Thursday, April 29, 2010
Road Trip!!
I will be driving to Atlanta with the family for a wedding this weekend. We had to get ready for the trip and didn't get the chance to get the writing up. Will be right back on line next week! Road trip!!!!!
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Directed Breathing
[Path to Mastery 4/27/10 – Wk33 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Directed breathing is where you lead the energy with the breath. Traditionally, this concept is also called Hen Ha.
You could almost argue that in the end, we learn all this in order to learn how to breathe. If you know how to breathe, then you accomplish everything with just breathing. You can accomplish alignment with breathing, you can accomplish movement with breathing, and you can accomplish relaxation with breathing.
So, here is how you practice Directed Breathing.
Some ground rules. When you inhale, you inhale through your nose, and your tongue is on the roof of your mouth. When you exhale you exhale through your mouth, and your tongue is either relaxed, or on the bottom of your mouth, behind your bottom teeth, but not touching. (In the beginning the tongue is not as important, but as you get better in your ability to direct your breath the tongue will naturally come into play)
Now relax the center of your palm, and imagine you are exhaling out the finger tips. You will feel as if your hand is filling up on the inhale and then emptying on the inhale. When you get comfortable with this, start inhaling up to the forearm where you are filling the breath coming in through your fingertips to the forearm and then out. Do this while your arms are dangling. Then breathe in to the rest of your arm. You will feel as if your arms are filling up and floating.
Now for this practice you may make sound with your breathing, especially when you exhale. When you exhale, keep your mouth relatively closed and exhale as if you are blowing into a balloon. When you exhale, imagine that you are exhaling into and out of your limbs instead of out of your mouth. A good way to imagine it is as if your limbs or wherever you are directing your breath is the balloon and you are blowing into that part of the body. Make sure you are relaxed, and that you are leading with your breath.
In the beginning, this breathing will bring warmth and fullness into your body. Then it will relax deeper, and it will help you heal and get rid of any tension in your body. Try it. If you have tension in your shoulders, breathe into that area, fill it up, and exhale that fullness out through your hands.
Eventually, this will become power. When you do this breathing, you feel your limbs and your body filling up with air and being supported from within. Eventually, it starts moving you and pumping you. For instance, if you practice this breathing during push ups, you will notice that on the exhale, the breath pushes you up, and in the inhale, the breath lets you down.
As mentioned in the very beginning of this chapter directed breathing leads into Hen Ha breathing. Hen Ha breathing is explosive energy breathing. In the western concept, directed breathing is also pressurized breathing. I will explain this further tomorrow!
For today, play with breathing into different parts of the body.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4. Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5. Dan-Tien Breathing (Covered 4/26)
6. Directed Breathing (Covered 4/27)
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Directed breathing is where you lead the energy with the breath. Traditionally, this concept is also called Hen Ha.
You could almost argue that in the end, we learn all this in order to learn how to breathe. If you know how to breathe, then you accomplish everything with just breathing. You can accomplish alignment with breathing, you can accomplish movement with breathing, and you can accomplish relaxation with breathing.
So, here is how you practice Directed Breathing.
Some ground rules. When you inhale, you inhale through your nose, and your tongue is on the roof of your mouth. When you exhale you exhale through your mouth, and your tongue is either relaxed, or on the bottom of your mouth, behind your bottom teeth, but not touching. (In the beginning the tongue is not as important, but as you get better in your ability to direct your breath the tongue will naturally come into play)
Now relax the center of your palm, and imagine you are exhaling out the finger tips. You will feel as if your hand is filling up on the inhale and then emptying on the inhale. When you get comfortable with this, start inhaling up to the forearm where you are filling the breath coming in through your fingertips to the forearm and then out. Do this while your arms are dangling. Then breathe in to the rest of your arm. You will feel as if your arms are filling up and floating.
Now for this practice you may make sound with your breathing, especially when you exhale. When you exhale, keep your mouth relatively closed and exhale as if you are blowing into a balloon. When you exhale, imagine that you are exhaling into and out of your limbs instead of out of your mouth. A good way to imagine it is as if your limbs or wherever you are directing your breath is the balloon and you are blowing into that part of the body. Make sure you are relaxed, and that you are leading with your breath.
In the beginning, this breathing will bring warmth and fullness into your body. Then it will relax deeper, and it will help you heal and get rid of any tension in your body. Try it. If you have tension in your shoulders, breathe into that area, fill it up, and exhale that fullness out through your hands.
Eventually, this will become power. When you do this breathing, you feel your limbs and your body filling up with air and being supported from within. Eventually, it starts moving you and pumping you. For instance, if you practice this breathing during push ups, you will notice that on the exhale, the breath pushes you up, and in the inhale, the breath lets you down.
As mentioned in the very beginning of this chapter directed breathing leads into Hen Ha breathing. Hen Ha breathing is explosive energy breathing. In the western concept, directed breathing is also pressurized breathing. I will explain this further tomorrow!
For today, play with breathing into different parts of the body.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4. Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5. Dan-Tien Breathing (Covered 4/26)
6. Directed Breathing (Covered 4/27)
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Monday, April 26, 2010
Dan-Tien Breathing
[Path to Mastery 4/26/10 – Wk33 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Dan-Tien breathing is nothing more than breathing with your lower abdomen.
The good part of the equation is diaphragmatic breathing. But it is not all. It is a good place to start though so let’s start there. Relax your rib cage, and imagine that your lungs move (diaphragm) moves down as you inhale instead of your chest expanding outward. You will notice that your breath sinks down and low. You will also notice that the lower abdomen expands as you do this breathing.
The lungs don’t have much space to expand outward because of your rib cage. However, the lungs are well designed to move downward. When you inhale downwards, you will notice that you can take a much deeper breath. Not only that, as your lung moves downward, it creates movement in your intestines. This is part of the reason why your lower abdomen expands since your diaphragm squishes your organs. This effectively creates a massage for them which promote internal organ health.
Now here is where the Dan-Tien breathing becomes a little more mysterious. On a simple level we can say that Dan-Tien breathing is diaphragmatic breathing. However, there are some differences. When you do Dan-Tien breathing properly, your lower abdomen area really heats up. You feel like a hot air balloon and your whole body is energized. It also feels as if you have a little pump about 3 finger widths below your navel that moves in and out. You pelvic floor feels lifted and supported. The heat that is created is not generalized either. It is a point. Another way effective way to feel Dan-Tien breathing properly is by breathing in from your Ming-Men towards the Dan-Tien. Imagine the air is coming in through your lower back towards your Dan-Tien.
Before you start do a intestine warm up exercise, where as you exhale, you draw your lower abdomen in, and push it out as you inhale. Do that about 30 times before you attempt this breathing. When you do this exercise, draw in or pushing out as much as you can without causing tension in your body. This will help you to feel loose before you practice this. Don’t force anything. Stay relaxed and it will come.
Enjoy!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4. Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5. Dan-Tien Breathing (Covered 4/26)
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Dan-Tien breathing is nothing more than breathing with your lower abdomen.
The good part of the equation is diaphragmatic breathing. But it is not all. It is a good place to start though so let’s start there. Relax your rib cage, and imagine that your lungs move (diaphragm) moves down as you inhale instead of your chest expanding outward. You will notice that your breath sinks down and low. You will also notice that the lower abdomen expands as you do this breathing.
The lungs don’t have much space to expand outward because of your rib cage. However, the lungs are well designed to move downward. When you inhale downwards, you will notice that you can take a much deeper breath. Not only that, as your lung moves downward, it creates movement in your intestines. This is part of the reason why your lower abdomen expands since your diaphragm squishes your organs. This effectively creates a massage for them which promote internal organ health.
Now here is where the Dan-Tien breathing becomes a little more mysterious. On a simple level we can say that Dan-Tien breathing is diaphragmatic breathing. However, there are some differences. When you do Dan-Tien breathing properly, your lower abdomen area really heats up. You feel like a hot air balloon and your whole body is energized. It also feels as if you have a little pump about 3 finger widths below your navel that moves in and out. You pelvic floor feels lifted and supported. The heat that is created is not generalized either. It is a point. Another way effective way to feel Dan-Tien breathing properly is by breathing in from your Ming-Men towards the Dan-Tien. Imagine the air is coming in through your lower back towards your Dan-Tien.
Before you start do a intestine warm up exercise, where as you exhale, you draw your lower abdomen in, and push it out as you inhale. Do that about 30 times before you attempt this breathing. When you do this exercise, draw in or pushing out as much as you can without causing tension in your body. This will help you to feel loose before you practice this. Don’t force anything. Stay relaxed and it will come.
Enjoy!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4. Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5. Dan-Tien Breathing (Covered 4/26)
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Thursday, April 22, 2010
Crow Bridge
[Path to Mastery 4/22/10 – Wk32 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Crow Bridge refers to connecting the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. There are a lot of explanations as to why this should be done.
Crow Bridge is named after the legend of a couple that were separated from each other and could only meet once a year when crows would form a bridge for them to meet. The tongue is supposed to bridge a natural Chi pathway that is disconnected from the roof of the mouth to the throat. It is believed that by placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, you complete the Chi pathway the travels through the center of the front of the body.
It is also said that the mild tension on the tongue necessary to create the bridge allows the white blood to flow through your mouth to prevent your mouth from getting dry, meaning your mouth will salivate. I didn’t understand the importance of this until I started studying relaxation a bit deeper. Apparently, when the mouth is dry, the body will not relax. When the mouth is salivating it is a signal of relaxation. Also, when you place the tongue on the roof of your mouth, your jaw cannot tighten. According to western science, the body cannot relax unless you have a relaxed jaw. So, the Tai-chi people figured out that by placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, you salivate and create a slack jaw that brings you into deeper relaxation.
Pretty cool huh?
So, when you remember, gently place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and relax your jaw, and you will feel much more relaxed. It also helps you regulate your breath as well.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1.Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2.Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3.No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4.Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5.Dan-Tien Breathing
6.Directed Breathing
7.Small Heavenly Circle
8.Great Heavenly Circle
9.Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Crow Bridge refers to connecting the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth. There are a lot of explanations as to why this should be done.
Crow Bridge is named after the legend of a couple that were separated from each other and could only meet once a year when crows would form a bridge for them to meet. The tongue is supposed to bridge a natural Chi pathway that is disconnected from the roof of the mouth to the throat. It is believed that by placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, you complete the Chi pathway the travels through the center of the front of the body.
It is also said that the mild tension on the tongue necessary to create the bridge allows the white blood to flow through your mouth to prevent your mouth from getting dry, meaning your mouth will salivate. I didn’t understand the importance of this until I started studying relaxation a bit deeper. Apparently, when the mouth is dry, the body will not relax. When the mouth is salivating it is a signal of relaxation. Also, when you place the tongue on the roof of your mouth, your jaw cannot tighten. According to western science, the body cannot relax unless you have a relaxed jaw. So, the Tai-chi people figured out that by placing the tongue on the roof of the mouth, you salivate and create a slack jaw that brings you into deeper relaxation.
Pretty cool huh?
So, when you remember, gently place your tongue on the roof of your mouth and relax your jaw, and you will feel much more relaxed. It also helps you regulate your breath as well.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1.Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2.Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3.No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4.Crow Bridge (Covered 4/22)
5.Dan-Tien Breathing
6.Directed Breathing
7.Small Heavenly Circle
8.Great Heavenly Circle
9.Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
No Sound Breath
[Path to Mastery 4/21/10 – Wk32 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey
Today’s blog is going to be short. No Sound breath or silent breath.
When you practice Tai-Chi or Chi-Gong do it so that you cannot hear your breath. Gabriel used to say that you should breathe so that nobody can tell you are breathing. The test is if you put a feather under your nose, the feather wouldn’t move as you are breathing.
Now I can’t do that, at least not for any length of time. But the longer I train, I feel my breath deepen and lengthen, and I feel the flow of Chi increases with this breathing. It also creates more pressure, but it is gentle.
There is breath with sound that we practice, but that will be covered later. For now, enjoy practicing the silent breath and remember, no matter what happens relaxation comes first!
Have fun!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1.Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2.Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3.No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4.Crow Bridge
5.Dan-Tien Breathing
6.Directed Breathing
7.Small Heavenly Circle
8.Great Heavenly Circle
9.Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey
Today’s blog is going to be short. No Sound breath or silent breath.
When you practice Tai-Chi or Chi-Gong do it so that you cannot hear your breath. Gabriel used to say that you should breathe so that nobody can tell you are breathing. The test is if you put a feather under your nose, the feather wouldn’t move as you are breathing.
Now I can’t do that, at least not for any length of time. But the longer I train, I feel my breath deepen and lengthen, and I feel the flow of Chi increases with this breathing. It also creates more pressure, but it is gentle.
There is breath with sound that we practice, but that will be covered later. For now, enjoy practicing the silent breath and remember, no matter what happens relaxation comes first!
Have fun!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1.Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2.Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3.No Sound Breath (Covered 4/21)
4.Crow Bridge
5.Dan-Tien Breathing
6.Directed Breathing
7.Small Heavenly Circle
8.Great Heavenly Circle
9.Reverse Breathing
10.Whole Body Breathing
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Breathing Naturally
[Path to Mastery 4/20/10 – Wk32 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
There are breathing concepts, breathing techniques and breathing exercises. But before any of that, you have to just let your breath be and observe it.
When I first joined my teacher Gabriel my mind was filled with the idea of different breathing techniques that would make my Kung-Fu (Martial Cultivation) more powerful. I was excited to learn the secrets of breathing. With anticipation I asked, so while doing the form, how do I breathe. He said, “Just breathe.” I was in semi shock. I said, “I thought you were supposed to exhale while you extend and inhale while you retract. Am I not supposed to do some kind of breathing.” He replied eloquently, “No.”. He had a talent for anticlimactic answers.
Later, as I practiced it became clear to me that the form teaches your body to breathe. As you do the form, your breathing naturally changes to about 5~6 breaths per minute as your body calms and relaxes. Also, if you are relaxed enough, you notice how your breathing naturally starts correlating to the moves. I realized much later all the breathing methods taught are just a summary of what happens naturally when you practice the form over time with awareness on your breath.
There are breathing exercises and techniques taught outside the form, but it is not taught while doing the form until later. This is because trying to coordinate your breath and movement consciously is unnatural and often creates a disharmony between the breath and your movements. The breathing exercises allow you to practice the different aspects of breathing so you can learn the distinctions of what all can be done with breathing and until your control gets better and it all starts coming together. Once your breathing is natural, and your control of your breath is natural, you can start incorporating breathing methods to enhance the explosive power of your form.
However, in the beginning the only thing you need is awareness to notice the unconscious tension in your body as you go through the movements of the form and let go of them. You may have experienced holding your hand in a tight fist unconsciously and only letting go of it after noticing it. It is very much the same concept. You cannot let go of that which you don’t know you are holding on.
See how you want to breathe naturally. How is your throat, your shoulders, your chest, your rib cage while doing the form? Are they all moving with the breath? Are they soft and relaxed? How does it want to breathe? Now extend this awareness not just during the form, but while typing on your computer, while sowing, while doing your dishes or whatever else it is your doing. There are not too many things I know that you can do without breathing.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath
4. Crow Bridge
5. Dan-Tien Breathing
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
There are breathing concepts, breathing techniques and breathing exercises. But before any of that, you have to just let your breath be and observe it.
When I first joined my teacher Gabriel my mind was filled with the idea of different breathing techniques that would make my Kung-Fu (Martial Cultivation) more powerful. I was excited to learn the secrets of breathing. With anticipation I asked, so while doing the form, how do I breathe. He said, “Just breathe.” I was in semi shock. I said, “I thought you were supposed to exhale while you extend and inhale while you retract. Am I not supposed to do some kind of breathing.” He replied eloquently, “No.”. He had a talent for anticlimactic answers.
Later, as I practiced it became clear to me that the form teaches your body to breathe. As you do the form, your breathing naturally changes to about 5~6 breaths per minute as your body calms and relaxes. Also, if you are relaxed enough, you notice how your breathing naturally starts correlating to the moves. I realized much later all the breathing methods taught are just a summary of what happens naturally when you practice the form over time with awareness on your breath.
There are breathing exercises and techniques taught outside the form, but it is not taught while doing the form until later. This is because trying to coordinate your breath and movement consciously is unnatural and often creates a disharmony between the breath and your movements. The breathing exercises allow you to practice the different aspects of breathing so you can learn the distinctions of what all can be done with breathing and until your control gets better and it all starts coming together. Once your breathing is natural, and your control of your breath is natural, you can start incorporating breathing methods to enhance the explosive power of your form.
However, in the beginning the only thing you need is awareness to notice the unconscious tension in your body as you go through the movements of the form and let go of them. You may have experienced holding your hand in a tight fist unconsciously and only letting go of it after noticing it. It is very much the same concept. You cannot let go of that which you don’t know you are holding on.
See how you want to breathe naturally. How is your throat, your shoulders, your chest, your rib cage while doing the form? Are they all moving with the breath? Are they soft and relaxed? How does it want to breathe? Now extend this awareness not just during the form, but while typing on your computer, while sowing, while doing your dishes or whatever else it is your doing. There are not too many things I know that you can do without breathing.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally (Covered 4/20)
3. No Sound Breath
4. Crow Bridge
5. Dan-Tien Breathing
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Monday, April 19, 2010
Awareness of Breathing
[Path to Mastery 4/19/10 – Wk32 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Breathing is the most important part of Tai-Chi. I would say that Breathing is the most important thing period especially considering the amount of time it takes to have an immediate impact in your life. You don’t need a formal education to figure out that it doesn’t take long at all from the time you stopped breathing until it has a deep and profound impact in your life.
I often tell people that breath is the most important diet in their lives. Energy has different states. At its lowest vibration level, it is solid. You heat it up a little, it becomes liquid. Yet, you heat it a little more, it becomes gas. Then it becomes plasma, and I am totally blanking out on the other stages, but with my limited scientific understanding at some point it becomes light. Sunlight. I have often read that all food we eat is a variation on sunlight. Sunlight gets stored in the plants, and then animals eat so that they can get the sunlight through the plants.
Besides light, air, a gaseous state, is one of the purest forms of the elements that you can ingest that is always readily available. How significant of a diet air is I feel is grossly underestimated. I also think people don’t understand how much of an immediate difference breathing can make to your physical and psychological state. I think one way of looking at things is from the perspective of impact to life. If you stop eating food, on average you have about 3 weeks before you die. If you stop drinking, you have about 1 week. If you stop breathing, you have about a few minutes. There is brain damage when it is oxygen deprived for more than 1 minute. Brain damage with just one minute!!!!
A lot of people are not aware of this, but when oxygen gets scarce, the priority is the brain. The brain is an oxygen hog. It weighs about 2~3lb but it consumes about 20% of your oxygen. This means that during stressful times when your brain is working overtime and is consumed with negative thoughts, and is running very inefficiently, it is draining you of much more oxygen than usual, and that oxygen has to come from somewhere. Most of the time stress causes shallow breathing. So, less air coming in, a lot of oxygen being consumed very inefficiently, and less oxygen going to the rest of the body. No wonder we feel sapped and tired when we are stressed.
Another interesting fact about breathing is that it is the gateway to your unconscious. This is very interesting, at least to me. Most organs are autonomic. That means that without your awareness, they run by themselves. You don’t have to consciously do anything. All except your lungs. Your lungs are semi autonomic. They run by themselves, but you can control them as well. You can consciously hold your breath or change their rate and their depth. Not only that, through breathing you can consciously and effectively change the rate of your heart. Your heart by itself is autonomic. You cannot control your heart directly. But your heart rate is directly connected to your way of breathing. So, through your breathing, your heart can be controlled. Thus, your breathing is the gateway to your autonomic system, the part of you that is unconscious. The state of your body is the expression of your unconscious mind. So, by learning how to breathe can help you change your state of mind. For instance, they have found that the ideal rate of breath rate is about 5~6 breathe per minute. Interestingly, when this happens, you hit a clear state of mind and euphoria that you can experience during meditation. Interestingly, it is also the only known physical action you can take that effectively allows you to control the effects of fear such as tunnel vision, freezing, complex motor skills, and conscious thinking just by reducing your heart rate.
For today, let us start with Awareness. You cannot change that which you are not aware that you are doing. Observe your breath through your day. Notice when you hold your breath. Notice where you hold your breath. Notice how that makes you feel, and how it affects your energy level. Then notice the rate of your breathing. Notice these things especially during stressful situations. You will have a fascinating day.
More 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
5. Dan-Tien Breathing
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Breathing is the most important part of Tai-Chi. I would say that Breathing is the most important thing period especially considering the amount of time it takes to have an immediate impact in your life. You don’t need a formal education to figure out that it doesn’t take long at all from the time you stopped breathing until it has a deep and profound impact in your life.
I often tell people that breath is the most important diet in their lives. Energy has different states. At its lowest vibration level, it is solid. You heat it up a little, it becomes liquid. Yet, you heat it a little more, it becomes gas. Then it becomes plasma, and I am totally blanking out on the other stages, but with my limited scientific understanding at some point it becomes light. Sunlight. I have often read that all food we eat is a variation on sunlight. Sunlight gets stored in the plants, and then animals eat so that they can get the sunlight through the plants.
Besides light, air, a gaseous state, is one of the purest forms of the elements that you can ingest that is always readily available. How significant of a diet air is I feel is grossly underestimated. I also think people don’t understand how much of an immediate difference breathing can make to your physical and psychological state. I think one way of looking at things is from the perspective of impact to life. If you stop eating food, on average you have about 3 weeks before you die. If you stop drinking, you have about 1 week. If you stop breathing, you have about a few minutes. There is brain damage when it is oxygen deprived for more than 1 minute. Brain damage with just one minute!!!!
A lot of people are not aware of this, but when oxygen gets scarce, the priority is the brain. The brain is an oxygen hog. It weighs about 2~3lb but it consumes about 20% of your oxygen. This means that during stressful times when your brain is working overtime and is consumed with negative thoughts, and is running very inefficiently, it is draining you of much more oxygen than usual, and that oxygen has to come from somewhere. Most of the time stress causes shallow breathing. So, less air coming in, a lot of oxygen being consumed very inefficiently, and less oxygen going to the rest of the body. No wonder we feel sapped and tired when we are stressed.
Another interesting fact about breathing is that it is the gateway to your unconscious. This is very interesting, at least to me. Most organs are autonomic. That means that without your awareness, they run by themselves. You don’t have to consciously do anything. All except your lungs. Your lungs are semi autonomic. They run by themselves, but you can control them as well. You can consciously hold your breath or change their rate and their depth. Not only that, through breathing you can consciously and effectively change the rate of your heart. Your heart by itself is autonomic. You cannot control your heart directly. But your heart rate is directly connected to your way of breathing. So, through your breathing, your heart can be controlled. Thus, your breathing is the gateway to your autonomic system, the part of you that is unconscious. The state of your body is the expression of your unconscious mind. So, by learning how to breathe can help you change your state of mind. For instance, they have found that the ideal rate of breath rate is about 5~6 breathe per minute. Interestingly, when this happens, you hit a clear state of mind and euphoria that you can experience during meditation. Interestingly, it is also the only known physical action you can take that effectively allows you to control the effects of fear such as tunnel vision, freezing, complex motor skills, and conscious thinking just by reducing your heart rate.
For today, let us start with Awareness. You cannot change that which you are not aware that you are doing. Observe your breath through your day. Notice when you hold your breath. Notice where you hold your breath. Notice how that makes you feel, and how it affects your energy level. Then notice the rate of your breathing. Notice these things especially during stressful situations. You will have a fascinating day.
More 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1 – 4/14)
8. Principles Governing Breathing
1. Awareness of Breath (Covered 4/19)
2. Breathe Naturally
3. No Sound Breath
4. Crow Bridge3. No Sound Breath
5. Dan-Tien Breathing
6. Directed Breathing
7. Small Heavenly Circle
8. Great Heavenly Circle
9. Reverse Breathing
10. Whole Body Breathing
Friday, April 16, 2010
Feedback
[Path to Mastery 4/16/10 – Wk31 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
I was talking to my buddy Alexis, a very enlightened individual, and I learned a lot.
We talked about the different aspects that bring about the enlightened state of mind, the mind that is free and full of light. In a sense this is the state of mind we all are trying to get to, whether it is through success, money, meditation, prayer or stealing your sister’s candy. We do things so we can be free, so we can all get to a place where we are happy.
While we were discussing this, we were discussing how important it is to create a reliable system that would allow people to consistently get to that place of the mind and body where there was fulfillment.
Then it dawned on me. The Tai-Chi system is a system of feedback.
We learn through feedback. Without feedback, we cannot learn. Our senses are nothing more than the feedback the brain receives so it has data to take another action appropriate for the next situation. If your interpretation of the feedback is incorrect, you could be in a lot of trouble. If you were looking at a wild animal, and you thought it was smiling but really it was baring teeth, you could end up with a lot of teeth marks.
People often have this mistaken idea that the system is there so you can learn a bunch of techniques. Well, that would make a very limiting system. What if you come across a situation where the technique doesn’t apply? You cannot enough techniques to account for all situations. Instead, it would be more helpful to have an understanding a guidance system that allows you to navigate through the changes and allow you to come up with techniques that suit the situation. This way, you don’t need to rely on memory. Instead, you can let the moment guide you.
Then why is there a Tai-Chi system with forms and 2 person forms, which are basically techniques? The form has 2 functions:
First, it helps you get into an ideal state of mind and body, where emotionally you are feeling free and in awe, as if you are looking at the world from the top of the mountain. Physically you are feeling relaxed and powerful, as if you just woke up from a nap in the Bahamas and you are feeling energized and refreshed. Techniques are not as useful when you try to make them happen in a natural environment where things are constantly changing. But if you set up the environment to be ideal for the technique then you limit the variables, and you can have an ideal experience through the technique without distractions. For instance, it is good for a basketball player to practice free throws. It gives them the feel of an ideal shot. But then the player has to practice shooting the ball from all kinds of different angles while the other players are coming at them while maintaining that same feel. The form is for practicing an ideal state of mind and body like a basket player practices free throw for the feel of an ideal throw.
Second, you start using the form as a feedback system to check whether you are in your state or not. Since you become more and more familiar with your ideal state while doing the form or 2 person forms you learn to carry over that state into your daily life. In the beginning, the durations are short, but as you increase the amount of times you are in it, it becomes natural. According to Alex, in Tibetan Buddhism, they express this thought by saying “Short duration many moments”. Once you are thoroughly familiar with how the form is supposed to feel, you have an accurate feedback system to get you into that state by yourself without anybody’s help.
By the way the ideal state is nothing special. Ideal state is a state of mind when you are natural, and you are happy. For instance, it is any state where your emotions and physical sensations are positive. For instance, you could be involved in drawing a painting and you are so absorbed that you have lost all sense of time, or you could be playing music and you are the music, you are out in nature and just caught up by the beauty, or you just enjoy the simple pleasure of the breeze and you are present enough to enjoy it. In some ways, you could say that this ideal state is nothing more than you not being so caught up in your thoughts and mind that you don’t know that life is passing by you. I wanted to mention this because I have seen so many people make this experience so grand and so great that it is unattainable. The great pleasures in life are inevitable. When you learn to appreciate the simple pleasures, then there are many more great pleasures.
Now that you know the system is to act as a feedback mechanisms, I would like to give some pointers for your training. We all have an innate inborn wisdom. Nobody taught us what grace is, but even people who have never seen Tai-Chi when they see it they think it is graceful. Not only that, but if we have a novice and a master practicing together, they all know who the master is, even if no one told them. How do we know? How do we know what looks good and what looks bad? Somehow we just know. That doesn’t mean you will know what to do, but when you do something right, you will be able to recognize it because it looks better than it did before.
Using this concept, when you practice, do it in front of a mirror. You will see the discrepancy between what you are actually doing and what you think you are doing. It is a great teacher. A barber can cut his own hair. He just needs lots of practice, patience and a mirror.
Last, when doing the form you are not sure whether you are doing it correctly or not, imagine that the gravity increased 10 times. This will help with the sense of gravity and will give you a much better sense on what your alignment should be.
These 2 tools should become of great treasure to you if you use them. Have a great weekend!
[Path to Mastery 4/16/10 – Wk31 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
I was talking to my buddy Alexis, a very enlightened individual, and I learned a lot.
We talked about the different aspects that bring about the enlightened state of mind, the mind that is free and full of light. In a sense this is the state of mind we all are trying to get to, whether it is through success, money, meditation, prayer or stealing your sister’s candy. We do things so we can be free, so we can all get to a place where we are happy.
While we were discussing this, we were discussing how important it is to create a reliable system that would allow people to consistently get to that place of the mind and body where there was fulfillment.
Then it dawned on me. The Tai-Chi system is a system of feedback.
We learn through feedback. Without feedback, we cannot learn. Our senses are nothing more than the feedback the brain receives so it has data to take another action appropriate for the next situation. If your interpretation of the feedback is incorrect, you could be in a lot of trouble. If you were looking at a wild animal, and you thought it was smiling but really it was baring teeth, you could end up with a lot of teeth marks.
People often have this mistaken idea that the system is there so you can learn a bunch of techniques. Well, that would make a very limiting system. What if you come across a situation where the technique doesn’t apply? You cannot enough techniques to account for all situations. Instead, it would be more helpful to have an understanding a guidance system that allows you to navigate through the changes and allow you to come up with techniques that suit the situation. This way, you don’t need to rely on memory. Instead, you can let the moment guide you.
Then why is there a Tai-Chi system with forms and 2 person forms, which are basically techniques? The form has 2 functions:
First, it helps you get into an ideal state of mind and body, where emotionally you are feeling free and in awe, as if you are looking at the world from the top of the mountain. Physically you are feeling relaxed and powerful, as if you just woke up from a nap in the Bahamas and you are feeling energized and refreshed. Techniques are not as useful when you try to make them happen in a natural environment where things are constantly changing. But if you set up the environment to be ideal for the technique then you limit the variables, and you can have an ideal experience through the technique without distractions. For instance, it is good for a basketball player to practice free throws. It gives them the feel of an ideal shot. But then the player has to practice shooting the ball from all kinds of different angles while the other players are coming at them while maintaining that same feel. The form is for practicing an ideal state of mind and body like a basket player practices free throw for the feel of an ideal throw.
Second, you start using the form as a feedback system to check whether you are in your state or not. Since you become more and more familiar with your ideal state while doing the form or 2 person forms you learn to carry over that state into your daily life. In the beginning, the durations are short, but as you increase the amount of times you are in it, it becomes natural. According to Alex, in Tibetan Buddhism, they express this thought by saying “Short duration many moments”. Once you are thoroughly familiar with how the form is supposed to feel, you have an accurate feedback system to get you into that state by yourself without anybody’s help.
By the way the ideal state is nothing special. Ideal state is a state of mind when you are natural, and you are happy. For instance, it is any state where your emotions and physical sensations are positive. For instance, you could be involved in drawing a painting and you are so absorbed that you have lost all sense of time, or you could be playing music and you are the music, you are out in nature and just caught up by the beauty, or you just enjoy the simple pleasure of the breeze and you are present enough to enjoy it. In some ways, you could say that this ideal state is nothing more than you not being so caught up in your thoughts and mind that you don’t know that life is passing by you. I wanted to mention this because I have seen so many people make this experience so grand and so great that it is unattainable. The great pleasures in life are inevitable. When you learn to appreciate the simple pleasures, then there are many more great pleasures.
Now that you know the system is to act as a feedback mechanisms, I would like to give some pointers for your training. We all have an innate inborn wisdom. Nobody taught us what grace is, but even people who have never seen Tai-Chi when they see it they think it is graceful. Not only that, but if we have a novice and a master practicing together, they all know who the master is, even if no one told them. How do we know? How do we know what looks good and what looks bad? Somehow we just know. That doesn’t mean you will know what to do, but when you do something right, you will be able to recognize it because it looks better than it did before.
Using this concept, when you practice, do it in front of a mirror. You will see the discrepancy between what you are actually doing and what you think you are doing. It is a great teacher. A barber can cut his own hair. He just needs lots of practice, patience and a mirror.
Last, when doing the form you are not sure whether you are doing it correctly or not, imagine that the gravity increased 10 times. This will help with the sense of gravity and will give you a much better sense on what your alignment should be.
These 2 tools should become of great treasure to you if you use them. Have a great weekend!
Thursday, April 15, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien
[Path to Mastery 4/14/10 – Wk31 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Now that we have discussed the Dan-Tien from an energetic view, let’s cover it from the physical perspective, the opposite perspective, the Tai-Chi way! This will be the last principle we cover on Relaxation.
We covered the physical location of the Dan-Tien previously when I covered ‘Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien’ in principles regarding the lower body in the alignment chapter (Covered on 3/16). Now let me add a little more detail. Besides, being 3 finger widths below the belly button, and a third of a distance from the front inside the body, the Dan-Tien is located between the 3 points, the Ming Men (across your belly button on your lower back), and your Kwa (the crease where your thighs meet your pelvis). Of course it is not in the center of these 3 points, but it feels like the Dan-Tien sits on a point where these 3 points converge. I jokingly refer to it as the holy trinity because these 3 points always have to move together as one.
Gabriel told us that when you move, your movement starts from the Ming Men. I asked him “What about the Dan-Tien?” since every book on the market said that you had move from the Dan-Tien. He said the Dan-Tien was where the weight was, and what kept the body centered and stable. It was like an anchor.
When your Ming-Men moves, since it is your spine, your entire body moves immediately. Now for the entire body to move in unison, the spine needs to move in coordination with the 2 ball joints where your femur (thigh bone) adjoins the socket in your pelvis. As you are reading this, you should try moving your 2 ball joints from your Ming-Men. Now try moving one ball joint in order to the other ball joint and your Ming-Men. Switch between the sides. You will notice that your shifting and rotation is a lot easier and your movements will be a lot smoother. This kind of stable movement causes relaxation, and you will feel your lower abdominal (Dan-Tien) area relaxing deeper and getting a fuller feeling. Most likely one of these 2 methods will work better for you depending on your make up and where you are in your training.
The key here is that you move all 3 in unison and awareness. This brings about relaxation and the relaxation sinks to your lower abdomen, which means that they actually settle to your pelvis. Traditionally, Dan-Tien means the field where Chi can be cultivated (For details, review the Lower Body principles in the Alignment Chapter, when we were covering ‘Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien’ (Covered on 3/16)). So, the Dan-Tien is like a storehouse for Chi. Now, translating that into physical terms, feeling that your Dan-Tien is full of Chi would mean that your organs are relaxed, your guts are full of blood from the relaxation, and your guts are settled in your pelvis so your lower abdomen feels full. This fullness secures the spine and allows it to move against a stable environment. Of course since the spine is supported and secured, the whole body can relax deeper as well. So in summary, the relaxation fills the Dan-Tien, and the Dan-Tien secures the spine, and that in turn relaxes the body even further. It feels like a pole that is secured to the center of a tire. If the tire is not full and heavy, the pole is going to be wobbly.
As a minor point, when you relax, and the tension goes away, you can feel how the body is connected to the Dan-Tien and your waist in a kinetic chain, a chain of muscles that work together. You feel how all movements come out from the Dan-Tien and the waist.
Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien can be approached from different angles. You can produce it through using the mind, and you can also achieve it through moving from the holy trinity. You have also learned how to do it using alignment from previous chapters. In the end all these are variations on how to relax the body enough so that the energy flows and the body reaches a resting point. Only then can you produce powerful movements that come out like a wave from the Dan-Tien. This concludes our discourse on Relaxation Principles.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind not use strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal external mutually integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend into infinity (Covered 4/12)
6) Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien (Covered 4/13~4/14)
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Now that we have discussed the Dan-Tien from an energetic view, let’s cover it from the physical perspective, the opposite perspective, the Tai-Chi way! This will be the last principle we cover on Relaxation.
We covered the physical location of the Dan-Tien previously when I covered ‘Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien’ in principles regarding the lower body in the alignment chapter (Covered on 3/16). Now let me add a little more detail. Besides, being 3 finger widths below the belly button, and a third of a distance from the front inside the body, the Dan-Tien is located between the 3 points, the Ming Men (across your belly button on your lower back), and your Kwa (the crease where your thighs meet your pelvis). Of course it is not in the center of these 3 points, but it feels like the Dan-Tien sits on a point where these 3 points converge. I jokingly refer to it as the holy trinity because these 3 points always have to move together as one.
Gabriel told us that when you move, your movement starts from the Ming Men. I asked him “What about the Dan-Tien?” since every book on the market said that you had move from the Dan-Tien. He said the Dan-Tien was where the weight was, and what kept the body centered and stable. It was like an anchor.
When your Ming-Men moves, since it is your spine, your entire body moves immediately. Now for the entire body to move in unison, the spine needs to move in coordination with the 2 ball joints where your femur (thigh bone) adjoins the socket in your pelvis. As you are reading this, you should try moving your 2 ball joints from your Ming-Men. Now try moving one ball joint in order to the other ball joint and your Ming-Men. Switch between the sides. You will notice that your shifting and rotation is a lot easier and your movements will be a lot smoother. This kind of stable movement causes relaxation, and you will feel your lower abdominal (Dan-Tien) area relaxing deeper and getting a fuller feeling. Most likely one of these 2 methods will work better for you depending on your make up and where you are in your training.
The key here is that you move all 3 in unison and awareness. This brings about relaxation and the relaxation sinks to your lower abdomen, which means that they actually settle to your pelvis. Traditionally, Dan-Tien means the field where Chi can be cultivated (For details, review the Lower Body principles in the Alignment Chapter, when we were covering ‘Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien’ (Covered on 3/16)). So, the Dan-Tien is like a storehouse for Chi. Now, translating that into physical terms, feeling that your Dan-Tien is full of Chi would mean that your organs are relaxed, your guts are full of blood from the relaxation, and your guts are settled in your pelvis so your lower abdomen feels full. This fullness secures the spine and allows it to move against a stable environment. Of course since the spine is supported and secured, the whole body can relax deeper as well. So in summary, the relaxation fills the Dan-Tien, and the Dan-Tien secures the spine, and that in turn relaxes the body even further. It feels like a pole that is secured to the center of a tire. If the tire is not full and heavy, the pole is going to be wobbly.
As a minor point, when you relax, and the tension goes away, you can feel how the body is connected to the Dan-Tien and your waist in a kinetic chain, a chain of muscles that work together. You feel how all movements come out from the Dan-Tien and the waist.
Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien can be approached from different angles. You can produce it through using the mind, and you can also achieve it through moving from the holy trinity. You have also learned how to do it using alignment from previous chapters. In the end all these are variations on how to relax the body enough so that the energy flows and the body reaches a resting point. Only then can you produce powerful movements that come out like a wave from the Dan-Tien. This concludes our discourse on Relaxation Principles.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind not use strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal external mutually integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend into infinity (Covered 4/12)
6) Chi Sinks to Dan-Tien (Covered 4/13~4/14)
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Chi Sink Dan-Tien
[Path to Mastery 4/13/10 – Wk31 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
When you know how to ‘Dropping the Weight’, and ‘Extend into Infinity’, then you have ‘Chi Sink Dan-Tien’.
When you have one principle, then you have all the others. It is important to mention on many occasions and to stress that all these principles are really describing the same thing. If you will these principles are check points to see how well you have any one of the principles. It is a reality check. If you have one principle, but not another, then you know that you don’t really have either. There is lack of understanding somewhere.
Many years ago I read a book called ‘The book of Ki’, by Koichi Tohei. I recommend this book to anyone. It is a great book to study Chi. In this book he mentions 4 principles of Ki (Japanese way of saying Chi):
1) Relax
2) Extend
3) Weight Underneath
4) Keep one point
The 4th principle, keeping one point is what we call the Dan-Tien. In this book, it mentions that by brining awareness to your one point (your Dan-Tien), you bring you body to being centered. Your body relaxes, and your body extends out from your Dan-Tien, and you feel the weight underneath. When one is present, then all the others are present. Another thing that I thought really helped was how to find the Dan-Tien. If the Dan-Tien is the center of your body, extend your mind out equally in all direction. As you expand out, you will feel your center becoming more clear. Extend it out until you start going out of the atmosphere, and start expanding your mind out into the universe. Since the universe is infinite, you are the center of the universe from this perspective. As you bring your mind out further and further, you will notice that your center becomes warmers, more centered and clearer. You will notice when you do this, you are extending, you will automatically feel relaxed, and you will the weight underneath. All of the principles are present. This is one of the many ways to find your Dan-Tien.
Tomorrow, I will discuss another.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind not use strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal external mutually integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend into infinity (Covered 4/10)
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien (Covered 4/12)
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
When you know how to ‘Dropping the Weight’, and ‘Extend into Infinity’, then you have ‘Chi Sink Dan-Tien’.
When you have one principle, then you have all the others. It is important to mention on many occasions and to stress that all these principles are really describing the same thing. If you will these principles are check points to see how well you have any one of the principles. It is a reality check. If you have one principle, but not another, then you know that you don’t really have either. There is lack of understanding somewhere.
Many years ago I read a book called ‘The book of Ki’, by Koichi Tohei. I recommend this book to anyone. It is a great book to study Chi. In this book he mentions 4 principles of Ki (Japanese way of saying Chi):
1) Relax
2) Extend
3) Weight Underneath
4) Keep one point
The 4th principle, keeping one point is what we call the Dan-Tien. In this book, it mentions that by brining awareness to your one point (your Dan-Tien), you bring you body to being centered. Your body relaxes, and your body extends out from your Dan-Tien, and you feel the weight underneath. When one is present, then all the others are present. Another thing that I thought really helped was how to find the Dan-Tien. If the Dan-Tien is the center of your body, extend your mind out equally in all direction. As you expand out, you will feel your center becoming more clear. Extend it out until you start going out of the atmosphere, and start expanding your mind out into the universe. Since the universe is infinite, you are the center of the universe from this perspective. As you bring your mind out further and further, you will notice that your center becomes warmers, more centered and clearer. You will notice when you do this, you are extending, you will automatically feel relaxed, and you will the weight underneath. All of the principles are present. This is one of the many ways to find your Dan-Tien.
Tomorrow, I will discuss another.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind not use strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal external mutually integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend into infinity (Covered 4/10)
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien (Covered 4/12)
Monday, April 12, 2010
Extend Into Infinity
[Path to Mastery 4/12/10 – Wk31 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
The principle of extension is a key concept to succeeding in Tai-Chi. Extension is the Yang, if letting go and relaxing is the Yin. Extension balances limpness. Without extension, you cannot relax properly.
The actual concept of extension is ‘Extend Into Infinity’. I think the name explains it for itself. Not much mystery.
Here is a key concept in Tai-Chi that is integral to understanding all of Tai-Chi, if not life itself. Opposites are actually the same thing. They are not two separate things opposing each other. The two sides of a coin cannot exist without each other. That is Yin and Yang. Here is another example. Confidence without Humility is Arrogance. You cannot be truly confident unless you are humble. Without humility, it becomes imbalanced and you become arrogant. Now you can imagine what humility without confidence becomes. This is a very useful concept in considering your life. Let me give one more example to nail it to bed. Courage cannot exist without fear. I heard this quote, “True courage is not the absence of fear, but doing the right thing in spite of the fear”.
It seems we miss out on so much of life, because we have the wrong picture of the world and thus we miss what we are looking for even when it is staring us in the eye because we don’t recognize it.
So, we want relaxation, but we can’t have it without extension. Extension is support. Without support we cannot relax. One of the reasons people lay down when they want to rest is because their body is supported through out their whole back and thus there is a wider area of support. When you are standing on one leg it is wobbly because you are standing on a wobbling surface, you are not going to be able to relax. If your standing leg has support, your body becomes stable, and the body can let go.
All the principles can be explained using extension and dropping (letting go/weight underneath). These are the 2 fundamental principles that come out of the original principle Yi Chi Li (Mind leads Chi, Chi leads Muscle/strength). For instance, ‘Empty Spirit Summit Strong’ is a principle of extension to the crown of the spine. By leading the mind to extend from your crown upwards, your whole spine extends and the rest of your body hangs from it. ‘Settle Shoulder Drop Elbow’ is a principle of dropping. Extension is the principle of leading with mind to direct your energy. Letting go/dropping/weight underneath is when you let go with your mind and move your mind away from doing anything with that part of the body. When you have extension, then you have letting go on those parts where you are not extending. As a whole we call this combined state of extension and dropping ‘Relaxation’.
Now, that you have the yin and yang of a relaxed state, play hard with it, have fun, and you will master it!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend Into Infinity (Covered 4/10)
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
The principle of extension is a key concept to succeeding in Tai-Chi. Extension is the Yang, if letting go and relaxing is the Yin. Extension balances limpness. Without extension, you cannot relax properly.
The actual concept of extension is ‘Extend Into Infinity’. I think the name explains it for itself. Not much mystery.
Here is a key concept in Tai-Chi that is integral to understanding all of Tai-Chi, if not life itself. Opposites are actually the same thing. They are not two separate things opposing each other. The two sides of a coin cannot exist without each other. That is Yin and Yang. Here is another example. Confidence without Humility is Arrogance. You cannot be truly confident unless you are humble. Without humility, it becomes imbalanced and you become arrogant. Now you can imagine what humility without confidence becomes. This is a very useful concept in considering your life. Let me give one more example to nail it to bed. Courage cannot exist without fear. I heard this quote, “True courage is not the absence of fear, but doing the right thing in spite of the fear”.
It seems we miss out on so much of life, because we have the wrong picture of the world and thus we miss what we are looking for even when it is staring us in the eye because we don’t recognize it.
So, we want relaxation, but we can’t have it without extension. Extension is support. Without support we cannot relax. One of the reasons people lay down when they want to rest is because their body is supported through out their whole back and thus there is a wider area of support. When you are standing on one leg it is wobbly because you are standing on a wobbling surface, you are not going to be able to relax. If your standing leg has support, your body becomes stable, and the body can let go.
All the principles can be explained using extension and dropping (letting go/weight underneath). These are the 2 fundamental principles that come out of the original principle Yi Chi Li (Mind leads Chi, Chi leads Muscle/strength). For instance, ‘Empty Spirit Summit Strong’ is a principle of extension to the crown of the spine. By leading the mind to extend from your crown upwards, your whole spine extends and the rest of your body hangs from it. ‘Settle Shoulder Drop Elbow’ is a principle of dropping. Extension is the principle of leading with mind to direct your energy. Letting go/dropping/weight underneath is when you let go with your mind and move your mind away from doing anything with that part of the body. When you have extension, then you have letting go on those parts where you are not extending. As a whole we call this combined state of extension and dropping ‘Relaxation’.
Now, that you have the yin and yang of a relaxed state, play hard with it, have fun, and you will master it!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extend Into Infinity (Covered 4/10)
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Friday, April 9, 2010
Weight Underneath
[Path to Mastery 4/9/10 – Wk30 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Weight Underneath’ was more or less covered yesterday when I discussed Soong. But I find this concept to be very useful, and of value in its own right, so I would like to discuss why it is specifically named ‘Weight Underneath’.
First, stand as if you are at the edge of a swimming pool, and you are about to jump in. Let both of your arms hang from the side, and you are probably leaning slightly forward and your weight is on the balls of your feet because you are ready to jump. This is the ideal position to feel the weight of your arms just hanging from your shoulders. Now when you let your arms hang like this, and just work at letting go, you will feel your arms getting heavier and heavier, getting further and further relaxed.
The issue is when you start raising your arm. You can relax as long as you keep your arms dropped, but it gets more difficult when you start moving.
Here is where ‘Weight Underneath’ comes in handy. From the position of your arms dropped, feel the weight of the arms. Feel how the heaviness is underneath your limbs, as if meat was hanging from the bone (that is actually exactly what is happening to your muscles, hanging off your bone!). Now, imagine that you are a puppet and that your wrists are being raised by the strings. While your wrist is being pulled up by a string, maintain the feeling of the weight underneath your limb. You will notice the shoulder stays settled, and the elbows stay dropped. You will also notice you arm stays heavy and relaxed. You may use the balloon underneath the arm, but I like providing different visualization exercises because they allow you to use your mind differently. It is often the case that the student will find one visualization method more effective than another. Also, the different visualization brings different effects and becoming sensitized to these differences is important.
Some people like calling this dropping or sinking weight, because the visualization of continuously dropping as if you were a sack of potatoes being dropped or as if you were sinking through mud slowly helps them better.
This is a great simple principle of a relaxation method if you want to just focus on training relaxation! Have fun playing with this principle!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Weight Underneath’ was more or less covered yesterday when I discussed Soong. But I find this concept to be very useful, and of value in its own right, so I would like to discuss why it is specifically named ‘Weight Underneath’.
First, stand as if you are at the edge of a swimming pool, and you are about to jump in. Let both of your arms hang from the side, and you are probably leaning slightly forward and your weight is on the balls of your feet because you are ready to jump. This is the ideal position to feel the weight of your arms just hanging from your shoulders. Now when you let your arms hang like this, and just work at letting go, you will feel your arms getting heavier and heavier, getting further and further relaxed.
The issue is when you start raising your arm. You can relax as long as you keep your arms dropped, but it gets more difficult when you start moving.
Here is where ‘Weight Underneath’ comes in handy. From the position of your arms dropped, feel the weight of the arms. Feel how the heaviness is underneath your limbs, as if meat was hanging from the bone (that is actually exactly what is happening to your muscles, hanging off your bone!). Now, imagine that you are a puppet and that your wrists are being raised by the strings. While your wrist is being pulled up by a string, maintain the feeling of the weight underneath your limb. You will notice the shoulder stays settled, and the elbows stay dropped. You will also notice you arm stays heavy and relaxed. You may use the balloon underneath the arm, but I like providing different visualization exercises because they allow you to use your mind differently. It is often the case that the student will find one visualization method more effective than another. Also, the different visualization brings different effects and becoming sensitized to these differences is important.
Some people like calling this dropping or sinking weight, because the visualization of continuously dropping as if you were a sack of potatoes being dropped or as if you were sinking through mud slowly helps them better.
This is a great simple principle of a relaxation method if you want to just focus on training relaxation! Have fun playing with this principle!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath) (Covered 4/9)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Internal External Mutually Integrate
[Path to Mastery 4/8/10 – Wk30 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Internal External Mutually Integrate’ is an important principle in the externally focused society that we live in. This principle is how to coordinate the feelings of the internal part of your body with the external look of your form. This principle basically says that Tai-Chi is not only about how it looks from the outside, but the movements are coordinated with how it feels from the inside.
When you do Tai-Chi, you should feel as if your upper body is a cork that is floating on water. As the waves come and go, you just float and ride out the wave. You should feel as if anything above the pelvis is floating above the water. This sensation doesn’t come because your body is bobbing up and down, but it is created because it feels like your pelvis is floating above your legs. As you shift your weight to the front or the back, you feel the pumping of your legs and even though from the outside it looks flowing and level, it feels like the legs are pumping your whole body.
You also feel the heat pushing up from your legs up your spine and out your hands as your legs are pumping. This creates a sensation as if you are a hot air balloon, and you feel your body getting warm and you feel as if there is warm lava flowing around. Things that were tight inside loosen up and start moving and eventually feel as if it gets absorbed into the rest of the body.
It is said you should feel as if you have no corners. In Chinese the word corner is used for sharp angles like the corner of a square desk. In short, while doing the Tai-Chi form, you should feel as if there are no sharp corners, no abrupt angles in the body. You should feel rounded and easy like a ball.
Your spine should feel suspended, energized, and straight. You should feel that each side of your body is a column on its own and is standing by itself. When you get this sensation, you will naturally feel that the spine is suspended by itself.
The word Soong (Relax) here is significant. If you get the sensations above, you have Soong. It is to describe the sensations of letting go and sinking (you keep feeling as if you are being pulled down. You can feel the weight of your body. It is also referred to as feeling the weight underneath. ). Yet it is also light and ready to move, comfortable and springy that comes from fullness such as that of a full balloon.
If you have Soong, then it doesn’t matter whatever form you are doing. You are doing Tai-Chi. You could be doing a Shaolin Form, but it will still be Tai-Chi since you have the internal principles of Tai-Chi working within you. Changing the external so you can have Soong, and doing things with Soong is to have ‘Internal External Mutual Integration’.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Internal External Mutually Integrate’ is an important principle in the externally focused society that we live in. This principle is how to coordinate the feelings of the internal part of your body with the external look of your form. This principle basically says that Tai-Chi is not only about how it looks from the outside, but the movements are coordinated with how it feels from the inside.
When you do Tai-Chi, you should feel as if your upper body is a cork that is floating on water. As the waves come and go, you just float and ride out the wave. You should feel as if anything above the pelvis is floating above the water. This sensation doesn’t come because your body is bobbing up and down, but it is created because it feels like your pelvis is floating above your legs. As you shift your weight to the front or the back, you feel the pumping of your legs and even though from the outside it looks flowing and level, it feels like the legs are pumping your whole body.
You also feel the heat pushing up from your legs up your spine and out your hands as your legs are pumping. This creates a sensation as if you are a hot air balloon, and you feel your body getting warm and you feel as if there is warm lava flowing around. Things that were tight inside loosen up and start moving and eventually feel as if it gets absorbed into the rest of the body.
It is said you should feel as if you have no corners. In Chinese the word corner is used for sharp angles like the corner of a square desk. In short, while doing the Tai-Chi form, you should feel as if there are no sharp corners, no abrupt angles in the body. You should feel rounded and easy like a ball.
Your spine should feel suspended, energized, and straight. You should feel that each side of your body is a column on its own and is standing by itself. When you get this sensation, you will naturally feel that the spine is suspended by itself.
The word Soong (Relax) here is significant. If you get the sensations above, you have Soong. It is to describe the sensations of letting go and sinking (you keep feeling as if you are being pulled down. You can feel the weight of your body. It is also referred to as feeling the weight underneath. ). Yet it is also light and ready to move, comfortable and springy that comes from fullness such as that of a full balloon.
If you have Soong, then it doesn’t matter whatever form you are doing. You are doing Tai-Chi. You could be doing a Shaolin Form, but it will still be Tai-Chi since you have the internal principles of Tai-Chi working within you. Changing the external so you can have Soong, and doing things with Soong is to have ‘Internal External Mutual Integration’.
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Meditation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate (Covered 4/8)
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Use Mind Not Use Strength
[Path to Mastery 4/7/10 – Wk30 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ has depth the more you chew on it. According to the Koreans: what’s good will produce more juice (flavor) the more you chew on it, unlike gum. This is definitely one of them!
The importance of this becomes most apparent when you either do pushing hands or you practice your jing (power generation) with another person. When you are about to do Fa-Jing (explosive energy), you imagine your force going through the other person first. You feel them getting lighter and you follow through that feeling of lightness, and to your surprise you see them flying. The entire time, your muscles feel relaxed and you feel like you are doing the form. This is what makes Tai-Chi fun, and this is what makes Tai-Chi mysterious. It makes sense that the mind affects your own body, but when the mind starts influencing things outside of your body, that just adds to the wow factor.
‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ is important to practice when you are just training by yourself, however. It is easy to use strength and tense when you are practicing with someone else in the beginning. When you practice by yourself, you get to feel what it feels like just by yourself. This is important because when you are with someone else, it should feel like you are still just by yourself. If you have never just practiced by yourself, then you won’t know what it is like to be just by yourself.
You practice ‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ by leading the move with your mind first. You don’t just do the move, but you visualize the move before you do it, and then you let the energy go first, and then you let the body follow the sensation of the energy. Pretty soon your body goes where your mind goes. Since you guide with your mind and let your body follow the sensation of energy, your body stays relaxed.
Try this trick. Imagine there is a balloon underneath your arm and it is lifting up your arm. You will feel as if your arm is being lifted, and you will be very relaxed. Try just lifting your arm. You will notice that as long as your attention is on your arm, it tenses, but the moment you follow the sensation of a bubble underneath your arm lifting your arm, your arm becomes more relaxed. This is a phenomenon of ‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’. You don’t use your body, you use your mind to create a sensation of energy, such as an energy ball underneath your arm, and then let your body be moved by that sensation.
Have fun playing with ‘Use Mind Not Use 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ has depth the more you chew on it. According to the Koreans: what’s good will produce more juice (flavor) the more you chew on it, unlike gum. This is definitely one of them!
The importance of this becomes most apparent when you either do pushing hands or you practice your jing (power generation) with another person. When you are about to do Fa-Jing (explosive energy), you imagine your force going through the other person first. You feel them getting lighter and you follow through that feeling of lightness, and to your surprise you see them flying. The entire time, your muscles feel relaxed and you feel like you are doing the form. This is what makes Tai-Chi fun, and this is what makes Tai-Chi mysterious. It makes sense that the mind affects your own body, but when the mind starts influencing things outside of your body, that just adds to the wow factor.
‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ is important to practice when you are just training by yourself, however. It is easy to use strength and tense when you are practicing with someone else in the beginning. When you practice by yourself, you get to feel what it feels like just by yourself. This is important because when you are with someone else, it should feel like you are still just by yourself. If you have never just practiced by yourself, then you won’t know what it is like to be just by yourself.
You practice ‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’ by leading the move with your mind first. You don’t just do the move, but you visualize the move before you do it, and then you let the energy go first, and then you let the body follow the sensation of the energy. Pretty soon your body goes where your mind goes. Since you guide with your mind and let your body follow the sensation of energy, your body stays relaxed.
Try this trick. Imagine there is a balloon underneath your arm and it is lifting up your arm. You will feel as if your arm is being lifted, and you will be very relaxed. Try just lifting your arm. You will notice that as long as your attention is on your arm, it tenses, but the moment you follow the sensation of a bubble underneath your arm lifting your arm, your arm becomes more relaxed. This is a phenomenon of ‘Use Mind Not Use Strength’. You don’t use your body, you use your mind to create a sensation of energy, such as an energy ball underneath your arm, and then let your body be moved by that sensation.
Have fun playing with ‘Use Mind Not Use 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength (Covered 4/7)
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Mind Body Release Relax
[Path to Mastery 4/6/10 – Wk30 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Hope you had a great Easter Weekend! I know I did!
Starting today we will be covering the Tai-Chi principles governing Relaxation. First one up is
‘Mind Body Release Relax’.
This is a great principle. This one basically says that unless the mind is relaxed, the body cannot relax, and unless the body relaxes, the mind cannot relax. It shows that the mind and the body is the same. You cannot separate them.
There is a reason the word ‘Release’ is mentioned first. Tension is like having your hand clenched into a fist. Now imagine your shoulders are a clenched fist and you are letting them go. You will feel them relaxing and dropping. Muscles that are tense are like fists that are clenched. For them to relax, you have to let them go. In order for you to notice that they are clenched, fist you need to notice them. You cannot let go of that which you are not aware.
If you let go, then relaxation automatically comes. Relaxation is a state. Letting go is the act.
Here is an even more powerful exercise for when you are stressed. Imagine that you let go of the grip that your forehead has on your brain. As your forehead lets go of the front part of the brain, feel how your forehead opens up and how your brain relaxes. Feel how your whole body starts to relax as your brain relaxes. Go to any part of your brain that feel tense and release that part of the brain. Feel the relaxation in the body.
This is what you do in No Tai-Chi before the form begins. This is what you do through your day so you keep your mind relaxed. You will notice that when you are rushing and you feel tense, that your brain will be buzzing. Exhale, take a deep breath and slow down. Release and relax your brain, and feel your mind calm.
The mind and the body is a feedback loop. It may take a little time before your body and mind completely relaxes. After you release your brain, you may notice parts of your body feeling tense. Relax and exhale through those parts of the body. Slow your exhale. As you feel those parts of the body relaxing, you will feel your brain further relaxing and your mind further calming. As your mind slows, you will feel the body relaxing deeper.
These are the signs that you are relaxed. You will feel your jaws relax, and your mouth will salivate. This is one of the reasons why in Tai-Chi you place your tongue gently on the roof of your mouth. It will create saliva to flow in your mouth and relax your body. Your shoulders will relax, and your face will be smiling. Incidentally, this is also that same physical state of happiness. Additionally, your hands and feet will get warmer. According to my friends in the medical field this means that the tonus on the parasympathetic nervous system has increased and your body is in healing mode and your tonus on the sympathetic nervous system has decreased so that you are not in your excited state of feeling like you are in a fight or flight mode. You are no longer running from your adrenalin addicted state as we discussed last Thursday.
Moral of the story? Being relaxed is being happy!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Hope you had a great Easter Weekend! I know I did!
Starting today we will be covering the Tai-Chi principles governing Relaxation. First one up is
‘Mind Body Release Relax’.
This is a great principle. This one basically says that unless the mind is relaxed, the body cannot relax, and unless the body relaxes, the mind cannot relax. It shows that the mind and the body is the same. You cannot separate them.
There is a reason the word ‘Release’ is mentioned first. Tension is like having your hand clenched into a fist. Now imagine your shoulders are a clenched fist and you are letting them go. You will feel them relaxing and dropping. Muscles that are tense are like fists that are clenched. For them to relax, you have to let them go. In order for you to notice that they are clenched, fist you need to notice them. You cannot let go of that which you are not aware.
If you let go, then relaxation automatically comes. Relaxation is a state. Letting go is the act.
Here is an even more powerful exercise for when you are stressed. Imagine that you let go of the grip that your forehead has on your brain. As your forehead lets go of the front part of the brain, feel how your forehead opens up and how your brain relaxes. Feel how your whole body starts to relax as your brain relaxes. Go to any part of your brain that feel tense and release that part of the brain. Feel the relaxation in the body.
This is what you do in No Tai-Chi before the form begins. This is what you do through your day so you keep your mind relaxed. You will notice that when you are rushing and you feel tense, that your brain will be buzzing. Exhale, take a deep breath and slow down. Release and relax your brain, and feel your mind calm.
The mind and the body is a feedback loop. It may take a little time before your body and mind completely relaxes. After you release your brain, you may notice parts of your body feeling tense. Relax and exhale through those parts of the body. Slow your exhale. As you feel those parts of the body relaxing, you will feel your brain further relaxing and your mind further calming. As your mind slows, you will feel the body relaxing deeper.
These are the signs that you are relaxed. You will feel your jaws relax, and your mouth will salivate. This is one of the reasons why in Tai-Chi you place your tongue gently on the roof of your mouth. It will create saliva to flow in your mouth and relax your body. Your shoulders will relax, and your face will be smiling. Incidentally, this is also that same physical state of happiness. Additionally, your hands and feet will get warmer. According to my friends in the medical field this means that the tonus on the parasympathetic nervous system has increased and your body is in healing mode and your tonus on the sympathetic nervous system has decreased so that you are not in your excited state of feeling like you are in a fight or flight mode. You are no longer running from your adrenalin addicted state as we discussed last Thursday.
Moral of the story? Being relaxed is being happy!
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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release Relax (Covered 4/6)
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Principles Governing Relaxation
[Path to Mastery 4/1/10 – Wk29 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)]
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Today, we enter a new chapter, principles governing Relaxation!
So far we have covered principles on Alignment and principles on Movement. I could say that you move and align properly so you can relax. We haven’t covered Breathing yet, but it is true that you breathe so you can relax even more deeply. The whole point of doing all of this is so you can relax deeper and deeper. Relaxation is pleasure. Relaxation is health. Relaxation is having time. Relaxation means that there is no stress. Relaxation is naturally what we all seek, but at the same time it eludes us.
The issue is that even though we all want relaxation, we don’t do anything to get it because we believe that power is with strength, mass and speed. This is why we get tense and we rush all the time, and try to get more of everything. We believe relaxation is what we get to do after we have tensed enough and accumulated enough and rushed enough.
I’d like to make a proposition. I’d like to make a proposition that we don’t really believe in this. Not really. We just don’t believe in it for ourselves. I find it interesting that in all the years I have been doing martial arts, and that is 25 years at this point in my life (Since 1985), I have never seen anyone marvel at someone who is tensing, struggling, and rushing. People are always impressed with the people who are effortless, flowing, relaxed and have grace in their demeanor and movement.
When there is a stressful situation, we have respect for that person who stays calm, collected and relaxed. Relaxation is confidence. When we see someone rushing about, we don’t think of confidence. As a matter of fact, you will notice that almost always without fail, the person who stays clam, and relaxed will always get more done. This is especially true since they don’t have to rush back to correct their mistakes, even if they happened to get done first.
It’s also only when you are relaxed you can laugh and have fun. Relaxation is happiness.
We know deep inside that relaxation is true power. We just don’t believe in it for ourselves, and we just don’t know how. Most of us have never been shown how. A lot of us believe that someone is just born confident, happy, or relaxed. We stop trying because no matter how hard we try we just never seem to get there.
Isn’t it interesting that we try so hard to get there? We also try to get there by rushing so we won’t have to rush anymore, and we also try to get there by tensing and trying to do as much as we can. If relaxation is the act of letting your muscles go, and you are engaging your muscles more and more, I wonder how that is going to work out. I propose that if you tense, you get better at tensing, that if you relax, you get better at relaxing.
Now before we go any further, I’d like to debunk a myth. Relaxation is not being limp. Relaxation is balance. From a Tai-Chi perspective, relaxation really runs the whole gambit from being limp all the way to being tense. When I first joined my teacher Gabriel, he said relax, and I went limp. He said, not limp, relax. I was completely confused. He showed me how relaxation is really what I came to call relaxed tension in real life application. Even people who are calm, collected, relaxed are not limp. If they really were, they would have fallen to the ground. People who are limp are not relaxed. They lack discipline. True relaxation only comes when there is a well balanced mix between relaxed muscles and engaged muscles to suit the purpose. So, people who are laid back are not relaxed either. They lack balance. They still feel stressed, they just ignore it. It is not the same as feeling truly relaxed and in balance.
When you are truly relaxed, there is no more inner struggle, both mentally and physically. When there is no inner struggle, there is peace and calmness and relaxation. When there is no struggle, even if muscles are engaged, it creates smooth flowing movement. Relaxation is the absence of struggle. Relaxation is grace and flow.
Relaxation in Tai-Chi is the act of letting go of all you can while still being able to perform the task. It is the active practice of less is more. Too many cooks in one kitchen is not good. They get in each other's way. The same is true with your body. In Tai-Chi we practice what is called the unbendable arm. You stand straight up, in a manner where you feel centered. Then, while maintaining your stance, you extend your arm out and make a fist, and tense it as much as you can. Your partner comes up to you and bends your arm. Now, you relax, and open your palm. Then you imagine your arm is one piece and your fingers extend to touch the wall across from you while relaxing everything. The way you know you are relaxed is by feeling the weight of your arm underneath. It is important that you do not lean forward while doing this. Then again, you have someone try to bend your arm. You and your partner may notice that it is a lot harder to bend your arm. As a matter of fact, often times, if the arm could be bent with tension, the arm can’t be bent at all when it was extending and relaxing. This is because when there is tension, your antagonistic muscles are engaged. All this means is that when your triceps were tensing to keep the arm extended, your biceps were tensing to bend your arm. In short, you were struggling against yourself and that is why your partner could bend your arm easier. When you are relaxed, you don’t feel your body because it’s not fighting itself anymore. When your triceps are engaging, your biceps are relaxed and thus your triceps have more strength. This is true for your whole body. Relax and just move the minimum. If you are shifting forward, relax everything and just push with your back leg, and even then, use as little as possible, so you don’t feel anything. So, relaxation is learning how to relax what you can while engaging what needs to be engaged so you are streamlined and focused.
Effortlessness comes from an attitude and belief that there is a better way to do this, and the right way to do this is effortless and I just need to find this way. Effortlessness comes from a belief that less is more. It comes from a belief that it’s about working smarter, instead of harder. Try this next time when you open a jar. If you can’t open a jar and you were struggling, then straighten up, relax, smile and open it as if it were nothing. You’ll be surprised. More often then not, you will be able to open it effortlessly. Try it with jars you can open. It will open a lot easier and it will cause a lot less tension in your body.
Relaxation is like compounded interest. In the beginning, there is little to show for it, but the more you practice it, the more you get from it. The more you practice it, the more benefits you feel from it, and the better ways you find to do it. I guess it’s really like anything. My suggestion to you is try it and see for yourself. Stop rushing. Stop tensing. Stop slouching. When you find yourself doing one of these things, just exhale and start letting go of your tense muscles. Start moving at your pace instead, so physically you slow down. Start smiling. This will allow your breath to return to it's natural relaxed state.
If you feel that you are a naturally excitable person, don’t confuse relaxation with having no personality. If you know me I am a very high energy person and I am very active and animated. Kids, have a lot of energy and are animated. We bounce of the wall and people find us disgusting because we are busting with energy. But we never think kids are rushing or tensing or not relaxed. That is because kids are relaxed. Often times, we confuse relaxation with being dead. If you are really relaxed, you will naturally have more energy and more likely to be active. But you will also be calm, and not frantic. There won’t be nervousness around you.
One last thing about relaxation: Relaxation is being settled. When you are relaxed, you are at resting state. So, whatever your personality, relaxation is your natural resting state. It is a state where you are efficient, where you are not addicted to adrenaline. Adrenalin is what kicks in to protect us when there is fear. When you are relaxed, it is a state where there is no fear. In short, if you rush, or you have addictive habits, or any other negative tendencies that cause stress, you are addicted to fear or as we like to refer more lovingly, we are addicted to adrenalin. Adrenalin itself is not bad. But an addiction is like any other addiction. It is bondage and it is not good. It distorts who we are. I think it is important for us to know that being relaxed whoever you are is your natural state. Being relaxed means you are just being you. I feel this is important to know because often times we think we can’t be relaxed because we ‘think’ it’s not really us. It is vital that we realize that we are a generation that is addicted to adrenaline and that it has become the norm, and that it is keeping us from being who we really are. Whenever you are addicted to something, especially fear, you can’t really be yourself, . Being relaxed means being your true self.
Whether you will succeed in relaxing or not will be a matter of priority. If you don’t think it’s valuable enough for its trouble, you won’t do it. I hope relaxation will be your new priority in life.
Enjoy your Easter Weekend! There will be no blog 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release and Relax
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey:
Today, we enter a new chapter, principles governing Relaxation!
So far we have covered principles on Alignment and principles on Movement. I could say that you move and align properly so you can relax. We haven’t covered Breathing yet, but it is true that you breathe so you can relax even more deeply. The whole point of doing all of this is so you can relax deeper and deeper. Relaxation is pleasure. Relaxation is health. Relaxation is having time. Relaxation means that there is no stress. Relaxation is naturally what we all seek, but at the same time it eludes us.
The issue is that even though we all want relaxation, we don’t do anything to get it because we believe that power is with strength, mass and speed. This is why we get tense and we rush all the time, and try to get more of everything. We believe relaxation is what we get to do after we have tensed enough and accumulated enough and rushed enough.
I’d like to make a proposition. I’d like to make a proposition that we don’t really believe in this. Not really. We just don’t believe in it for ourselves. I find it interesting that in all the years I have been doing martial arts, and that is 25 years at this point in my life (Since 1985), I have never seen anyone marvel at someone who is tensing, struggling, and rushing. People are always impressed with the people who are effortless, flowing, relaxed and have grace in their demeanor and movement.
When there is a stressful situation, we have respect for that person who stays calm, collected and relaxed. Relaxation is confidence. When we see someone rushing about, we don’t think of confidence. As a matter of fact, you will notice that almost always without fail, the person who stays clam, and relaxed will always get more done. This is especially true since they don’t have to rush back to correct their mistakes, even if they happened to get done first.
It’s also only when you are relaxed you can laugh and have fun. Relaxation is happiness.
We know deep inside that relaxation is true power. We just don’t believe in it for ourselves, and we just don’t know how. Most of us have never been shown how. A lot of us believe that someone is just born confident, happy, or relaxed. We stop trying because no matter how hard we try we just never seem to get there.
Isn’t it interesting that we try so hard to get there? We also try to get there by rushing so we won’t have to rush anymore, and we also try to get there by tensing and trying to do as much as we can. If relaxation is the act of letting your muscles go, and you are engaging your muscles more and more, I wonder how that is going to work out. I propose that if you tense, you get better at tensing, that if you relax, you get better at relaxing.
Now before we go any further, I’d like to debunk a myth. Relaxation is not being limp. Relaxation is balance. From a Tai-Chi perspective, relaxation really runs the whole gambit from being limp all the way to being tense. When I first joined my teacher Gabriel, he said relax, and I went limp. He said, not limp, relax. I was completely confused. He showed me how relaxation is really what I came to call relaxed tension in real life application. Even people who are calm, collected, relaxed are not limp. If they really were, they would have fallen to the ground. People who are limp are not relaxed. They lack discipline. True relaxation only comes when there is a well balanced mix between relaxed muscles and engaged muscles to suit the purpose. So, people who are laid back are not relaxed either. They lack balance. They still feel stressed, they just ignore it. It is not the same as feeling truly relaxed and in balance.
When you are truly relaxed, there is no more inner struggle, both mentally and physically. When there is no inner struggle, there is peace and calmness and relaxation. When there is no struggle, even if muscles are engaged, it creates smooth flowing movement. Relaxation is the absence of struggle. Relaxation is grace and flow.
Relaxation in Tai-Chi is the act of letting go of all you can while still being able to perform the task. It is the active practice of less is more. Too many cooks in one kitchen is not good. They get in each other's way. The same is true with your body. In Tai-Chi we practice what is called the unbendable arm. You stand straight up, in a manner where you feel centered. Then, while maintaining your stance, you extend your arm out and make a fist, and tense it as much as you can. Your partner comes up to you and bends your arm. Now, you relax, and open your palm. Then you imagine your arm is one piece and your fingers extend to touch the wall across from you while relaxing everything. The way you know you are relaxed is by feeling the weight of your arm underneath. It is important that you do not lean forward while doing this. Then again, you have someone try to bend your arm. You and your partner may notice that it is a lot harder to bend your arm. As a matter of fact, often times, if the arm could be bent with tension, the arm can’t be bent at all when it was extending and relaxing. This is because when there is tension, your antagonistic muscles are engaged. All this means is that when your triceps were tensing to keep the arm extended, your biceps were tensing to bend your arm. In short, you were struggling against yourself and that is why your partner could bend your arm easier. When you are relaxed, you don’t feel your body because it’s not fighting itself anymore. When your triceps are engaging, your biceps are relaxed and thus your triceps have more strength. This is true for your whole body. Relax and just move the minimum. If you are shifting forward, relax everything and just push with your back leg, and even then, use as little as possible, so you don’t feel anything. So, relaxation is learning how to relax what you can while engaging what needs to be engaged so you are streamlined and focused.
Effortlessness comes from an attitude and belief that there is a better way to do this, and the right way to do this is effortless and I just need to find this way. Effortlessness comes from a belief that less is more. It comes from a belief that it’s about working smarter, instead of harder. Try this next time when you open a jar. If you can’t open a jar and you were struggling, then straighten up, relax, smile and open it as if it were nothing. You’ll be surprised. More often then not, you will be able to open it effortlessly. Try it with jars you can open. It will open a lot easier and it will cause a lot less tension in your body.
Relaxation is like compounded interest. In the beginning, there is little to show for it, but the more you practice it, the more you get from it. The more you practice it, the more benefits you feel from it, and the better ways you find to do it. I guess it’s really like anything. My suggestion to you is try it and see for yourself. Stop rushing. Stop tensing. Stop slouching. When you find yourself doing one of these things, just exhale and start letting go of your tense muscles. Start moving at your pace instead, so physically you slow down. Start smiling. This will allow your breath to return to it's natural relaxed state.
If you feel that you are a naturally excitable person, don’t confuse relaxation with having no personality. If you know me I am a very high energy person and I am very active and animated. Kids, have a lot of energy and are animated. We bounce of the wall and people find us disgusting because we are busting with energy. But we never think kids are rushing or tensing or not relaxed. That is because kids are relaxed. Often times, we confuse relaxation with being dead. If you are really relaxed, you will naturally have more energy and more likely to be active. But you will also be calm, and not frantic. There won’t be nervousness around you.
One last thing about relaxation: Relaxation is being settled. When you are relaxed, you are at resting state. So, whatever your personality, relaxation is your natural resting state. It is a state where you are efficient, where you are not addicted to adrenaline. Adrenalin is what kicks in to protect us when there is fear. When you are relaxed, it is a state where there is no fear. In short, if you rush, or you have addictive habits, or any other negative tendencies that cause stress, you are addicted to fear or as we like to refer more lovingly, we are addicted to adrenalin. Adrenalin itself is not bad. But an addiction is like any other addiction. It is bondage and it is not good. It distorts who we are. I think it is important for us to know that being relaxed whoever you are is your natural state. Being relaxed means you are just being you. I feel this is important to know because often times we think we can’t be relaxed because we ‘think’ it’s not really us. It is vital that we realize that we are a generation that is addicted to adrenaline and that it has become the norm, and that it is keeping us from being who we really are. Whenever you are addicted to something, especially fear, you can’t really be yourself, . Being relaxed means being your true self.
Whether you will succeed in relaxing or not will be a matter of priority. If you don’t think it’s valuable enough for its trouble, you won’t do it. I hope relaxation will be your new priority in life.
Enjoy your Easter Weekend! There will be no blog 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. Chi-Gong (Taoist Longevity, White Crane Chi-Gong); 2. Standing Meditation
3. Stepping Mediation; 4. 7 Basics; 5. Basic Form; 6. 30 Form; 7. 108 Form
8. 4 Type Pushing Hands
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 2/25); 2. Free moving – conditioning (Covered 2/26); 3.Free hand pushing hand (Covered 3/1); 4.Free hand (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/2); 5.Free hand weapon (2 person drills and multiple person drills) (Covered 3/3)
Detailed Instructions:
1.Principles (Covered 3/4)
2.Principle of Principles (Covered 3/5)
3.Principles of Upper Body #1~5 (Covered 3/8 – 3/15)
4.Principles Governing Lower Body #1~5 (Covered 3/16 – 3/22)
5. Principle Governing the Whole Body: (Covered 3/23)
6. Principles Governing Movement #1~5 (Covered 3/24 – 3/31)
7. Principles Governing Relaxation – General Concept (Covered 4/1)
1) Mind Body Release and Relax
2) Use Mind Not Use Strength
3) Internal External Mutually Integrate
4) Dropping the Weight (Weight Underneath)
5) Extension
6) Chi Sink Dan-Tien
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