What is the essence of RDTC?

by Richard Farmer

Welcome to this first “Founder’s Newsletter”. This is a newsletter from me personally to you personally as a student with this School.

As Founder I rest right in the seed that is Rising Dragon. Right at the beginning. From this place of essence, the tree of Rising Dragon grows. This and subsequent newsletters are going to be written from this point of essence, so that if you hear what I am saying and are interested enough to explore it with me and apply it in your life, this seed continues to grow.

So what is this seed? What is Rising Dragon Tai Chi and what makes it different from other styles and Schools of Tai Chi?

The aim of my teaching allows you to return to your true essence - to give you a way of reconnecting with your true nature and to your Being. I start with the simple truth that the body is a mirror and it will show me where I am. If I have become unnatural in how I am in the world, this will show in my body movement. Any movement will show this, but the movement that allowed me to discover it was the Form of Tai Chi. Any Form must have been discovered somewhere. All Forms come from a formless moment of discovery. When they get passed on, they become methods, but in each method there is a line back to that original formless moment of discovery, and when that moment is found, from that moment you are free of Form.

As a result of this rediscovery I found the essential principles of living Tai Chi which form the basis of the School’s teaching. Through these principles, using the Forms of Tai Chi and meditation, we can embrace our unnaturalness and return to wholeness. From this place of wholeness we can begin to move in the Forms, gradually healing the distortion and damage which come from deep and early wounds we have learnt to overcome by survival strategies which keep us separate from our true nature. By healing this damage we can illuminate the Forms of Tai Chi from within, and so live them, and life, rather than being imprisoned by them.

When my Tibetan meditation teacher said, “Stop this practice of Tai Chi Chuan and go and make a cup of tea, it is better for you than this” he understood something that I did not at that time. When Dr Chi said, “Tai Chi Chuan can take you close to God, but it cannot take you directly” he understood something I did not at that time. But in answer to his gift, “I will teach you any secret you want, just ask”, I asked to learn spiritual Tai Chi and he began to teach me this truth.

Your true nature does not depend on any particular method - the method can only point the way. Your true nature is free of culture, even if the method of Tai Chi Chuan came from China or the Chinese. It is not about trying to imitate something that is not ours. The method known as Tai Chi movement is not a discipline or a Form, it is a state of being. To return to this state of being it is important to see ourselves, naked as it were, to see ourselves as we are, and then use the principles of Tai Chi to heal us.

Not all Tai Chi Schools will do this. Why? Because if you have not become free of Form and are hoping that by taking the shape of Form it will help, it will not. Because the Form, however beautiful, however technically correct, will be empty of the original wholeness, and full of the separateness that we have learnt to call “me” and “I”. It will be lifeless to those who can see.

The Tai Chi that I call Rising Dragon comes from the inside out. For those who love the science of it, it is a life-long study, but that is not necessary. Once your essence has been re-found, that is enough. Just live that, that is enough.

In this world there are many people and paths that can offer you this but it is not a common occurrence. I have travelled this path and it is still unfolding. The essence of Rising Dragon is communicated not through words but through an energetic understanding that is transmitted from the heart, directly. If you will listen you will hear it. If you have the courage to let go, you will find it. If you have the stillness and presence to receive who you are and let that shine, you will be it - if you will just give yourself 10 minutes every day to stand before this and look and allow and simply ask, “If I live from here, what could be different today?”

It is my understanding that our world needs this radical truth.

We are in a time of change and turbulence as the old ways based around fear and ‘not enoughness’ crumble and new ones, based around the truth of who we really are and the abundance of our world and our hearts, have space to emerge. I believe this journey is happening now and it is happening in you, and the success of this huge experiment called Life depends on the decisions that we take in the next 10 years or so.

So I am starting at the beginning again, as a simple student of Tai Chi sharing with those who are connected to me through the School that I founded. In the past 30 years I have had the privilege of sharing my understanding with you, the students of the School. There was a time when I would travel around the Centres of the School and you would have an opportunity to connect with me. For many reasons this is no longer the case, but this newsletter and its invitations are a way that you can stay in touch with me as Founder. This is a personal invitation to join me in this adventure of life, in this adventure of consciousness, and in the next 30 years, if I am granted that, we can develop together.

It is my intention, twice a year, to communicate with you though this newsletter and to share my insights - to speak about the things which I find make a difference, whether they are technical aspects around the science of Tai Chi movement, or the issues around what gets in the way and what can help us to let go and become; where necessary to keep you informed of developments in the School; and to let you know what courses you can attend with me. These will convey to you the ongoing path of deepening the note that you sound to life.

The most important thing to know is that what you seek is already inside you. Behind the fear and history it waits like a great lake behind a mountain. There is a path that leads from one to the other and it leads inwards. Thank you for listening and I hope to see you during the year.

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newsletters index page: Winter 2009