Stillness Reveals Nature

Allow Nature's secrets in

“To the mind that is still, the whole universe surrenders” – Lao Tzu

This is one of those phrases that sounds meaningful, yet remains mysterious. That is until a real-world experience clarifies it. The exercise shown here was one that taught me a lot about natural forces and how to work with them.

As can be seen, the edge of the barrel is narrow. In order to keep my feet from sliding off either side, I had to be sure they were positioned with the edge in the exact center line of each foot. In other words, the balance point. Stepping forward was an added challenge since each step required recreating the balance point.

At first, I was unstable and the more I tried to move the more frustrated I became. This of course meant falling off the barrel…repeatedly.

Falling is not a bad thing if it teaches something. In my case, I started to notice that the more I relaxed both mind and body, the easier it became to remain balanced.

This was when the realization of Lao Tzu’s quote happened. As my mind became still, I was better able to relax my body. This allowed me to feel the natural forces of balance, gravity, tension, release, etc. The forces surrendered their secrets!

In fact, I made a couple of trips around that barrel with ease. Of course, then I got excited again and fell off. Slow learner! 🙂

But the lesson was never lost on me and I carried it into other aspects of my internal training.

Value inner stillness to allow nature’s secrets in.