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You are here: Home / Reflections / Invest In Loss

Invest In Loss

By Chris 2 Comments

‘Invest in loss?’

When I first read this Chinese quote years ago it didn’t make any sense.

How can you invest in loss?

But several years later in my Tai Chi training I finally understood what this quote really meant.

And when I made that realisation I looked at every opportunity to ‘invest in loss.’

The losses are essentially my mistakes and the investment is in learning and applying the correct technique.

Here are some examples how I invested in loss.

Push Hands
–  thrown head over heels – sink the chi

Form
– too rigid in my movements – relax, let go but maintain the correct structure of the posture

Self Defence
– sparring and getting hit on the nose – maintain seven stars posture

There is a lot of wisdom in Chinese quotes and it is only through practice, awareness and examination can one really understand a quote such as ‘invest in loss.’

Filed Under: Reflections Tagged With: Chinese quote, Experience, learning

Comments

  1. Galen Pearl says

    May 8, 2013 at 9:14 am

    Hi! I’m writing a blog post on this lesson about investing in loss, and I was searching for a quote to use. I ran across your site. Very nice! Hope you will visit my site and let me know what you think of my interpretation of the lesson. All the best, Galen

  2. Chris says

    May 10, 2013 at 9:30 am

    Thanks Galen. I’ll check out your blog post.
    Regards
    Chris

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Tai Chi Chuan
A health and self defence system.

Chi
The ‘intrinsic energy’ which circulates in all living things – Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming.

Chi Kung
….. specialises in building up the Chi circulation in the body for health and/or martial purposes – Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming.

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