ENRICHING OUR DAILY LIFE
Water belongs to the ocean and it will inevitably return home
Santiago
Shaolin Wahnam Spain
17th March 2015
"The purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off our souls". - Pablo Picasso
“Rounding” the patterns - This was another magnificent lesson while on the course. To be honest, I never practiced Taijiquan in this way before. I remember practicing “There is no beginning there is no end” before this course but “Rounding the Patterns” took me to the next level. I felt like a wave in the ocean.
Applications in daily live for this skill just came straight away. At work, this skill is going to be very useful as it is a way to keep the flow and to smooth relationships between colleagues, managers and team leaders. Sometimes managers, colleagues or team leaders could be quite direct and aggressive as they receive a lot of pressure from management. If they come in that way I used to just freeze and do nothing. That made situation really uncomfortable for both parts. Now I am going to be able to “round” the situation, keep the flow and direct the proper response according to needs.
This might sound easy but it is not easy. It might be simple but not necessarily easy. In fact, Wahnam Taijiquan has given me the advantage of turning an unfavourable situation into a favorable one. Being able to turn around the situation is something that I have learned in Shaolin Wahnam and has been incredibly useful for me when dealing with angry customers. I have learned it from Sifu. I am still not able to apply it for combat but I am already able to apply it in daily life and it has saved me from a lot of trouble. Honestly, it has made my life incredibly easier as I use this skill to bring the best side in people. I am most part of the times able to turn the situation into a win-win situation. That not only enriches my life but also the life of others.
One big movement - That is other skill that I have deepened in this amazing course. In daily life this skill has allowed me to complete tasks at work in a more efficient manner as I don’t stop the flow of work by other distractions. Also, I am able to link one task after another and keep a smooth flow not only in professional but also in personal life.
Being able to perform a task at work without breaking the flow gives me the best use of energy and time management. I can understand now why I haven’t been successful in many parts of my life. I have been stopping the flow again and again.
Time and spacing - I am still not very skilful using it for combat but I have become very skilful in daily life. I am able to calculate how much time should I dedicate to my tasks at work just by looking at them. 95% of the times I am correct in my calculations so I am never late when submitting my work.
Building sequences/sets to meet expedient needs - I am still not very skilful in building combat sequences and applying them for combat situations but I have become very skilful building sequences for my daily life. For example, when I am at work, before I start the week I order all my weekly tasks in a way that brings me the best benefits and the best advantage. Other colleagues do not plan that well and if there are any “surprises” within that week they might not be able to complete all their weekly tasks.
Teaching methodology - Sifu was incredibly generous and gave us many unexpected presents in this Taijiquan course. For example, he was teaching us how to teach Taijiquan to elder, to children and composing sets for different teaching approaches (meeting expedient needs). Though I don’t teach Taijiquan, the skill that Sifu has transmitted me can be used straight away in my daily life. At work, I have to train new people all the time so having the skill to build trainings for meeting expedient needs is of incredible value.
Using Taijiquan for healing - I have learned an invaluable lesson when Sifu was showing us how to use Taijiquan patterns for healing. How important is to bring confidence to the patient! Whenever I have to teach new starters in my company, my mission is to transmit them the necessary skills so they can successfully perform their role. The heart of confidence has proved to be one of the most, if not the most, important skills for that transmission. They often shared with me that they felt very happy to learn from me as I made it very easy and simple when others were making it complicated and very confusing.
Sifu insisted in the importance of chi flow at the end of every teaching for not missing the healing. Sifu also mentioned to keep it simple. Having had the chance of learning the “18 Jewels” in this Saint Valentines Festival I understand what Sifu meant. Thought this exercises were easy to perform they were incredibly powerful, generated really vigorous Chi Flows and offered wonderful results.
Grand Finale - As Sifu mentioned: "We have practiced the Yang and Chen Spirit. Now we are going to practice the best Taijiquan using the mind level". The last performance of the 108 patterns Yang Set was the best experience that I have had practicing Taijiquan so far. It reached a moment where I could feel the spirit of the Dragon. I have often felt the spirit of the Tiger and sometimes the spirit of the Monkey but never the spirit of the Dragon.
As mentioned before, words usually don’t make justice when explaining Sifu’s courses. All I could feel was like waves in all parts of my body. I am very happy that the Dragon spirit let me taste a glimpse of his grace and majesty. My body was so charged of energy that I thought that I was not going to be able to complete the set. After the "closing pattern" I let go and Chi was so strong that pushed me down to the floor like if I was a puppet controlled by some force. Though the crash was quite violent I felt like if I was landing in a bed of feathers. I can understand now why Taijiquan is used for spiritual cultivation.
That was the Grand Finale that Sifu had prepared for this very special course. After that Chi Flow I was coughing a lot and I could not stop. The coughing was really deep and came from the stomach. It reached a point that I started vomiting chi. As I was a bit afraid of really vomiting I went to the toilet and let the Chi finish its work there. Being in the toilet I started vomiting chi from the stomach mixed with the real one (sorry for being so explicit). I felt a big karmic blockage going down that toilet.
I am so happy to have this amazing tools and skills. Life really make sense now. I always felt my life as incomplete and missing a very important piece. I was missing the key to open the door of wonders and marvellous. Now that I have the key I have opened that door and the real adventure has truly started.
When Sifu asked us to send blessings today I sent them to a very special person in my life. To my surprise, I just read in Facebook later today that this person updated her status with this sentence: “Feeling some powerful and intensely positive auras today …” She did not know anything about the blessings in today’s course but it is obvious that she could feel them.
All these transmissions of skills explained above have been shared with me in a heart to heart transmission. I thank Sifu for that. I find Sifu’s teachings the best approach that I know for living my life. Millions of decisions have been made with the help of Sifu’s teachings. For that I am forever grateful because I know that if Sifu’s teachings are involved in those decisions they were good decisions.
One last thought that I had in the train when coming back to Dublin from this unforgettable Saint Valentines Festival:
Water is not worried about being dirtied, about being carried against its will, about being taken by animals, plants, humans, wood, earth, fire, wind, metal or clouds. Water is not worried about time or even space as water knows that it belongs to the ocean and it will inevitably return home.
Santiago
The above discussion is reproduced from the thread The Shaolin Journey posted on 6th May 2015 in the Shaolin Wahnam Discussion Forum.
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