A PERSONAL VIEW
Comfort foremost
Tai Chi is body work that is very slow
Our breath slows down, and we move to the rhythm of our breath
Our breath moves us.
A moving meditation allows us to focus on
Letting go
Relaxing
Our tan tien, or centre of energy
Our breath
Transferring our weight from one foot to the other
Letting go loosens our mind
Allows our body to remember
Frees up our senses to listen to our selves
Relaxing, dropping our shoulders, dropping our ears
Allows the relaxing feeling to spread throughout our body
Uncovering tensions
Leaving us to choose to release or not
To notice energy, chi, feelings
Working our tan tien gives us a base
Something to rest on, to rely on
The power to sense, direct, move and act
Breathing into 4 levels
Allows our breath to move us
The first in-breath moves the tan tien into position
The second in-breath allows the 3 limbs to float into position
We root ourselves – ready –
For the out-breath where we “throw” the chi.
Transferring our weight from one foot to the other
Keeping our body balanced, relaxed, breathing
Helps us to notice the way energy moves around our bodies
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I have used some of the personal aims as a starting point for a short discourse. Thanks to all my students for the inspiration and I hope you find it useful:
WHY TAI CHI ?
To improve general mindfulness and co-ordination
To develop relaxation of mind and body
To reduce the effects of stress
To understand tai chi movements and relevance to health
To develop harmony of body and mind
To clear the mind through mindfulness
To move more smoothly to be more stable
The paradox of filling our mind with the awareness of what our breath is doing, what every point in our body is doing, how every point connects to the next, what the connection between each of the points is, how every part of our body connects with every part of our environment so that we can be totally present, in the “now”, with an empty mind that is full.
And seeking comfort, the struggle between the historical mindset that wants to work harder by overcoming discomfort and the body that wants to fall asleep to recover; seeking comfort is the act of change towards a state of less pain, less discomfort, more comfort, more ease, a continuous flow towards an ease that makes it easier to continue to focus on the ease of our breath, the expanding warm and comfortable wave spreading through limbs, tissues, organs, our whole body.
Looking for the inter-action between comfortable and more comfortable expanses of our body.
A stressful event creates a stressful reaction: a tension, a contraction, a closing. Going for a walk is a stressful event – the decision to move – creating a muscular tension in one leg – luckily followed by another step, more movement, which loosens the tension in the first leg and as we continue walking, an exchange tension/release is communicated to the body, there is a flow within the body. An almost car collision is a stressful event, triggering a contraction of the shoulders, for example, which we shoulder along with the now-imperceptible contractions of all the other fears and worries that have built up over the past.
So when we move in Tai Chi, we look to move every single point of the body, to notice and encourage the flow of comfort throughout our body, one pair of parts at a time, releasing tension like the flow of water in a stream, noticing the interplay between tension and no tension.
Connecting all the dots that comprise our body: the dots are already connected of course: it is our awareness of the connections that allows us to move with awareness. We now start to become more than the sum of our parts. When all the connections move, the lubricating oil can work its magic on every part of the machine, allowing it to move efficiently, filter out unwanted elements, maintain the right operating temperature throughout the system.
Breathing comfortably allows us to notice our breath as it settles into a rhythm; and gives us the time to notice the movement of our body: how does our body move as we breathe? Comfortably? Everywhere? Really? Both on the left and on the right?
How does our in-breath balance with our out-breath? What is the difference of expansion of the left hand side of the chest compared to the right as we breathe in?
How does our inner balance affect our body’s ability to balance on one leg?
I want to be stable. So I lie on a comfortable mat. I am pretty stable: I am low down, and a number of contact points with the ground: back of the head, shoulder blades, sacrum, backs of legs, heels.
I sit in a chair: I am somewhat stable, at least if the chair is. My feet on the floor, my sitting bones on the chair, my back against the back-rest; my head balanced by my neck muscles. Oh no, WORK? What if I balance my head on my neck vertebrae: can I reduce the work of my neck muscles?
I stand on my two feet: can I balance my body on my two legs? How much of my weight is on the left leg compared to my right leg? How much weight is expressed through each heel? The pad of the foot? How much do my toes clasp the ground?
I stand on one leg: and now the fun begins…