Monday Morning Tai Chi Training Tip # 293
Lesson from the Park
Chetzemoka Park provides so much for our Tai Chi group. The park is filled with trees, both deciduous and evergreens, as well as some nice open spaces for our group to play on. Every time we meet, the space is different, according to the season and weather at the moment.
Today was a meaningful lesson for me from the park. It is almost Thanksgiving and the trees are losing their leaves. When the wind was calm, I would notice a leaf dropping here, a few dropping there. I would occasionally get “kissed” by one on the head or shoulders.
When the breeze picked up, quite a few more leaves would fall at the same time, and when it got windy, large amounts would fall, as well as an occasional small branch. The park was speaking, and I heard its lesson.
Port Townsend, my home, can be compared to the trees in the park. The leaves are like its residents. We all go through our seasons (lives) and when it is time, we fall off and die, and make mulch for the next generation. It is only natural. We will only live for a certain amount of time and that depends mostly on genetics. For deciduous tree leaves, it is one year – for the average human, about 78 years.
But if the wind picks up, the leaves might fall before the year has finished. The same for humans. Right now we are in a pandemic. It is taking many people before their natural time. If a tree is very healthy, the leaves might last on the tree for a longer period, and if it is stressed, not as long. Eventually, all will fall.
As the wind picks up, the large trees that resist moving, might fall, while the pliable bushes and trees, that go with the flow, will live to amuse and provide wonder for the small group of humans, playing at their base. Push Hands trains us not resist when pressures increase, to go with the flow. Be humble and bend when necessary, and stand straight and tall when needed. Thank you Chetzemoka Park.