A little back-story for this one... some of you know that in Jeannie-Land, the day after Monday is known as TaiChi Tuesday. Every Tuesday before we begin our Tai Chi form practice we do a little QiGong. For the sake of simplicity, let me share with you a little blurb from Wikipedia to explain what QiGong is: The 'qi' in 'qigong' means breath or gas in Chinese, and, by extension, 'life force', 'energy' or even 'cosmic breath'. 'Gong' means work applied to a discipline or the resultant level of skill, so 'qigong' is thus 'breath work' or 'energy work'.Moving forward... during our QiGong exercises, my wonderfully calm and infinitely patient instructor will remind us to relax, usually adding: "The more you relax, the more you feel". I have heard this every week for more than two years and I always find my mind wandering to thoughts of why this is so proundly difficult for me... this stillness... relaxation and so forth... I think it is, in fact, because I don't WANT to feel. (It does not escape me that what we are encouraged to feel in class is Qi... energy... but the principle still applies apparently, at least in my pea-brain.)
And that is where I got my inspiration for this week's Poetry Stretch. This week, Tricia at Miss Rumphius Effect challenged us to write a kyrielle. I am not entirely sure I got it right, but I sure had fun taking a stab at it!
So, with my humblest apologies to the French Troubadours of old...
The More You Relax, The More You Feel
I must choose, stillness or motion
Needing to avoid raw emotion
I hear the reminder and appeal
The more you relax, the more you feel.
My world is structured to avoid
Honest feelings, unnerving void.
Offered to me: an alternative ideal:
The more you relax, the more you feel.
Relax in stillness, poised and calm
Or revel in chaos my faithful balm
Relaxing risks pain much too real
The more you relax, the more you feel.
Raw unvarnished honesty denied -
Then swallowed whole with fries on the side.
Avoid at all costs or begin to heal?
The more you relax, the more you feel.
8 comments:
serendipitous indeed! wow. great minds must think alike. In the first few years, it is always hard (those thoughts and interuptions). It was a book that really helped me out, The Zen Mind, The Beginner's Mind by Shunyru Suzuki. It'll open doors for only $12 bucks.
Thanks for the book recommendation! If I can ever get even remotely close to a Zen state of mind it will be a major miracle. I DO try! Baby Steps...
why is it that whenever I read poetry I feel like the dumbest woman alive? The best I can cobble together is a dirty limerick (and even then I would probably do it wrong!)
Trust me - I am very much a neophyte myself... I am always outclassed by these folks in these little exercises, but I think it is good to push your brain to do things it is not comfortable with... Does that make sense? You should give it a try - you may surprise yourself. Every once in a while I know I do!
Tricia (Miss Rumphius Effect) sent me this way, and all I can say is WOW! When I grow up, (tongue-in-cheek, of course) I want to write poetry half as well as you do!
I like this, more so with your introduction - I know almost nothing of Zen and the Asian arts involving body movement. It isn't always iambic tetrameter, but it scans well anyway and reads like a song. Nice solid rhymes too!
Thanks so much - It was fun trying!
WOW. You really did a wonderful job of explaining the Tai Chi and QiGong principles here. And I am stunned by your revelation about not WANTING to feel. That is why I have a hard time relaxing and doing Tai Chi practice every day, right?
And then you connected it with healing. WOW. Thanks.
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