Here I am continuing with my offering of Tai Chi Mudras that my teacher, Virginia Scholl has been sharing with my Tai Chi class. Late Autumn is the season of Metal according to Tai Chi Philospohy, it is also associated with Mountain Energy. I’m struck by how this Mudra invokes a sovereign capacity that many of my clients are stepping into as they develop their ability to take leadership in their personal and professional lives. The sovereign capacity, as I define it here, is the ability to hold a vision through the ebbs and flows of time, to affirm self and others, to be deeply trustworthy.
So below you will find a video for the Metal/Mountain Mudra and a few sovereign building practices I’ve gleaned from practicing the Metal Mudra.
Here are a few practices to develop the sovereignty of metal / mountain energy in your daily life.
Endeavor to take a lesson from the trees — how they stand tall as they gently let go of their leaves - to relinquish that which has been brought to full harvest
Allow the sharp edged thoughts that arise in your mind to descend down into your heart where your compassion can soften and transform them
Look for the hidden treasures, even in these darkening times. And ask yourself if you’d be willing to receive these gifts
Look back out over the year as if you are on a mountain top. See all that you have received and all that you have lost from a heightened perspective that is also grounded by a wide base.
Invite yourself to trust that you are part of the great unfolding: Consider the time it took to form mountains, the time it took for the tree to form the leaves that are now drifting to the ground, the time it takes for grief to work its way through us.
Be the mountain in all its grace and sovereignty
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May the diamond clarity of mind
Descend to my heart
To reveal the treasures of my life
Accepting what I have received and what I have lost
And trusting what is invisible and what is hidden
Know that you are always eligible for grace . . .
More on Metal / Mountain Energy from my teacher’s teacher . . .
Of all the five element, perhaps it is Metal that we Westerners find most difficult to comprehend, The word usually evokes in us something rigid, sharp and uncompromising; something harsh, demanding or judgemental.
From a Chinese perspective, Metal is associated with the season of Autumn. It is a time of loss and grief, yet in its clarity and purity it brings us closest to the place of spirit and the work of bringing spirit into form. This is the abode of the sage, the Hermit and the Mentor, those who understand the lessons of receiving and releasing when experience turns into understanding. Autumn presides over all separations and asks us to turn inward, to examine what we have brought to full harvest, to decide what we need to keep and what we need to relinquish. It teaches us to know the balance between appreciating the beauty of life and mourning its loss. This is the time of year when we search for something uncorrupted; a time to turn inwards, a time to find the jewels, the treasures we hold within ourselves.
. . . Like the season itself, Metal spirit asks us to find what is of essential worth, what is of real value in our lives. Although its lessons are not easy ones, Metal’s spirit knows we are always eligible for grace. It teaches us to let go without giving up, without losing trust. It reminds us that with acceptance and surrender, we are able to let go of the old so that something new can be born.
Metal’s spirit knows we are always
Eligible for grace
It reminds us that we are never past healing
And never beyond hope
It has a purity that precludes judgement
And teaches us to trust our innate value
Metal asks us to find
What is of essential worth in our lives;
To understand the dynamic
Between appreciating the beauty of life
And mourning its loss
It is the holy grail
As well as the search for it
Cielle Tewksbury, November 2009