13 Giu Taiji and psychotherapy

Reading some Lao Tzu’s verse from Tao Te Ching, I couldn’t help thinking that there is a fil rouge that connects Taiji with the foundations of psychotherapy. I am a psychotherapist. And there is a thing that never finishes surprising me in my work: can change latitudes, historical periods, civilizations. but never never human needs.

So I tried to compare the language of Taiji with that of psychotherapy, finding many contact points. I’ll propose you some. Free wheel.

… the ancient sages realized that everything in the universe is in a constant mutation, nothing is permanent except the mutation itself …

It’s the age-old theme of the change. Biology teaches us that life is evolution. And of course evolution is not always synonymous with improvement. I refer to the big extinctions of the past. But you know, extinctions are a risk to take into account. They should be read like attempts to adapt to the environment, without being successful. But still attempt, not only that. The change also  interferes a lot with the psychic life. Because being on the way, being on the lookout of their well-being is synonymous with health. Although the road is long and tiring. Especially because the wellness it is not conquered once for all. But it must be defeated and regained. The stagnation instead is pathological. It’s what therapists call “resistance to change”. That means stiffening, fear of the new , fear of not always have everything under control. Allowing the case to do its part. To stir a little cards. The unknown can be a source of danger but also of news. Patients often remains anchored to their habits stereotyped that they recognize as inadequate and source of suffering, but that have the advantage of being reassuring.

 … you knead the clay to make a vessel and in his internal void  there is the utility of the vessel, you open doors and windows to make a house and in its internal void you have the utility of the house …

This words make me think that now the dialectic full-void has supplanted the dialectic lack- desire. Much more healthy for the psychic life. In fact due to a widespread as rooted misunderstanding, the lack is experienced as a void to fill. With heavy trains. Because, if the lack is condition of the desire, the too full makes it asphyxiated. Mortifying the creativity and the planning that from desire start . Let’s think how many children and adolescent’s afternoon are organized. They provide a dense set of commitment in a frantic succession. From the catechism to the course of guitar, from tutoring math to soccer. And so it goes. It’s not remotely contemplated the possibility that they can get a little bored. I am referring to the healthy boredom that sets on motion the imagination, that makes think of what we would like to do, to eventually decide to do it. That’s not all. Within the logic of full- void, we can read the dependencies as diseases of the void. Taking drugs, eating to excess, be obsessed with the care of the body, being sick of business, of computers, of gamble can be seen as ways to tolerate the anxiety that arises from the lack. Because inhuman partners like bottle, drugs, food, computer, image of the body, work, are at one’s disposal. They give pleasure and guarantee certainties that relationships with human partners don’t guarantee. They illusory preserve from perturbations of love …

 … without comparison with others, like with the tui shou, we cannot know whether the forces that we are applying are correct and if the posture is correct …

The tui shou make me think of relationship. In particular, to the adolescent’s débuts in society, in fields as diverse. In friendship, in love couple, in group life, after leaving the reassuring walls of home. Rehearsal of life. Incessant testing, that in the long run should lead to greater competence in humans relations. It is the comparison with others, which can be like a mirror for us, communicating how we look in their eyes. This can send us back the image we have of ourselves, or give us back an abysmally different image, than we have to deal with. This helps us to take measurements of our behaviour, to assess the emotional impact on others. That often reserve us a merciless look, why not emotionally involved as a family can be. But this, even if it is painful, helps you to grow up. Being in relationship with others means learning to listen, trying to feel what it is to communicate. Until we are able to have the precious ability to develop that relational ability, the empathy, which is the step into shoes of others while remaining themselves. Requirement not to look badly at the different.

The tui shou reminds me sniffing dogs who do not know each other. Practice also widespread among humans, although, fortunately, in different ways, whenever they are faced with a stranger.

… those who excelled in ancient. as the followers of Tao, penetrated the arcane and communicated with the mystery, and were so profound that cannot be understood …

The followers of Tao that penetrated the mystery evoked in me the question of the mystery and the absurd. People pose in front of the life in very different ways. It depends on considering life a mystery rather than an absurdity. In the first case they recognize that it makes sense, even inscrutable. They come to terms with the sense of limitation, by accepting that life and death are beyond their control. But precisely for this reason they are fascinated. And enjoy life without marring an instant. In the second case, on the contrary, the aspect of transiency takes over and the question so crucial as paralysing becomes: is it worth while living if..? They have difficulty in accepting that life and death are part of a single project, because living seems to them like a contradiction in terms. Or a big scam.