- Taken from a talk by Ron Timm, Bagua Retreat, March 2024 -
There is a famous figure of Guanyin, a Daoist Chinese goddess, who is the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, the original Buddha, and all the Bodhisattvas. You would have seen the statue with many arms and hands. Each hand has another gesture or holds something else, a lotus, a vase. In a way, she is a beautiful example of the multitude of forms, of the hundreds of different positions in Qi Gong.
There is the centre and around there are a thousand arms. As in Qi Gong practice: you do one posture, your arms are positioned one way. You do another posture and your arms are positioned in another way, then you do another posture, it means your arms can be positioned in yet another way- by some point in time, they will have been in all these positions. Just like in the picture of the Goddess, where they are all shown at once.
The appearance of form
Taking on different postures and practicing this way forms your energy field, all in relation to the center. At the same time it also shows your potential, that you are open and able to do these postures. You can take on all these forms. This is quite wondrous as, if you think about it, out there there is nothing. Mostly just space. There are millions, or trillions, I don't know the exact numbers of galaxies. But that doesn't mean it is a lot, because still their appearance is extremely rare. I don't know if you get that, but it would be good if you did, because then you understand the context and dimensions of this process.
There are trillions of galaxies but it's extremely rare that a galaxy forms. Because in the vastness of space there is next to nothing. What should ever happen there? Nothing. The fact that anything happens is extremely rare. And that this practice happens even more so. Not many people pick it up, most will laugh about it. The Dao De Jing states that if an ordinary person hears about the Dao, they start laughing. If the ordinary person wouldn't laugh, it wouldn't be the Dao.
The role of form in Qi Gong
However, some people do pick it up and take up the practice. You could say that the practice at its most simple is: you establish a strong center and you make it stronger and stronger. That is actually all you do. We have our tricks, forms and practices, and then you will just sit there. Let it happen.
This is when I say: do the exercise. Or, better: let the exercise work. Because you put yourself in a position, this is the exercise. Then, you let it work. The exercises do that. The form does it. You just have to relax, so that it can take place.
Most of the time the exercise itself is not so difficult. You have nothing to do. Just bring your arms in a certain position. Easily done. Then, let the exercise work. That is when you are really asked to relax so that this can happen. However, because by being still you push the brakes on the nervous system, there are strong forces involved. So then you have to see that you don't push the brake too hard. Because when you land in a ditch, it doesn't help. So then you start asking: okay, how much? And for how long? These are good questions.
The thing is that the more crazy you go in the position, the less it can harmonize and center. If the form doesn't allow you to relax any longer, you went too far. This is really important to see. Because if you don't relax, the internal work can’t happen. The whole thing is disturbed then. And when it is disturbed there is more chaos. If you add more chaos to chaos, it doesn't bring more order, unfortunately. If you add more tension to the already existing tension, it doesn't bring less tension. You need to find out for yourself how much you are able to take on and still do the job. This is actually a certain skill.
Inner listening
For this you need to allow a change of perception, that is the key thing. Especially when we stop moving, when we go into stillness the internal process goes on, but it is subtle, and we don't have subtle perception as a norm. We don't realize what is taking place.
The things are going on, but you do not perceive that as your perception is not refined enough. Which is not exactly true: it might be fine enough but it is as if you were looking in the wrong direction. You think perhaps the angels should sing, or God speaks to you, or something. It is not like that, it is more subtle. Just stay there and continue the exercise, you let the exercise continue. You don't do anything and it means you also don’t restrict anything from happening. This is very important.
With letting the exercise continue, I ask you also to let your perception continue like it is in the exercise, because you have a certain kind of perception there. You do not have your ordinary, day-to-day perception when you go into Qi Gong practice. You switch your perception, and I will ask you to keep it this way.
Cultivating new habits
The Master used to always tell this story at that point, about this kind of wild chicken, partridge, not so spectacular, just brown and ugly. They cannot really fly but they are birds. So they do what they do, but then always when they see the eagle in the sky they go: ‘Wow!’. They just hop around in a funny way, but sometimes wonder: ‘If we are birds, we should be able to fly like the eagle, right?’
It is just a dream, while they go round bouncing. But then one day they say: ‘Let's invite the eagle, make a retreat, he should teach us how to fly.’ The eagle comes, okay, cashing in, of course. One week retreat. Okay, first you do this. Second, you do this. Third day, do this. And more and more. And last day: all the partridges are flying. ‘Wow, wow, we are birds!!’
Then the retreat is finished. The eagle says: ‘Okay, thank you, bye-bye’ and flies away. And the partridges go: ‘Okay, let's go home.’ And start bouncing back. Bounce, bounce, bounce. So that is the thing.
Let it continue. Don't go back to the old habit, to the usual, normal. You have to change your perception, but believe me, you have it in you. The exercise cannot bring anything new, it just brings out the things that are already there. It is like when Michelangelo said that the statue of David was already in the stone. He just took it out. It is there, you just have to change perception. We only see the stone, but Michelangelo saw David.
The way of the return
Accordingly, Qi wants to flow in certain ways. When Qi wants to flow, and if it did flow, it would always be natural. The pattern is already in place. This is why I ask you to sit there and do nothing if you can, but who can do nothing? We always do something. If you would really do nothing, you would return to the natural state, the origin. But it is not so easy. This is why there is the form and instruction:
Align.
Stay with the stillness.
Let it unfold.
You practice stillness. And everything returns to the origin. The nature of Dao is to return.
