The practice of internal arts - Yoga, T'ai Chi, Pilates, Qigong, and, Reiki -- has been for me a personal odyssey. Through my years of serious practice of each of these modalities, and my years of teaching, practice has become a metaphor for all the elements of my life -- physical, emotional, spiritual, and the inevitable blending of all those things. To say that participation in these art forms is good for health is a gross understatement. We must consider the fact that there are lots of good exercise systems out there, some of them producing bigger muscles faster, quicker aerobic results, and closer-to-instant weight loss, these concepts being the American dream called Health and Fitness. So why would one embark on the monumental task of memorizing a sequence of 103 movements heretofore foreign to our bodies, as in t'ai chi, when one could drop into a quick kick-boxing class and never have to engage a brain cell while sweating almost instantaneously? Why would one spend seemingly unending minutes in pretzel-like postures in Yoga class, focusing on breathing in and out? Why would one expend the energy and mental diligence to learn to connect the brain to deep muscles in the pelvic floor, as Pilates requires, when it's easier to do 400 stomach crunches and be done with it? Why sit quietly to focus internal energy, as in Qigong or Reiki? Why connect the brain to the body to the spirit at all?!
Those who want instantaneous results or who dabble at this and that, are the very people who drop into class and quickly drop back out, missing the very essence of what they might need in their over-stressed, preoccupied, anxiety-riddled lives. "It makes me crazy," said one departing Type A. "Why in heaven's name would I ever, EVER want to move that slowly or focus that hard?" Perhaps a glance in the medicine cabinet would hold a clue.
But learning to slow one's internal pace to counterbalance a frenetic lifestyle is only one benefit of Yoga and T'ai Chi practice. Learning to balance old neuromuscular patterns that have left the body off-balance and weak in places is only one benefit of Yoga and Pilates. Never mind lowered blood pressure, greater stamina, improved joint flexibility, and an almost miraculous recovery of ability to focus mentally. There is something beyond all that. It is an intangible, indefinable something that ... how shall I say it? Perhaps the best way is to call it a changed perspective.
My life view, my perspective of the events that come to me unbidden, has changed dramatically. From a woman who had to MAKE things happen, I have become a woman who gracefully (well, at least sometimes) allows life to flow through me and monitors the reaction that before would have immobilized me. Just thirty minutes of deeply focused practice feels like a small instant in my life, and leaves me both full and hungry for more.
When I was young, the most flattering descriptive used about me was, "You have such high energy that it's just exhausting to be around you." These days, a young friend who sometimes comes to me for mentoring recently said, "Well, you're just so very, very calming, just so CALM." (No, it is not old age. I am not THAT old.)
Practice does have decided physical benefits. But the emotional, spiritual and mental part of it all it was a long, slow process that settled into my very bone marrow and has become a daily part of me. It's the changed perspective that holds me true to this path. Without that old focus and discipline, I would be just another shooting star long since blipped out in its lightening-fast descent to earth. Now, rooted and grounded on the earth through habitual, focused practice, it is only my spirit that soars to the heavens, while the body that Nature gave me continues to work smoothly from posture to posture ... yes, in "real life", too.
Carol Ann Bauer RYT 500