56. Qigong Master drinks tea again

☴/☳ Today I woke up feeling unusually tired and glum. My bones ached and I seem to have pain flowing throughout my internal systems. While I was at an energetic low point, outside the weather and locale seem at their perkiest. ☲/☵ At the breakfast table there was a bowl of matcha 抹茶 waiting for me. I drank it up slowly but felt compelled to make myself another one: A scoop of matcha 抹茶 in the bowl, a little bit of hot water and I whisk the matcha 抹茶 with the chasen 茶筅. I do it slowly. Very, very, slowly. ☱/☶ I whisk it until I can smell the matcha 抹茶 gently around me. It is only after this point that I add some more hot water and drink the tea 茶 very slowly. ☷/☰ This slowing down of the body, is one of the first signs that we have pushed ourselves close to breaking point. Usually in the pursuit of over-achieving a goal we have set for ourselves... ☰/☷ All Qigong Masters 氣功师傅 go through this. The excitement of reaching new energetic heights compels us to keep going. But the body is our vehicle and it needs servicing from time to time. Everybody goes through these state of affairs in their lives - work, pleasure or both. We just call it different things depending on what we are doing at the time and how intense the sensation is. ☶/☱ What really sets Qigong Masters 氣功师傅 apart from regular Kungfu Masters 功夫师傅 is the sensation of having one's energy sucked dry by those with very low or negative facing chi 氣 because of how they've lived their lives. It is like a black hole that sucks or feeds. In Wuxia stories 武俠故事 these people are usually personified as demons with toxic essences that can pollute the cultivated. ☵/☲ Hence, if you live near or in an area that has typically an outdoor Taichi 太極 class, you will see from time to time, the taichi master 太極师傅 disappearing from their group. The group will seem devoid of chi 氣 and the master 师傅 only seems to return when certain members have moved on to another master. This weeding process is important to allow new life energy to flow through the group and to allow the master 师傅 to recharge. ☳/☴ This is why, sometimes, only a few elite disciples are allowed to partake of kungfucha 功夫茶 or chanoyu 茶の湯 with their master after class. It has nothing to do with being "worthy", but everything to do with having reached a point in their training where their martial art 武術 is their qigong 氣功. Liked what you heard & want to connect with me? Join me at… linkedin.com/in/peterhainzl/