Freedom is Living on the Edge!

[Path to Mastery 3/2/10 – Wk25 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Free Hand Training:

So, we discussed Free Hand Pushing Hands and how it relates to freedom.  Today, I would like to discuss another definition of freedom.

We discussed that freedom is not resisting the opponent while not allowing oneself to be compromised.  There is an opposite side to this truth:  Freedom is going beyond your limitations.  

It’s actually the same thing, but it looks totally different doesn’t it?  

In free hand, anything goes.  There are no rules except for making sure you are comfortable with what you and the people involved are doing.  It is your responsibility to communicate if anything is happening that you are not comfortable with.  You start moving very slowly, and as you get more and more comfortable you start increasing the speed.  This helps you notice your body, what feels right and what feels off. Eventually, the speed goes up until you are going at full speed.  But by that time, it will feel comfortable because your body and mind have adjusted.  

In free hand pushing hands, there are certain set rules so you can limit the possibilities of what can happen to you so that you can simplify the chaos a little bit.  For instance, in the beginning, you don’t step around, and you don’t strike or kick, or do any kind of grappling.  You strictly push and sometimes you pull, but that is about it.  This helps the students learn and adjust to chaos in a relaxed environment.   

I was talking to my friend and we talked about how great it is to finally being able to do something that you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t have the confidence because you had never succeeded at it.   Facing your fears and going through them is real freedom.  That is what sky diving is about.  Fear makes you not do things that you want to do.  

Free hand helps you face your fears and learn to move naturally in a manner your body wants to.  You let go and you let your mind sit back and observe and learn.  You will start feeling what natural movement to your body is.  You will feel when you are powerful and coordinated and when you are not.  Pretty soon you will notice that you are learning from your body and your body will feel like it can do things it couldn’t do before.  You start going beyond what you thought was capable.

True freedom is being able to continuously go beyond your limits, which would be a no limit life.  This is an exciting life isn’t it?  Tai-Chi is a technology that makes change safe and easy.  It allows you to live at your limits without frustration or discouragement.  It provides you with the tools to face them safely.  

Now, when you read “True freedom is living at the edge” it feels a little different doesn’t it?   


History of Tai-Chi Journey up to this point:

Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system.
1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

Interactive training after we went public with the blog.  
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
4. Weapons (Covered on 2/23)
5. Healing System (Covered on 2/24)

Non-Structured System:
6. Introduction (Covered 2/25)
7. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26)
8. Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1)
9. Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered today)
10. Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills)