Practicing
Did you practice today? My teacher talks about the 5 W’s of practice.
- Who is practicing?
- Where do you practice?
- When do you practice?
- What do you practice?
- Why are you practicing?
My answers:
Why? Because it feels good
to me - even on the days when it doesn’t. Also, I want the benefits of the practice, so I know that I must actually
practice in order to get the benefits.
What? I practice standing,
and I practice the form, and I pay attention to sections that feel off and then I practice them some more until they
feel easier. And I practice drills – sometimes partner drills which is really hard because I have to know what I am
doing since my imaginary partner only knows as much as I do. And then sometimes I just move where and how the spirit
the moves me and if starts to not feel like tai chi, I bring it back – but sometimes too, I don’t even – I just keep
on moving.
When? When I can. When
I was working and commuting 80 hours a week, I woke fifteen or 30 minutes early and practiced every morning, and again for
30 minutes most evenings. Now, I practice in the middle of the day, after my morning wake-up ritual and before I head out
to teach or work out with friends. I like to practice everyday, but I usually miss weekends, unless Janice and I walk to the
top of Sugarloaf and want to practice our forms on top of the world. 
Where? Sometimes on
the top of the world, bt mostly in my basement dojo-studio or my backyard. I just found a nice spot in a grove of trees on
the mountain behind my house where I walk the dog that looks pretty good once the snow melts. Highlights of places I have
practiced so far: under the big shade tree near the merry-go-round in the Hartford
City Park,
on the lawn of the municipal fire department building in Florida’s
Deerfield Beach, in an old farmhouse in Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, on Bowen
Island in British Columbia
by the tennis courts overlooking the sea as a bald eagle flew by at eye-level, the
Welcome to Pennsylvannia rest area along Rte 81, the Salt Lake City Airport, and on and on….And finally,
Who? Turns out that this is
the hardest question to answer. It seems obvious – who? Me, of course. But really it is not so simple. ( And language may
or may not be of help here, but I’ll try) - In the middle of practicing my form one day I experienced a shift suddenly from
“doing the form”, to “experiencing myself in the form”. Who is practicing? Another time I was practicing
and I felt myself like the bed of the river – a steady constant presence underneath the ever-changing river that creates me.
Who is practicing?
We
start to see how Tai Chi is meditation that can lead us to an experience of our 'original self' – of discovering who we truly
are. Which is a whole 'nother subject - so, for now, I am off to practice, and
I hope you....
Enjoy your practice ( whoever you find yourself to
be)
Dorian
