This morning, walking up the hill near my house, to see the mountains, what I noticed was how the sky was filled with the kind of clouds that (I believe!) are particular to this sort of geography: places where large & extensive mountain ranges fall off into plains. They’re the kind of clouds (I don’t know their official name) that are perfectly smooth flat spheres, that look like soft-white flying saucers … Because of the specific atmospheric conditions of the morning, then, dozens of these inflated communion-wafers were flowing over the lip of the mountains. And the sight of this ~ along with simply delighting me! ~ brought to mind this whole topic of the role of circles and spirals in yoga/qigong practice …
Every yoga/qigong practitioner at some point discovers that circular or spiraling movements (of body and mind) tend to augment and circulate (in a useful way) their energy (life-force, qi, prana), while more linear or perpendicular movements tend to result in a decrease, stagnation or leakage of energy. This principal is put into action in a very explicit way in the practice of Aikido. Here, the energy of an opponent’s “attack,” instead of being directly resisted (a perpendicular action), is received into a circling/spiraling movement (the “orbit” of the practitioner) which simply re-directs that force into a counter-attack, i.e. the energy of one’s opponent’s attack is used “against” them. (At higher levels of the practice, the entire thing is seen to be a kind of “dance,” in which the notions of “for” and “against,” as well as “self” and “other,” become quite transparent and, ultimately, disappear.)
So why is this the case? Why do circular/spiraling movements nourish us, while more linear actions deplete our energy? If Lao Tzu (a Taoist sage, purported author of the Tao Te Ching) were here, he might simply point our awareness to the fact that our bodies (the vehicles of our yoga/qigong practice) are composed of the same elements as the rest of the phenomenal world ~ yes? And then point our vision to: the movement of planets around their sun; the movement of electrons around their nucleus; the rotation of the earth around its core; the shape of the earth itself (if you walk to the horizon, are you going to fall off the edge?). All this in an effort to help us to re-member: we’re standing on a sphere, which is circling its core, as it orbits (circle/spiral combination) our sun, as the solar system itself spirals within the Milky Way galaxy … and on and on! And, finally, the ancient infant (Lao Tzu’s nickname) might say to us: there is a universe (perhaps the only one) similar to this within your human body!
As we allow our movements to be circular and spiraling we’re bringing ourselves into alignment with these truths, and opening a gateway to experiencing them directly, at the level of our human body. We’re taking steps in the direction of “finding” that universe within us, of actually embodying the Truth of Who-We-Are …
And to end (this, which is simply the beginning of whatever you do next …) here’s a poem by the great mystic-poet Hafiz, which explores a similar theme:
Circles
The moon is most happy
When it is full.
And the sun always looks
Like a perfectly minted gold coin
That was just Polished
And place in flight
By God’s playful Kiss.
And so many varieties of fruit
Hang plump and round
From branches that seem like a Sculptor’s hands.
I see the beautiful curve of a pregnant belly
Shaped by a soul within,
And the Earth itself,
And the planets and the Spheres –
I have gotten the hint:
There is something about circles
The Beloved likes.
Hafiz,
Within the Circle of a Perfect One
There is an Infinite Community
Of Light.
Elizabeth Reninger, M.S. (Oriental Medicine) has been exploring Yoga/Qigong – in its Daoist, Buddhist and Hindu varieties – for upwards of twenty-five years. She maintains a private acupuncture practice in Boulder, Colorado, and is a published poet. For more of Elizabeth’s writing, on related topics, please visit http://taoism.about.com
