Staying Still Long Enough to Receive the Year
There was a time in the past when I would come to the end of the year and feel anxious about all the things I haven’t gotten done. Then many years ago I got into the practice of taking an inventory of what I’ve done the entire year—the places I’ve been, how I spent that time, and the people I was with.
Two things I look at are my photos and my calendar. I write everything I’ve done and all the experiences I’ve had. I look back at all of it. Then I write down what meant the most to me and why. Then I write about the most important lessons I learned. Whether it was about business, life, relationships, family, motherhood, creativity... I reflected and looked back. It has become a ritual for me. So the end of the year became less of a regret and more of a celebration. Of the little quiet moments as well as the big ones. A time of remembering instead of forgetting. An intentional gratitude manifestation.
Oftentimes we don’t celebrate enough. The temptation and often the action is to move on to the next thing right away. What the practice of Qigong has taught me is the art of staying still. Resist the temptation to just move on to the next thing. There is a standing Wu Ji posture which is a foundational, empty, standing meditation pose in Qigong and Tai Chi. It represents the “ultimate nothingness” or pure potential we can achieve in mindful stillness. It is essentially standing in a relaxed yet alert way with soft knees, an upright spine, shoulders dropped and connecting to the body’s energy to achieve deep inner stillness and balance.
I often do this Wu Ji pose at the end of each practice for 5, 15, 30 minutes or more… and the temptation is to want to end my practice early because my legs are shaking, my arms feel the weight of being held up, and my body feels warm all over almost breaking a sweat at times… and then I breathe. I sink deeper into that posture—I relax more into it and think of the image of me taking a clear glass to gather ocean water, then letting it sit on a counter. I observe the water that is mixed at first the sand swirling in a sea of water. Turbulent. Then slowly but surely the sand settles at the bottom. The upper part slowly clearing until it is clear water and I can see the sun’s reflection through it. That is the image I hold in this Wu Ji posture. I am that glass of water from the ocean. Resisting the urge to want to move on to the next thing and sitting still enough to see the clear water and the sun rising in the distance.
The more I relax into the posture—the more I want to stay in the moment. When I breathe into the body, the unease, the discomfort, even the tension releases… then there is a strong desire and pleasure of coming to that place of peace and calm and the struggle is over.
But every moment and every day is different. My experience of that pose is different every day. There are days I can only stay for 5 minutes. If I haven’t done that pose for a long time – my practice is shorter… If I do it daily, I can stay longer and longer each time.
Like life… like any adversity and experience we encounter that is hard—it is a struggle at first. But when we learn to sit in that discomfort, learn to sit in that moment of unease— if we choose to take the time to be still and listen—it will give way to an inexplicable bliss… to the unforgettable moments of our lives.