Posture & Energy

I remember once, about 7 years ago, John said to me, “Take up Push posture and I’ll show you what Dr Chi showed me.” I obeyed, and adopted Brush Left Knee and Push, making every effort to get my bum in since I guessed what I was about to be shown may have something to do with this. John then put his hand on my lower back and drove it down and forwards with such energy that my front leg nearly gave way. His touch was very light and not forceful in the slightest and I’m not sure how he achieved such an effect on me – my guess is that he just placed his hand and adopted the posture he required from me himself. I was really shocked as to just how extreme the posture was. It felt as though the front leg disappeared and my connexion with the front heel was purely through the spine, sacrum and coccyx. It also felt as though, as he drove me down, the ground rushed up into me until it was level with the crown of my head. At the time I knew it would be years before I had the strength to even go there again, let alone take that posture as my regular one. However, the feeling has been a standard ever since – something solid and real that I have been semi-consciously working towards. I mention it because we’re beginning to retrieve it in the work we’re doing now and I’ve begun to realise that the strength I required was a spiritual sobriety – an inner quietness – rather than muscular strength. The pain and alarm I originally experienced from the posture was my response to the openness and the energetic invasion of my body by the ground brought about by the adjustment and the relaxation my teacher’s touch and presence induced in me. At this level relaxation means to slip out of the physical world and into the energy one. In the energy world there are always contrary tropisms, hence the figure of eight (and simplistically the circle). Relaxing into correct posture and allowing gravity to bear down induces the contrary rush up of energy into the body and out of the heart, face and crown (the face really glows). This rush can be so strong it can take the breath away and can even cause you momentarily to leave the ground. What is striking me more and more though is that when you relax and slip into the world of energy and heart you encourage those aspects of your environment not already so placed to do the same, especially those entities to which/whom you are connected (heart-to-heart). This is why simply having the company of the teacher is often teaching enough. And of course the more you relax into this world the more you connect because in this world there is no real disconnexion. As a human being you cannot expect to do more good than this. In equal measure, anything less would be an irresponsibility.