Thursday, February 09, 2006

Surprises

I had the most wonderful experience the other night at Tai Chi class.  I don't know how much people know about tai chi, I am assuming not much for most folks, so I will explain.   Tai Chi is a form of Chinese martial art that is practiced very very slowly.  Perhaps you have seen it on TV.  What I practice is called the short form and has 37 different positions, each one flowing into the next.  At the beginning there is a position called raising hands.  Basically you stand square, equally balanced on both feet, hands at sides and work toward totally relaxing your body.  The idea is to balance your joints so well that you need no muscle tension at all to stay erect.  I had heard my teacher talk about this before but it had not really made sense to me.  One of those things that we do not really hear until we are ready to hear.   Anyway, at each class the teacher will pick out one very small part of the form to work on and this past Monday he picked the beginning.  And he was talking about this balancing act that one should work toward.  I listened and worked on what he was saying.  I guess I pulled it off because there came a point where my hands started to naturally rise without any effort on my part at all.  I could feel the energy lifting my arms, the Chi flowing from the ground to my finger tips and raising my hands and arms directly in front of me with no muscle effort from me at all, at least I could not feel any.  To tell you the truth it felt almost like a LSD experience from my youth, it was that intense.  After class I told the teacher what had happened to me.  He was excited to hear it and asked me if it felt freaky, which it certainly did.  So now I have felt something rare and profound and quite different from deep meditation.  A new experience.  I have been glowing ever since.  What is so cool is knowing that there is still more to be revealed through life experience and the effort a person expends if they want to keep learning.  I think that was the most comforting and exciting thing, to know there is more, not just intellectually but in reality.
I think it is true that even when we have a life altering experience we tend to think that it is an isolated thing and that we will probably have to base our life’s work on this single experience.  Near death experiences are probably the most extreme example but there are many others.  Having an intense romance when you are 20 is another, as we are sure no one ever had a love like we are having and we are convinced it will go on and on forever and ever, amen.  Religious or spiritual experiences fit into this category.  And apparently also experiences one has while practicing a martial art form.  I have had many such experiences throughout my life and each one seems to be the apex of what is possible and, each one is a surprise.  
What is true I think is that as long as a person continues to push beyond what they believe to be their limits, even if only imagining that something is going to happen, something will happen.  My experience in Tai Chi class was a total surprise to me.  It was scary and fun at the same time.  I guess if I had not already had many spiritual experiences it would have been really scary and might seem much more important than it really is.  Never the less it did remind me that more is always possible.

Many Blessings, Musawwir

5 comments:

Richard Edward Noble said...

Hi, thanks for your comment on my blog. I must admit, I know nothing about Sufism. I've read about it now on your wedsite and the mission statement on the sufism webpage.Sounds very interesting. Good luck with your goals. I'm curious;How did you find my blog?

Suriya said...

Hmmm....yes...so there are levels of Taichi..there is Taichi and there is TAICHI and there is taichi...

Anonymous said...

I don´t do Tai Chi but I have had the same experiences and it is really stunning especially to learn that you are moved without your own intention

amber said...

that sounds like a really amazing experience.i have had some similiar things happen to me while on lsd and i always wondered if it was just the drug or that the drug allowed my mind to open to a new level where such things are possible.also,atleast every week i dream that i can levitate.i start by trying to run from something that is frightening me,never knowing what,and can't seem to run fast enough,then i remember that i can levitate.i clear my mind,focus all my energy in my chest and slowly rise.i float just at the tree tops and feel so complety free.when i awake i always feel so peaceful and a bit nauseated,don't know why.

Anonymous said...

Greetings Everyone
the most awe invoking experience i have had was in a small town i was living in, a great tragedy occured. Four where killed in a car accident. It is pressumed that as the mother drove the 3 children were in the back seat fighting she turned to stop them the car went off the road into a tree all died.
A week later i was walking past a funeral in a church, when i had a vision of a young woman kneeling on one knee at the back of the church. A child standing beside her wrapped in her arm, another sitting on her knee and the third a baby held in her other arm. She was smiling sadly tears running down her face, she turned and said to me "i am so sorry for those who are not with us and the pain that they suffer, but it is alright, we are safe, and our love is boundless".
I burst into tears, the love and the sorrow that emanated from the vision where so incredibly powerful. I wanted to tell someone but its not the sort of thing you do in a small country town but the experience is something i will never forget, each time i recall it i weep freely.
Blessings