“Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley.” ~Theodore Roethke
I find my tai chi study and practice to be much like a journey. We seek to arrive at a destination or goal (which we may never reach) and there are surprises and stumbles, valleys and mountain peaks along the way. Lessons are learned with both roadblocks and success. I love the “ah ha” moments that occurs when I work on a concept or I see a student’s face light up when they really get something they have been working on.
What lessons does your tai chi teach you? Practice outside of class will help you to connect to your own personal tai chi journey. Each form or posture teaches us something. Sometimes it is a concept, sometimes it is a physical attribute such as balance or strength, sometimes it is a perception or mental state. The teacher can teach you the form, but you must learn the lesson for yourself. As Henry Miller wrote, “One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.”