Taoist logic in movement practices

I can so clearly feel now that all the hypertension in my physical structure—that I used to see in larger parts as something external, as reactions to unsuitable external input implanted into me in the process of my socialization my being had been overwhelmed with—had long ago turned into actual parts of my personality. This means, dealing with this hypertension is now dealing with something that is me. “It” does not simply let whatever “I” see as myself now remove “it.”It is not easy to write or talk about this, object and subject being one.

This is why I have been more and more, and why a Taoist philosophical approach has always been focusing on collaborative approaches. From the perspective of the 老子 Lao-tzu / 道德經 Tao Te Ching, individual bodymind work always means social action. Individual bodymind practices are starting points building healthy foundations for social interaction in smaller, as well as larger circles—human, and non-human (小周天, 大周天, 內景圖).

Our perspectives get distorted in the interaction with our environments, but they also get corrected by the interaction with the endless multitude of our (“internal” and “external”) environments. In my movement practice I am therefore no longer trying to forcefully remove something from my body that I regard as—or used to regard as—something that does not belong, that is foreign to my body. The ripples and weak pulses I’m working with, have quite an impact if there’s a true conversation, even on my hardcore tensions. I am therefore increasingly working with the kind of calm, light, small, and communicative movements I practice in sleeping positions, offering, delivering noticeable constructive improvement.

My experience is, imposing my will does have opposite effects. But offering small movements/changes, starts a lively multilogue, turns winter into flowering landscapes—hence the spring images (湧春泉 bubbling spring wells). The smaller movements in the Taoist exercises in sleeping positions clearly reminded me of the continuum that we exist in, that there is an ongoing dialogue/multilogue when I sleep that continues what I initiated when still awake, and that I should make use of this. Therefore, when I do 詠春拳 Wing Chun, the 少林易筋經Shaolin method for transforming the tendons, the 陰陽功 Yin Yang method, the 五行功 Five Phases method, and the 導引功 Tao Yin method in the early mornings, I also incorporate the multifaceted feedback from the night’s sleep into my practice.