EMPTY YOUR CHEST






Pic.: Chetna Shetty



At the start of our every Tai Chi session, our teacher guides us through a meditative exercise… very akin to the ‘Shavasana’ in Yoga. While ‘Shavasana’ is done lying down (like a corpse), the Tai Chi exercise is done in a standing (basic) position…

It takes about ten minutes… But, if done faithfully, it can give us everything that we have gone there for…

What have I gone there for?

Yesterday, Clint, a fellow-student in our Tai Chi class (who is a HR Consultant), asked me this question: “Why did you join Tai Chi? What benefits have you reaped?”

Clint’s question was a sincere one. So was my answer…

Yes, Tai Chi has benefited me immensely… Like this…

During the awareness exercise, our teacher guides us to become aware of our body - head to toe. We realize how heavy, how stiff our bodies have become… how shallow our breathing… how fickle and slippery our minds, our attention… One of the instructions of our teacher, yesterday, sounded so fresh, so revolutionary to me, that, for a moment, I felt it contained all the reasons I had been going there for… “Empty your chest,” our teacher said, “let go the air, gently… let go the heaviness… relax… Drop your shoulders…”

I had heard our teacher saying the same thing in our every Sunday session. But, it had to be yesterday for the ‘Buddha experience’ to happen!

Letting go, if I am mindful, can happen effortlessly… Fear and anxiety can just dissolve the moment I truly pay attention to them… In the same way dissolve my jealousy, lack and every kind of insecurity… Guilt, anger and hatred cannot build their homes where there is mindfulness… when I empty my chest… let go the heaviness… relax… drop my shoulders…

I go to my Tai Chi class, because my mind and body are heavy with the load of hoarding… holding back.  Money and wealth may not be my way of hoarding… But, hoarding I do – yes, I do - of my own ‘stuff’… in my own ‘chest’…

“Empty your chest,” when our teacher said this, I knew what I had to…

Yes Clint, this is the main reason why I had joined Tai Chi…
To empty my 'chest'!



GERALD D’CUNHA

Comments

Abha sah said…
Gerry, I guess you have read The Miracle of Mindfulness by Thich Nhat Haan for what you describe as an 'effortless' happening is really the miracle of mindfulness!

And you are so right, it is our readiness that creates the time for the Buddha Experience'!

Have you read Zen in the Art of Archery? It is the first of the 'Zen in the ...' series of books and in my opinion it is by far the best.

God bless you, Gerry.
August 3, 2015 at 1:02 PM
Gerald D'Cunha said…
Yes Abha ma'am, those two books are really great... I read them many yrs ago. Thanx for bringing them back to me. Thans for ur good wishes and blessings. Love
August 3, 2015 at 4:19 PM
Unknown said…
Sir I love ur posts and read them regularly but i dont post much comments and sorry for that but your posts are truly heart-touching and inspiring.
August 6, 2015 at 6:24 PM
Gerald D'Cunha said…
Thanx Hitesh. Glad. keep reading. Love
August 8, 2015 at 12:31 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MUTHU KODI KAWARI HADA

Image
Pic.; Ashwin Mohta M y Hindi was always bad. It still is. One reason for this was, that they introduced Hindi for us only in 6 th standard. Or, was it in 8 th ? I don’t remember… I only remember struggling to write and read… leave alone speak! But, I loved Hindi movies, and, strangely, I could understand the dialogues and the lyrics of the songs… I used to sing those songs (of course when no one was around me!) as if I was the lyricist… One of the songs was a very funny one. ‘Muthu Kodi Kawari Hada’. It was from Mehmood’s super-hit comedy – ‘Do Phool’. I was a 15-year-old high-school boy when I had heard that song (not watched the movie). I could grasp the meaning of two words – ‘Muthu Kodi’… which meant ‘Give kiss’… But, what ‘Kawari Hada’ meant, I have no clue till date! It was just like ‘Why this kolaveri di’... Yes, why ask? Simply enjoy the beats… And, the beats are great… The rest... Who cares? Really! So, whatever bit of Hi...
Read more

SELLING MIRRORS IN THE CITY OF THE BLIND

Image
“I laugh when I hear that the fish in the water is thirsty. I laugh when I hear that people go on pilgrimage to find God.” - Kabir T here is a universal human weakness – and it dates back to the days of fallen civilizations – and it is: to place people on pedestal and trying to be smothered by them, feel loved and protected in their company… worship them as mentors, heroes,  gurus, Mahagurus and Satgurus… Make these mortals larger-than-life cut-outs, worship them as flawless, pure and give one’s all… And, then, ‘take’ everything from them blindly as divine… Give everything to them blindly… Eventually, what happens is:  one more dangerous bondage… What was supposed to free you now becomes a new prison… It’s sad to see this happen! T his room, where I am writing this Post, has no image of any deity. I have no image of any Guru or Master around me… My question is: “Am I not able to feel close to Almighty God?  How ...
Read more

"HAPPILY EVER AFTER IS NOT A FAIRY-TALE... IT IS A CHOICE"

Image
“Love doesn’t just sit there, like a stone… It has to be made, like bread; remade all the time, made new.” – Ursula K. Le Guin,  The Lathe of Heaven T welve years ago, when Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie got married, the world began to hail the couple as ‘Brangelina’. It became a fashion for couples around us to call themselves so… Norbert and Teresa renamed them as ‘Noresa’…  Amol and Vishaka baptized their relationship as ‘Amoshka’… and, Salman and Nargis became ‘Salgis’! I and my wife, too, got tempted to re-christian our matrimonial relationship as ‘Germa’... That is, Gerald and Anima, to be precise! B efore I proceed any further, let me make it very clear, here… that, I have no business to judge on the break-up of Brad Pitt and Angelina’ Jolie’s marriage. I have no inclination to go into why, how, what when etc behind it… The couple ‘chose’ to split. And, it’s their choice… Only they know how good or bad… how joyful or pain...
Read more
THE WILD, WAYSIDE FLOWERS
There is, always, something extra-ordinary in the wild, wayside flowers...