Knots In The Grain

"The Japanese term for song bushi or fushi means a whorl in the grain. This is what we call a knot,like a knot in wood. It is a very interesting sense of song - like the grain flows along and then there's a turbulence that whorls, and that's what they call a song." This quote is from an article by Gary Snyder about how his poetry emerges.

I have loved this image ever since I read the article many years ago and have found this idea of a turbulence in the energy very useful in understanding energy movement in Tai Chi and in life (what's the difference).I have often noticed that the postures that have given me most difficulty either in learning or teaching seem to produce a knot in me or the person I'm working with or in both of us. When we manage to unravel this knot something big has cleared or shifted. Then this posture has become very deeply embedded and understood in the body. Sometimes I even feel a healing of old wounds that my body has been holding. The time and love that goes into the unravelling unlocks the energy block causing the knot leaving me lighter and more free.

It seems to me that all the events in our lives also have energy. When we release the events energy as it happens we are free to move on. Sometimes however we don't or can't release the energy and a knot forms. Then we tell the story again and again or repeat the experience again and again until the knot is unravelled and more of our true energy and nature are available to us.For me this is the real work of our lives, to onravel all the knots from this life and the past so the veils are lifted and we are free to "BE".