Step on Faith

Brought to you by Sifu Ray.

Last night's T'ai Chi lesson was about leaps of faith -- or steps of faith, anyway. "Don't look in the direction your posture is going," said our instructor, Sifu Ray. "If you look ahead to where you're going, it will mess up what you're doing right now, and you won't get there correctly.

"Don't focus on what's in the room around you, either," he continued. "Focus your gaze inward, collect your balance, and then set your heel out there to test the ground. Don't look yet. Take that step on faith."

You don't need to know kung fu to understand this lesson. Sifu was telling us that the destination will be there whether we look or not, so we can stop worrying about it and concentrate on the steps we're taking to get there. Right steps in the right direction will get us where we want to go. If we pay attention to the stances we take and the inner balance and harmony we feel, if we test the path with an empty foot before shifting onto it, we will get there. If we give our full attention to balancing and stepping, we won't have time to worry about the destination anyway.

Hmm.

The second part of the lesson was not to linger at the destination. "As soon as you get there, you have to leave," Sifu said. Where one T'ai Chi posture ends, another begins, each flowing smoothly into the next. There's always another, so we have to move on.

The destinations of those faith-filled steps aren't really destinations at all, then, but merely stopovers on a longer journey, said Sifu. The journey isn't over until we've moved in all directions, stood tall and sunk low, opened our arms wide and folded in upon ourselves, until we come full circle and conclude where we began. That is the way.

Like all the best lessons, this one is easier said than done. But we're doing it, and doing it, and doing it. And we're getting there.

Today around the world: If you're a pagan, February 1 is Oimelc, or the time when sheep come out and are milked -- the beginning of spring. It’s also the Feast of St. Bridgid.