At first, there’s nothing.
Just stillness. Then something. Slowly, quietly, there’s movement.
Up and down. Separating. Heaven and earth. Yin and Yang.
Circling, pushing, grasping, projecting, coiling and releasing.
Rising, falling, drawing and then repelling.
A feeling of well-being. A oneness with the source begins to manifest.
I do not dwell on this feeling. I am aware of its presence continually rising.
It tingles. It’s warm. There’s a burning. A heat. Hot, energising. Feeling good.
Contracting then expanding. Lifting and spreading. Yielding.
I am soft. Defensive. Yin.
Advancing, I am firm. Offensive. Yang.
Focussed. Clarity of mind. Lightness of movement.
Forward, stepping back, sinking and rising up again. Fluid.
Sticking to. Feeling. Listening as I turn away to reject a force.
Still feeling, listening, I immediately change and follow to deliver focussed power.
And still the warmth. Rising until my entire being is filled with this energy. Chi.
There’s a firmness of body, but still I remain soft.
A heaviness of limb, but still I remain light.
A contradiction I know, but I do not yet understand.
A broadening of awareness, but I do not seek to look beyond myself.
It’s a truly wonderful thing that which I describe.
Before, where I was fatigued, am now invigorated.
Where I was tight, am now loosened.
Where I was stressed, am now relaxed.
Where before I ached, I ache no longer.
Is there a better method through which to regain the oneness with the source?
That which I describe is unrivalled in its holisticness.
What is it that I describe?
You know it as “ Tai Chi Chuan”
Godfrey Dornelly
15.7.1992