True power is stillness within motion.
-Lao Tzu
Think about getting on a surfboard. I haven’t been surfing before, but I know this is tough. When I was a kid I stood on a surfboard in a pool, and balancing was almost impossible. The smallest wave made by my brother would send me toppling into the water. Standing on the surfboard in one spot, you feel every movement of the water. It’s chaos.
Yet if you watch a surfer cutting through the water, they are easily able to stay balanced. The vector they are on, that movement, creates a stillness in the midst of the waves. Our practice and life are like this.
A clear example is in meditation. When we sit in stillness, without distraction, we become acutely aware of the noise of the mind. It’s almost overwhelming, like the tiny constant movement of water. This opportunity to be aware is important. Yet we can create stillness in the mind by focusing on the gentle movement of the breath. The sensation of the rhythm of the body can slow the thoughts and empty the mind.
In Tai Chi we experience the same thing. We move our body through the 108 or in push hands, yet we find stillness within.
There are layers of stillness and motion in martial arts, like layers of a cake. One is not necessarily better than the other, though we may prefer one over the other (I usually like the cake part better because the frosting is way too much).
In sparring, we might travel through several layers. When I begin, I usually like to be very still. This invites movement from my partner, and allows my mind to be free to flow with that movement. When my partner attacks, I explode from stillness into movement. During my defense and countering combination, my body is moving, yet my mind is stilled by that movement. I must remain unattached to anything so that my mind and body can flow. In the flow of body and mind, there is stillness. My mind is distracted by nothing, is single-pointedly focused on the moment. In the moment, there is both stillness and motion.
It would be wrong to strive to be only still, or only in movement. Like Yin and Yang, one cannot exist without the other, and there is movement within stillness and stillness within movement.
In our society, however, most people are unbalanced. Too much movement of the mind, and too much stillness of the body (except when they try to meditate, in which case it’s usually not enough stillness). We tend to be static and not exercise enough, and our minds are constantly distracted by TV, radio, smartphones, and all the noise of the world.
We should strive for balance. We can sit in stillness and silence and become aware of the movement within. We can move and find stillness within. This is wisdom and power that the ancients knew well.
