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November 28, 2005
The High Cost of Holding On: Duck Fights, Human Bickering and The Qigong Skill of Letting Go
I just picked up Eckhart Tolle's new book A New Earth, Awakening to Your Life's Purpose. When I browsed it in Barnes and Noble, the book opened at a page I needed to see, titled The Duck With A Human Mind. I was immediately reminded why Tolle has done as much as anybody for me in the arena of practical spirituality and in deepening my understanding of the spiritual dimensions of qigong.
Here’s the passage that jumped out at me:
“…after two ducks get into a fight, which never lasts long, they will separate and float off in opposite directions. Then each duck will flap its wings vigorously a few times, thus releasing the surplus energy that built up during the fight. After they flap their wings, they float on peacefully, as if nothing had ever happened.
“If the duck had a human mind, it would keep the fight alive by thinking, by story-making. This would probably be the duck’s story:
‘I don’t believe what he just did. He came to within five inches of me. He thinks he owns this pond. He has no consideration for my private space. I’ll never trust him again. Next time he’ll try something else just to annoy me. I am sure he’s plotting something already. But I’m not going to stand for this. I’ll teach him a lesson he won’t forget.’
“And on and on the mind spins its tales, still thinking and talking about it days, months, or even years later. As far as the body is concerned, the fight is still continuing, and the energy it generates in response to all those thoughts is emotion, which in turn generates more thinking.”
Yes, our bodies are scarred with our mind’s own self-abuse. We constantly lacerate ourselves into unnecessary tension, that settles into our bodies like scar tissue, clogging us up, slowing us down, sapping our energy and distracting our attention.
We lose our natural power…
Our bodies are just a reflection of our minds. Release the obsessive, clingy thinking patterns to release the body. And practice the skill continuously of releasing the body, to help keep the mind released.
Qigong includes many methods for “shaking off” the tensions we create from the constant cascade of stress-response chemicals we endure in our average lives. These methods vary from literal shaking practices, to subtle spiraling of the joints and limbs, to deeply internal vibratory and releasing practices.
My part of the upcoming workshop I am doing with Pavel and Steve Maxwell, Unlock!, will be focusing particularly on many of the qigong methods I have found most effective for releasing the body.
If you live in the Twin Cities, Minnesota visit www.qigongclasses.com and join me at my local qigong classes where I can help you in person to release the tension out of your body.
See all of John Du Cane’s qigong resources.
Posted by james at November 28, 2005 6:22 AM