The latest issue of Yangshang arrived in my inbox the other day and the first article I read was on the subject of ‘Zhuangzhi on Freedom’, a discussion by Livia Kohn on this ancient Daoist classic text. While reading it I was especially struck by one of the interpretations of the idea of wandering that is present in the term ‘Zhuangzhi’. That wandering can be ““the unrestrained flow of a banner in the wind and a fish swimming in water in playfulness, it is a self-satisfying movement that fulfills itself” and it seemed to me that this is indeed the aim for my own Tai Chi practice. To let it become a ‘self-satisfying movement that fulfills itself’ rather then a prescribed and definite set of movements, intentions and postures that it had become.
In recent months I have, I must admit become a little demotivated with my training and I think, in part this is down to over training. Spending too much time at Tai Chi schools trying to learn, studying, working hard and all that goes with trying to achieve something. When in fact I have been missing something, a little playfulness. An unrestrained flow that is self-satisfying. Sadly though my first thought was… ah now I have something to work towards when in fact I should just enjoy it and get the reward of all that training.
China Tai Chi Guide
Five Elements Academy
Long Tou Shan Tai Chi School
Seven Stars Internal Arts
Traditional Tai Chi School
Wandering Dao, China
