The most significant lesson I have learnt from many years of studying martial arts is the value of relaxed discipline.

The words “relaxed” and “discipline” are not often used in the same sentence in the West. We tend to think of relaxation as a chilling out, a horizontal non activity that occurs on a sofa, bed or chair, it’s a vegging out, a doing nothing. Martial art teaches us how to be relaxed in a state of motion and within a state of crisis. By applying the discipline of regular training and working with the techniques, even one such as I, whose lost a lot of upper body strength since menopause, can land an effective palm strike. This can only be done by appropriately relaxing, tensing the arm takes power away from the strike. You can only learn the correct technique and how to relax in a crisis situation, where someone is fighting you, by many long hours of practice. It continues to be a work in progress for me.

I have found that these principles work well within life in general as I am more effective in my life if I apply discipline but do so in a state of flow, which is a state of non-tension. I achieve more and do it better if I am relaxed when I do it. Sometimes I have heard people say that a state of some stress can be helpful for motivation but for me I find that it’s not so. Emotional stress is nothing but a hindrance to my mind. What is helpful is being in a frame of mind that is so focused on what I am doing that stress cannot be experienced as there is no room for it in my brain.  If I am under stress or tension, it slows me down and the stress gets in the way of free flow thinking.

In a state of stress, I am worried or frightened, concerned about consequences, feeling anxious and if my mind is focused on that then it will not be focused on the task at hand. Sometimes people are so anxious about a task that they do not do it at all.

I cannot be in the flow and in the moment if I am stressed or worried. I cannot be stressed and worried if I am in the flow.

This has also applied to my magical life. When I was young, like many people I was excited about doing what is called “git hard magick” but that only led to tensions that effected my results. I was trying too hard to prove myself to myself that sometimes my magick went a bit off point or did not work at all.

It was only when I started to settle and relax into the process that I began to achieve good results. By using the discipline of a regular practice, learning relaxed trance techniques and applying this without being overly concerned with the results, my magick become more effective and on point. This is why many magical groups advocate for a daily mediation practice, to enable the practitioner to simply relax and observe, a disciplined practice but done in a relaxed manner.

While chaos magick is a results-based system, as time went on, I started to broaden my own definition of a result. There are obvious results such as “I want to do a ritual to manifest X” and X appears. There are also what I call softer results such as “I want to have this experience and see what happens”. Sometimes allowing something to unfold in its own way has benefits. So, I have continued to do martial arts in the mind set of wanting to see what unfolds magically as a result of working with energy via Tai Chi.

What I get is a type of mystical experience as I perceive the world a little differently after spending time doing Tai Chi.

The world looks a little brighter and colours are more pronounced after the Tai Chi session. So, I get a greater appreciation of the nature that’s around us, but I also get a deep state of connection with all beings as a manifestation of chaos. I am not seeing a chaos star but getting that awareness of chaos, which is why I added the star to the image. I can communicate more effectively with the nature spirits in this state of consciousness.

This, however, is not the destination, getting lost in the brighter visuals may be the route to chapel perilous. What I am experiencing is the process, and it will be interesting to see what enfolds as I continue this practice within a state of relaxed discipline.