Two More Basic Skills- for when you meet the Tiger

August 11, 2008

I came home early from summer tai chi training camps – push hands and applied energetics with Sam was awesome, but before I could start the weapons camp with Jan and my classmates on Bowen Island, Janice called me home. She wasn’t feeling well and we needed to find out why.

On the overnight plane, I dreamt of a tiger. I didn’t know at first what it was. I looked at it from behind and from the side and I recognized its amazing and distinctive orange and black fur, but I couldn’t believe. And then I looked at it head on, face to face and fell into the beauty and ferocity of its wise loving feline face and only then could I believe that this was indeed a tiger – for I had no idea that tigers were that big. You see in the dream this tiger was as big as an elephant and I just didn’t know they could be that big.

I guess that is what sudden serious illness feels like to me today – Janice and I keep looking at the situation from all sides and it is big, it is just plain huge. We don’t know for sure what we are dealing with yet, we have ideas, and expert opinions, but only surgery on Tuesday at 2 p.m. EST will tell us for sure. What we do know is that it is big. And we know we will deal with it –letting go of hopes and fears, and engaging with the present moment and all that we believe to be real with honesty and commitment- with as much love and acceptance as we can.

In the tai chi long form there is famous sequence called “Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain” and I believe that is where we are right now.  The Tiger represents the challenge we must accept and embrace;  the Mountain is the source of stillness and strength…the flowing waters of life start as a trickle in the mountains and flow and gather to become the ocean of life. We must embrace this tiger and return to the mountain.

So many friends and family members are on our side and we truly feel the strength of compassionate concentric circles holding us up and carrying us through our return to the mountain.  I am grateful to my friends and to my practice- power of breath and body, power of presence that opens heart and mind, and two basic skills every human needs in connection with others – resting and supporting. Supporting those who need and resting on the support of others  - this is how we go round.

Enjoy your practice

Dorian