Flow And Enlightenment
Lately I’ve been learning five forms as part of my progression in Kung Fu. One of these forms is a rod set where you wield two rods at the same time. It’s been a challenging form to learn because it necessarily has required me to move my body in a different way than I am used to.
Then again, this is one of my reasons for learning Kung Fu, in general. I want to experience my body differently through the movements and in the process also go deeper into my Qi or energy. This doesn’t happen if I stick with what is comfortable or easy. It happens if I push myself.
My Sifu says that Kungfu is a martial path for spiritual enlightenment, but that’s not the reason I got into Kungfu. Or at least it’s not the main reason. I got into it because I was assaulted once a few years by a man on meth. It was one of the scariest moments of my life because I didn’t know if I would come out of it alive. He ran up to me and he punched me so hard that I was sent running down a hill and crashed into a fence. And in those few moments I wondered, “Is he coming after me? Is he going to kill me?”
I was lucky. He didn’t come after me. I don’t know what I would have done if he had come after me. And after that incident I realized that I never wanted to feel that way again. I learned a bit of self-defense before I left Portland, but it was only after I lived in Eugene and found the Kungfu studio I practice at that I began to really explore a martial path.
I have practiced qi gong for a long time, but Kungfu is different than Qi Gong. It requires a different mindset and it truly is a martial path of enlightenment. Both practices require that you commit to them each day. I practice Qi Gong in the morning to start my day and Kungfu at night to bring it to an end. Each practice feeds my soul and trains my body. Each practice is a form of self-care and love I direct toward myself and each allows me to channel the inner sensitivity and focus it.
The two rod form I’ve been learning has pushed me to get to know my body differently. At first my movements were slow, with stops in between. Lately the movements have become more graceful and flowing. I practice each night multiple times, imprinting on every level of my being the dance of the rods and the movement of body and qi.
Is there enlightenment in all of this?
The release of thought and emotion and the embrace of focused awareness as I move my body. I move and all that is my being is occupied by the movement and the flow. I am in a collaborative relationship with the rods, my qi and my body. I flow and relax and then strike but the tension goes away…the tension is released. I am released and liberated by the movements and the discipline of this practice that continually challenges me to let go of what I know and discover what is out there in the unknown.
There is force in both Kungfu and Qi Gong but the force is about the flow. It’s learning the movements and then learning the qi and then letting that qi and those movements become a part of you that just is. I continually learn this flow each day and it impresses on me everything else I have learned about magic and spirituality. All of this is present in my being each time I practice my movements.