The Tai Chi & Meditation Centre’s specialty and emphasis is the practical integration of mind-body (together with emotion, Spirit etc).

As a teacher and student of the internal martial arts, I've noticed a common theme occurring over the years.

Partnered work is a necessary part of martial practice, not only as a way of testing your skills and gaining an understanding of application, but more importantly, as a methodology for dealing with relationships overall.

Occasionally, there are interactions between class participants that stir up conflict, on a verbal or non-verbal energetic level that require a much deeper introspection than our first response. One such example is when one of the participants utilizes their skills to undermine the other.

As my teacher has cautioned, this behaviour can stop you from truly learning – not only about the internal martial arts but about the deeper meanings of life itself. Some of the great Tai Chi masters (and fighters) talk about “investing in loss”… meaning learning from mistakes and not necessarily having to “win” all the time.

We set out to have a look at this and obtained feedback from some students and teachers.

What I'm hearing and sensing from some everyone, as well as my own experience teaching, is that people want a way to move forward in their practice. While I understand that continual practice of the basics is what makes one a master of them, it seems that we do yearn to feel like we have made some progress, which in our society, means we move onto "better", more complex techniques or forms. This is our reward. So if we are in a class with beginners, and doing the same thing as they are, perhaps the question is: What sets us apart, and how do we know when we are proficient? Or are we ever?

When we practice with a partner, we test our skills, and after several years of study, we think we have learned a thing or two, which of course we have. However, when we can't perform a simple application, or respond correctly to a situation, what happens then? Ego really takes a hit.

Speaking from my own experience, when it happens to me, I tend to blame myself for my incompetence first, and then wonder what I’ve been doing all these years. I then let that negative dialogue go and move on, work harder etc.

Meditation can answer these questions, but not every one wants or is able to do that. So many just get frustrated and leave. They look for something else to fulfill their needs; whatever they came to us for in the first place.

For me personally, meditation has given me the skill to create a space to look at the situation at hand. I can go beyond the first responses, as I know they are the conditioned ones, and look beyond them to what is really going on inside. The real skill we are learning here, the real gem unto which we are stumbling, is how to deal with the toughest opponent of all, our ego.

Letting go of our learned defence mechanisms and moving toward trust and communication is not easily done in the midst of confrontation. What is happening at a deeper level is more profound and with the awareness developed through integrated mind-body skills, we can see and deal with the demons that jump right out in front of us. Indeed, they are there in all our relationships, begging for attention. What we are aiming for is to embody yin-yang principles in all aspects of our lives at all levels...which is quite a tall order!

Relaxing, letting go, and mindfulness (staying with the present) allow practitioners to more easily see that what we teach in Taiji on the gross, physical sphere also applies to the mental/emotional spheres. These skills are honed over time and sustained effort. This is the essence of Gong Fu.

I would like to thank everyone for their input. Our deepest challenges and difficulties are lessons for everyone to learn from.

Shifu Donna Oliver

Recently a Brit working in Canada complained to me that Canadian politicians are indecisive and don’t like to take strong stances or make controversial decisions. His observations really caught my attention, not because they were new to me, but because that is precisely how I had felt for a long time. I relate these particular characteristics and much more, to the “personality” of Canada, according to the Enneagram personality system.

I realized I hadn’t mentioned the Enneagram in this blog or in other recent writings, which is a glaring omission, since it is such a powerful life tool. I’ve never been a great fan of systems that claim to explain everything. However, 25 years ago, I was introduced to the Enneagram by my meditation teacher, Dhiravamsa with whom I was intensively studying to be a meditation teacher. At that time, in the early-mid 1980s, there were no published books on the Enneagram; it was a secret, direct-transmission system (originally from the Sufi masters) passed on from teacher to student. Dhiravamsa, one of the earliest high-level Eastern meditation masters to come to the West, received this knowledge from one of his own meditation students, Claudio Naranjo, who is regarded as a pioneer in integrating the Enneagram into Western culture, especially from the psychological perspective. From decades of experience, including my personal life and my interactions with many students and countless others, I consider this knowledge to be extremely valuable in terms of understanding human behavioural (specifically personality) patterns. It includes inter-personal interactions with family, co-workers, employers, employees, national leaders, and eventually, countries (some more obvious than others). In my broad estimation, I would say that 80-90 % of mature, human behaviour stems from the Enneagram personality types and early childhood experience… the latter often according with the Enneagram personality, which seems to be present at birth and therefore preceding specific early childhood experience.

To me, Personality is an individualized behavioural system which is analogous to the Physical body. We are “burdened” or “blessed” with specific attributes, which current societal norms might find “appealing” or “unappealing”. These are obviously and increasingly physical… we’re “hot” or “not”, depending on current social norms. However, we also have personality/ relationship characteristics, the impact of which society presently does not recognize… but which may be sub-consciously “appealing” or “unappealing” at deep, mostly unconscious levels. To me, it was obvious that George W. Bush was a paranoid manipulator, or at least subject to paranoid manipulators… as is Steven Harper in Canada. George W and Stephen H may be the same personality… or not… but in the end, they are subject to the same personality forces. These are not what they present on the surface. There are specific, easily determinable dynamics in play within their respective personalities…. which are not commonly recognized by the People. If this is true, then Democracy is lessened, diluted and undermined.

In the Enneagram system, the 9 personality types are depicted as being 9 points on a circle, with specific “arrows” of behavioural interconnection across the circle. If we look at this system from the broadest/ most profound perspective, we may conclude that the 9 points are just different perspectives on Reality… each legitimate and logically sound (because they are on the greater Circle)….but they do not encompass the Totality/ Oneness/ Circle of all perspectives. In order to move from our own specific, compulsive perspective, we need to let go and surrender… become Unattached (which is what the Buddha advised). In short, we need to embody not just one point of the Circle, but the Whole Circle, which requires a Spiritual journey of progression and transcendence of present impediments and compulsions.

Getting back to specifics, Canada is probably a #9 Enneagram personality, wanting everything to be “settled” and comfy… avoiding conflict at all costs. They want “harmony/ peace” but don’t like conflict or argument. Because they so want to be “settled”, they don’t have much self-starting initiative, relying on others to draw them into activity. Lo and Behold, the personality of the United States is a # 3, which is directly connected within the Enneagram system with the #9 personality and which leads the #9… which is what we see manifesting in many policy spheres….economy, global warming, military (Afghanistan) etc.

The USA is predominantly a # 3 personality with a significant # 1 component. The #3 personality is the Liberal/ media savvy/ marketing and sales/ image manipulation; the # 1 aspect is the Conservative/ Pioneer/ family oriented/ pull-yourself-up-by-your-bootstraps mentality (which is prevalent in China). The #3 is predominant but the #1 is a very strong counteractive force.

As other examples, Japan and the UK are predominantly #4 personalities… sensitive, aloof from the masses (they are actually Islands). on which they look down but simultaneously envy. China is a #1 personality; India is predominantly #9. What a great and amusing Dance!!

AJ

PS: For those of you wanting to learn more about the Enneagram, Jeff Willis of the Tai Chi & Meditation Centre is giving a workshop in Toronto, November 26. Location: Fraser Studios, 115 Danforth ( near Broadview) Time: 7:00 p.m. Cost: $35