Tao Te Ching - Verse 2

video on my Instagram account: https://www.instagram.com/p/Bx4gEsajmdg/

Today I'm gonna talk about the 2nd verse of the Tao Te Ching, following the post about the 1st verse which I wrote a couple of days ago. The second verse is about the complementarity of opposites and the attitude of the sage (I recommend you to find your favorite translation of the Tao Te Ching because they are all slightly different). When I think about opposites I can clearly visualize the yin and the yang of the Taijitu. The Taiji is this famous symbol ☯️ representing the infinite movement of the yin yang in harmony, literally translated as the 'supreme ultimate (taiji) diagram (tu)'. In this second verse, there is a very important sentence about it: "So the sage lives openly with apparent duality and paradoxical unity". I think this part is essential to understand Taiji (Tai Chi) and its practice: duality and complementarity. In Tai Chi, moves are all connected, but they are all different and equally important. In this practice, the end of a move is the beginning of a new one. When I practice the 108 Taiji form I try to think about it and connect every movement, but also I try to remember the importance of each posture. I'm also attempting to apply this to my daily life, enjoying the present, but keeping in mind the great picture. I'd like to leave you with the last part of the second verse: "When the work is done, it is forgotten. That is why it lasts forever". (This translation of the Tao Te Ching is from the book: Living the wisdom of the Tao by Wayne Dyer). The sage is someone who doesn't crave for rewards, the sage doesn't want to lead, but at the same time, because this person knows the Tao, the sage is a real inspiration. For this verse, I've chosen the third posture of the Ba Duan Jin, where the hands connect and exchange at the center (I often use this practice to prepare myself). Please remember I'm not teaching movements or postures here, but just showing them!

Tao Te Ching and Tai Chi - Verse 1

From now on, I'm gonna study the Tao Te Ching and publish some posts about it. I read this book many years ago, but now after practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong intensely for many years (and after deciding to change my approach to spirituality), I've thought it was about time to read it again under a new light. The Tao Te Ching was probably written around the 6th century BC. You can read a lot about its history and its author Lao Tze on the internet (or on many books). Tao means way, Te means virtue or integrity and Ching can be translated as classic or book. So this book can be considered a guide into Living the Way of the virtue. You can find the complete 1st verse on the internet, but I like to show you the beginning and the end of it: "The Tao can that can be told is not the eternal Tao" (first part) "And the mystery itself is the doorway to all understanding" (final part). I love these two sentences and they remind me of this Tai Chi (Taiji) posture called Wuji. Wuji means nothingness, emptiness, the great void. I'm not gonna teach you how to do it, because it requires a lot of time and practice in class, but I decided to show myself doing it. I like that one of its translation is "free man". In this posture, we are still, but moving inside, ready to start something. In this posture, I've always felt relaxed and calm and the center of myself and the universe. I think this is the right position to associate with the mystery and the eternal Tao (my personal vision). I'd like to learn this lesson from this first verse: I want to enjoy the mystery in calmness and be ready to move into something great. 

Reiwa - a wonderful gift

A wonderful present from one of my Tai Chi students. This amazing woman studies shodō (artistic Japanese writing) and from time to time she amazes me with these wonderful presents! For the end of this spring session, she gave me this paper with the new Japanese era kanji. For this new era was chosen the word: reiwa. Reiwa means beautiful harmony. Rei actually means 'command' or 'decree' and wa means 'harmony' or 'peace'. I love kanjis and the fact that they could mean different things at the same time and that there's something ancient and profound behind them. A really amazing gift!!

Uno scatto di felicità

Quando siete felici fateci caso 

- Kurt Vonnegut - 

Sì perché la felicità non è una costante: ci sono momenti difficili, complicati e a volte estenuanti ed a questi guarda caso ci facciamo sempre caso. La felicità è più difficile da catturare e comprendere, un po' come quando si cerca lo scatto perfetto e spesso poi arriva all'improvviso, quando abbiamo smesso di cercare. Quei momenti felici possano essere una fotografia da portare con noi nei momenti bui, per ricordarci che la ruota gira e per ogni yin esiste uno yang.
Apprezzeremmo davvero i momenti felici se non vivessimo anche quelli negativi? Forse no. Forse siamo troppo abituati alla sofferenza, all'infelicità, alla lamentela per sopportare una vita felice. Eppure la verità è che a volte dipende solo da noi. Ci sono momenti nella vita davvero felici, ma ce ne sono anche tanti di potenzialmente neutri, il cui valore è determinato dal nostro atteggiamento rispetto agli eventi stessi.
Ad esempio, io ogni giovedì insegno Tai Chi al mattino, e ogni giovedì da un anno mi sveglio felice e passo sempre una giornata fantastica, questo perché un bel giorno, circa un anno fa ho partecipato alla mia vita e mi sono resa conto di quanto mi piacesse il giovedì. E' stato un cambiamento improvviso, un momento di mindfulness nel quale fatico ancora a credere. Prima di allora odiavo il giovedì mattina, mi alzavo nervosa e pensavo che fare movimento al mattino fosse stancante, parlare faticoso, vedere le persone, confrontarsi dover dimostrare qualcosa a tutti i costi. Notare che quelle persone mi piacevano tutte, sono sempre state degli esseri umani che io apprezzavo e stimavo, ma nonostante ciò mi era sempre apparso come il giorno più faticoso della settimana, il giorno da superare indenne dentro al sacro venerdì.
Poi un giovedì, finita la lezione mi sono voltata a guardare la palestra vuota e ho pensato "Come sono fortunata!" Sì, perché è davvero una fortuna poter fare il lavoro che ami, parlare con la gente, quella bella, muoversi in armonia con l'universo e persino parlare a voce alta anche se una cosa difficile. 
Da allora aspetto con ansia il giovedì mattina e da allora ogni giovedì la giornata è sempre bella, ricca e piacevole. Se non fosse troppo da dire, direi che l'universo è uno specchio e ci rimanda le immagini che noi per primi inviamo. Una follia? Forse, ma tanti scienziati, psicologici e biologici ci credono, e lo dicono ad alta voce. 
Come vorrei che nelle giornate tristi mi tornasse sempre in mente quel giovedì, a volte funziona ed altre no, ma se ce l'ho fatta una volta, so che potrà succedere di nuovo, forse per il martedì che mi sembra una giornata faticosa e stressante, o per lunedì che pare sempre eterno. 
Anche se ancora non sono una guru della positività, ho imparato a farci caso: quando sono felice, io ci sono. 

Dream. Here, there and beyond.

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. 

Explore. Dream. Discover.”
― H. Jackson Brown Jr., P.S. I Love You

Men always wanted to reach the stars. There are days when the stars look distant and imperceptible, others when it seems I can touch them and feel their warmth and power. All I know is that the stars had always represented a dream, a mission a need for travel and exploration.
I think that life is too short to live only in one place, at least mentally. As human beings, we need to explore, know and experience what life has to offer. Then we can dream. To create a dream, we need
to know, to see and to understand. What makes dreams so unique, is the contaminations of all those things which have interacted with us consciously or unconsciously.
I don't want to reach a star yet, I would be content having reached as many places as possible on this planet.
I decided to work on this lifelong dream and try to travel as much as possible, to read a lot and meet people from all around the world. One step at the time, one piece after the other. After all, stars had million years to reach us.

Tied to my Tao

To go back, continuously, as if there was something unsolved. Each time living the same situations, the same life, the same grueling lie.

Those were the most difficult years, years that I myself find it hard to believe that I lived and let myself experience.

I didn't know much about the Tao then, not as I know it now.

Now I can see how all those situations that I had left suspended, were waiting for nothing but seeing me return, standing by with a proud and irreverent look.

The eternal movement of yin yang has dragged me fiercely through the middle and I know that I will be caught in the eternal cycle over and over until my spirit is able to step out and rise above to finally observe what holds me still blocked.

I feel chained to my own life, unable to escape a fate that I often struggle to understand. And I float limply in a river whose current is too strong for me to go upstream; helpless, I would like to let go and allow the power of my thoughts to finally drag me down.

Maybe, just so I could understand that I am not able to control everything.

The wisest me has always known that there was a universal current by which to let me rock and eventually ride the wave, but unfortunately, the rational me loved too much to fight everything and everyone and lived to prove to herself that reason was worth more than happiness.

Now I know that there are no paths or indications in the Tao, the Tao is a circle. And I will continue to circulate with the seasons and with the overwhelming alternation of day and night.

Only the light, free and enlightened spirit knows the way since by its nature it has no interest in knowing it.