat and considered the situation I was able to come up with a course of action. I was able to focus on responding versus reacting, which helped me to take back some control. It isn't about having control over the situation or others, rather it has been about finding my voice and speaking up in a calm and measured manner. I'm still learning that in order to set some boundaries, I first have to be clear about what those boundaries are. 

We all have life lessons that seem to be on repeat. Learning, personal growth and getting stuck more often than not are all part of our human experience. It's those repeat lessons that can be the most frustrating and also provide a huge positive impact in our lives when we put in effort and do the necessary work.


Full circle

When I think about coming full circle I appreciate the paths taken and distance travelled. I also appreciate where I am today as a result an...