taijiandqigong

[taijiandqigong]

Sun Style Stepping

The StepWhen bringing the rear foot forward, it shouldn’t lift up as though stepping over an object – this raises the energy.Similarly, when the rear foot is placed to complete the Bow stance, the rear heel shouldn’t be lifted high off the floor.If it is, the hip on the same side as the rear foot tends to lift, and destabilises the body; or to put it another way, the energy cannot sink completely…

[taijiandqigong]

Learning (1)

Everyone learns in a different way; that’s the great thing about teaching… the challenge is to see why an individual cannot understand what you’re trying to say, and then to find something that will make it intelligible.Some teachers expect you to understand what they’re saying, but fail to take into account that our understanding of certain words might differ quite widely.E.g. “Make an internal…

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'Open' & 'Close' in Taiji. (1) Using the centre.

‘Open’ (Kai, pron. ‘Kigh’, as in ‘High‘) & ‘Close’ (He, pron. as in Her) is one of the keystones to the internal aspect of taiji.Taiji can look beautiful without it, but the beauty is skin deep… and the taiji lacks power. Kai/He of the lower torso/abdomen involves physical effort, in the sense that you have to use your abdominal muscles; and to do it efficiently and effectively, you need to…

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'Open' & 'Close' in Taiji. (2) Using the limbs

When you are standing with one leg in front of you and the other behind (i.e. in an Empty stance) and, using only your chest, you push something ahead of you (i.e. moving into a Bow stance), your centre moves towards the object that you’re pushing. The centre can’t travel very far, just from the back leg to the front leg – probably a matter of only a few feet, depending on the length and depth of…

[taijiandqigong]

Movement and Stillness - Sinking the Qi.

In order to be able to move with ease, it is necessary to relax just prior to the movement.Ideally you are looking for body movement to feel so natural that there is no effort involved, and one of the ways to achieve this is by relaxing beforehand.‘Relaxation’ means ‘sinking your qi’; a release of tension in the body on a cellular level, combined with ‘intention’. This sinking is like the calm…

[taijiandqigong]

'Forcing' & 'Allowing'... It's Not Just Semantics...

The classics say:“Head upright to let the shen [spirit of vitality] rise to the top of the head. Don’t use Li [external strength], or the neck will be stiff and the qi [vital life energy] and blood cannot flow through. It is necessary to have a natural and lively feeling. If the spirit cannot reach the headtop, it cannot raise“. Actually, it’s a great description! But it begs the question, how…

[taijiandqigong]

Yang 24-Step Form: Horizontal & Vertical

‘The word Peng’ (pron. ‘pung’ as in ‘sprung’) is used in a general way to explain the feeling of expansion/protection of the body as though you are inside a large balloon; the front and back, left and right, and top and bottom are all working together equally, so that, for example, if you were to push forwards, you would feel an equal expansion backwards.  The operative word here is feel, because…

[taijiandqigong]

Gripping the Floor in Tai Chi & Qigong

Often in both tai chi and qigong it is necessary to ‘grip the floor’ – part of rooting and making the body more stable. This is particularly useful in tai chi when working with a partner, e.g in pushing hands, or a 2-person form, or when testing postures.  In qigong, ‘gripping’ the floor has the function of not only providing stability, but also of stimulating the acupuncture channels that either…

[taijiandqigong]

Connecting Your Microcosm

microcosm /mī′krə-kŏz″əm/ noun A small, representative system having analogies to a larger system in constitution, configuration, or development. A little world; a miniature universe. Hence (so called by Paracelsus), a man, as a supposed epitome of the exterior universe or great world. Opposed to macrocosm. A relatively small object or system considered as representative of a larger system of…

[taijiandqigong]

Why is Tai Chi Practised So Slowly?

When you first start learning either tai chi or qigong, it’s all about learning a set of movements.  For some people, it never goes beyond that point; they want something to exercise the muscles in certain ways and no more.  Absolutely fine – why not? And then there are those who would like to take it all a stage further, and, aside from learning the order of a set of movements, would like to…

[taijiandqigong]

Song between movements

It’s impossible to jump off the floor without first of all bending your knees and sinking into the ground.The implication of this is that all movement, in fact everything in life, is impossible without its opposite. Relating this to tai chiIf you put two tai chi or qigong movements together, e.g. let’s say you are sitting on your back foot and you move on to your front foot and push your arms…

[taijiandqigong]

Speeding & Tai Chi

I recently attended a speed awareness course (doing 36 instead of 30), and there were several interesting points that came up which very much relate to the process of both teaching and learning tai chi and qigong. Starting Tai Chi & Qigong When beginners phone me, some of them ask, “How long will it take me to learn it?”. I have to admit that I feel a bit of an internal sigh when that happens –…

[taijiandqigong]

‘Testing’ Postures

It wasn’t really explained what or why we were doing it, but we did it nonetheless.  Working with a partner, you held a tai chi posture, and your partner would push against you; I seem to remember that it was a bit hit and miss as to whether your partner got the correct angle for the push. So your partner would push into you, and all I understood was that it was necessary to withstand that push;…

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Cold Hands / Cold Feet

I come across a large percentage of people who suffer from cold hands and/or cold feet.  This doesn’t seem to be restricted to any age group, although it might be slightly more prevalent in the over 50s, or thereabouts. There are many reasons for having extremities that refuse to warm up easily, but my interest in this focuses more on what to do about it, rather than what causes it. Using the…

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Dealing with Life's Problems and Tai Chi

or Retraining the Sympathetic Nervous System “Often, when we encounter challenges or tough situations, our initial reaction is to respond with worry or negative thoughts. This internal turmoil can make it seem like we’re addressing the issue, but in reality, it hinders our ability to effectively manage the situation, leading to frequent setbacks.The key to overcoming obstacles lies in first…

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Doing Nothing About It

There are so many great sayings in the English language about putting up with a state of affairs, aren’t there? ‘Grin and bear it’, ‘Put a brave face on it’, ‘Man up’, ‘Pull yourself together’, ‘No gain without pain’, ‘Make the best of it’, ‘It could be worse’, ‘Just get on with it’, ‘Bite the bullet’, ‘Stiff upper lip’, ‘Make the best of a bad situation’… and there are undoubtedly many more. I…

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In Support of Finishing Schools and Deportment

In the age of mobile phones and computers, it’s very noticeable that posture has sagged somewhat… not so good for the individual, but great for osteopaths and physiotherapists, and, come to think of it, quite good for tai chi and qigong teachers. I used to think that the art of learning deportment was a bit of a joke, something to do with being upright in society as well as being upright in body,…