Simplicity
   
     

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Simplicity

Simplicity is one of the most fundamental qualities we cultivate in living and in combat. When things become ornate, over-complicated and embellished, they lose their essence.
Taoism and Zen are about getting in touch with the real. In modern life, simplicity is not valued.


Direct

Being direct and to the point involves simplicity. The extraneous is removed, and the material is pared-down to only what you need. To what matters.


Economy

When you have the essentials, there is economy. You are not burdened by superfluity. It is important not to confuse simplicity with 'simplistic'.


Elegant

Removing the unnecessary creates space and freedom. You have room to move, to breath, to be. Sophistication can exist without clutter.
By finding the nature/character/heart/substance/essence/quality of things, you can respond to what is real, rather than hover around the periphery. Simplicity is to be found in the most obvious of things. In the unadorned, the unpretentious.


Pragmatism

There is an elegance in practical, pragmatic, functional concerns. They are unburdened and flowing.
Our approach to tai chi strips the student of their tension and their anxieties, leaving behind only what is necessary.
A lightness and spontaneity emerges when the hard shell of habitual tension is broken.


Words

If you understand that words cannot extend to reality, you will value doing over speaking, silence over talk. The word is not the thing.


Quiet

When things are left alone, they settle of their own accord. People become silent, calm and still. Your body will do the same if you let it.


Complicated

If your life has become too busy, think about simplifying it. Do less. Have fewer commitments and responsibilities. Say "No!". Take time to nourish yourself. Daily.
Instead of spreading yourself thinly, become whole again.
 

Find the simple in the complicated.

From little insights attain great wisdom.


(Lao Tzu) 


Tai chi

Sifu Waller approaches tai chi in a very direct manner, considering the Way in which the body moves. Students learn how to move, to feel, to integrate.
Flamboyant expression and aesthetic whimsy are replaced by clarity and simplicity. We train just the one style of tai chi. We learn it in-depth. Many years of study are required.
If you want to understand something thoroughly, you must simplify.


Self-reliance

Finding the simple is quite easy. You do not need a sage, master or guru to help you to see. It is not necessary to go anywhere or to do anything.
Simplicity can be found in everyday life and from there it will spread to all aspects of your existence. When you can see the world in front of your very eyes, you can find accord, balance and harmony.
Being simple is a natural offshoot of noticing things. You come to realise that the real is so often encumbered by tradition, by rules, by memory, by the past.
Peel away the irrelevant. Shed the unnecessary. Step clear of the past and see the real.


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Page created 18 April 1995
Last updated 16 June 2023