I took myself away to our little house in Herefordshire which currently has no roof, few inside walls and no hot water. To make up for that we have a log burning stove, a sea of fields around us, old trees, birdsong and peace far from London. I made a dojo, lit candles, placed my Buddha, sat on a cushion and opened zoom. In that little room my tai chi practice reached another dimension.

I discovered, through body, mind and spirit, what happens when I move from the formless to the form and enter the formless, from the personal to the universal, from the wu to the yu to the wu. But like the Tao I can’t put it neatly and nicely into words. Something that belongs to what me means, uniquely me, transcends into a universal me. Something profoundly beyond me but came initially from my own experience, from the world outside to my inner world and out again. I don’t have a need to name it although there are many names for it: Buddha nature, spirit, universal source. I recognise it standing on the top of the mountain, breathing in the world around me or when I close my eyes and allow beautiful music to resonate in my heart, or when I hold a newborn baby and ache for their vulnerability.  Now I’ve learnt how to get there, how to open and allow the universe to penetrate that immeasurable space inside me, take form and shape and movement and then watch it roll out like a wave, like the breath, like the wind in the trees.  I’m still learning how to turn that great transformative roll into a roll of compassion and empathy.

With my great thanks to my teacher and friend Tew who, for the last 36 years, has guided me along my spiritual journey and has now taken me a step further into the compassion of wu and the part I can play in its sacred connection.

Sue McAlpine

September 2020