‘Tao’, as you may know, is translated from Chinese as ‘the way’. I think I read somewhere that it is even the word they use for ‘road’ or ‘street’ in China today.
However, several millenia ago certain Chinese philosophers began using the word Tao in a much bigger sense. They believed that everything in heaven and earth followed a universal way. This way — Tao — is part of everything, and so we find it when we do what is most natural (which is not always what is easiest!). It doesn’t need to invented, only discovered.
Taoists, then, are on a lifelong treasure-hunt. Whatever the scenario, they know that the right course of action is already there, even if it is buried by other things, like selfishness or fear or uncertainty.
I was reminded of this in a really obvious way on Monday when Melissa and I went to a physiotherapy session at our hospital to prepare for giving birth. Physiotherapy is concerned with helping the body to find its natural strength and flexibility. Amazingly (but perhaps not surprisingly!) it was full of Taoist sentiments.
The midwife ‘teacher’ stressed more than anything else that tension is counter-productive. Clenched fists and raised shoulders exhaust the muscles and prevent contractions from being productive. Moreover, they send feedback messages back to the brain that the situation is dangerous, encouraging the ‘fight or flight’ syndrome of fear and aggression (which, in return, causes more muscle tension.) Stretching fingers and dropping shoulders encourages feelings of calmness and control, and helps labour to progress.
Movement and position are also important. If there’s no reason to suspect any trouble, it’s better to stay ‘unhooked’ from machines and wires to find a comfortable position, or to sit in a pool. When the baby is ready to come out, it’s best to be in a kneeling posture where pushing muscles work best and gravity is assisting the birth.
Even though pain relief is available, the midwife during Melissa’s first pregnancy emphasised the benefits of natural birth. Numbing the body makes it less able to function properly. She promised in no uncertain terms that it would be the worst pain Melissa ever felt, but that it would be ‘positive pain’, which means that it is goal-directed, not purposeless.
It often the case in science and mathematics that different people, sometimes in different parts of the world, arrive at the same conclusions in completely different ways. I am encouraged that I keep finding pieces of the Tao Te Ching everywhere I look. Could the Tao be as trustworthy as the motion of the stars, or Pythagoras’ theorem?
We’ll be back in the maternity ward soon. Wish us luck!
