Time and time again, beginner students come to Tai Chi classes looking for “relaxation”. These students enjoy doing Qigong or the form as they feel calmer with it. This might give them a reprieve from dealing with the stresses of their daily life, or help them to feel less affected by a particular difficult situation. There is nothing wrong with this as such – however, invariably, the moment they leave the class the worries and stresses start to build up again, and by the next day they will usually be back with the same thoughts and feelings as they had before. Is this stillness?
Real stillness is very different to this. It is a deep state of calm that stays with you constantly. Although it takes significant effort and regular practice to develop it, it is incredibly empowering to start feeling it. Real stillness means that you are not affected by your daily life in the same way as before. Of course, life doesn’t change as such – the ups and downs, busy times, good and bad news that happen to all of us carry on happening in the same way. With real stillness though, you can meet them from a very different perspective, a perspective of calm and strength, rather than a perspective of weakness and fear.
The classics often describe real stillness as staying within yourself, no matter where you are or what happens around you. It is similar to finding the calm in the middle of the storm. The storm is beyond your control and cannot be changed, but with stillness, you always remain in control of yourself. No matter how unsettled things around you are, you can remain true to yourself.