Feldenkrais and Qi Gong in Seattle Washington

The new growth of spring blossoms into the full bloom of summer which recedes into the harvest of autumn and then sits in the quiet of winter germinating the cycle to restart again with the new growth of spring. We also live year after year within this cycle often not recognizing all of the little deaths that occur in order for the rebirths that follow keeping the wave of the cycle going. Do you find yourself ever resisting the change of seasons? Not wanting the cycle to flow as it is? To ride the wave of reality, we must be truly present for all that is.

The deaths and the rebirths–these are the transformations of our realities—of our lives. Finding a harmonious flow between and among the many deaths and rebirths or ups and downs of our lives is the action of finding peace. This is found in the presence of each unfolding mundane moment after the next.

In the martial arts Tai Chi Classics there is a line that says ‘invest in loss’. For a martial artist who has a deep internal arts practice this is a philosophy embedded in all of practice. During a two-person defense/offense movement energy study (known as push hands), one of the studies for beginners and experienced practitioners alike is to invest in loss. What does this mean?

Say one practitioner creates an offensive movement energy of pulling the opponent downwards and this energy (as all energies) can be countered in many ways. The habitual response for most is to stiffen and hold creating a resistance to the energy wave as is. This is often fed by a desire or a greed ‘to win.’ This sets up a struggle or a ‘fight’ between the two practitioners and no further refinement of skill can occur.

Refined skill comes from surfing the pull-down energy wave by consciously opening, softening, expanding and not resisting. If done with the right timing, the opponent who is issuing the pulldown energy is met with no resistance and throws himself or herself off balance completely by their own making.

The defender ‘invested in loss’ and in turn creates an opening or space for their own ease. Push hands practice is an intricate study of two practitioners who are continually refining their skills. One of them issues a movement energy of offense while surfing their opponent’s issuance of their own energy of softening and letting go. This letting go can slowly or more quickly change to a new issuance of offensive energy. This ‘surfing’ the seasons of offense/defense allows the wave of practice to develop sensitivity of how to let go while remaining alert and clear with your own intent.

Investing in loss and not getting greedy as an offensive energy movement is made is what creates the space for skill refinement and ease to occur. It also creates a ‘moment’ for a new possibility or a counter movement to arise within the sensation of the practitioner and not within the thinking/reacting or fighting mind. This ‘remaining unattached’ yet alert and fully sensing the unfolding movement energy exchange allows the surfing of the current ‘wave’ of movement to open to the full ocean of possibility of new experiences.

Our world today is giving us numerous opportunities to open, soften and expand in the face of countless numbers of chaotic energies present. Can you invest in loss? Can you open to the varied shades of black, gray and emptiness?

On an individual level how attached are you to your stuff? Things, experiences, moments, remaining ‘as they were’ or ‘should be’? Our planet can’t sustain our species’ unsustainable ways. Can you literally ‘let go’ of the excess—-excess stuff, things, experiences, effort and energy within the moments of your life? Can you live more simply—’lower to the ground’–more in the direct experience of the movement wave of balancing that is flowing over our planet—chaotically careening until we come in alignment with it?

In order for our own species and the multitudes of species co-living with us on our one planet to survive, we will require a more harmonious and equitable distribution of how we each live. Can you invest in the loss of some external things, experiences, moments ‘as they should be’ in order to allow the opening space to be created to more fully embody and experience your life–lower to the ground and interconnected in a sustainable way to the rest of life?

Mother Earth is bleeding and shedding in the Gulf Coast–bleeding oil and shedding fluid. I am holding an analogy of the massive oil geyser being like the shedding of the amniotic fluid that occurs with delivery of an infant. The infant is our ‘new’ human interconnected species that is so painfully being born. Our new species will no longer be able to be dependent on the oil amniotic fluid. Our new species will have to bring a much higher intuitive, sustainable, and interconnected way of ‘breathing’ with Mother Earth.

The horrendous greed and power of the oil corporations fed by our culture’s own unaware and selfish consumption has to come to an end. I personally first heard about the oil well explosion upon returning from an extended silent meditation retreat and found myself turning toward the waves of tears and sadness for the wound in Mother Earth by such blatant exploitation of greed.

Over the ensuing months (incredible to even say it has now been that long) many questions remain present. How could it happen? What happens to the countless numbers of wildlife and peoples’ individual lives that have been destroyed? What happens to the continued destruction of a very fragile ecosystem? What are we doing?

All of these deaths can, with conscious, open, and expansive awareness be transmuted into an individual and a collective rebirth. A rebirth that is born of the investment in the loss of the ‘old thinking!’ This thinking holds me separate from all others –people, things, experiences, other living creatures, nature, myself and all moments— and the container those occur within–our planet. The rebirth thinking opens to the interconnection of all of the above and requires I let go (or lose) the old way of thinking.

Mother Earth’s bleeding can be a catalyst for this shift to occur in a larger swath of the mass of humanity. Can you invest in loss–your own way? Can your specific way aid opening your own awareness thus influencing those around you? Can that open awareness and clear intent allow you to evolve–evolve to help solve this separatist way of being?

When resistance to a moment begins to rise, it is often in relationship to our ‘not liking’, doubting, or being agitated within the moment as it is. Investing in loss includes opening, expanding, and softening to exactly those moments that are difficult. Can you turn gently and in a self-friendly way toward that moment and allow yourself to experience it fully? Can you not invest in the greed of wanting a better moment–one that was, or should be? Can you not fight or stiffen to the feeling you find yourself not liking–possibly fear or anger or sadness? Can you invest in loss and let go?

We are faced with little ‘deaths’ each day. Going with reality as it is, riding the ever changing wave of change, experiencing a little death which arises to a new rebirth allows us to open to the vast interconnected expanse of wisdom within the interconnectedness of All That Is.

Begin or deepen your awareness practice through Qi Gong in Seattle, Meditation, or Feldenkrais in Seattle in order to allow you to ride the wave of change. We are all waiting for you!

You can contact Carrie at 206-459-1773 or feldychi@comcast.net for further information.

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