The Energy Horizon

The thing about the Tai Chi class is that it encourages you to relax and as you do so it draws your energy out into the group. Your extensive possibilities begin to manifest: your energy gets out there and starts to take instruction from the energy of the group, led and directed by the teacher. Such instruction is always on a level you can't really feel, or let's say there are levels of instruction far beyond whatever you do feel. There is no real substitute for this and those students who learn privately from a teacher without the opportunity for group interaction never quite get it. The teacher's close company is as much a barrage as anything and whilst it will alter your energy quite dramatically it will not really encourage you to relax wholesomely the way the class will. The relaxation and support you receive and give by working in the group of peers is very similar to what happens when you finally start to relax and settle correctly into your life. It's not a matter of finding a niche or a rut into which to slot, or staying true to a vision or a dream or a feeling of specialness – these are all limiting and confined. It's about spreading out and getting your energy – your better part – out there into the world (of energy) and having it work for you, and having it worked on (for you). Beyond the imagination. Part of you is always in and with the unknown and so you are always picking up things and feeling things you have no idea about. This can be overwhelming or it can be exciting – it depends on how you choose to take it – as a victim or as a warrior. And this is a matter of choice, although once you have a taste for the warrior way you realize that the life of the victim is no life at all. As your energy starts to extend you begin to bristle and vibrate with nervousness and vigilance (this is what the teacher will encourage) – you know something is going on but have no way of knowing what it is. This bristling is a subtle tension which balances your developing relaxation, keeping some limit to your extensibility, but also, through the law of dynamic equilibrium, keeping your edges frayed, tender, and above all, open. When the feelings get too much, or your energy's down, or your confidence has taken a knock, then this tingling horizon will contract through over-stimulation. Then is the time to work on relaxing – gentle, slow sweeping movements – as simple and with as little muscle contraction as possible. When you feel happy and relaxed and willing, then is the time to investigate the subtle micro-movements and tensions in the Form – to get your energy singing. It's all a matter of regulation: having the maturity and the discipline to do what's required rather than what you want. The difficult one to learn is the nervousness – the taste for danger. For that you need to be prepared to take many blows. And you need a damned good teacher. And you need to be a damned good student – one prepared to take those blows from the teacher without fleeing for the hills.