In the week since my hamstring injury, I did a lot of Tai Chi. I also audited multiple fitness locations, ensuring their processes matched their promises. At first glance, rules about operations have little to do with fitness. However, the connection I see lies within the nature of repetitive motions; if we can repeat the motion without great difficulty and without err, then the motion should be considered Law worthy. Meaning it is capable of being reproduced by others in such a fashion that it builds health and strength. The motion I repeated quite often this week? Standing. Or to be more concise: standing upright, transitioning into a balanced movement and then returning to a stable standing position.
I practice Wu Tai Chi. Which means I constantly shift my weight from foot to foot. When I showed part of this form to a group of Chi Kung practitioners (whose movements were fixed or required little weight shifting) they said it looked like dancing. The Wu short form comprises 108 postures, but as I watch the master who's practiced it for the better part of a century, I notice that he never stops moving. There is no transitional movement. Each posture leads directly into the next with no breaks in between. The difficult part? Shifting weight from one foot to the other, balancing on one foot while moving the other, turning on weighted heels to complete kicking rotational turns, that and trying to focus on what part of the body should keep moving. Knowing what to keep moving is not always apparent, sometimes its the core muscles, not arms or legs.
Moving slowly and purposefully through the form takes focus. When I do it properly I feel like I'm floating. When I don't I feel like a baby taking it's first steps. I end up somewhere between graceful and horribly awkward. At least that's what goes through my head when I wobble back and forth! Somewhere between the graceful movement of the master and my awkward side steps to catch my balance, I discover something important; He never compromises his position. Not once. He always moves from a position of strength. As I watch to see what he's doing, I deduce that I take too big of steps. I compromise my position by the distance from one foot to the other. In short I have a stepping/standing problem; I have really long legs that like to take big steps!
As I consider this issue, I ask myself, "Why do I take such big steps?" and I ponder: "Do I practice too many warrior poses? Do I like sprinting too much? Do I feel like have to take such big steps because I'm such a tall guy?" Perhaps, but the real issue I find is not one of kinetics or the joy of a good lunge, instead it lies within my heart; I take such big steps because it makes me feel like I'm making better and bigger progress. True, large steps challenge balance and strength in a way small steps do not, but at the same time they deny the unity of movement in the form, even though the form has a few big steps. I over stride out of pride. Taking small steps requires humility. Apparently more than I readily have available at the start of each Tai Chi form.
The more I practice the form, the greater my ability to take short steps. The more I take short steps, the greater the grace I possess when I move. I can focus more easily. Patiently I wait while slowly moving my body through the poses, as one continuous whole. This is the spiritual practice of Tai Chi. Enjoyed by the many who've practiced it over it's inception thousands of years ago.
I could stop writing here, and encourage you to mediate on the desire to find a place where you can move slowly and gracefully in a world that attempts to spin itself silly, but allow me if you will, to take one more step. For this step is not out of line with the previous lines you have read, but is an interpretation of the meaning of steps. One of great value worth considering as we contemplate how to move among others. It is not enough for us to focus solely on ourselves, we must consider our movements as tandem motions with others. This separates Tai Chi from Chi Kung. Tai Chi requires a group. Chi Kung does not. Thus Tai Chi and the practice of auditing share much of the same philosophy. We examine ourselves, proposing and evaluating practices that help us move together, even though apart from each other.
As I audit, I review not only the promises my organization holds itself by, but the promises that define the core of the organization. Through these 'rules' I see the identity and the person we want to become. Some of these rules overstep themselves. They attempt to fix a problem by adding layers of regulation and motion to better define our action. Yet they fall short. As I look at the rules of my organization, I see shortcomings. I see repetitive overlap. I see a weighted grading system that is conscious of its own parts but not of the whole. The parts do not fit well together. They do not flow seamlessly with grace. Yet I audit anyway, in the hope that these parts will flow, that they can fit together, if only we take the time to study how we should move. We must simply learn how to keep from over striding; how to reign in our own pride and learn how to move with each other. The number of rules sits second to the purpose of the movement. We can achieve more by burdening ourselves with less.
Consider this statement at the dawn of believers, those who watched Christ as master, before the structures we know as Christianity came into existence:
"Then some of the believers, who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, 'The Gentiles [those coming to believe in Christ apart from Jewish religious tradition] must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses.' The apostles [the disciples who spent times with Jesus] and elders met to consider this question. After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: 'Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving them the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples [new believers] a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are.' "
In the beginning, the argument over rules reigned. The body of believers came to a conclusion:
"...It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things. Farewell,"
Such a simple structure. And even so, new believers raised issues about food. And the apostles with the elders reached an agreement, while it is good to avoid these things, food is not what taints the body. Therefore if you purchase food sacrificed to idols because its the cheapest way to live, you are not doing evil; you are still a part of the body of believers. Meaning, the early church and it's believers stood on one thing: abstain... from sexual immorality. One rule.
This rule creates such difficulty! To say it only pertains to sexual relations does not fully describe the depth behind the words. This rule governs ALL relationships of the believers; for the believers should re-produce on a daily basis. God intends believers to live this way; we live as a re-productive people.
When the church forgets how to re-produce, it turns to rules and regulations. It stops re-producing out of fear and lack of control. Many churches have more rules than healthy relationships, because we still have not learned how to re-produce rightly. We still want to do it in a way that only benefits us, not a way that creates mutual benefit. We regulate to the point of death, believing it will set the world right, but this regulation only creates confusion and chaos. We forget our identity. We forget how to live. We forget our first calling, which beats at the center of the first rule of believers; Love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your mind and with all your strength. Jesus aptly describes what this means: Love your neighbor as yourself! This fulfills all our supposed man-made laws, rules and regulations of all our organizations and longstanding structures. By grace we have been saved; not by our rules. Grace in the love of the LORD.
The challenge of today's believers matches that of the early believers, to be right in ALL our relationships: whether as spouses, business partners, friends, acquaintances, neighbors, co-workers, employees, employers, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, teachers, masters, group exercise instructors or personal trainers. In ALL that we do, do we bring honor to our Master? I hope to live this way, and hope to enjoy a life finding out what it means to live by the love and grace of my LORD and Master. In all that I do. It will take focus; I will have to humble myself in my own eyes, move away from the awkward motions of my erring heart and into the graceful motions of my LORD and Savior.
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