The Self-control versus Letting Go debate...

A week or so ago I posted an update on facebook about self-control being the answer to life’s problems.

 My friend, Debbie Chacamaty commented, “And here I thought it was all about losing control,….hmmmmm gotta think about that one.” This offhand quip got me pondering about control versus flow….

I stepped back and looked at Tai chi. My esteemed Shifu, Dr. Alex Feng has as the third of his three main points of  Tai Chi as being 'form versus formlessness'. He says, “Be Like Seaweed”. 

Yet we practice and strive to learn the ‘set’ -the choreography of the movements (be they Chen, Yang or any other style).  This takes enormous self control to remember foot work and posture and mental attitude and how your hands should be held and to RELAX!

In my opinion, this is the form he speaks about. Yet within this form we must be loose and flowing – the ‘letting go ‘ that Debbie commented upon.

Even the seaweed that my  Teacher speaks about grows only upward while the roots drive down and grip the sea floor. It has boundaries- edges of the leaves that it grows within, yet within these ‘limits’ it moves freely with the currents- just as we should.

So what kind of self-control does this now famous seaweed exhibit? It’s control lies in its fierce hook onto the rocky sea floor, for the moment it decides to let go completely -to be absolutely loose to the tides, it looses it’s roots and the nutrients they provide (at least  like the kelp at the Monterrey Bay Aquarium).

So again we must be as the slug sliding along the razorblade between form and formlessness-Fully present in both –simultaneously- absolutely in control but loose and open and flowing. Can you do it?