Friday, March 30, 2007

Trust me... Its Tai Chi...

Trusting Energy.

When I first mentioned that term to students this week I got a LOT of blank stares. What the heck is that; and more importantly, how can it help my Tai Chi?

A personal journey...
While working with my teacher this past weekend, I shared a personal struggle I have been having related to increased sensitivities. It seems that as I train and meditate more effectively my heart is opening up, becoming more sensitive to other people's physical and emotional pain and suffering. I explained that this was causing me to feel their pain and suffering as my own, leaving me drained. What he shared with me lifted a very heavy load off my heart. He asked me why I was trying to do "God's Work?" Why did I not trust that God would do what was necessary to help each person through their personal challenges.

I realized that I was falling back into an old pattern of behavior that I have carried with me for as long as I can remember. I am a "fixer". When someone brings me a problem, (especially the people closes to me; friends, family and students) my deepest desire is to see it fixed for him or her; even if that means bearing the burden myself. Dr. Chen explained that it is not my responsibility to take on "God's role" and fix things. My task is to light the path, each person must decide for themselves when they are ready to walk that path and find their own way.

The levels of Trust in Tai Chi...
As I meditated on how I could share this newfound wisdom with my students I realized that there are many levels of trust within Tai Chi & Qigong training; each having its place in our journey towards better health, spiritual vitality and freedom.

Physical Trust - "No Pain...No Pain..."
I have seen so many examples of how people pushing past their pain have made things worse on themselves; increased pain, restricted range of motion, reduced quality of life and depression just to name a few. It has been my experience that there is a better way. It takes more time but is a very effective tool for healing. Yup, you guessed it, Trusting Energy.

When you have pain (chronic or acute) if you consistently push past the pain, effectively ignoring your body's clear signals to stop, you are enforcing an environment of mis-trust within your body. As an example, lets assume a shoulder injury. If I cannot reach overhead with my shoulder without pain, and yet consistently do it anyway, my body will react in order to defend itself. It will introduce more pain sooner in my range of motion and possibly more stiffness to further restrict my range. After all, my body is trying to heal itself and needs time and space to do it. With pain and tension present, the flow of energy and the healing processes are severely restricted or in severe cases, can be halted completely.

In our Tai Chi classes we teach people how to cultivate an environment of trust within the body that helps open up their natural, healing energy. We encourage our students to never move into pain during training. Their goal is to find that place in their restricted range of motion where tension begins but BEFORE pain hits. They then work to relax their body, breathe deeply and smile towards their challenged areas. Visualization is also an important tool in this process as we use this to "mentally ask" the body for more range of motion, when IT is ready. Basically we are saying to our body, "I recognize and respect the limits you are asking for and am willing to work within those limits while you heal, however, I would like you to know that I want my range of motion back when you are ready to return it to me." This respect builds a bond of trust within the body and allows the healing process to take place. Because of the varying challenges faced by our students, the question of "how long will this take" cannot be effectively answered in general terms. Many factors come into play, not the least of which is patience.

Trusting Energy for developing strength...
People often have trouble understanding how Tai Chi can effectively develop deep, core strength. I realized this week how much Trusting Energy comes into play. We use a Qigong exercise called Cloud Step to help develop core strength and balance. It involves moving from a 50/50 Tai Chi stance fully over to one side while raising the knee on the empty side; then shifting back to center and then over to the other side for the same knee lift movement. We encourage our students to stay within their strength limits but very often I see someone trying so hard that they are shaking, loose in their stance as they try hard to stand on one leg. This poses several problems from potentially exacerbating any existing pain to creating stress or strain on the muscles, ligaments, tendons and joints as well as being very frustrating to the spirit. Adding an element of trust into your training can help relieve all of this.

When your body becomes shaky during a movement (IE: standing on one leg) it means your muscles are weak and fighting for control of the situation you are putting them in, unsure of which "muscle team" is best suited for the job. If you bring your leg to a more manageable height where you find yourself to be steady; (even touching the floor if necessary), you muscles are then clearer as to which ones are to be used for this particular effort. This creates an environment whereby your body can trust your request and send in the right team. When the right team of muscles is doing the job, other muscles can relax and the team gets stronger as a result. If you follow this concept for ALL your strength training, you will find that you get a much more effective workout and will be less fatigued when done. This relaxed, trusting environment also aids in the development of effective muscle memory because the body becomes very clear as to which team to "send into the game" during a requested movement.

Trusting your body memory and spirit...
Many of our students are progressing quite well in their chosen Tai Chi form(s). Even still, at times I see a sense of self-doubt and confusion surface. For new students, everything is new and therefore confusing but for more experienced students there comes a level of comfort with what they know of the Tai Chi forms. As they venture deeper into the forms they inevitably stumble (as we all do) and become less confident. When they see a peer student doing something a little different or even if they are a little ahead or behind the flow of the group training, they doubt their own training and body memory causing anxious moments and tension within themselves. There comes a time in our training when letting go and trusting our body memory is the only way to progress in our training.

Tai Chi...No beginning...No end...
When I earned my first Black Belt in Martial Arts my very wise teacher looked this confident (even arrogant) young teenager straight in the eyes and said "Congratulations. Now that you have the BASICS out of the way we can really start your training". To say the least I felt deflated, however over the years, I learned to understand and respect what he was trying to tell me. For me, that was the beginning of a lifelong journey filled with wonderful experiences and explorations of the arts I love so much. Thank you teacher, your thoughtful, loving comment still serves me well to this day.

So now, some 25 years later, I am going to try it...

Dear Student,
Once you have learned your chosen Tai Chi forms, and can perform them comfortably, without thinking about it, while holding a smiling heart, you have officially earned your Tai Chi Black Belt.
Only then can your journey truly begin...Trust me, it is worth it!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Tai Chi Silk Reeling; connections of Body and Mind

This makes me uncomfortable...
Sometimes I hear students tell me they do not like something we are doing because they are not comfortable with it yet. My students know I work at making them uncomfortable at times because I know, those that are ready for it will grow from the experience. Beit Tai Chi Walking or a specific form, if they are not comfortable with it, there is good reason. When you are able to recognize this discomfort and explore it without judgment, you will learn something about yourself and consequently, your Tai Chi will grow.

The teacher is a student...
This was one of those weeks of discomfort for me. Silk Reeling is a deep principal that I have trained for many years but have a hard time explaining to someone. Well, the previous few weeks of class topics and the fact that Master Chen Bing is coming to Dallas placed me in a situation where it was the most logical topic for the week. I decided that if was willing to make my students uncomfortable then I had better be prepared to do the same for myself. So off I went, reeling silk all week with my students.

What is Silk Reeling?
Silk Reeling is a principal that is manifested in the mind and expressed in the body. The goal is to create consistent, smooth and flowing physical movements that originate from the Dan Tien. The reference to silk reeling is used to describe the smooth flow. If you pull the silk to fast it breaks, too slow and it bunches up, just right and everything is smooth. You pull the silk from the Dan Tien and the end of the thread is at the end of whatever body part you are moving; finger tips, toes, elbow etc. When you Dan Tien stops, so should the rest of you.

The Dan Tien, a Tai Chi gyroscope...
Consider your Dan Tien as being a gyroscope, continuously moving, creating a stabilizing effect that can be used to draw body parts in and out as necessary for a movement. Ideally, the Dan Tien and therefore your energy, are always moving inside. Even if you are standing still, preparing to move, the Dan Tien is in an active state, waiting for the command to draw attention towards the body part(s) which will create the movement. When Silk Reeling is truly working for you, each movement will begin and end with the Dan Tien and all body parts settling at once.

How do you practice Silk Reeling?
There are many different Qigong exercises that help students gain a better understanding of their Dan Tien connection. I find that standing Qigong helps me to feel the connection because I am not trying to focus on moving my feet just creating a stable, platform for my posture. Virtually any Qigong exercise you know can be used to develop your understanding of Silk Reeling, as long as you are paying close attention to the Dan Tien and allowing it to initiate and transition every movement. Some of the best Qigong movements for Silk Reeling will involve a lot of Dan Tien and body movements such as Rolling the Ball, Repulse the Monkey, Cloud Step, Waving Hands Like Clouds and Pushing the Wave are a few of my favorites...

Opportunities for growth...
Two of the four Tai Chi Workshops Master Chen Bing will be presenting in April are on Silk Reeling. This is a wonderful opportunity to learn some excellent Qigong exercises from a traditional Tai Chi Master.

What did I learn this week?
By the end of this (uncomfortable) week I had learned a few things about Silk Reeling for myself. The most prominent is that the breath can be used as a point of focus for Silk Reeling. If you breath too fast your "breath silk" will break, too slow and it will stagnate; just right and your body will relax, your energy will flow and your Tai Chi will grow. I pushed past my comfort zone, had to get creative in my explanations and learned something in the process. I guess practicing what you preach ain't so bad after all.

Sunday, March 18, 2007

Tai Chi - Minding the Breath...Many questions, many answers

Many questions have been asked about the "Minding the Breath" principal in Tai Chi training.
  • Do you breathe with or independent of your movements?
  • Does the breath come from the upper, middle or lower Dan Tien?
  • Is it in through the nose and out through the mouth?
  • What happens to your tongue during all of this?

I will try to answer these questions as simply as possible. OK, ready... here goes...

YES!



Whew! There... Happy? Feel better? I sure do.

OK, lets get serious... or at least as serious as I can get...

In my experience, there are many layers of answers to these questions because there are equally as many layers to your Tai Chi training. I will pick them apart and try to share some of my insights with you.

Do you breathe with or independent of your movements?
Some instructors teach tying the breath to your movements early and some (like myself and my teachers) simply provide guidance and allow the student to find their own natural breath, over time. I find that if you put too much emphasis on your breathing patterns when you are still learning the form, you will not be able to focus your attention on the critical fundamentals such as grounding, supporting the sky, slow relaxed movement and silk reeling. Breathing properly is very important so we use Qigong exercises, to help train the breath. During our Qigong training, we place a significant amount of attention on tying breath and movement together so as to train the body to recognize this natural Mind/Body union. Once we are practicing the form, our attention turns to a relaxed, circular breathing pattern that does not intentionally coincide with the movements. This allows you to focus on a simple breath while drawing attention to internalizing (learning) the form movements.

Does the breath come from the upper, middle or lower Dan Tien?
Some technique of focused breathing is present in virtually every style of martial arts. For most Chinese arts, there is specific focus on three centers; the lower, middle and upper Dan Tien. Usually we start training at the lower Dan Tien, located about two fingers below your navel and three fingers in towards the center of the body. Drawing attention to breath in this area allows our high (upper chest) energy to slowly settle down into its natural, healthful place. High-level energy leads to irritability, depression, anxiety, hypertension, arrhythmia, migraines and many other even more serious, stress related diseases. While Western Medicine tends to focus on the symptoms (IE: stimulants for depression, aspirin for headaches), Eastern Medicine's focus is on relocation of the energy to it rightful place, so that the body can return to its natural balance. From a martial perspective, having a higher energy center makes you unstable, weakening your foundation. Your muscles are tense, which slows you down, your heart rate may be erratic and your breath will be easily disrupted; any and all of which makes you very vulnerable to attack.

Is it in through the nose and out through the mouth?
Yes...No...OK, Maybe... Believe it or not there are 7 different techniques for breathing in Tai Chi training. For my students, I prefer to keep it simple. They often hear me say...
"Pick a hole and stick with it..." I feel that early in training, to focus too much on a specific breathing pattern causes a significant loss of attention to the physical layer of Tai Chi. However, once the physical movements become comfortable and relaxed, then working on the various types of breath can be very effective at helping you reach deeper levels of Tai Chi. There is much to cover related to the different breathing techniques so I will have to write an entry specifically for that purpose. Within this discussion, I will say that you should create a relaxed, comfortable circular breath as mentioned above. Working to keep your breath smooth, flowing...uninterrupted is in my opinion the most effective way to relax your body for training. If you want to practice a specific pattern of breath, Qigong is a much better arena for that focus; simply repeat a specific, comfortable Qigong exercise until it becomes automatic and then turn your attention fully to the breath.

What happens to your tongue during all of this?
When you are working on relaxing and smoothing the breath, I feel that the best place for your tongue is to have the tip of it at the back of your upper teeth, resting comfortably. This connects an energy meridian on the front and back of the body creating a circle for the flow of energy to travel. In addition, when breathing from the nose, it allows you to use your tongue to manage your inhale and exhale flow, which can help in slowing down your breathing rate.

If we concentrate too much on too many details, often we tense up and hold our breath. Relax, breath and enjoy your practice time with Qigong and Tai Chi. Give yourself the gift of patience to learn all the tiny little details and you will be well rewarded for your efforts.

As a wonderful Buddhist Monk once wrote…Breathe! You are alive!”

Saturday, March 10, 2007

The Sky is falling! Quick! Do Tai Chi!

Last week we drew attention to Grounding Energy and I mentioned briefly the concept of "Supporting the Sky". This week in class, we added a focus on Supporting the Sky to our Tai Chi practice. This is a high level concept that takes a lot of concentration (as many of our students learned) so please do not be discouraged if you do not grasp it on your first hundred attempts. ;-)

First things first...
Only once the foundational (grounding) posture is set can you begin to bring focus to your vertical, spinal posture. If your Grounding Energy is unsettled or comes loose as soon as you move there is no way you can create or maintain a strong, vertical spinal posture.

Anti-gravity for spinal strength...
Gravity takes its toll on our bodies over the years. Many of my students giggle when I mention the words "no sagging" during class. Albeit shoulders, head, fingers or spinal posture, we are all guilty of letting gravity have its way with our bodies. In the cases where we have a choice we need to pay attention. If you have a weak back or if you want to combat the effects of gravity on your spinal health then Supporting the Sky is just the pill to take.

What were you doing when you felt it pull?
There are many intricate muscles around the spine that we rarely pay attention and even abuse in our daily routines. Think about your favorite posture for watching TV, sitting at the computer or driving your car; your spine tends to stay in a fixed position for a long time, not healthy. What about when you have to lift heavy objects, open a stuck window or reach way out for something. What is your spine doing? Most of us can not recall because we are not paying attention, that is until we end up at the doctor's office trying to explain why we are having these sharp pains and spasms in our backs.

Visualization is an important tool...
Flexing your fingers is relatively easy; you can quickly see the results of your efforts. When you are trying to reach muscles that you can only feel (not see) it takes a lot more concentration. This is where visualization plays an important part in our Tai Chi training. There are several visualizations I suggest to students trying to create a "Supporting the Sky" taller posture for themselves. Each of these should set your shoulders back and down while drawing the chin in slightly and elongating the spine.

  • Imagining there is a golden thread attached to the top of your spine, at the base of the skull, which is gently pulling straight up, past the top of your head, supporting your body weight.
  • Imagine the top, rear part of your head (directly over the spine) is responsible for holding up the ceiling or clouds above.
  • Visualize your spine as a gently coiled spring that is both connected at the ground and to the ceiling above, creating a gentle, potential energy, ready for anything. (My favorite)

There are just a few visualizations I have used to help me with this concept, you are free to create your own as long as it does not compromise your grounding energy in the process.

Patience, a very important part of Tai Chi training...
It takes time to develop the muscles strength to maintain a healthy, Supporting the Sky posture during your Tai Chi form training. It takes even longer to make it a natural way to hold your body however, in the long run, your health will be greatly improved for the efforts.

As I sit and write this entry, I am again reminded to watch my posture at the computer. ;-)

Saturday, March 3, 2007

I Tai Chi...Therefore, I Sink...

This week we paid close attention to our foundations. When building a house, if you use something unstable, such as sand, for a foundation, your house will not be well supported, begin to falter and eventually collapse. This is equally true of our bodies. If we harbor poor posture, misalignments and weakened supporting muscles we will suffer the consequences long into our lives through acute and eventually chronic disease. What may start out as an occasional sore back can turn into a swollen disk, maybe a bulging disk which creates pain on the sciatic nerve leading to sciatica, then, if allowed to continue unchecked, can lead to a rupture, fusion surgery and further spinal damage through the added stress to the upper and lower disks around the fusion which, in my experience, typically leads to more fusions. WHEW! That is a lot to think about and sure, you can take an ostrich like "this won't happen to me" attitude but Fayne and I LITERALLY see this everyday in our Tai Chi classes. Along with many more issues DIRECTLY related to poor structural posture and a lifetime of bad habits.

Sit Uboo Sit!
The Tai Chi principal for Sinking Energy or Grounding Energy begins at the Dan Tien, (below the naval) travels through the hips, knees, ankles, the three points on the feet and deep into the ground. The more you train, the deeper and stronger your "foundation" becomes. Because we work with many physically challenged students, our concept of sinking energy starts with simply bending the knees with your feet hip width and parallel to each other drawing attention into the three points on the feet. As our training progresses, we encourage students to sit into their stance a bit more and feel the three point balance while they settle their hips and relax their lower back a bit. I have heard some Tai Chi Instructors speak of "flattening" the lower back to achieve a proper Tai Chi stance. I strongly disagree with this concept since the spine has four natural curves that need to be respected. These curves can be softened a bit but the goal should never be to flatten or eliminate them to create proper posture. Stretching and flexing such as in traditional Yoga training is very healthy when done properly, and I teach many exercises that flex the spine, however, for proper daily posture these curves need to be there. It is nature's design.

Supporting the Sky
Proper posture not only starts with our grounding energy, there is also a rising energy that begins at the Dan Tien and travels up the spine. Once you have established a solid foundation you can begin to "support the sky" with tall posture to strengthen the spine and surrounding core muscles. If the hips are loose, the spinal "core" muscle development will be sporadic at best. Just try standing tall with one foot pointing out to the side and your weight on one hip to see what I mean.

Grounding Energy and the Tai Chi Form
So you are standing in meditation, preparing to start a Tai Chi form, you have your hips set, feet connected to the ground, posture is tall and now its time to move. YIKES! Where did all that grounding energy go? As soon as you move your attention starts to wander towards your hands, feet, the technique, flow, breath, anywhere but the grounding energy you just created when standing still. It takes a lot of focus to keep your body in strong posture through the slow graceful movements of Tai Chi. I find that as students progress in their understanding of the basic Tai Chi movements they start to relax their minds, begin to focus more attention into their grounding energy and flow in the form with a more solid posture.

Lighting in a body...
I find it helpful to think of my spine as a lightning rod for my Chi or energy flow through the body. If it is not connected to the ground (top and bottom) effectively then the energy is blocked from flowing as it should. In Chinese Medicine, if this flow is interrupted, then wherever the energy is allowed to "stagnate" will create heat or excess chi, which can result in significant diseases of the body, mind and spirit. In addition where ever the Chi is not allowed to flow can create cold and disease as well. When you hear someone say they wish they could calm down or be more centered, less angry; grounding energy is what they seek. This is one of the main reasons that people feel calmer, rested and more stable when they have practiced their Tai Chi and/or Qigong. I know for myself, I may come to class with a million things on my mind but as soon as we start breathing, moving and smiling, it all fades away to takes its proper place in big picture of my life.

Nothing ever comes easy and Tai Chi is no exception. Consistent training routines, attention to detail, a relaxed body and attitude with a genuine, smiling heart are each very important to your grounding energy. Practice with this type of focus and your grounding energy will become stronger each day, not just in Tai Chi but in everything you do.