As I’ve written, I’m building a spiritual practice. For the first time in my life, I am, for now, my own spiritual counselor. I think I’m done with therapists, analysts, doctors and counselors. I’m doing my own counseling. It is a strange, exciting and disturbing feeling, a seminal change. I am already meditating regularly, walking in meditation. My photography is a critical part of my spiritual practice and Tuesday, I am exploring another dimension: Tai-Chi.
I’m taking a private Tai-Chi lesson. Many of you are perhaps familiar with Tai-Chi, a Chinese martial art form practiced for defense training, but in our culture, for it’s health and meditative benefits. It is a program of moving and feeling, considered especially beneficial for people seeking a spiritual center and for older people using movement to stay fluid and balanced.
I will report back on how the lesson went. I’ve taken Tai Chi lessons twice before in my life, and I loved it both times, but for various reasons, I wasn’t ready to pursue it. I think I am now. I am beginning to see a spiritual practice – something I have wanted for many years – beginning to take shape. As with anything else, it takes a lot of work, discipline and preparation to do it well, I think. My instructor links Tai Chi closely with Joseph Campbell’s ideas about mythology and the hero journey. I think I have found a person I can connect to in this way. A big step forward for me, I think.