Fighting

Tai Chi is a martial art. It is about fighting. One of the reasons for this is that when we fight we are at our best, in the sense of being energised, empassioned, spirited, aware, alive, together and most importantly of all – connected. The connexion we experience when in such a state of heightened intensity and awareness is in no way passive – it's not something we wait to happen – it's something we make happen and it's something that the extra energy at our disposal allows us to make happen. We become supremely active, or we lose the fight. My teacher once said to me that the most difficult thing for him, as a teacher, was to instill fighting spirit into naturally soft and mild-mannered students. It's also the most difficult thing for such students to learn – we all have so much invested in being the way we are. But it is absolutely essential that a student begins the struggle of trying to learn it otherwise their Tai Chi, and their life in general, will just be a superficial dance – far far less than it could be and certainly far less than it needs to be to make spiritual inroads into it. Those students that recognise, register and engage in the battle at hand – the one with their own negativity, however it may express itself, so that when they are present there is more of them present, more of them available for connexion – are the ones that begin. And it is a process of continual beginning: one improves but one never has the chance to rest on one's laurels. The next stage is always more difficult – more of a fight – than the previous one. Peace, if there is such a thing, is the peace that comes from knowing deep down that one is living the right life – is fighting the real fight.