Wu Wei

There is a concept found in Chinese philosophy called Wu Wei or doing-not doing or effortless action. If you have ever played push hands with me you will have a small taste of what wu wei is. Effortless action is where you do only what is required to perform the action and then stop. This is a powerful counterpoint to the idea of "Going the extra mile."

My students often comment in pushing hands practice that the harder they try, the more they get thrown backward or up into the air. This is correct. This idea this counterpoint to going above and beyond and putting in the effort to do something may seem like an invitation to laziness. Putting extra effort into doing a thing is pointless. The only work that is required is that required to perform the action. This however is not the only thing going on in the action.

When you see a Kung Fu master throw someone effortlessly, or you see a chef prepare a wonderful meal, or a writer produce an outstanding piece of work you are not seeing their efforts. The throw, the cooking, the piece of writing are in essence effortless. Does this mean that no work was involved? Not at all!

The Kung Fu master has put his or her effort into the practice and honing of the craft. The effort is expended not in the action we see but in the roots of the action. In the thousands of hours of learning movements, practicing stances, analyzing the movements of more experienced practitioners. The same goes for the chef and the writer. Thousands of hours of work and practice go into the meal or the writing.

What is the difference between this effort and the effort invested in performing the action? Simple... the effort of practice is a sustained, daily. It is spread over time and this means its results are more profound and far reaching. The amateur, the one who only puts forth effort when he or she is performing the action, can never hope to match that kind of effort.

I suppose the essence of Wu Wei lies in this: Small sustained efforts create actions of great power. Large, sporadic efforts create actions of little meaning and great strain.

Doing what we can

Oftentimes I am in class and people marvel at some of the things my body can do. To me it's nothing special but to them it seems almost like magic. Then I look at someone who has been practicing longer than I have and say precisely the same thing but to these men and women it's nothing special.

I have contemplated this for a long time and a term pops into my head just now as I commit thoughts to writing. The term is gradual gains. If we want to master Tai Chi, or music, or cooking we don't leap up one morning and become masters of any art. We have to begin with something small. A single movement, a simple set of notes, an omelet. Then we can begin to grow our knowledge. cultivate it carefully by practice and attention. Practice is repetitive. Nothing thankfully is like in the movie The Matrix where we can simply download skills to our minds. We have to work for it. We have to use our creativity and our effort to accomplish the skillfulness we desire.

Desire for skillfulness is important. Without it we do not master anything. How many wonderful talented people are just sitting around unemployed or unappreciated simply because they lack the desire for skill? We all want instant returns. The lottery win, the inheritance, the windfall, the magic pill that makes us well without effort. Sadly none of those things exist. We all have to work at it to make things happen. So... we come to the newly coined phrase gradual returns.

Anytime you practice you make a very gradual gain. You are given something new each day you put in the time to practice. The trick is to appreciate it. Appreciate the small gains and remember what one of my teachers always drilled into my skull: "The years will see what the days may never know."

So do what you can and practice everyday. It's that simple.