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| blog:blogpost9.5 [2025/04/07 18:28] – dman | blog:blogpost9.5 [2025/04/07 18:29] (current) – dman |
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| <wrap indent></wrap>Wu wei means the "act of non-doing" and it's one of my favorite parts of Tai Chi, an ancient practice that has no shortage of ironies. Wu Wei is an "act" but it's actionless. It is achieved by //not// doing and once you've done it you have to start all over by undoing it. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi_classics|Ancient traditional Chinese texts about Tai Chi]] are brimming with simple yet tricky instructions about Wu Wei, but they aren't meant to make things impossible. The instructions are helpful because humans aren't necessarily adept at standing or sitting quietly in stillness -- at least not without a phone in our hands. Modern life encourages constant consumption and productivity. Even scrolling is a form of consumption //and// productivity. Have you ever mustered the courage to review your browser history? If you dare, you might even experience a silly pride in finding out that in less than one day you visited over a hundred websites. But this "mindless" scrolling is not Wu Wei. \\ | <wrap indent></wrap>Wu wei means the "act of non-doing" and it's one of my favorite parts of Tai Chi, an ancient practice that has no shortage of ironies. Wu Wei is an "act" but it's actionless. It is achieved by //not// doing and once you've done it you have to start all over by undoing it. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tai_chi_classics|Ancient traditional Chinese texts about Tai Chi]] are brimming with simple yet tricky instructions about Wu Wei, but they aren't meant to make things impossible. The instructions are helpful because humans aren't necessarily adept at standing or sitting quietly in stillness -- at least not without a phone in our hands. Modern life encourages constant consumption and productivity. Even scrolling is a form of consumption //and// productivity. Have you ever mustered the courage to review your browser history? If you dare, you might even experience a silly pride in finding out that in less than one day you visited over a hundred websites. But this "mindless" scrolling is not Wu Wei. \\ |
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| <wrap indent></wrap>So how does one deliberately transition out of productivity/consumption mode and into Wu Wei? We still have to //do// something to be //doing// nothing. The body and mind are resistant to stillness, but can be soothed to a stop with the right input. My students and I use a movement called "pouring" where we slowly rock our body weight from one foot to the other. If you rocked a baby on your hip, swaying from side to side, it would look pretty normal. Without the baby, it looks and is a self-soothing, rhythmic movement side to side of the whole body. If I start practice by attepting Wu Wei right off the bat, I will most likely fail. If I go into pouring and come back around to Wu Wei, I'm more successful at accomplishing nothing! I find this indirect approach to be //highly// successful, in fact. Too bad there aren't any competitive Wu Wei leagues, I think I'd like that game.\\ | <wrap indent></wrap>So how does one deliberately transition out of productivity/consumption mode and into Wu Wei? We still have to //do// something to be //doing// nothing. The body and mind are resistant to stillness, but can be soothed to a stop with the right input. My students and I use a movement called "pouring" where we slowly rock our body weight from one foot to the other. If you rocked a baby on your hip it would look pretty normal. Without the baby, it looks and is a self-soothing, rhythmic movement side to side of the whole body. If I start practice by attepting Wu Wei right off the bat, I will most likely fail. If I go into pouring and come back around to Wu Wei, I'm more successful at accomplishing nothing! I find this indirect approach to be //highly// successful, in fact. Too bad there aren't any competitive Wu Wei leagues, I think I'd like that game.\\ |
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| <wrap indent></wrap>There is one Tai Chi game where practictioners compete at [[https://youtu.be/Pr51bifd8gA?si=JrAueJ7waz-4VzUI| Push Hands]] against an opponent but no one gets points for demonstrating Wu Wei. Anyway, Tai Chi is very much about practice, on your own and in a class. You don't need to compete or earn recognition, what matters is the time spent practicing. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Man-ch%27ing| Cheng Man Ch'ing]] who is credited with starting an ever broadening Tai Chi movement in New York City in the 1960's said, "Go without water and food but do not go without Tai Chi". And so, after several minutes of pouring we are ready to spend as much time as possible standing still. Our minds and bodies become calm and willing to let go of that urge to check our phones and be productive. This could be any length of time from two minutes to an hour.\\ | <wrap indent></wrap>There is a Tai Chi game where practictioners compete at [[https://youtu.be/Pr51bifd8gA?si=JrAueJ7waz-4VzUI| Push Hands]] against an opponent but no one gets points for demonstrating Wu Wei. Anyway, Tai Chi is very much about practice, on your own and in a class. You don't need to compete or earn recognition, what matters is the time spent practicing. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheng_Man-ch%27ing| Cheng Man Ch'ing]] who is credited with starting an ever broadening Tai Chi movement in New York City in the 1960's said, "Go without water and food but do not go without Tai Chi". And so, after several minutes of pouring we are ready to spend as much time as possible standing still. Our minds and bodies become calm and willing to let go of that urge to check our phones and be productive. This could be any length of time from two minutes to an hour.\\ |
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| <wrap indent></wrap>Pouring, coined by Peter Wayne of Tree of Life Tai Chi, can be helpful almost anytime you need to calm your mind. The other day one of my students told me she'd found an interesting use for it while watching the nightly news. She was finding the news disappointing and stressful, but she told me she was determined "to not tune out" and to stay "aware and informed." And so while nervously watching the news she began to pour. She found she was better able to process her emotions, hearing the facts and letting go of much of the stress and negativity. **Pouring helped her internal environment deal with the external chaos.**\\ | <wrap indent></wrap>Pouring, coined by Peter Wayne of Tree of Life Tai Chi, can be helpful almost anytime you need to calm your mind. The other day one of my students told me she'd found an interesting use for it while watching the nightly news. She was finding the news disappointing and stressful, but she told me she was determined "to not tune out" and to stay "aware and informed." And so while nervously watching the news she began to pour. She found she was better able to process her emotions, hearing the facts and letting go of much of the stress and negativity. **Pouring helped her internal environment deal with the external chaos.**\\ |
