How surprising encounters can level us up

Whatever we train, it is a real challenge to continue to train it.

The better we get, the finer the details become.

The difference is smaller. No one else would know. But we do.

I love to train Tai Chi.

But after more than a decade, it gets harder to keep finding ways to improve.

An encounter today helped me rise my martial arts to a new zone. I hope you find a golden nugget to take your skill to the next level.

Standard Work Morning

You know how it is. You start your work strongly and but then you're zapped.

Productivity is at all-time lows, and we're left with all the hard stuff on which we can't move the needle.

So I went for a walk.

Behind my apartment in Taipei is a huge mountain. Yungming Shan. I guess my apartment is technically on it, but I live on the flat part.

Within a few minutes, the warm sun on my face, the fresh cool air in my lungs, and the sounds of nature made me feel pretty good.

Then I almost stepped on a beautiful blue butterfly. It had a striking black trim across its blue wings with small red stripes.

If it were a snake with those colours - I would have run!

I picked up a little butterfly and tried to move him to a pot plant sitting on an old house's short, wooden fence nearby.

But he didn't want to go.

As I moved, he was dangling to the front pocket of my big green hoodie. I didn't want my overcoat to crush him. Imagine saving a butterfly only to crush it, I thought.

But it seemed pretty happy where he was, so we kept walking.

I got to the top of the street. I tried to put him on another plant, but it wouldn’t budge.

So it came on my walk with me.

I can’t remember a time when I walked with more sensitivity in my gait.

Careful to look forward while keeping the butterfly in my peripheral vision. I didn't want to flick him off and step on him.

My posture was straight and relaxed.

My body was soft. My breath was smooth.

I walked with near-perfect Tai Chi awareness of the foot.

I was lighter than I had ever been.

As told by its founder Zhang Sanfeng, Tai Chi has its foundation in lightness.

"The whole body moves light as one piece"

I stopped by a small park and started flowing my hands with Qigong and Tai Chi motions. The butterfly stayed.

My motion took on a master's look - sharp, soft, powerful, and smooth. Fast and slow.

My awareness was that my body was huge, and my awareness could zoom in on tiny details everywhere on my body as I moved. Super cool.

Like binoculars and a microscope at the same time.

A few streets later, I found a shady pine tree, and finally, the butterfly found a new home, and I said goodbye.

Conclusion

Nature is a great teacher.

Whatever you train, see if you can find a way to interpret the surprise of nature into your discipline.

Go to nature and let your subconscious free.
Observe plants and trees, and animals in their environment.
Observe the four elements: How the earth forms. How water flows. How the sun warms. How the clouds shift.
What can you learn?
What new angles can you see?
How does this change what you know?

For me, it reminded me that Tai Chi teachers are everywhere.

Today, mine was a butterfly.

It taught me that the lighter we are, the more sensitive we are.

Then we can use that sensitivity to enjoy our lives and those around us.

Walking With A Butterfly

How surprising encounters can level us up Whatever we train, it is a real challenge to con

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