Having written yesterdays post I was curious as to my present weight. I remembered weighing about 175lb when we moved down to the monastery in the Forest. Later on in the day I weighed myself on John's scales and found I was 204lb. This increase is solely from the Heartwork interactions we put ourselves through (the intensity of which would terrify most of you - they terrify me). The physical pounding we give our bodies and the explosive spirited exchanges increase bone density and muscle mass without the appearance of excessive bulk (being a target is never a good idea). Add to this an improved relaxation due to the quiet, undistracted, rural life, plus working more with energy in my solo practice and less with physical effort, and you have my present magnificence. I remember at the height of our weight-training excesses in 1994 John took me aside and explained that the training was developing explosive spirit, but that there was another side to spirit, a more feminine side, which is like a steady presence or continuum through one's day and life and if I could connect with that my Tai Chi would improve enormously because it would finally be energy based and destiny directed. It took me until 2001 before I at last clicked into this way of being (and it took a brutal ultimatum from John to make it happen). It feels like being part of a vast, slowly moving river passing through the mists of time (to use a meaningful cliche). A part of our humanity deeper than being human. What I have called elsewhere a geological compassion.
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