Tai Chi, Capitalism and Wellbeing
Tai Chi, Capitalism and Wellbeing
Discontentment is a sad state of being. Yet it is at the core of any market system, content people don't usually need to go out and buy more stuff to be happy. So will Tai Chi make me content? Kelly (2022) discusses this from a yoga perspective but it is just as relevant for Tai Chi;
'I realized that my yoga practice wasn’t just revealing me, it was revealing the real world in living color. And no matter how much I tried to meditate it away, I couldn’t unsee the suffering all around me. I used to think it was enough to have good intentions, to be a healthy and compassionate citizen. But then I wondered if that was just a myth that enabled me to escape. And I began to grapple with why I got to be well when others didn’t. How well-being had somehow become a privilege afforded to people with access and time and money.'
Embodied Tai Chi unpicks an ancient art, its a way to pay attention inside your physical self. Not how you look, what you do or what you have, just being content with the experience of being. Nothing mystical here. However, that state of being has an odd contented feel to it. It can also be accompanied by a greater awareness of the beauty inherent in the world around us. Practicing Embodied Tai Chi you learn to find your personal physical stability while practicing being compassionate about how you do that towards yourself. Kelly (2022) goes on to say;
'In other words, any expression of yoga or wellness that contributes to the suffering, exclusion, exploitation, or oppression of others is not yoga at all, it’s just more suffering. The real yoga is off the mat. It is how we show up in service and action for the well-being of everyone.
'If you can overcome all the marketing that is telling you to 'buy something' to make you better by truly feeling compassionate towards your inner self then you can project that same feeling towards others. That is the true power of Tai Chi, to 'feel' compassion for those more powerful than ourselves. In that moment you take away their control over you, the control relies on your fear or anger. The marketing fear of not being accepted or the anger at not having enough stuff. So you may say will all my classes be free! The answer is no, well not all of them anyway.
David Hunt 22nd April 2023.
Kelly K (2022) Adapted excerpt from American Detox: The Myth of Wellness and How We Can Truly Heal by Kerri Kelly (North Atlantic Books, 2022) in https://www.yogajournal.com/lifestyle/i-saw-the-truth-of-the-wellness-industry-heres-how-im-disrupting-it/ accessed 22nd April 2023