We were sitting there, practicing Taijiquan.
It took me 21 years to be able to choose among my Students 7 people. These 7 had not only followed my instructions throughout years.. but also they followed this light that was leading me too. This Light is called Taiji (not Taijiquan) and it was before the creation of separation & distinction.
TAI JI.
The absolute principle of all being.
It is the sake of TAI JI that DAO made WU JI (Void - None Pole - Polelessness & That that was before creation) shift into TAI JI. Into Existence.
Apart from Immortals that reached the State of WU JI - state of DAO before Creation - there is literally nothing in Existence that is not covered and 'ruled' by the utmost Principle TAI JI. TAI JI is the beginning of Creation and the end of Creation. Its main attribute is ONENESS, its characteristic is WHOLENESS, its Fatherly quality is COMPREHENSIVE and its Motherly quality is ALL-EMBRACING.
A true Human being is capable, qualified & authoritative to (not 're-' but) PREsent this state of complete & absolute essence of creation.
It is that origin that leads us together. It is that origin that brings people towards each other, from the 'separation-in-mind' into the unity of all 'separated-thought-being(s)'.
It is this Father in us, that keeps us under one roof.
It is that Mother in us, that embraces all our inner separations into ONE and ONLY MERCY & COMPASSION.
The wide.
The deep.
The abstruse, obscure, incomprehensible truth.
The undiscovered Love of and to all 'things'. Is the proof of ONENESS.
There is no separation that is not rooted in oneness. There is no desperation that is not covered by mercy. There is no guilt that will not disappear in the presence of its origin. The origin of ALL CREATION.
All my students have their very well-kept, well-tended & groomed light within. Some have their light in their Shang Zhong Xue, their Heart-Chakra. Some on their Yin Tang - their third Eye in-between and slightly over their eyebrows, others illuminate from their Dan Tian the energetical Center of the Human Body. Again others have it in their eyes.. some firey full of life, some lovely embracing, some direct, strong and clear, ... mat.
On these 7 the light is on their Bai Hui.
The top of the Human body, when standing, the top of the head.
The point of hundred gatherings.
It is the place of the heavens pagoda of the Jade Emperor.
They are lead by this light, but also pulled towards this truth, that is unspeakable.
Every each of them had their way to this moment. And from here we see where the journey brings us up to.
Now we are here, on Crete Island and are fully into our practice.
On the very first day..
Everything started with the focus on the Cafe-Machine!
It was a mystery, ... ... ..
...how to use that thing.
But very fast we got it figured out and were relaxed fully into our Taiji-Mood
The Training schedule was not to tight in order to have the 14 days going chilly and easy but still we got around 5 hours practice each day and a total of 11 days of Training at this Camp.
I called the camp 'Intensive-Private-Taiji-Deepening-Course'.
It was Private because it was an invitational-only Camp. It was not promoted and I had the idea of bringing this small amount of people together, without any distractions (apart of our Souflaki-Excesses on daily bases... no I'm joking, it was maximum every second day - pictures further down on this entry) and with the full focus on only ONE specific topic during these 11 Training-Days.
It was for advanced Level Instructors only and the main theme of the Camp was the 64 Mi Chuan Tai Ji Quan. Michuan Taijiquan is a secret tradition of the Dark-Warrior-Sect of Zheng Yi Daoism of the Wudang Mountains and very rarely seen. There is a simplified version called the 36 Taiji, which we also teach and it builds the essential fundament of our Taijiquan including the Bu Fa Work (Meditational Sepping) and the Hui Chun Qi Gong ('Back to Spring' Qi Gong System of Meditative Standing).
It was intensive, because of the theoretical background and practical implementation of it on a daily base.
Specifically, we were working through the expression of Spiral-Movement within the meditative & sharp-angular positioning of this Taijiquan and its extremely considerable step 'settings'.
I was impressed from day one about the fact of how accurate and schooled the participants were able to follow the instructions.
A big majority of mistakes in the cultivation & practice of Taijiquan appear due to preconceptions of how and why Taijiquan works.
Taijiquan is not a hippie-i-do-what-ever-i-want-slow-mo-movement-performance-while-i-feel-so-free-and-natural posturing behaviour. No.
Taijiquan actually takes 'your' known nature away from you in order to make you accessible to THE nature. It is not 'your' thoughts and ideas of nature and naturalness that makes a move a natural move.
It is the countless repetitive way of practice that makes the move 'natural'. It is not the nature that you have build up in your imagination, no it actually is true nature of your self.
And honest and upright; how many of us can truly claim that? .. Yes, for sure we can pretend, or act or 'think' we go it and we are now one with our deepest true inner nature... but is it done with that alone?
Taijiquan is a CONSTANT practice of balance and inner peace. That, we only can 'practice' if we bring ourselves into positions in training, that are not peaceful and not balanced.
We would like to stand on 2 legs because it's more balanced than standing on 1 leg. So we STAND on 1 leg to FIND the balance there. We do not avoid the difficult in order to feel the ease, no, we actually chase the difficult in order to BALANCE ourselves within that. In order to PRACTICE the skill of balance.
We do not avoid the slow-motion in order to save ourselves from one posture into another one, no we actually MOVE IN CARE 'in-between' posture A and posture B and make THAT our goal of awareness, not only the posture itself.
It is difficult to mindful release the foot from the ground or release the ground from your foot and let it glide and hover over the ground while turning and moving our upper body in harmony with the spiral motions of our arms and connecting our YI (Intent) into it while setting the step, full of care and diligence onto the ground with the possible picture of a UFO Landing. The foot does not CRASH into the ground. It mindfully SETS and allows to connect, channelize the flowing Energy of our entire body, from our legs, through our Yong Chuan Points into the ground.
Yes, this, obviously, is not everyone's thing. Not everyone would like to move like a cloud of Qi throughout this planet, on this earth.
The Wudang Michuan Taijiquan does not start with a 'beginning-performance-posture'. (hands on the sides touching the upper thighs). No. It actually begins in Sitting Meditation. The first 2 Exercises of the Form are called BAO YUAN SHOU YI and LAO JUN LIAN DAN.
1) Embrace eternity and keep the Oneness
2) Laozi nourishes the inner elixir (the inner embryo)
Within these 2 Exercises, a complete closing from the outside world and a complete opening into the inside world takes place. I would rather say: 'A closing from the illusive world into the reality of truth that actually INCLUDES the illusive world.'
It is truly not a performance. It is Meditation in Movement. First sitting. Then standing, then moving, then transcending.
With practice, it is easy to 'perform' Taijiquan. But it is not easy to live and be Taijiquan consciously and aware of what you are cultivating.
The mindset of performance is showing something to the outside.
The mindset of Taijiquan is being.
Being tired and exhausted were some of the sweet byproducts of our stay at this beautiful place on Crete Island. Therefore we had a good amount of time also to make our bodies feel re-filled after lots of training.
Since after my 400-day Vegan time, I am not Vegan anymore... I could intensively enjoy this countries cuisine. But there were enough options for our vegetarian and vegan participants.
It is just great and I feel so blessed that in the midst of all that is happening on our planet, my students didn't let me and themselves down and we could make this happen. The Shadow Brothers were with us in our hearts since they couldn't make it due to strict Covid-19 regulations, but this only was the first page of a book we opened together in here.
I am devoted and eager to share and continue to deepen the knowledge and grace of Tai Ji Quan with students who are WILLING to learn. It was not a quintessence that we were there especially to THIS time. Manos (the Head Teacher of WDP GREECE) has brought 18 of his students through the Basic-Instructor Education and it was time for the 6-hour exam for all of them. 6 of WDP's high-level Instructors were witnessing a new generation of Instructors passing the Basic-Level Exam live. Every one and each of those souls was dedicated to the fullest while demonstrating their skills. It was tremendously interesting and exciting to see how the WDP GREECE Branch is expanding and having solid proper fundamentals down. Watch the pictures below where I add impressions also from this super proud-making event!
We had a GREAT TIME!