Happy New Year!  According to the Chinese Lunar Calendar of the Yellow Emporer, we are entering the year 4752 – the Year of the Purple Fire Phoenix (or Rooster.)  The Rooster is known for announcing the start of each new day.  The Phoenix is legendary for its ability to be born anew from the ashes of its own self-destruction.  Harnessing these celestial energies makes it a great year to achieve big resolutions, or revisions to the reality we are creating anew each day.

Self-revision is one of the gifts of practicing Taijiquan – or Tai Chi as we call it.   The various postures allow us to safely discover the body’s potential for going up and down, side to side,  forward and back. The slow, exquisite movements encourage us to explore  the nature of constant of change as we move from Yin to Yang: from empty to full, from giving to receiving, from knowing to not-knowing.  Making friends with not-knowing allows us to consider all possibilities.  In Tai Chi, we learn to observe, adjust, and adapt  without stress.  We learn how to utilize the energy of change rather than fighting it. Resolutions become considered revisions.

The great paradoxes of Tai Chi include the idea that by going very slow, we develop great speed; that by being very soft, we accumulate superior strength.  By understanding transition, we may experience transcendence.  Be alert as a Rooster, tireless as a Phoenix in this coming year.  I am wishing you well!