I lose myself gazing at a waterfall such as this one along Trail 40, MacDonald Road: time stands still, I hear more of the forest sounds, and my body becomes calm and grounded. It’s moments like this that call me from my cozy bed early in the morning. It was a classic early summer day with sun, blue sky, warm temperature (first time hiking this season with bare arms!) and, bugs that still were still timid, so I was able to stand there and take it all in without being eaten alive. I was transfixed by the dance between the solid rocks and the smooth flow of the water, as if they were in the dance of “push hands” that we do in Tai Chi. This reminded me of a Willian Stafford poem I had read a while ago during my coaching training.
Annals of Tai Chi: “Push Hands”
In this long routine “Push Hands”,
one recognizes force and yields, then
slides, again, again, endlessly like water,
what goes away, what follows, aggressive
courtesy till force must always lose,
lost in the seethe and retreat of ocean.
So does the said fill, and air come
just so, because of what’s gone, “Yes”
In all things,” Yes, come in if you
insist,” and thus conducted find a way
but, yinfollowing and becoming
By a beautiful absence its partner yang.
- William Stafford, The Way It is – New and Selected Poems.
