Friday, February 26, 2010

Freedom from within

[Path to Mastery 2/26/10 – Wk24 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Freedom comes from within.

Within Free Hand (The un-structured part of the system) we have free movement and free conditioning.  Before we can discuss free movement and conditioning, we have to discuss the nature of freedom.   

Freedom is a perception.  I once heard Wayne Dyer tell this story of a man who was in prison.  He had programmed this satellite and he was the only programmer who knew how to operate it.  This satellite was too important for the government and thus they imprisoned him so nobody else could get in contact with him.  Now something had gone wrong with the satellite and they wanted his help.  But he wouldn’t respond to the people who were talking to him.  So, one of the agents told him, “If you cooperate with us, we can give you your freedom”.  The programmer answered, “You mean you can give me my liberty.  I have my freedom.  Go away.”  This is a powerful illustration that real freedom comes from within, not the outside.  

So, why do we talk about this?  Because unless you can free your mind your body wont free either.  The limit of our body depends that on of our minds.  

If I were to ask you to do as many push ups as possible, like most people you would do them until you feel pain in your arms and then stop.  If I encouraged you and told you that you could do more, you’d probably pull off a couple more and then feel that you couldn’t do another push up.  But if someone put a gun to your head and told you that you had to do more push ups, you’d be able to do a lot more than you ever thought you could.  When your life or someone else’s life depends on you then your real limitation will come out.  This clearly illustrates that what we perceive to be our limit and our actual limit is far different.

For any martial artists or warrior of any kind the ability to assess reality and handle pain is key.  When you are trying to survive, getting distracted in any way, especially by pain can be detrimental.  Learning to have a clear and calm mind even when there is pain or discomfort, or other kinds of distraction is very important.  This would be true to any situation in life not just martial arts.  The ability to stay focused on the goal and not be distracted is fundamental to any success.

You learn how to relax, breath, move, and hold your body so you can calm yourself when there is pain.  You learn there is good pain and bad pain.  Bad pain damages the body.  The good pain used correctly can build you up.  You learn that breathing and relaxation can directly influence your pain.  Further on you learn that the mind itself can control the pain.      

I once heard, “Pain is inevitable, but suffering is a choice”.  As you learn how to condition your body through breathing and relaxation work, you learn that pain is a signal and that even though the signal itself is real that suffering is in the mind.  When you learn that even if the body suffers the mind doesn’t need to suffer, there is a whole new freedom that comes with this knowledge.  You start getting a better understanding of reality and how most of the time our thoughts limit us.  You start seeing how much of our lives is limited by our limited thoughts.  This is the beginning of a new way of seeing things.  

Furthermore, you learn how to taken on life, without having to compromise your own integrity.  As you learn to condition through breathing, relaxation, slow and fluid movement, while keeping good structural integrity like your body was meant to be or sometimes in completely compromised positions, you start getting a sense of when your body is natural or not.  There is a deep comfort and pleasure of just being.  You become more and more sensitive to this deep comfort, and you start moving freely within this total natural self.  In this way of moving, there is no haste.  At this stage, there is stillness in your movement, and there is movement in your stillness.      


History of Tai-Chi Journey up to this point:

Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system.
1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

Interactive training after we went public with the blog.  
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covered from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
4. Weapons (Covered on 2/23)
5. Healing System (Covered on 2/24)

Non-Structured System:
6.    Introduction (Covered on 2/25)
7.    Free moving – conditioning (Covered today)
8.    Free hand pushing hand
9.    Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills)
10.  Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills)

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Form and beyond...

[Path to Mastery 2/24/10 – Wk24 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Now so far, we have been covering the structured part of the system.  Starting today, we will be covering the part of our system that is unstructured.  Today, I will give you an overview of the unstructured training.

One can argue that the unstructured free hand part of the system is the purest part of the system.  Tai-Chi is formless at its essence.  True Tai-Chi is a state of absolute harmony and uninhibited flow.  It is where things are absolutely natural.  

However, there is one catch.  In order to be free, one has to have discipline.  Let me illustrate with an example that I heard Steven Covey once use.  In order for you to have complete freedom at the piano, you must have put in endless hours of discipline before you can have the freedom of a master pianist.  

Going through the Tai-Chi system teaches you what it means to be natural.  By practicing the postures and movements, how to relax and how to breathe, one becomes more and more familiar what it means to be at an ideal state.  It is not unlike practicing to have the perfect free throw form in basket ball.  This familiarizes the player with what it feels like when he or she has a good shot.  

However, if the basketball player only practices free throw shooting, their game will not improve.  They need to practice how to interact and how to shoot while interacting, while being interrupted, while in mid-motion, or any other state they might encounter during a play.  

Using the same analogy, the structured part of Tai-Chi teaches you the ideal feeling of being natural.  The unstructured part of Tai-Chi teaches the chaotic side of things.  It teaches you how to guide yourself through the chaos.  I have come across a martial art called Guided Chaos.  The concept is the same.  

My coach Jeff would say, you get what you practice.  He was saying that when you practice the form, you get good form, but no more.  In order for you to get fighting qualities, you must experience the chaos of a fight.  It is one thing to have flow and peace when it is just you.  It is quite another when you have unpredictable movement coming in your direction and you are trying to have flow and peace.  

The unstructured part as a whole is called free hand.  In free hand training, you start by moving in slow gentle movements. During the slow, gentle interaction you learn how to respond in a relaxed and calm manner.  As you get better, the speed of the interaction naturally gets faster and more complex, but your mind will feel familiar with the feeling and speed of the movements and thus will stay calm and relaxed.    

We have to remember, no martial art started off as a form.  The fighting came first, and then the form.  As you train this simple and safe interaction, you start to realize why the form is the way it is.  You realize that the secrets of Tai-Chi is in pushing hands, but only if it is done correctly, of course.

Some more on this tomorrow.


History of Tai-Chi Journey up to this point:

Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system.
1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

Interactive training after we went public with the blog.
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
4. Weapons (Covered on 2/23)
5. Healing System (Covered on 2/24)

Non-Structured System:
1.    Introduction (Covered today)
2.    Free moving - conditioning
3.    Free hand pushing hand
4.    Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills)
5.    Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills)

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Tai-Chi and Healing

[Path to Mastery 2/24/10 – Wk24 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Tai-Chi is not only a great exercise, martial art, and meditation, but also a great healing art.  Tai-Chi is both a self-healing and healing others art.  

So many people with different kinds of ailment get better from doing Tai-Chi.  I just went on the internet to pull some references and there is tons of it out there.  Here is one quote that covered a wide range:  

“The Harvard publication included the latest research on how tai chi could benefit patients with arthritis, breast cancer, heart disease, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, stroke, even sleep problems and low bone density.
"This is big," Douglas said.

-- Orlando Sentinel, August 17, 2009
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/orl-self-health-tai-chi-081709aug17,0,4151868.story

I’d say that covers quite the range, but just so you know, the list is quite a bit longer.  Just from memory and experience, I know it helps with high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, balance and strength, heightened immunity, stress management, ADD, Multiple Sclerosis as well.   

Tai-Chi focuses on strengthening your health instead of getting rid of your disease.  You will commonly hear of older people practicing Tai-Chi living their lives like young people.  When Gabriel, my teacher, was in his eighties, he was flipping me around like a rag doll, and I was in my twenties.  

Now, this only covers the healing benefits of doing Tai-Chi, but on top of these benefits, Tai-Chi also has healing methods to help other people.  Tai-Chi healing methods range from Qi-Gong healing, joint manipulation, massage, and acupressure.   

Tai-Chi healing is effective because it comes from first hand experience.  In Tai-Chi a practitioner first experiences healing on one’s own body.  Since one has experienced the benefits, one is intimately familiar with how the healing works.  Through practicing Tai-Chi, one gains a keen understanding of the body.  Science is still unfolding all the different reasons as to why Tai-Chi has such profound health benefits for you but while science is searching from the outside, you become the scientist of your own body.  This intuitive sense becomes a great aid in healing.    
    
It is also effective because the practitioner learns to understand the weaknesses and the strengths of the body and mind intimately well. It is a martial art, so it needs to understand what makes the body and mind be strong, and when, where and how they are weak.  When you know how to destroy, then you also know how to strengthen.    

Tai-Chi healing knowledge comes from the accumulated effort of taking care of injuries.  It’s a martial art after all.  One of my old martial art teachers used to say, first learn how to heal before you learn how to break.    

Tai-Chi also trains for sensitivity.  I saw my teacher working on someone else once and I thought they were doing pushing hands, but upon further examination, I realized that he was just moving the patience limb by listening to it and by moving it to get rid of its resistance and to restore the flow of the movement.  He had enough sensitivity to feel the whole body through the arm and how it was connected to the rest of the body.

Tai-Chi is an internal martial art, which means that it is a type of Chi-Gong exercise.  Chi-Gong means Energy Cultivation.  The practitioner learns how to cultivate energy and how to guide it.  As part of the practice, the practitioner learns how to use the energy to heal.  I remember one time when we were sparring, Joseph got kicked in the shin.  He got kicked hard enough where the shin started getting black and blue and started swelling up.  Mike and I started sending Chi and it started healing immediately.  By the end of it, the bruise was practically gone.  When we tap into that energy and learn how to harness it, our lives are very different.     

This would be some of the reason why Tai-Chi is an effective healing art.  I’d like to recommend for you to go on the internet and do some research by yourself.  You’ll be surprised how much research there is on Tai-Chi and how widely it is recommended!


History of Tai-Chi Journey up to this point:

Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system.
1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

Interactive training after we went public with the blog.
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
4. Weapons (Covered on 2/23)
5. Healing System (Covered today)

Next we have our non-structured part of the system

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Aren’t weapons cool?

[Path to Mastery 2/23/10 – Wk24 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Tai-Chi Weapons

In the Tai-Chi weapon system the weapon is not treated as a tool that is separate from oneself.  One is supposed to learn how to be one with the weapon.  

Weapons typically is an exciting topic for a lot of people.  There is something fascinating about weapons.  We all understand instinctively that it is not easy to move a foreign object around like some of these experts do in movies.  When we see people swirling swords around with effortless ease and elegance as if it is alive it captures our awe.

Training with weapons is a natural progression from training without weapons because Tai-Chi is about relaxing further and further until one can harmonize with its environment to achieve oneness with all that is around.  So in order to deepen one’s sense of relaxation and in order to understand how to merge with foreign objects to achieve oneness, this is a great practice.  

Yang style Tai-Chi traditionally has 3 or 4 weapons depending on which family you speak with.  

Tai-Chi sword
Tai-Chi saber
Tai-Chi spear
Tai-Chi staff

According to some, the staff and the spear form is the same since second generation Yang family, Yang Ban Hou’s mother was afraid that her son might kill someone so she cut the spear tip off.  Real Tai-Chi practice of either empty hand or weapon, however, has no form. This is because one is supposed to learn how to follow the natural flow of the body or the object one is holding in order to blend with the flow of whatever is happening.  The form provides the opportunity for one to familiarize themselves through the experience of the people that came before them.  At the core of Tai-Chi concept, anything can be a weapon as long as you can sense it’s center and balance and you learn to follow it with precision.  

One learns that the weapon is supposed to be held loosely so that you can feel the weight of the weapon, and one learns that the weapon can be treated as either a new joint, or an extension of a limb.  One learns that the weapon has its own center of gravity, or natural balancing point, and that you need to listen for it and learn to follow and respect it while learning to borrow its center and join it with yours.  

So, in some ways, with what most people think of weapons, the concept is reversed in that you are not the one controlling the weapon, but that you are following the weapon.  Since you are following the weapon, you can access the full power of the weapon, and thus borrow its full strength.  



History of Tai-Chi Journey up to this point:


Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system.
1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

Interactive training after we went public with the blog.  
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
4. Weapons (Covered today)

Now we just need to cover:

Healing System

Feedback:
Nick,
I saw your u-tube and your form has improved considerably!  Keep watching the video on the web, and keep reviewing your own video clips.  The Carry Yoke does look a lot better!  One key correction, Monkey Stepping back, when you step back, your legs can't cross.  You have to make sure you keep shoulder width.  Keep working hard.

Joe,
Great comments.  Love it.  I think your comments are better than my blog! 

Monday, February 22, 2010

Universal Effect

[Path to Mastery 2/22/10 – Wk24 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

One of the great things about Tai-chi is that as your Tai-Chi improves it has a direct reflection of growth in the rest of your life.

Last Saturday, Alexis, one my students said “Tai-Chi is about using form to connect with what’s beyond form”.  I thought that was beautifully expressed.  

I experience this in every single class of mine with someone coming up and telling me how Tai-Chi is transforming their life and having an effect on it.  For instance, on the same Saturday in an earlier class (I chose this example since this seemed like a serendipitous days), Claudia said that the practice of extending from your shoulders really helped her with her singing.  The practice of extending from your shoulders is imagining that a line of energy is extending form the bulging tip of your shoulder muscle between your neck and your shoulder tip.  This location on the shoulder is considered to be one of the key lung points and this visualization lines up your shoulders and hips and opens up your breath pathway and your lungs.  

Claudia is a professional singer and she teaches singing.  She is of course experienced with breath work and is very familiar with it.  She said that she really like this technique because it stabilized her and it helped with her voice.  I love the fact that she started practicing Tai-Chi not to long ago and simple things like these are helping her practice.  

Tai-Chi works on getting rid of the resistance in your body so you become natural.  When your body starts functioning naturally the way it was designed to work, our hidden potential starts coming out.  When you are more fully you, and you stop fighting yourself, of course everything else is going to become easy.        

This is why Tai-Chi has such a universally transforming effect in your life.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

Before we move on, I’d like to make a quick summary of the Tai-Chi overview we have covered:

So far we have been covering the Formalized traditional system of Tai-Chi.  We are coming close to the end of covering the entire Formalized part of the training.   Before the blog opened to the public, we covered the single person part of the system:

1. Qi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Qi-Gong)
2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation
4. 7 Basics
5. Basic Form
6. 30 Form
7. 108 Form

We covered the Interactive training after we went public with the blog.  
1. 8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
2. San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
3. Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ 2/19)
    Part 1: Explanation of Ba-Gua (Covered on 2/16)
    Part 2: Yin-Yang Theory (Covered on 2/17)
    Part 3: 8 Trigram (Covered on 2/18) 
    Part 4: 5 Element (Covered on 2/19)

Now we just need to cover:
1. Weapons
2. Healing System

Sometimes it is a good idea to just look at all the information that has been covered before you move on.  It gives a good sense of where you are in the journey.  

We will continue our journey with weapons tomorrow!

Friday, February 19, 2010

True Mastery?

[Path to Mastery 2/19/10 – Wk23 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

So now that we have covered some of these concepts, you are probably thinking how deep do you need to understand these philosophies in order to master Tai-Chi?

When I asked my teacher Gabriel about this he threw in a curve ball to this whole question.  He said that it was all a bunch of phooey.  That’s right.  That is the official nomenclature for non-sense.   He explained that when he was learning there was no such thing, and that over time, people started just adding a whole bunch of superficial knowledge that distracted you from the real knowledge.  

Now, I have heard, read and talked to a lot of people who agree with this and disagree with this.  After years of practicing, however, I agree with my teacher.  Can real knowledge come from concept or do you need to experience it? Can you get benefits without letting your mind and body improve in a real and physical way?  

Real knowledge can only come from practice.  It resides hidden within your body and mind that can only be unlocked through this key called practice.  When you practice, you body and mind make connections that you didn’t even know existed.  You literally find parts of yourself that you weren’t familiar with.  These discoveries allow you tap into your hidden potential.  When you tap into your hidden potential, then you are starting to meet the real you.  Who is more real?  All of your potential or just what you are capable of up to now?        

I think a real life example of mastery and what it means to tap into full potential is worth seeing.  I received this link from my friend Frederique not too long ago.  I think you will thoroughly appreciate this movie clip of Evelyn Glennie, a deaf musician doing a lecture.  I wanted to choose this instead of Tai-Chi, because I didn’t want to show a Tai-Chi example that would color your mind of how Tai-Chi could be done.  Instead, I wanted you to see an example of mastery in a different setting who talks about and demonstrates these principles involved with attaining real knowledge.
 
http://www.ted.com/talks/evelyn_glennie_shows_how_to_listen.html
 
I hope you enjoy it!

On a closing note, these philosophies are very powerful and affective approaches to life.  These concepts can help you understand things better.  I’d like to say stay open.  Don’t get caught up by these ideas, explore.  Some of these ideas may allow you to help when you are stuck.   


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

We have covered the following:

8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ )
             Part1: Explanation of Ba-Gua (Covered on 2/16)
             Part2: Yin-Yang Theory (Covered on 2/17)
             Part3: 8 Trigram (Covered on 2/18)

And here is the last installment of the 4 part series:

Ba-Gua Part 4:  5 Element
And now we come to the last chapter of the overview of the different Taoist Philosophies that help develop internal martial arts such as Tai-Chi and Ba-Gua.  We have covered the Yin-Yang concept, the study of Changes (I-Ching).  Today, we will be covering the 5 Elements.  

The Five Elements really should be referred to as the 5 Movements, or the 5 phases or stages.  In Chinese it is called Wu-Xing (Wu meaning 5 and Xing meaning move).  The 5 Movements are Wood (Tree), Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.  

Even though these seem similar to the 4 elements that the Greeks used to describe the 4 elements that made up the universe, the 5 Elements (or movements) are different.  The Five Movements were used to understand the interaction and relationship between the phenomenons in nature.  It was believed that all things in nature could be described and categorized between these 5 elemental qualities and their interactions and relationships.  

To give an illustration, Wood creates Fire (feeds).  Fire produces Earth (Ash), and Earth produces Metal (bears), and Metal produces Water (Contains water so it can be carried), and Water produces Wood (nourishes).  This cycle is called the creation cycle, production, or generation cycle.  

Now Water conquers Fire (quenches), Fire conquers Metal (melting), Metal conquers Wood (splitting), Wood conquers Earth (parts such as roots), and Earth conquers Water (absorbs).  An alternate way of looking of this is that Wood absorbs Water, Water rusts Metal, Metal breaks up Earth, Earth extinguishes Fire, Fire burns Wood.  This is called the destruction or the conquest cycle.       

Each element has it’s own qualities as well.  Wood is growing.  Fire is at maximum growth about to decline.  Metal is declining.  Water is maximum decline about to grow.  Earth is Balanced or natural.  

By using these 5 movements, the Asians have studied geomancy or Feng shui, astrology, traditional Chinese medicine, music, military strategy and martial arts.  How?  Well here is an example:  

Metal is any kind of move that is direct, rigid and splitting.  If someone approaches you with a move that has a Metal quality, then you would respond with a Fire move, which is explosive, intense and radiant.  Since fire is not rigid, its radiant movements would explode through the rigidity of the Metal.  Now it is conceivable to think of Water since Water rusts Metal.  Water is flowing, penetrating and go around to achieve its goal.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Ancient Asian Science

[Path to Mastery 2/18/10 – Wk23 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

Taoism is the oriental equivalent of Western Science.


Taoism is often considered a religion. There is a religious element to Taoism. But Taoism at its purest is the study and observation of the laws of nature in order to achieve harmony and oneness with it.


If Western science is based on analysis, the breaking down of things into smaller parts in order to understand the make up of things, Taoism observes the similarities between things and how they came together.

For instance, in medicine, the west observed how to get rid of a physical symptom. The disease is seen as a foreign invasion on the body as a separate entity. The absence of the disease would mean health. In the east, the presence of a disease was seen as an indication that the body and mind was out of balance. One observed how to bring the body back to balance and when the body is in balance the symptoms would disappear. The disease would not necessarily be seen as a foreign entity, but just as an expression of the body being out of harmony.

Like all great things, truth is a lot more complex than either model. In reality, we are nowadays witnessing both models merging because in reality they are the same thing. My hope is that these readings will help you merge these different modalities of ideas in your own mind to bring about meaningful change in your own life.

Hope you enjoy these readings.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

We have covered the following:

8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ )
             Part1: Explanation of Ba-Gua (Covered on 2/16)
             Part2: Yin-Yang Theory (Covered on 2/17)

Today we will continue on Ba-Gua and cover the concept of Eight Trigram.

Ba-Gua Part 3: Eight Trigram
According to some, the Chinese went digital more than 3000 years ago, which is when the I-Ching was written. I-Ching is translated roughly as the Book of Changes.

If Yin-Yang is used to describe the opposing nature of things in the universe, than the Eight Trigram is used to show the eight fundamental transitions as Yin and Yang interact with each other.


As in the Yin-Yang symbol, Yang fills into Yin, and Yin recedes into Yang, and the universe is in a constant flux of this interchange. Now, this shows a fluid transformation from one state to another. This is analog.


Now here comes digital. If we say that Yang is a solid line, and Yin is a broken line, then you can say that Yang is 1 and Yin is 0. This is one digit. Now, if you have 2 digits, in probability, this would be 2 to the power of 2, resulting in 2 x 2, which allows for 4 possibilities. The following would be the possible combinations: 11, 10, 01, and 00. In short, you have 2 slots for the lines, which allow for 2 solid lines, a solid line and a broken line, a broken line and a solid line, and 2 broken lines. Now, these show 4 distinct phases in the transition from a fully Yang state to a Yin state and vice versa. It’s like taking a shot of the moon when it is at New Moon, First Quarter, Full Moon, and Last Quarter.


So Eight Trigram is when there are 3 digits. This would be 2 to the power of 3, which would be 2 x 2 x 2 = 8. The following would be the 8 possible combinations: 111, 110, 101, 011, 100, 010, 001, 000. Again, this would be like taking the picture of the moon, at 8 distinct phases: New Moon, Waxing Crescent, First Quarter, Waxing Gibbous, Full Moon, Waning Gibbous, Last Quarter, and Waning Crescent. The 8 trigram is the most popular because it is considered to contain the basic key elemental phases of change in any phenomenon such as the different phases of the moon.


As explained above, change is considered the interchange of yin and yang. The eight images used to depict the characteristics of the 8 different combination of yin and yang are:

Heaven, Earth, Mountain, Lake, Thunder, Wind, Fire, Water.


This concept of I-Ching, the study of change is to break down the flow and fluidity of change into clear phases so one can understand change better. It is like creating distinctions of direction. There are 4 distinct directions, North, South, East and West. The corresponding images in the Eight Trigram would be Heaven (3 bars) and Earth (3 broken bars), Fire (1 bar, 1broken bar, 1 bar) and Water (1 broken bar, 1 bar and 1 broken bar). Then there are the 4 corners, SW, NE, SE and NW, which would be Mountain (2 broken bars and 1 bar) and Lake (2 bars and 1 broken bar), Thunder (1 bar, 2 broken bars) and Wind (1 broken bar, 2 bars). By studying these changes, one learns how to understand changes better, and how to respond to them better. As one's understanding of these changes gets more intricate, these digits get greater. The most popular combination of changes that are looked at is the 8 trigrams and the 64 Hexagrams.


It is believed that by studying these changes one learns to adapt to change better and furthermore one learns to predict the next phase of the change so one can make a better choice.


Ba-Gua is the Chinese word for 8 Trigram. So, Ba-Gua is a martial art that studies the different phases of change in order adapt and predict movements better.

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Understanding Self through Tai-Chi

[Path to Mastery 2/17/10 – Wk23 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

Tai-Chi is a great tool for self understanding.  Practicing Tai-Chi is exploring how your mind and body is interwoven in ways you haven’t before.

When you practice Tai-Chi, you get to know a part of you that was hidden but that you have been looking for all your life:  The power and potential that your body and mind are really capable of.  This is because Tai-Chi is a small universe contained in one art-form.  As you learn Chi-Gong (Energy Cultivation), you learn about energy, the power that is not seen but operates all of life.  As you learn the form, you learn about your anatomical body, what it means to let go and feel freedom within yourself.  As you learn how to fight, you learn how to interact with others without compromising yourself.  Practicing Tai-Chi allows you to experience life in its full richness so that this experience spreads through the rest of your life, like a pebble thrown in a pond.

As you practices Tai-Chi, you get a better sense of reality.  For instance, through pushing hands training you learn to see the world in a non-reactive calm way.  When you do pushing hands, you practice listening to the pushes and pulls of your partner.  When you first start, you learn quickly how you are responding to what you “think” is happening.  With more practice you learn to listen carefully and you stop making assumptions.  When we want to see clearly to the bottom of the water, the surface must be calm.

It is between this richness of experience of exploring oneself and the clarity of mind that allows you to find a more accurate and complete self. 


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

So far, we have covered the following:

8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)
Ba-Gua.(Covering from 2/16 ~ )

Today we will continue on Ba-Gua and the theories behind it.

Ba-Gua Part 2: Ying-Yang Theory
If Tai-Chi operates under yin-yang concepts, Ba-Gua operates under the philosophy of I-Ching.  I-Ching is the book of Changes.  Now this is where it gets really sticky and confusing.  

The truth is that both martial arts have been influenced by the Taoist concept of Yin-Yang, I-Ching and 5 elements.  Tai-Chi is called the martial art of 13 movements, 8 postures and 5 directions.  The eight postures represent the eight trigrams and the 5 directions represent the 5 elements.  Ba-Gua, Eight Trigram Palm, as the name indicates is a martial art based on the Eight Trigrams.  So as you can see it is not so clear cut.  So, it’s not that one has something and the other doesn’t, but more on how these principles were interpreted and applied to each martial art.

To help understanding I will give a simple overview of some of these philosophies.

The Yin-Yang theory in principle is not so difficult to understand.  This is just the Chinese way of explaining binary theory.  All this is saying is that to every phenomenon in the universe there is an opposite reaction to that phenomenon.  So, according to this theory, if there is a magnet, you won’t be able to find one that just has a positive pole.    

Sometimes people confuse Tai-Chi and Yin-Yang as being the same. Tai-Chi means great extremes, or great opposites.  So, it describes the separation of 2 opposites.  Yin-Yang describes how the 2 opposite energies keep balance.  You can see this in the Tai-Chi symbol versus the Yin-Yang symbol.  In the Tai-Chi symbol, you see white and black spiraling out from the center.  In a Yin-Yang symbol, you see the a black and white fish like shape with a dot of the opposite color at its center.     

According to Yin-Yang theory, Tai-Chi comes from Wu-Ji.  Wu-Ji means no opposites, or no extremes.  This is the state before the division of positive and negative, 1 and 0.  Then once Tai-Chi happens, the balance of the universe is described in the Yin-Yang symbol.  

Now, I would like to caution here that Yin-Yang is non-judgmental.  Positive does not have the connotation of good, and negative does not have the connotation of bad.  It is used to describe good and bad, but that is all.  It is used to describe.  In essence it is not supposed to be used to label but to examine a condition.  This is because Yin-Yang theory is used to understand the balance of things and how to bring about that balance.  For example, if you have a fever, you are considered to have too much Yang energy in your body.  Yang energy in itself is not bad. If you don’t have enough Yang energy then you will not have life or heat.  But if it is in excess of course that is bad.  So, you eat things that would bring more Yin energy to your body, or you drain your Yang energy until your body has balance.  Having balance is good.  Not having balance is bad.  But Yin and Yang, by itself is neither good nor bad.

We will continue on the concepts tomorrow.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Tai-Chi and Purpose of Life

[Path to Mastery 2/16/10 – Wk23 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

Why do I want to teach Tai-Chi to others?  

I have been asking this question often lately.  The reason I started teaching Tai-Chi is so that people can find their purpose in life.  You are probably thinking, “Practice Tai-Chi to find purpose in life?  What do those have to do with each other???”     

The reason is because of Tai-Chi’s incredible transformational power.  Practicing Tai-Chi has transformed my life in incredible ways.  To mention a few, before I started practicing Tai-chi, I had no endurance.  I was in other martial arts before, and when I would spar, I would get tired within 2 or 3 minutes.  Now I can spar for over 2 hours and still not be tired.  But I don’t do any kind of endurance exercise.  I used to have problems with balance.  Now I can squat on one leg all the way down and all the way up without loosing my balance without much effort.  I used to have a lot of anxiety and fear and now I feel emotionally free and high spirited.  I used to have a problem with discipline and now effortless discipline is a way of life.  My mind used to be scattered and now I can focus my mind.  It is fun to meet old friends because they tell me how I have completely changed.          

Once you have succeeded transforming in one area of life, it becomes contagious.  You start having hope that you can indeed change and you start hoping again.  You start recognizing there are principles to transformation and that it is not a fluke or luck.  This builds confidence and this confidence allows you to dream again.  The kind of dreams we gave up because we got beat up one to many times.     

I have experienced this transformation and found much joy in my life.  I also find there is much power in sharing these kinds of transformational experiences with others.  What I want for people is for them to discover their hidden power, their hidden potential, and start seeing really how awesome they are.  I want people to get addicted to growing from this experience and make self growth their passion in life.  I believe this hunger and passion for their journey of constant growth in pursuit of their heart’s deepest desire is a person’s purpose in life.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

So far, we have covered the following:

8 Type Pushing Hands (Covered from 2/2 ~ 2/11)
San-Shou (Covered from 2/12 ~ 2/15)

Today, we will be covering Ba-Gua.

Ba-Gua Part 1:
Ba-Gua is short for Ba-Gua-Jang, and it means Eight Trigram Palm.  

Ba-Gua is strictly speaking not Tai-Chi and it is a separate martial art of its own.  However, the principles that govern Tai-Chi and Ba-Gua are the same even though their manifestation is very different.  It is like having the same building blocks as a kid, but coming up with very different designs.  

Tai-Chi could be analogous to being a sphere.  Ba-Gua would be analogous to being the circumference of that sphere.  

When you practice Tai-Chi, you practice being an in-boxer.  You practice as if you are at the center of a sphere.  In Ba-Gua you practice being an out-boxer.  You practice as if you are the outside shell of a sphere.  This analogy is over-simplified, since both systems are very complex and complete on its own, but sometimes over-simplification helps with understanding.  

By practicing both Ba-Gua and Tai-Chi, your understanding of Tai-Chi deepens by the contrast.  As you practice the fast-paced sweeping movements of Ba-Gua, your understanding of the different kinds of movements that can be made is broadened. You start to solidify your understanding that the Tai-Chi system is one way of understanding the principles.   

Monday, February 15, 2010

Open Body, Open Mind


[Path to Mastery 2/15/10 – Wk23 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

As the body opens, it opens the mind to information.

Practicing standing meditation is an incredible experience.  As I train it in the mornings, I find its effects amazing.

The one thing that always occurs to me again is how my mind opens up to new information as my body opens up and the energy starts to flow.  When I start doing standing meditation I feel my body opening up and the energy starting to flow.  By the time my body feels open and flowing with warm Chi, my mood is enhanced and I feel on top of the world, my mind is clear and I my mind becomes very creative.  Everything becomes obvious, and things that were hidden before all of a sudden are in plain sight.

It is interesting to witness the secrets of the Tai-Chi classics and Tao-Te-Cheng unfold in your mind and when you start feeling all those descriptions.  This made me realize that all the secrets and information is within you and when the energy flows through you, it unlocks and reveals itself.  This is how all knowledge is created.  It comes through us when we are open. 

When the container is open, then the information can flow through.  It is as simple as getting the right posture in our body to change our mind.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Bird's Tail) (Covered on 2/5)
5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/8)
6.Chin-Na Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/9)
7. Left side Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/10)
8. Linking Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/11)

San-Shou
Part 2:
San-Shou looks not much different from how untrained people fight, but that is only from the outside.  Even though it looks the same, it is not the same.

Because of all the previous training, when a Tai-Chi practitioner utilizes San-Shou, even though they don’t look like anything special, the quality of the move is different.  For one thing, the power will be much different.  This is referred to as hidden power or internal power.  It is famous story for two masters of internal martial arts to be in a fight where they are not moving much and all of a sudden one of them flies through the air with seemingly no movement at all.  Second, the Tai-Chi practitioner is much more relaxed and flowing. 

I have seen a lot of martial arts.  I have seen American, Chinese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Israeli, French, Thai, Indonesian, Philipino, Brazilian, and African martial arts.  I have seen the newer mixed martial arts and modernized martial arts, or martial arts developed for the Special Forces or specifically for self defense.  In short I have seen a lot of them.  What I have realized after watching all this is that in the end a human being's movement in a real fight does not come out that differently from untrained fighters.  The difference is that the trained fighters are more comfortable, calmer, more flowing, and have trained to have some kind of advantage whether that is a powerful strike, sensitivity or grappling.   

In order for us to have effortless power, we must learn to move in a way we feel powerful.  When we are in danger, we instinctively go to a way of movement and posture that makes us feel safer and in a way that makes us feel we can be more powerful.  The only problem is that since we are not used to this kind of moving, we are too tense and ineffective utilizing our fear reactions.  A well trained fighter trains their body and mind to naturally move within the design of the human body to generate flow and power. 

So what Tai-chi does is it takes these different elements of the human design and brings awareness to them and trains them to make the most out it and how to find naturalness within it.  It takes the mind and the body to the different extremes of what it can do, and then lets it all come together.  San-Shou is where it comes together. 
Go, go, gadget, pelvis!

[Path to Mastery 2/12/10 – Wk22 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]


Sang’s World

Structurally speaking, your pelvis is the most important part of the body you can train.

Picture this. Imagine that each one of your vertebra is a plate, and they are stacked on top of each other, and the pelvis is a big bowl on which all the plates are stacked on. Now imagine that there is masking tape on 4 side of the plates to hold them together. Got the picture? Now, imagine that you tilt the bowl. However you tilt the bowl will strain the masking tape.

This visual example is not that far off from your actual skeletal structure. Your pelvis is like a big bowl, and your entire spinal cord sits on your pelvis. How you hold your pelvis and move it affects your entire structure.

Your pelvis also mediates the movements between your legs and your upper body. This is the reason the Tai-Chi classics say, “Power is generated from the legs, controlled by the waist and expressed through your fingers”. Here, waist control is really how you move your pelvis. If you talk to Tai-Chi masters a lot of them will express that the secret to power is in the Kwa. As you can imagine, to move from the Kwa would be to move where the pelvis joins the femur, your legs.

Yesterday, I was training my standing mediation and then my stance training (Tai-Chi technical jargon for leg training) in the morning. As I was training it occurred to me how much Tai-Chi training emphasizes increasing your pelvic intelligence. By the time I was done doing the standing meditation, the Tai-Chi form and the sword form, my pelvic muscles were relaxed. I felt my pelvic floor well supported, my Dan-Tien full of energy, my legs light and powerful, my upper body loose.

When you train today, see how all training in Tai-Chi affects your pelvis. It will make a difference.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Birds Tail) (Covered on 2/5)
5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/8)
6.Chin-Na Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/9)
7. Left side Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/10)
8. Linking Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/11)

San-Shou
Part 1:
Ah~ San-Shou. San-Shou means dispersing hands, or free hand. In others words non-choreographed fighting.
Ironically, San-Shou is a 2 person form. It is a form that teaches you how to fight. Of course, you can use San-Shou to mean free fighting, but in Tai-Chi, when you say San-Shou, it refers to the fighting form.
San-Shou is what teaches you to utilize the power generation you learned in the Tui-Shou in an actual fight. The moves are simple, shorter, without any flare. Very practical. At the same time, it is very intricate. It shows how to utilize power generation that you have been training in a much tighter space and shorter time so that you can issue power from unexpected angles and during any move.
You learn that you don’t have to issue a lot of power in order to be effective. You also learn Tai-Chi fighting techniques are very effective, meaning very mean. Most grappling techniques are techniques that break joints instantly. There are no locking and subduing techniques. Those are sensitivity and skill training exercises. All other techniques are quick striking and bumping techniques that take no preparation or any kind of technique.
When I asked Gabriel that this did not use anything like the Tai-Chi we’ve been training, he said “This is what you use when you are in a hurry”. I guess I wouldn’t want to meet a Tai-Chi practitioner when they are rushed.
To do San-Shou justice, I need a little more space. I will continue on Monday.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Part 2

[Path to Mastery 2/11/10 – Wk22 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Continued


Here is an example of an application of Tai-Chi.


Yin Yang symbol has a small yin and a yang.  For anything to succeed one need discipline.  Discipline is best achieved through a regular training.  For most people when they first start training, they often quite because it is hard for them to either remember to practice due to their old habits or because they find it hard to fit it into their new schedule.


Some people have a natural gift of planning and discipline or were fortunate enough to have had that skill instilled in them at some point in their life.  But for those of us that are not as fortunate, you can use the Tai-Chi concept to tip the balance.


You have seen the Ying-Yang symbol.  There is a little bit of Yin, in the Yang, and a little bit of Yang in the Yin.  Theses small Yin grow into the place of the Yang, and the small Yang grows into the place of the Yin.  Thus eternally they are switching places.


In the beginning make a plan to practice regularly.  However, if you forget to follow it, just do a few moves when you remember you forgot.  There is no point in getting frustrated over what’s been done.  Rather use this as an opportunity for practicing relaxation, breathing and calming the mind.  Unexpected events are like a fight.  In a fight, things rarely go as expected.  Breath, relax yourself and go with the flow and adapt.  The faster you adapt, the swifter you can defeat the opponent.  When you find yourself remembering that you forgot, you also find yourself remembering that you need to practice.  This is yin yang.  That is the time to get in even one move and you have started on forming a new habit.  This is like the little yin dot in the big Yang half of the Yin-Yang symbol.  The Yin is the insubstantial, the un-structured.  The Yang is the substantial, the structured.  Attack the current structure with the insubstantial and start expanding the insubstantial until it fills the rest of the Yang.  Then a new structure is formed.      

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Bird's Tail) (Covered on 2/5)
5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/8)
6. Chin-Na Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/9)

7. Left side Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/10)

Currently we are covering the Pushing Hands in our system. All Pushing Hand exercises loop back in a continuous cycle . This allows people to most effectively hone their skills through constant repetition and it gives them direct feedback if their technique and the principles (BARS) of Tai-chi are correct. We have finished the 4 type pushing hands, and now we are on #7 of the 8 Type Pushing Hands.


Today’s Lesson:8.Linking Tui-Shou

Tui-Shou number 8, linking Tui-Shou is the last of the 8 types.


Linking Tui-Shou shows you that in Tai-Chi all techniques link to each other, that all techniques are one technique.


Tai-Chi used to be called Long Fist.  The reason it used to be called Long Fist is because when you do the 108, it continues like the river, never beginning and never ending, linking from one move to the next as if the whole thing is one technique.


Because Tai-Chi is not a collection of techniques but rather natural movements that come out in accordance to the laws of nature, all movements are born of the same principles.  Thus, all move naturally flow from one to the other.  This is why Tai-Chi moves like the flowing river, never stopping, but just flowing around any obstacle and penetrating every opening.


Linking Tui-Shou teaches you how to implement this principle in real life.

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Part 1

[Path to Mastery 2/10/10 – Wk22 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World:

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes
The philosophy that guides Tai-Chi is for the practitioner to consciously consider both sides of the extreme in order to find balance.
The etimology of Tai-Chi demonstrates this. Tai-Chi literally means Opposite Extremes. Tai means great or grand. Chi means extremes or opposite ends. In short, it means Great Opposites, or Opposite Extremes.
2 simple analogies will illustrate why this concept is so powerful.
First, imagine you are about to walk a tight rope. You are given the choice to walk across the rope with either a short stick to help you with the balance, or a long one. Which would you choose? The answer is the long one. The longer the pole, the less you have to work on your balance because the weight on either side keeps you centered. In the same manner, a Tai-Chi practitioner will consider opposite extremes of a situation to get a broader perspective on the issue and thus is able to make a more balanced choice.
Second, imagine you are throwing a stone to hit a target and consistently your aim is off to the left. What would you do to correct it? The answer is to aim to the right side of the target. In Tai-Chi when the opponent is hard, you become soft. If the opponent is soft, you become hard. You balance the situation. Since you consider both yin and yang, you are not caught up in either, and thus transcend the tyranny of the opposites. Truth is that which bridges seemingly opposite concepts. This is because truth encompasses both opposites because it is bigger than either one of the extremes. Only when you see both extremes will you see the big picture.
If you have an issue, consider both opposite extremes of the situation. You will probably get some new perspective on it.

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Bird's Tail) (Covered on 2/5)
5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/8)
6. Chin-Na Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/9)

Currently we are covering the Pushing Hands in our system. All Pushing Hand exercises loop back in a continuous cycle . This allows people to most effectively hone their skills through constant repetition and it gives them direct feedback if their technique and the principles (BARS) of Tai-chi are correct. We have finished the 4 type pushing hands, and now we are on #7 of the 8 Type Pushing Hands.

Today’s Lesson:

7. Left side Tui-Shou
Left side Tui-Shou, is not another Tui-Shou set, but learning how to do the previous 6 Tui-Shou sets on the left side.
Teaching yourself to do the Tui-Shou on the other side gives you the opportunity to get to know yourself much more intimately, which is vital to self understanding. To quote Sun-Zu’s Art of War:
If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles. If you know yourself but not the enemy, for every victory gained you will also suffer a defeat. If you know neither the enemy nor yourself, you will succumb in every battle.
- Sun Tzu
Before you can know someone else, you need to get to know yourself better. As you get to know yourself better, you will have more sympathy for others and that will naturally improve your understanding of others.
Practicing to do the form on the left side is a popular Tai-Chi practice. Traditionally you learn the right side and then you have to teach yourself the left side. When you start practicing your left side, which is typically not as coordinated, things don’t just happen naturally as they did on the right side. So, you cannot skip any part of the learning and the whole process becomes much more conscious. Since you have to put a conscious effort to learn the whole thing you get to understand the techniques and your body more intimately. By the end of it, your left side becomes much more intelligent and your energy is much more balanced between your left and right side.
Most importantly, you start having a relationship with yourself. The process is very much like teaching another part of yourself, because you are. As you use your left side, the right side of your brain is used more, and you have to learn to be patient with yourself. You will find it a highly fascinating process.
Left side Tui-Shou is the true beginning of 8 Type Tui-Shou mastery.

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

The Joy of Practicing

[Path to Mastery 2/9/10 – Wk22 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World:



The joy of practicing is that you always see something new.

For instance, today, I discovered how to relax the front of my Kwa (the front of your hips) and my pelvic floor more effectively. This resulted in my Dan-Tien being engaged, and it filling up with more energy. Now with less effort and more effectively than before, I feel my body like a hot air balloon, with the hot air expanding and opening my body as the energy circulates through my body. It’s snowing today and I felt warm outside. Funny how little things make a difference.

Gabriel (My Tai-Chi teacher) used to say, “I am still improving” even after 60 years of practice. The last time I heard it was about a month and half before his passing. I used to think he was just saying that to motivate us to study hard. Now, I am realizing that wasn’t the case. There is so much depth to the concept of Tai-Chi, that the more you study, a whole different dimension starts appearing to you.

Some Tai-Chi practitioners are able to move people without touching them. Some Tai-Chi practitioners are impervious to cold. Some Tai-Chi practitioners will ask you to choose a brick from a stack of 3 and only break that one. Some Tai-Chi practitioners will root to the floor so that they can’t be moved, or will fling a person 10~15 feet through the air.

I have witnessed Gabriel perform some of these feats. To mention a few, he could chill his skin to a point a goose bumps would appear in the middle of a hot summer’s day. In the winter, he would have people put a hand through his aura and have them feel his warm energy. He would send his energy through a building and have the people on the other side feel it or he would send his energy and make their body sway. I have witnessed him help Cancer patients with energy work and other ailments.

When I asked him how he could do it, he would just simply say, “Just practice”. He is right.

Just practice.


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Birds Tail) (Covered on 2/5)
5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/8)




Currently we are covering the Pushing Hands in our system. All Pushing Hand exercises loop back in a continuous cycle . This allows people to most effectively hone their skills through constant repetition and it gives them direct feed back if their technique and the principles (BARS) of Tai-chi is correct. We have finished the 4 type pushing hands, and now we are on #6 of the 8 Type Pushing Hands.

Today’s Lesson:



6.Chin-Na Tui-Shou

Chin-Na Tui-Shou means Grabbing and Snatching Hands Pushing Hands.

China-Na is the Chinese martial art terminology for grappling or joint-locking. So Chin-Na Shou (Short for Chin-Na Tui-Shou) is a continuous flow of grappling and joint-locking training.

Tai-Chi Fighting as a system is a mixed martial arts system. It covers all aspects of fighting from striking to grappling. What makes Tai-Chi unique from most other martial arts however is that Tai-Chi fighting is not a compilation of useful techniques, but rather a concept of how one should approach a fight, or as a matter of fact, any interaction in life.

Often times people try to make Tai-Chi a defensive art because its main philosophy revolves around utilizing the opponent's energy and the energy from the environment around us. However, Tai-Chi really is neither a defensive nor an offensive martial art. When you are always going with the flow of energy, whether you attack or defend is beside the point. It is like asking whether the chicken or egg is first. You can follow the movement of the starter, or you can start to initiate a movement from the other person so you can follow their movement.

There is no attack or defense. It is all defense, and it is all attack. If an attack does not have a defensive element, then you will be countered. If your defense does not have an attack, your defense will be overwhelmed by the opponent and broken.

Using this concept of no beginning no end, in Chin-Na shou, you learn how to let the opponent fall into a joint lock instead of trying to put them in a joint lock. This is a very powerful concept since in most martial arts practitioners try to force the opponent into a joint lock. Albeit the technique is effective, it wastes a lot of energy. In case you are fighting multiple opponents this may not be an effective strategy unless you have incredible stamina. If you let the opponent fall into your joint lock, then they won’t know it until it is too late, and you won’t waste any energy.

This is the concept of Chin-Na Shou.

Monday, February 8, 2010

 Moving Bones

[Path to Mastery 2/8/10 – Wk22 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World:

Moving Bones

Do you want to feel loose, relaxed and the pleasure of your body flowing? Feel your bones and move your bones in a way so you feel your joints are floating on top of each other.

The feeling of your body is a product of your energy flowing through your body. So, how do you get the energy to flow through your body?

Muscles!

For any movement to occur energy needs to flow through your muscles. This is an of course. It is so fundamental that when you read this sentence you may have felt “what else?” So, why focus on the bones when muscles are the issue?

It comes down to what the purposes of your muscles are. Muscles are there to move your skeletal structure.

So you reverse the process. You move your bones in order to relax the muscles. Of course you can’t move your bones without muscles, so if you focus on moving your bones, then the attached muscles around the joint (end of the bone where the muscles attach) of the bone will start moving. When you move your bones in directions that is easier to move and feels more pleasurable, it is a sign that your muscles are starting to relax. This is because when the muscles move, it draws energy and as you start making gentle movements, it increases the flow of energy. As the flow energy increases, it starts spreading over, and the range of motions increases as the energy spreads.

As a general rule the further away from the part you want to loosen up, the better you are since you are bringing flow to the whole chain of muscles. This is why accomplished acupuncturists or acupressure practitioners will start with the opposite ankle when they want to loosen up your neck or shoulder. This is also where the meridians flow, the pathway of your energy but that is a subject for another day.

Now the reason I said you should move your joints in a manner as if your joint are floating on top of each other is that this visualization allows you to move in such a way that decompresses your joints. I suggest you start with a joint you want to loosen up, and start moving it in small movements until your joint gradually finds its full range of motion.

Bon Apetit!


Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)
4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Birds Tail) (Covered on 2/5)


Currently we are covering the Pushing Hands in our system. All Pushing Hand exercises loop back in a continuous cycle . This allows people to most effectively hone their skills through constant repetition and it gives them direct feed back if their technique and the principles (BARS) of Tai-chi is correct. We have finished the 4 type pushing hands, and now we are on #5 of the 8 Type Pushing Hands.

Today’s Lesson:



5. Pi-Shou Tui-Shou


Pi-Shou means chopping hand. So, this is Chopping hand Tui-Shou.

Pi-Shou Tui-Shou is a very unique pushing hand in the Tai-Chi world. It is a striking based Tui-shou. Pi-Shou is a very fast pasted pushing hands that feels more like stick fighting with a rhythm that resembles a machine gun.

This gets a Tai-Chi fighter ready in case he/she gets bum rushed, and trains them to still react naturally in accordance to the Tai-Chi principles. On the other hand, Pi-Shou also gets the person ready to attack like flowing water, where the Tai-Chi fighter learns to flow into openings in quick succession. The receiving party if not accustomed with Tai-Chi yielding and neutralization techniques should experience the attack like a waterfall pounding on him.

In this pushing hand the practitioners learns that battles are often won not through a decisive move, but often through small victories. Often times the common perception among untrained people is to have one decisive move and look for an opening, and one should have moves like that. But more often when the opponent is ready for you and has about the same skill, one needs to utilize a different kind of strategy.

One needs to get skilled at eating the elephant. You need to take your jolly time and eat the elephant (your opponent) one bite at a time. If he/she doesn’t even know he/she is being eaten, even better. In Pi-Shou one learns how to defeat the opponent through subliminal attack, where you attack their unconscious.

Anybody can defend against a visible attack. It is much harder to defend against an attack that you don’t know is happening. To the human psyche, balance is at the center of their being. When we are born, we only have the fear of falling. So, if you affect their balance ever so slightly, their confidence is affected, but they won’t necessarily know it. It is like their mood changes. And like all things, it is hard to pick what affects your moods because it is one of many different things in your environment changing, such as the sky becoming dark, or the noise in the background just loud enough not to pay attention. Once the confidence and the mood of the opponent is affected, their performance drops and the battle is won.

Pi-Shou makes the practitioner aware of these attacks and teaches them to utilize them. This makes the Tai-Chi practitioner not only aware of their fight, but it heightens their sensitivity to the subtle influences in their environment that affects their emotional state.




Feedback:



Hahahahah...Nick,
I feel the same. The Tui-Shou really does make a difference. So does the intestine exercise. When you feel sore in any way, go easy, and go slower until things ease up.
I got your adjusted tracking sheet, and it looks a lot better! Adjust the freeze pane so that I can see all of the left columne and it should be good. I look foreward to seeing the next submission!



Friday, February 5, 2010

Dan-Tien, The Furnace of Power!

[Path to Mastery 2/5/10 – Wk21 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]

Sang’s World:

2/5/10
Dan-Tien, the furnace of power.
Dan-Tien breathing is the mother of all internal energy power. All Asian martial arts consider this the greatest secret and the greatest source of power if mastered. I guess it would be a good idea to explain what the Dan-Tien is. Dan-Tien is your lower abdominal area and the center of it is three finger widths below your belly button.
Picture a furnace with a bellow in front of it. Breathing is the bellow of course and your Dan-Tien is the furnace. When you breathe correctly, you will feel warmth being drawn into your lower abdominal area as if your lower abdomen is a furnace with a bellow feeding the flame.
When the heat and the pressure accumulate it spreads through the rest of the body. This overflowing of energy from the Dan-Tien starts opening up all the energy path ways in your body. It feels akin to water spreading through your whole body when you feel parched. You literally feel your muscles opening up like a budding flower. All of a sudden your muscles feel loose, relaxed, and full. This full sensation is not just imagination. This is because your muscles are full with blood. With your body open, loose, highly pressurized, it is full of energy and it can create incredible power.
Now here is the part where most people go wrong. The breath has to be drawn slowly. The slower, the better. The slower it is, the more power you will accumulate. Patience really is a virtue.
If you want to try it, start by doing what the Korean Taoist call Intestine Exercise. What a name. It doesn’t sound any better in the original tongue. It is a warm up exercise for Dan-Tien breathing.
I like the Intestine Exercise. It requires no patience. You draw the lower abdomen in quickly as you exhale sharply. These are done in quick succession 100 times. This loosens up the lower abdomen, diaphragm, and rib cage. So, when you start the slow control exercise, the breath happens naturally. Then when I start doing the Dan-Tien breathing, my Dan-Tien doesn’t warm up until my brain lets go and I am happy to go slow. No wonder Tai-Chi is so great to cultivate patience. If you want to get the power and get all the benefits you have to go slow.
Enjoy cultivating your furnace!

Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:

8 Type Pushing Hands
1. Ting Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/2)
2. Da-Lu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/3)
3. O-Nu Bu Tui-Shou (Covered on 2/4)

Currently we are covering the Pushing Hands in our system. All Pushing Hand exercises loop back in a continuous cycle . This allows people to most effectively hone their skills through constant repetition and it gives them direct feed back if their technique and the principles (BARS) of Tai-chi is correct. We have finished the 4 type pushing hands, and now we are on #4 of the 8 Type Pushing Hands.

Today's Lesson:

4. Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou (Grasp the Birds Tail)
Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou means piercing palm/hand pushing hand.
Chuan-Jang Tui-Shou is what trains the elements Grasp the Birds Dail in our system. The 4 directions are Peng, Lu, Ji, An. In English they translate to Ward Off, Lead, Press and Push respectively.
Peng - Ward Off practices the upward and outward force as we covered previous lessons.
Lu - Lead practices the yielding and following force.
Ji - Press is also translated into wedging. This is the kind of force where you occupy the space with you body as if you are wedging in. The opponent feels cramped and is uprooted.
An - Push is when you push downward in an angle, loading the opponent’s body making it ready to be uprooted. As the classics say, anything that must go up, must go down first.
The 4 Directions are both a technique and the way you handle force. This often causes confusion. Thus you can perform each of these 4 techniques with any of the 4 methods of power generation. It’s just some technique better lend them selves to concretely visual attributes of these forces.
It is said that all of Tai-Chi’s techniques can be explained from the 4 Directions and the 4 Corners in relation to the 5 directions. Further the classics say that if you know the 4 Directions very well, you won’t need the 4 Corners. The 4 corners is brought in if your skill in the 4 Directions. Needless to say, the 4 Directions is important.
In Churan-Jang Tui-Shou, person A starts with a right hand punch towards B. B then does a Ward Off, pushing the attack slightly up and out, but then switches this same motion into a Lu, a Pull Back technique. In short, seen from the outside, B is just performing a Lu, but in reality, the Ward Off is hidden within the technique of the Lu. As A is pulled in, A steps in unison with the pull to neutralize it’s affects, and then uses Ward Off to circle the pulled arm up back into B then executes a Press. Again, from the outside, it looks as if A was just adjusting the arms to perform a Press, but the Ward Off was hidden in there. This Press is called Chuan-Jang, since it looks like you are piercing the opponent’s throat with a spear hand. However, the contact point is the forearm and the compression force of Press is issued through the forearm. Then B does a Ward off to A, returning A’s Press force back to him thus making him step in order to neutralize this step. A goes with the returning force and performs a Lu, pulling B back with him. B steps forward to neutralize the pull, and performs Ward Off into Press, and the whole cycle continues on the reverse side. Both parties go back and forth until they are both satisfied.

Feedback:

Nick,
Please confirm that the goals written on the side is good for you.

Joe,
Please confirm that the goals written on the side is good for you..
Thank you for the correction. I changed the description. Please read and let me know if it is better! The student teaches the teacher!