August is a time for ripening 🌾
All the hard work of planning is done. Now comes the hardest and best part: Waiting.
In tai chi, we’re used to slowing down. We take things one small step at a time, and flow from one state to another. That’s the practice. But what do we do when the flow hits a wall – when obstacles or circumstances force us to stop and wait? Do we simply stand still and stagnate? Try to force our way through? Or is there another way?
In the Chinese calendar, which divides the year into 24 solar terms that guide farming and living practices, August is a time of ripening. People and nature slowly, imperceptibly get ready for the harvest. All the hard work of planting and cultivating is done, and now there’s little left to do except protect the still-developing crop, let Mother Nature finish the job, and appreciate the beauty and efficiency of her work. We can adopt this lesson from the Chinese calendar into our modern lives and into our tai chi, too: waiting can be the hardest and the best part, a gift of time to ripen and sweeten before action is needed. Let’s explore what that looks like?
The Chinese calendar starts August with a period called the Beginning of Autumn, followed by the End of Heat. Yes, you read that right: summer’s heat only stops after fall officially begins!
We see this apparent contradiction in the Western world, too: students and teachers in the US begin going back to school this month, despite soaring temperatures and children’s desires to keep staying up late into short nights. Across cultures and climates, we all recognize that meaningful changes often start before we perceive them, and we need to start getting ready before they happen, not at the last minute.
Knowing the flow of seasons and energy around us helps us see obstacles – and opportunities – beforehand, so we can prepare ourselves accordingly. A great way to learn about the subtle energy shifts throughout each day and each year is to enroll in one of our online courses, including our revamped 1-Year Tai Chi for Health & Longevity course launching in September! This lifetime-certification course gives students an in-depth understanding of the Five Phases of Change that we all cycle through, including the seasons when it’s best to wait, ripen, and rest. Arm yourself with the right information today, and sign up!
Going Deeper While Waiting
With all this talk of harvests and crops, it can be easy to forget that YOU are the thing you’re developing in tai chi. You are the fruit or the grain of wheat, to be nurtured, protected, and allowed to ripen this month. So now is the time to hold on to the practices that already nourish you, like a grape holds onto the vine. Resolve to learn new forms later and focus on playing the forms you know now. To increase your enjoyment and deepen your knowledge of current forms:
- Turn your attention inwards and focus on how you feel flowing through each movement. Pay attention to your physical, emotional, and mental state. Let your body and inner world give you feedback on improving your practice. Perfection is what’s perfect for you.
- Add pauses to your practice every now and then. While tai chi is meant to flow, pausing to check your alignment, relaxation, and balance can strengthen joints and muscles and prevent injuries that may be caused by poor habits. For example, pausing with the heel down during forward stepping may reveal unnecessary tension in the knees. Simply hold for an inhale and exhale to see where you can relax and align more.
- Let yourself play the forms joyfully and effortlessly. Let your enjoyment motivate and fulfill you. Turn off your inner critic and accept whatever comes. Improvement has its place, but without joy, what’s it all for?
- Join others in practice. The flow of energy is so powerful when we practice together, and we can learn so much from seeing others move through familiar forms with us. If you’re in the Houston area, join us for Tai Chi in the Park! If not, consider online lessons, our online membership, or starting your own tai chi practice circle in your area!
Turning Obstacles Into Opportunities
As some of you may know, in May our online courses were affected by a data breach with the company that hosted them. For a few weeks, no one could access the course at all, and it wasn’t clear when and if services would continue. Then came the process of downloading and transferring all the lectures, assignments, and student submissions to a new platform – a process still in progress! And of course, this challenge also slowed down work on other projects, like adding videos to our online membership and launching the new look of our website. Needless to say, things got a little frustrating.
Yet this sudden roadblock has also been beneficial. Moving to a new platform has helped us rethink what our courses can be, focusing on essential teachings and making the fully-online format more interactive. As a result, when the new Tai Chi for Health & Longevity course launches next month, you can expect more feedback and guidance during bimonthly Intensives, a more streamlined experience from module to module, and more chances to reflect and apply tai chi principles personally, in your own unique way. None of these exciting changes would have happened without outside circumstances forcing us to pause, review our options, and look within. So take our word for it: the words “not yet” can be a gift!
This month, we’re happy to share with you a poem by one of our instructors, Autumn Hayes. Autumn has been writing poetry since her teenage years and loves the way tai chi and poetry both invite us to slow down, open our hearts, and hold contradictions and mysteries. We hope her poem below helps you remember to treasure the waiting periods!
“The Water Cycle”
I must be a stream
Today, said the droplet
Of vapor. I can’t wait to fall
With my brothers and sisters through the earth
Feeding trees, refreshing human faces,
Rushing and crushing walls. The world needs me
To be heavier, greater! it said.
I’d like to sit still
A moment, said the droplet
Of rain rushing through the sky and turned
Into a stream, running toward a dam.
How many faces have I touched and slid by
Without being lifted on a smile?
It said. And where are we all going, anyway?
We will rise above
And fall again, said the drop
Of lake water, dammed to protect
Humans and trees from floods. We could smash
This wall that binds us, brothers and sisters,
It said, but we are already
tearing it down, pebble by pebble
Simply by being here
Together
– Autumn Hayes
Want to know more about moving and living with the seasons? Have a question you want us to answer or a topic you’d like to discuss? Email questions to Autumn, let us know on social media, or contact Li Fu today for more information about our memberships, courses, corporate programs, and community classes!
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