Wu Wei, is a term familiar to anyone who has studied Taoism, the Chinese philosophy connected with Lao Tzu…
It is the principle of non action, but rather than this necessarily meaning ‘doing nothing’, it is more about stillness and presence within action.
It is about being at ease and silent within movement, of not forcing and striving too hard towards an outcome.
It’s ‘enjoying the journey’, staying in the step, knowing the next will take care of itself…
Running has always been my teacher and has lead me back to this principle again and again.
The joy of training and racing is a delight for me,
A meditation on the move.
This doesn’t mean that every run feels amazing!
But it’s accepting – the state of the body, the weather, the ‘not feeling much like it, but going anyway’ – accepting all that is…
But when it feels forced, when there is push and struggle rather than acceptance and authentic flow, then I have always known the time has come for reflection
What am I ‘doing’ when the ‘being’ in the step is lost…
I have been appreciating my body’s return to running form in recent months, and loving running races…
My enthusiasm lead me to enter a marathon again!
I ran many marathons in the 80’s into the early 90’s and sporadically thereafter … Having not run one for 12 years, the idea appealed, the training appealed – it all felt fun…
Until recently!
When I questioned what I was doing… !
Lao Tzu spoke about simplicity, patience and compassion as being the three principles that can allow us to return to the source of being and so know ourselves,
And Wu wei encompasses these three completely
Simplicity, patience, compassion within all our actions and endeavours.
It’s about flow and allowing…
And it came to me recently that showing compassion to myself would be to change my plans;
to keep it more simple…
To have patience with my body’s request for less!
To listen and learn and love
To do unto myself what I would suggest to another if they expressed to me what I felt within…
‘You don’t ‘have’ to do it you know’
We are all on our own journey, and it is only we who know what is truly right for us…
For some the experience of Wu Wei is there whilst running a five day ultra, for some it will be sitting quietly watching the world go by whilst having a coffee in the square …
We’re here to know ourselves…
‘At the centre of your being
You have the answer
You know who you are
and you know what you want’
Lao Tzu