Letting go - Tai Chi Aspects

Letting go is awesome! – If you master the art of letting go, you will be able to head for new experiences with free hands and a fresh mind!

Bringing the stress under the soles of your feet

When your head is full of thoughts, and you are not able to find rest, you may start by working with the following image: We bring the stress down under the soles of our feet (preparation) and let is stay there (action).

Letting go as releasing and actively holding down

Sometimes, this is not going to work – we may be too tense or we might struggle with things that „do not let go of us“ and keep „coming up“.
In these cases, letting go may be intensified by breaking it down into two phases: releasing and holding down.

Each time during the preparation, we concentrate on releasing in the hip area to stress the downward direction. During each action/activation (posture) we stress the activation of the toes – thus actively holding down the negative thoughts.

Cultivating a clear mind – separating the crude from the delicate

From the perspective of clarity, the image for letting go is the process of sedimentation. A container with muddy water is left to rest – the big parts and the small particles become separated. The crude elements form a sediment at the bottom, the upper area of water becomes clear. Shaking up the container, i.e. our body coming up with the movement into the posture, would spoil the process. To get a clear mind, we need to stay down to earth.

Experiencing stillness

Sedimentation is a process that takes time. When practicing this Tai Chi Aspect, it is helpful to play your form a bit slower that usual. A conscious coordination of movement and breathing may intensify the effect. We exhale during the release – and inhale, activating the toes, while holding down. Thereby, we create an additional compression of our base, which stabilizes us further.