Standing firm

The problem with labels like “sticking” and “yielding” is that they give the impression of actually doing something. “Sticking” really is just relaxing into the touch and into the connexion. Neither pulling away from the contact nor listening nervously with an artificially light touch. When you relax into the connexion then your energy streams into its core and root, and you become the connexion in the sense that the connexion becomes your frame of reference and everything else is experienced from its vantage point. The reason a quiet mind is necessary is because a noisy mind is constantly pulling us out of this energetic reality and into its own fearful and disconnected reality. Neither does “yielding” mean withdrawing the point of contact, either by turning or by going back. Withdrawal is retreat. Instead yielding simply means receiving energy without having one's balance or equilibrium compromised. To maintain balance one must effectively give as good as one gets, at each instant. It is not enough to be able to receive and then to give; they must go together. We must practice in such a way that the energy and pressure from the other person drives us into our place of power – coils our spring, so to speak – so that as they apply their energy/pressure they instantly feel it biting back into themselves. This instantaneousness is generated with a clear spirit and has nothing to do with aggression or applying your own energy – it is a fact of the clarity of the connexion, a clarity you can carry with you at all times if you so wish.