I’ve been thinking about liminal space, the space between, for instance, release and holding, action and non-action, breaths. It is the amorphous and transitional state of flux, or idle, or nothingness. The Greek god Hermes, endowed with the power of crossing boundaries between worlds is often seen in cairns–those rock stacks frequently marking paths and trails. Ironically, moving from liminal space and crossing thresholds often feels like unmarked territory.
And yet, if we are patient enough, the Way (as Taoists speak of it: not right, wrong, better or worse, but rather simply alignment with what is) emerges. But how do we know it when it comes? In my experience, first I must enter into stillness. From that point, after nothing happens for some time, the way into the next moment emerges.
As a therapist I listen–with my hands of course, but also with my whole body energy which often sits in my heart. As a massagee, when I am on the table I listen by allowing the therapist’s touch and pressure to soothe me. Sometimes that means breathing deeply into a focused pressure point, other times it means not breathing for a very long time and allowing my system to absorb the still and deep compression of an elbow or fist.
The process, whether giving or receiving, is always marked by what is natural–what feels right at the deepest level in the moment. When I am patient enough, the way into the next moment comes subtly, yet clearly. Action and movement of this kind is referred to in the Chinese tradition as Wu-wei, or effortless action. It is neither doing nor not doing. It is rather being in accordance with what is most true.
