Lately I have been thinking and writing a lot about letting go, releasing tension, being open for newness. A key lesson in Tai Chi is that letting go and ‘allowing’ are healthier than ‘trying harder.’

Tai Chi promotes balance, which is enhanced by watching and living with the natural rhythms of nature. Many Tai Chi moves are named after animals, birds — ‘crane spreads its wings’, ’embrace the tiger’, ‘grasp the sparrow’s tail’.
We start class with feel hip-width apart, visualizing our legs and feet like a tree, sprouting roots deep into the earth. The deeper we go, the more stability we will have standing upright on top of the earth. We use earth energy like a tree, to generate and circulate energy (Qi) throughout our body.

Today we take time to honor the earth, with all its beauty and life-sustaining resources. We need to pay attention to conserving, nourishing, and cultivating the earth’s energy, so it can continue to do the same for us.

I’m reminded today of a quote from Deepak Chopra, written in 1996, which captures the preciousness of all of nature and how we need to live peacefully in its midst:

“Trying is not the way Nature functions. the Earth doesn’t try to go around the sun, nor does the seed try to sprout into a sapling. Nature functions with effortless ease, invariable taking the path of least resistance.”

HAPPY EARTH DAY. Let’s cherish it and take care of it.