March 3, 2014
Mountain of Gold
By Michael Norton
Michael Norton practices “Fair Lady Weaves at the Shuttle” qigong exercise.
Various doctors and scientists are constantly touting the benefits of regular exercise, with benefits to the body, brain and nervous system. Like everyone else, I need to encourage myself to do my exercise at least 3 or 4 times a week. I’ve heard Sifu liken Tai Chi to a mountain of gold, and I stretched this metaphor and other comments of his to cover Tai Chi practice outside the classroom–
Suppose someone offered you a mountain of gold, but they were only going to give it to you one thin sheet at a time. Each day, you can get a sheet, but they would only give you one sheet. So daily, you get your sheet, and place it on the ground, and it builds. But if you miss a day, you do not receive 2 sheets, only one. If you miss many days, after a while, thieves that notice your absence begin to take sheets, and your mountain diminishes, and you have to build it back up, one sheet a day at a time. Eventually you can have your mountain, but how soon depends on you.
This is how I look at my exercise, building my mountain of gold. Often it’s joint loosening with a few Qi Gong thrown in, sometimes it’s Push the Mountain. I’ve even done a part of the form, but I try to do something. I’m working on my mountain, and I hope those of you that are not doing anything outside the class consider going after your own Mountain of Gold.