Letting Go in Taijiquan

[Nexus]

The fear of letting go is commonly the hindrance for most taijiquan students. In fact, it is a rare student who at some point or another is not afraid of letting themselves go.

The issue is when you do let go you feel as if the body is floating, you let go of space and time, of the earth and of standing. People sometimes feel as if they will float away.

It was asked of my teacher by a student the following: "Sifu, if I am to let go during my qi gong, won't I lose myself?"

My teacher replied, "If you let everything go during your qi gong, you will be all that is left."

(No Need to Reply) Just Let Go.

- Nexus

<font size="1">"Time, space, the whole universe - just an illusion! Often said, philosophically verifiable, even scientifically explainable. It's the <font color="blue">'just'</font> which makes the honest mind go crazy and the <font color="blue">ego</font> go berserk." - Hans Taeger</font>

[passingthru]

If you let everything go, you will find out who you are. I think many people are afraid of doing that. If one realizes that a purpose, imo, of our lives is to be who we truly are (and not fit some predigested, sometimes wellmeaning, definition of a good human being in terms of rules), then this is not so bad. Self awareness, knowledge of our motivations, what we will and will not do. people are afraid of letting go because they are afraid of what might happen, and they are afraid of finding out who they are first. Comes a time you have to xxxx or get off the pot. Claiming complete responsibility for what you do without adequate knowledge of who you are lacks depth.

A warning. All this floating business. I know that can happen when the focus is on relaxation, without sinking energy. It takes time, but when one can sink the energy, and align the body so that this happens easily, then a sort of natural relaxation occurs, without floating.

Next warning. The letting go leads to something like "no mind." I think the Japanese for that is mushin. That is the point at which one does without doing. But, one can get lost in that emptiness, and I have seen cautions against this.

passingthru

[Nexus]

Letting go is a guide, not an explanation of the experience. The experience is unexplainable, only identifiable. I cannot tell you what you will feel if you let go, only encourage you to not be worrysome of its outcome. It is usually when the ego finally subsides and lets go that you begin to see your (true self).

So with that said, words cannot be of any merit to aid you in understanding the experience. So in that, just let go.

- Nexus

<font size="1">"Time, space, the whole universe - just an illusion! Often said, philosophically verifiable, even scientifically explainable. It's the <font color="blue">'just'</font> which makes the honest mind go crazy and the <font color="blue">ego</font> go berserk." - Hans Taeger</font>

[passingthru]

lingo. I am all that I have.

When one connects into a spiritual context, for which I have no definition, there is a difference, a presence and yet an absence of self, because one's perceptions of self are different in an altered state of consciousness such as this (not involving drugs of any kind). It is in a state of no mind when I am most myself, without clinging to one identity, but totally involved with all that I am and all I ever was, without thinking on it.
Maybe the totality of the experience is unexplainable (but not all of it), but I'll tell ya the elementary stages need to be understood better, and the guidance more than "let go."
Some work has been done via brain wave studies and different states of mind. That's a beginning. Not that everything can be defined scientifically at this point in time, and not that we shouldn't go forward without such understanding. Yet, part of the explanation is there too. Better not to discount such info.

I take issue with just telling people to let go and have at. To let go is both necessary for one's development, and is potentially dangerous. We start with the games that the mind can play on itself, and the games that other minds can play with us.

Go with the flow and just let go. Just like that!! I think a lot more care needs to be taken in these situations where people who are essentially innocent of what is involved, put immense trust (sometimes unfortunately), and have no idea what they might meet up with. I'm not talking delusion, but reality. There is a lot more to this learning and teaching. It's like jumping off a cliff, thinking there is a safety net when there probably won't be one. You have a bunch of students standing there like swaying zombies, open to any input and unable to figure out, or often to feel the incoming for what it is.

Knowing one's self doesn't just come from letting go. It comes from a strong Intent to know and to take responsibility for what one knows. Unless that is present, I would not encourage this letting go process. That would be like taking a human heart and throwing it up in the air and shouting "Pull".

I think we will probably agree to disagree on many points here. That's okay with me.

passingthru

[Nexus]

Actually I think you are possibly taking what I am saying and making it complicating it. I am providing generalization.

I do agree with you actually on pretty much every point you have made. I agree that if one does not have a readyness to accept what they face when they let go, especially in altered states of consciousness, then many times it will do more harm then good.

My suggestion was directed towards those who are already on the path in the taijiquan and are having struggles letting go.

You have taken it too much out of context I believe, because I presented it as an anecdote.

I agree with you that in a state of no-mind you experience yourself completely.

Of course, this state is not only incumbent of taijiquan, you will find people whom master any form of art (and when I say master I do not mean it in a lighty way) have this state.

- Nexus

<font size="1">"Time, space, the whole universe - just an illusion! Often said, philosophically verifiable, even scientifically explainable. It's the <font color="blue">'just'</font> which makes the honest mind go crazy and the <font color="blue">ego</font> go berserk." - Hans Taeger</font>

[Repulsive Monkey]

You sound like a Water CF to me. Your fear of what might be met is amazing. Letting go is not about making yourself vulnerable to everything and anything but about shedding habits that have long since developed through association,ignorance,experience (good and bad!) and all the influential factors that surround us every second of the day. Letting go in general is about trusting what the Buddhists would call the "Primordial mind". It's about not allowing the conscious mind and it's developed limitations get in the way of natural unadulterated experience. The ego by it's definition will try and dictate as to what experiences in life should mean to us on a personal level, but the ego is an accumulation of everything I've mentioned above and in reality is hardly the truth. Letting go therefore is purely dropping all habits which keep the ego in residency as the all seeing eye, because in reality it is the sole reason why we are constantly held back from reality.Strange as it may seem, but the film The Matrix actually highlighted in a very clear way the idea of banishing the Ego, and allowing us to see the real world, it actually managed to highlight some basic Buddhist ideas on the nature of the Primordial mind.

[Nexus]

Matrix - had a lot of correspondance to Plato's Cave Allegory which you may wish to read if you have not already.

- Nexus

<font size="1">"Time, space, the whole universe - just an illusion! Often said, philosophically verifiable, even scientifically explainable. It's the <font color="blue">'just'</font> which makes the honest mind go crazy and the <font color="blue">ego</font> go berserk." - Hans Taeger</font>