Thursday, December 28, 2006

Tai Chi…It’s the thought that counts

My teacher’s Tai Chi form was once described as “integrity in motion”. Every move he makes has meaning, a continuity that is void of intention. He does not expect to move a certain way he just does it, smiling from the heart.

As I work with my students and grow in my own training, I am beginning to understand better how integrity applies to Tai Chi. There is a physical integrity that lives in correct posture, proper alignment and core strength. Mental integrity supports the physical work through heightened concentration; a kind of calm mental focus that brings awareness to the body. As the physical form becomes more comfortable through strength and improved body memory, the mental concentration will increase thus making way for deeper physical practices such as more attention to alignment, posture or separation. All of which contribute to more strength and body memory, which in turn improves mental focus…and so on.

This circle is typical of what we experience in Tai Chi training. One focus brings strength and allows for deeper focus in another area. Early in training we are challenged to focus on one thing at a time, however, as we develop our skills we find that our mental integrity becomes stronger, allowing for more physical awareness; softer steps, better posture, relaxed, flowing movement and so on.

Where do we start?
Tai Chi Walking is a wonderful, basic exercise to enhance concentration. Especially when you add a count sequence to the weight transfer. If you just walk, there is not much concentration involved, walk slowly and it gets more challenging, Tai Chi Walking adds its own layer of difficulty, now add in a slow count of the weight transfer you are experiencing and you have a nice little mentally challenging exercise.

Now, think about your body weight being 50/50 (5 and 5) as you stand ready to Tai Chi Walk. Think about the three points on the foot and begin to shift weight right, for a step. Either mentally or out loud, count 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 as your weight completely fills the right leg and the left leg towards zero (or empty). Place your empty left leg forward, resting at zero on the ground and now bring awareness to that leg as it begins to fill 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 bringing you back in balance (5 and 5 or 50/50). Prepare for the next step, filling the left leg 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 while the right leg is now at zero and moving forward for an empty step. Try to keep your count very slow and steady while maintaining a focus on your three points and strong posture. As always, breathe!! ;-)

Here is a refresher on Tai Chi Walking Basics:

POSTURE for Tai Chi Walking
1. Stand with your feet parallel and hip width apart.
2. Keep your knees soft and your pelvis relaxed.
3. Shoulders back and down; with your hands either at your Dan Tien or flat against the small of your back.
4. Keep your spine tall all the way up through your neck & head.
5. Keep you chin parallel to the floor.

TAI CHI WALKING
1. Shift your weight right.
(Don’t lean to the right if you can help it. It is better to sink into the right leg with a soft/slightly bent knee.)
2. Empty your left leg.
3. Step out with the left leg into an empty step.
4. Light touch with the heel, and then place the toes softly on the floor - left leg still empty.
(You’ll know your leg is empty when you relax the thigh muscles enough to release any tension in the kneecap.)
5. Shift weight slowly to a count of 10.
(When you get to 5, weight should be 50/50 on both feet. When you get to 10, the left leg should be full and the right leg should be empty and ready to step forward.)
6. Step out with the right leg into an empty step.
7. Light touch with the heel, and then place the toes softly on the floor - right leg still empty.
(You’ll know your leg is empty when you relax the thigh muscles enough to release any tension in the kneecap.)
8. Shift weight slowly to a count of 10.
9. Repeat sequence.

BALANCE TIPS
¨ Keep your knees soft - not locked
Locking your knees will cause your ankle and hip to fight for control
¨ Keep your walk at a hip width distance and your feet parallel
Narrow walking is like walking a tight rope
¨ Keep your posture tall
Bending your head down to watch your feet will throw off your center of gravity
¨ Shorten your step if you can’t keep your front leg empty.
Little ½ -inch steps done properly are more strengthening than long steps done with a thunk to the front foot.

Saturday, December 16, 2006

In Memorium - Ruby Olar - Rest in Peace

Ruby Olar

This week the Tai Chi Community lost a special teacher. I met Ruby Olar during our Tai Chi for Arthritis certification training in May of 2004. His warm smile, generous personality and passion for teaching showed in everything he did. He loved his students, speaking of them highly and often. We kept in touch via email and shared our common passions for Tai Chi, spirituality and teaching. Ruby, you will be missed.

If you would like to express your condolences to the family, please CLICK HERE.

Memorial Service Scheduled for Wednesday, December 20th, 6PM at
Miller Chapel on Baylor Campus; Waco, Texas

Letting go of negative emotions in your Tai Chi / Qigong Practice

This past weekend was quite a challenge for me, personally. I found myself frustrated, annoyed, angry at times and very much away from my center. No need for details here; suffice to stay that there were MANY straws on this camel’s back. Driving to my first class Monday morning, I still had not shaken these feelings and thoughts. I was at a loss for what to cover with our students this week during class. Then, literally as I turned into the Carrollton Senior Center parking lot, a song came on the radio that “snapped me to” in just a few notes. I can not recall any other time where I had such a rapid and profound (positive) mental and emotional reset but there I was, my center and perspective back in place.

I walked into class with a smiling heart and shared my experience in Carrollton and with each class this week. What song it was (Jack Johnson) is not nearly as important as where it transported me. Within seconds, I was back at Camp John Marc with my Juvenile Arthritis kids; Sitting on the concrete floor, with about 40 staffers and 90 kids, watching a photo slideshow of our fun week at camp, partially set to that wonderful song. Tears of joy streamed down my face as I relived the week’s fun memories, so fresh in my mind. So, there it was, my lesson for the week. I decided to talk about letting go. I know, letting go is easier said than done, this weekend was a great case in point. But looking back, I realize that at any point in time I could have made the choice to “let go”. I imagine how I would have felt if I had heard that song mid-day Saturday. What would my weekend have looked like then?

Because Tai Chi happens on physical, mental and emotional levels, holding on to negative emotions such as stress, frustration, anxiety and anger can affect each level of your training in very profound ways. Conversely, Tai Chi can bring these types of unresolved emotions to the surface asking to be dealt with. I have seen many students experience negative emotions and releases, including myself, during their Tai Chi practice. I have even seen good students leave their Tai Chi training behind because they were not ready to deal with these surfacing, often deep rooted, emotions.

Tai Chi is a very individual experience that reflects our personality. Because we are working to create a balance with nature, our true nature is revealed whether we like it or not. ;-) Frustration, high expectations and anxiety can derail a Tai Chi “newbie” as easily as a veteran player if they allow it to happen. One way to subdue these derailments is to return to basics. Your foundation, foot work, posture and breath. In class this week, we used our Qigong warm-ups to move ourselves closer to center. I asked students to focus their attention on tying breath and movement together as seamlessly as possible. Creating a smooth, gentle flow; a unison of physical and mental awareness. Tie this together with a smiling heart and you have the true essence of Tai Chi and Qigong practice.

Returning to fundamentals, earnest concentration on physical, mental and spiritual balance will gently move you back to your center in the most wonderful way. As with everything in life, the more you practice, the easier it gets.

Friday, December 8, 2006

Tai Chi causes separation anxiety… NOT!!


The Yin Yang symbol represents a balance of opposites, a harmony between differences. (Hard / Soft; Empty / Full) In Tai Chi, as with nature, there are no absolutes. You cannot have pure white with out some black and vice versa. You cannot have fullness on one side and emptiness on the other without a small amount of “bleed over” between the sides. This week we focused on applying this concept into our Tai Chi practice. We use the term “Separation” to describe the difference between the sides. When one side is strong, the other must be soft to maintain harmony in the movement.

Left / Right - Up / Down - Front / Back - Which way do we go, George?
These are the three most common directions where we can work on separation within our Tai Chi practice. Each of these represents the direction of focus during a movement or posture. Each begins at the Dan Tien and through the center of the spine, emanating out.

Up / Down involves the concept of rooting and supporting the sky simultaneously. Think of your spine as a spring, which is centered at the lower Dan Tien (just below the belly button) and is both connected to the floor and the ceiling, thus creating a potential energy through the spine. This focus, created in the opening posture, allows us to maintain a strong root while holding an active, healthy posture and should be continued throughout the form.

The Left / Right relationship is best represented in the Empty Step. When working on Tai Chi Step this week each student was asked to take a short step initially in order to effectively establish as much difference from the empty side to the supporting strong side as they could. Typically, the smaller the step, the easier it is to create a more significant separation. In addition, each was asked to extend the reach of the forward step to determine where they lost the ability to feel a Left / Right separation. Once your step reaches out a certain distance you lose the ability to remain empty. This is due to reaching out past your current level of physical strength. Proper Tai Chi requires emptiness in each step we take and there fore you should never step out past your strength to make a movement "look" bigger. If you cannot create emptiness in each step, then you are losing a tremendous amount of how Tai Chi develops physical strength.

Front / Back separation involves recognizing that when you push to the front you must also consider the back and express equally in that direction. If you focus all your attention to the front during a push you take a strong chance on over committing to that movement. Initially, to effectively create a push, it must emanate in both directions.

The 8 Winds
As our Tai Chi practice matures, this direction of focus becomes more complex. The trigrams around the perimeter of the Yin Yang symbol has several meanings but one which I feel is very important to Tai Chi training is that each represents a direction (the 8 winds) from which you must be stable in order to repel an opponent's attack. Basically, if you are not completely aware of your posture, alignment and how it relates to your separation, then you will be knocked out of stance very easily.

All Together Now
Eventually, though much physical practice and development of your concentration, you will learn to maintain attention to each of the directions at once throughout the forms. This leads into the deeper principal of Expansion and Absorption. Every movement is then expressed in all directions, equally.

Saturday, December 2, 2006

Retirement Community Introduction to Tai Chi Workshop

Today Fayne and I went to a local retirement community to present our introduction to Tai Chi Workshop. During the time we share with the residents our goal is to help them understand what Tai Chi is and how it can help them improve their circulation, strength, flexibility and concentration among all the other benefits available through Tai Chi training. We always use some basic movement and flow Qigong exercises to help them feel for themselves the various intricacies of Tai Chi. Then we get them working on Tai Chi Walking which is a wonderful tool for helping them gain strength while stabilizing their sense of balance.

Sometimes, there is someone in the crowd that is very resistant to change and gets annoyed at the prospect of learning something new. As I write this I am recalling a workshop I did about 8 years ago where I was working with the residents on Dan Tien breathing techniques. After a bit of effort on their part, one of the participants announced that she had been breathing the same way for 92 years and was not about to change now. At the time I was taken aback by her resistance to a practice I KNEW would help her tremendously, however, as I look back I understand more clearly how she felt.

Today we had someone in the workshop that felt they were an expert at walking, therefore we had nothing to teach her about that subject. She completely missed the point of Tai Chi Walking and resisted an opportunity to try something new. Walking is part of her daily exercise routine but listening to a different perspective was not. Even while her friends and neighbors were amazed at how this simple exercise was able to help them understand themselves better.

Fear of change is a very large part of why people resist opportunities for growth. With my students, I look for ways to make them a bit uncomfortable because I know from personal experience, that this is where they will find the most growth. Tai Chi is a reflection of the self and therefore will challenge you on a physical, mental and spiritual level if you are open to the opportunities.

As I share this story with my students my hope is that they will understand how to become a bit more open to change and allow Tai Chi to show them new paths for growth.

Creating a continuous flow during Tai Chi

This week has been difficult for me. One of my private lesson students moved to Copenhagen, Denmark with her husband for a marvelous business opportunity. I know we did not say a permanent goodbye but as any instructor will tell you, it is really difficult to see a truly dedicated student walk away, even for a potentially short (2 year) period of time. I want to extend a special “Thank You” to Nichole for her dedication to Tai Chi training and willingness to explore her true nature in the process. Keep up the great work!

Flowing like a river:
This week we worked on creating a continuous flow in our form training. While this is typically a very advanced Tai Chi concept, I like to present it as a seed to be cultivated and nurtured until it ripens on its own. The idea is to be so connected to the Dan Tien that each form begins and ends seamlessly into the next form. The danger in training this too early is that forms can become “mashed” together effectively loosing their integrity in the process. To help prevent this issue, students are encouraged to listen to the Dan Tien and allow it to dictate where each form begins and ends.

Pause, self check, continue:
During early and intermediate stages of Tai Chi form training we always add small spaces (pauses) between the movements so as to allow for a check of posture, tension and alignment. Once the physical movements are committed to body memory, the focus turns towards mental work and thus we begin to whittle away at the space between the forms. As is typical with Tai Chi training, this is easier said than done. ;-)

First floor - Body work; Second floor - Mind over matter; Third Floor - SMILE!
As I often mention in classes, Tai Chi has three levels, physical, mental and spiritual. The process of creating a continuous flow within the form requires a separation of the physical focus and attention to the higher mental aspects of training, therefore, you must be comfortable with the physical movements before you can truly appreciate the nuances of Tai Chi flow. For this reason, beginners and intermediate students, are asked to practice this concept only within the commencement form. This simplifies the practice to a level that can be more readily understood.

As we explored the details of flow this week I found several interesting things to consider.

Visualization
Using mental imagery plays an important part in creating continuity within the forms. Particularly, imagining the Dan Tien being in complete command from its center to the bodily extremities. NO movement begins or ends without the Dan Tien being involved. Imagine strings being tied to your finger tips, head and your toes each one connected to the Dan Tien and being used to direct your movements like a marionette.

Concentration
The more a student was able to maintain their level of concentration, the easier this concept was to integrate into their form work.

Body Memory
The more comfortable the student was with the form (through personal practice), the greater their level of concentration.

What does all this mean?
The more you practice your Tai Chi form, the easier the higher levels of training become to integrate. Funny - this is kind of like the message we have always gotten about a healthy diet - Everything in moderation, eat plenty of fruits and veggies and get plenty of rest.