The exact reason, or value of such an undertaking is a wonder in itself.  Be that as it may, I found this one statement curiously made me think in a tai chi way.  (No I wasn’t even trying to use only one-syllable words.)  A sample of one-syllable philosophy in a minute.

Of the many uses and benefits of tai chi, is that it helps us feel better, one might even say it makes us glad we do it.  “Gladness”, as an end in itself, is a worthy goal.  Like tai chi it relaxes our muscles, reduces our stress levels, and boosts our immune systems, to name just a few.

Even when I’m feeling extremely tired, I find tai chi has a way of digging into my core and pulling up energy I didn’t realize I had.  I may still be tired afterward, but I seem to forget all about my exhaustion while lost in practice.  I’m always glad I practiced and I find I sleep better too.

Another thing I find it interesting is that people sometimes describe uneducated or dim-witted folk as “capable of speaking in only one syllable words”.  If you actually try to phrase even the simplest of concepts using only one syllable words, you would realize just how difficult it is to pull off.

On a tai chi note, uninformed folks will watch a skilled tai chi player and think, “That looks pretty easy; I don’t think I’d have the patience to do that.  It would just bore me to tears.”  I’ve never heard anyone who’s actually tried tai chi say it was easy, or that it bored them.  Those who don’t stick it out don’t seem to have the patience or interest to develop the focus it takes to get any better, but they never say they’re bored.  The practice of tai chi requires incredible focus and can be all-consuming at times.  It’s one of the reason’s it’s such an effective stress reliever.

So in the spirit of simple things that are not at all easy to accomplish, I give you a bit of one-syllable philosophy.

“Is the right thing to do what makes most folks glad? Or should we say not quite that,
but that the right thing to do is the thing which most makes folks glad,
where when you count folks you weight each one by how glad it makes them?”

Does this bit of philosophy leave you glad or confused, and can you see another way to apply it to tai chi?  I’ll bet someone reading this has a different take on it… your thoughts?

John

P.S.  If you’d like to visit Denis Robinson’s page:  http://fragments.consc.net/djc/2005/02/phil_in_words_o.html

When practicing, or playing tai chi as the Chinese say, it requires a high level of focus.  Once you’ve “run through” a form a hundred times it’s a well-established part of your body memory, and then you can begin to work on it.  Once you’ve run through a form a thousand times, it’s a well established part of your body and your mind, and then you can begin to work on doing it correctly.

Tai chi forces your focus in the present moment.  When you’ve practiced a particular form enough times that your mind can wander a bit, you’ll find you loose the connection between your body and your mind and your tai chi suffers for it.  Over time as you learn finer and finer details you’ll find that a move you’ve done over and over again, “just doesn’t feel right.”  Sometimes it will be easy to make the adjustment and other times it’s easier to ask someone else for help.

The times you need to ask for help are when the dreaded “dis-ease” of SPD raises its ugly head.  SPD, or Self Perception Disorder, can strike at any time, even for advanced players.  While it is possible to noodle it out on your own, it can be easier to borrow someone else’s eyes.

Tai chi makes other tasks easier too.  I know lots of people who have used tai chi to help them deal with the stresses of everyday day life and refocus on the task at hand.  Since tai chi trains you to narrow your focus it also makes it easier to narrow your focus on any important task.  If you’re having difficulty staying on track with an important project, take a tai chi break and you’ll not only find yourself physically renewed, but mentally sharper.

I leave you with remarkably apt words of the Duhism Master himself.

You don’t like my gift of Now-ness?

“You can’t return the present” ~ Bob Tzu

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  Who is Bob Tzu?  Click here: www.duhism.com

Everyone has a different opinion of exactly what tai chi is, and what is tai chi.  I’m no exception, but I try to follow Winston Churchill’s example on this one.  Yes, he was incredibly opinionated.  He could be domineering, and was exceptionally eccentric.

When Churchill was at his home outside London his idea of a good conversation was one in which he did most, if not all, of the talking.  When he was in the city however, he believed everyone should have their say.  When you think about it, it’s just plain old-fashioned good manners.

When you’re away from home I believe it’s best to conduct yourself in a manner that allows others to have their say.  It doesn’t mean you have to agree with them, only that you don’t have to cut them off at the knees if they disagree with you.  If you’re in someone else’s home it’s bad manners to insult your host.  This applies to visiting other schools as well.  It’s not your home so bite your tongue and use soft words if asked for your opinion.

At the heart of tai chi is avoiding conflict, not creating it.  Avoid aggression and aggression will generally pass you by.  Is it really important that others agree with you, or are your beliefs so unsubstantial they can’t stand up to those of others?  Do your beliefs require defending to keep them from crumbling?  When we close our minds to opposing ideas we risk stagnation and we stop growing.  When we stop growing, we begin to die.

“Everyone is in favor of free speech. Hardly a day passes without its being extolled, but some people’s idea of it is that they are free to say what they like, but if anyone else says anything back, that is an outrage.”
Winston Churchill

Your thoughts?

John

I hadn’t heard about this particular benefit, so as you can imagine this made my whole day.  Hell, it made my whole week.  Yea I know I need to get a life, but you try writing a blog about one subject three times a week and see how excited you get when you find new information.  In Day 2 they talk about this important benefit that improves the quality of our lives as we age.  The old adage “If you don’t use it, you loose it” certainly applies here.

This article sent me off looking for the original research, and I found an abstract of the study “Enhanced Tactile Acuity in Tai Chi Practitioners: Evidence for Neural Plasticity”.  According to the study, as we age our sense of touch diminishes.  With the exceptions of blind people who read Braille and musicians, we don’t exercise our sense of touch, so we loose it over time.  Practicing tai chi however, forces us to focus on our hands a feet differently and appears to counteract this phenomenon.

Aside from our sense of sight, our tactile acuity helps us in tasks such as threading a needle, or even installing tiny little batteries in hearing aids.  Since I first started playing tai chi I’ve noticed my ability to feel the flow of energy through my body has increased significantly, albeit slowly.  Chi energy is subtle, and although I’ve always been able to “feel” energy, the feeling has changed from a very subtle awareness to the feeling of a strong stream.  Depending on the day, to me it feels stronger or weaker and usually manifests as a tingling sensation.  It makes sense to me that this is what also helps us maintain our tactile sensitivity.

For those who practiced tai chi regularly for two years the study revealed no noticeable improvement in younger adults, but indicated a marked improvement for sensitivity in older adults.  The conclusion was of course, that further study is needed, but more importantly that a correlation between practicing tai chi and an improved sense of touch was strongly indicated.

If a loved one is getting on in years, I’d say this gives a whole new meaning to the phrase “reach out and touch someone”.  Why not give them the gift that keeps on giving in the form of some local tai chi classes.  In the form of a shameless plug, you could also give the gift of my “Beginning Tai Chi Exercises” video by clicking on these very words.  ;-)>

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  You can read the Prevention Magazine on-line article here:  http://online.prevention.com/brainpowerworkout/list/2.shtml and you can download a PDF copy of the research abstract here:  http://www.dogpod.com/projects/kerr_lab/blogengine/newsblog/tai%20chi%20poster.pdf.  I found the photo here:  http://ahmedfernando.wordpress.com/2008/11/08/58-scooping-up-water/

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.”
Confucius

Your thoughts?

P.S.  I found this quote here:  http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/25848.html

One of the most difficult things for new students seems to be using the waist to drive movement, and sometimes it seems just moving the waist at all is a challenge.  I think Yang Chengfu may have missed the boat on this one because he didn’t include it with the 10 Principles of Tai Chi Chuan.  In fairness though, he was pretty darn good and you would probably learn to use your waist if you did everything else right anyway.

The thing to remember, and practice of course, is to use your waist to drive your movement.  The waist turning drives the turning of your front foot in the bow stance.  It moves your shoulders and your arms, providing a clear pathway for the energy and providing power.  There are many drills that can help with turning the waist and it’s a good idea to practice at least a few of them on a regular basis.

When turning the waist, allow your shoulders to “go along for the ride”.  Most of the time new students focus on turning their shoulders.  Over time though, with enough practice and drills, we learn to use the waist to turn our shoulders.  It helps to think of your upper body as one unit, and when the waist turns it moves the shoulders.  In the not too distant future I’ll record a video showing a drill for practicing turning the waist.  Until then, don’t turn your shoulders turn your waist!

What’s your waist looking like these days? 

John

P.S.  I found this pic here:  http://fortifyservices.blogspot.com/2009/04/does-not-play-well-with-others.html

In tai chi I can work hard at a form until I think I’ve really gotten it down, and then my teacher, Miriam, or Master Cui come along and point out how it could be better.  With tai chi, as with life, the refinements never end.  To me that’s the real beauty of it.

We do this with others too.  We see them doing something we don’t yet know how to do, or we project things on to them that exist mostly in our minds.  Later we inevitably learn we’ve distorted reality yet again.  Usually by then we know the person well enough to accept them for who they are.  Duhism Master Bob Tzu put it so eloquently in his blog yesterday.

Well that’s just perfect

“When you can see all beings as divine and perfect, then it’s time to cut back on your medication.”

Your Thoughts?

John

P.S.  Visit Master Tzu here:  http://www.duhism.com/

I found this image on Fliker.com: http://www.flickr.com/photos/karlburn/2742420441/

Whether we realize it or not, we all have pretty similar abilities.  Aside from those rare few who can touch their tongues to their noses, our bodies and what we are actually capable of remains very similar from person to person.  Now I know some of you are saying to yourselves “John’s not paddling with both oars today”, so allow me to splain myself.

Richard Bandler and Dr. John Grinder discovered that, with the right mental strategies, you could teach anyone to do what anyone else could do, assuming of course they weren’t limited by some physical difficulty.  The world is filled with people who have limited physical resources, yet have achieved things everyone else thought was impossible.  Spud Webb, a professional basketball player in the 80’s & 90’s, comes to mind.  Because of his short stature he garnered little interest from college scouts.  This despite consistently impressive performance on the court all through high school and his early college years.

When Mr. Webb joined the ranks of Earl Boykins and Muggsy Bogue, as the third shortest player in the NBA, he measured in at a full 5′6″.  (He was a grown man by then so he didn’t get any taller either.)  I remember watching the 1986 NBA Slam Dunk contest where Spud Webb walked away with the trophy.  Spud and a student of his, Nate Robinson, are the only two NBA players under 6 feet tall to have ever won the competition.

John Bandler - remember him, the mind over matter guy - experimented with hypnosis and placebos to help people heal in a number of ways.  He didn’t bother with the sugar either.  He just gave people empty capsules and told them, under hypnosis of course, that he was giving them empty capsules.  He also gave them the suggestion, “the more you think about the fact that you are taking placebos, the better they will work.”  When they woke up he handed them the empty capsules and said, “These are placebos and they’re particularly effective for your condition.”  This worked so well in fact, that when Bandler and a partner tried to market their brand of placebos, the FDA shut them down.  How’s that for a great example of, “I’m here from the government and I’m here to help”?

By now I imagine you’ve forgotten all about the LiveScience.com article haven’t you?  We’ll let’s get back to it.  The article is titled “Fear of Spiders Can Develop Before Birth” and deals with our ability to learn from previous generations.  Not by reading grandpa’s diary, but more like sleeping with a book under your pillow before the big test, and then acing the test without ever having cracked the book.  Pretty cool stuff hey?

Well, with students I sometimes ask them to feel the energy in their bodies.  Often I get, “I doesn’t feel nuthin’.”  Yet, when I ask them to imagine it and then tell me “what it would feels like if’n they coulds”, or better yet where it starts and ends, they can almost always describe it with remarkable accuracy.  I even point to the wrong part my own body just to make sure they aren’t saying what they think I want them to.  Then I ask them to pretend they’re feeling it as they move, and viola, their movement improves dramatically.  Wha’s up wit dat?

Given the right techniques and mental processes, we can all learn to do what we already even do better.  We may not all be Spud Webbs in the rough, but we can all do much more than we realize.  Yea, that includes you too.

Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  Now go read the LiveScience.com article:  http://www.livescience.com/animals/fear-of-spiders-100218.html, you’ll like it.

We all seem to be striving for that future state of happiness. We work long hours so we can have our dream homes, dream cars, go on dream vacations and ultimately experience our dream retirements.

I’m not saying we shouldn’t strive for these things. They have their place and each has it’s own value. I know when I’ve achieved something noteworthy, like buying a new house or having the kitchen remodeled, I feel pretty good about it and also gain a feeling of happiness from achieving it. It feels good.

What if you could not only experience that happiness for brief periods when you accomplished something you wanted - be it planting a special tree in your yard, finding a particularly comfortable and cool looking pair of shoes, or being promoted - but could also get that feeling for a little while each day? Wouldn’t that make life a little better, a little more worth living?

Sounds good doesn’t it? Imagine yourself feeling happy: no worries, no concerns, no outside pressures. That state of mind when realized, reduces stress levels, helps reduce blood pressure, relaxes the body, fortifies the mind, and strengthens the immune system.

Great, so how do you get there? It’s actually much simpler that you might think. It comes from a state of mind you can easily learn to adopt at different times during the day, and the more often you do it the more you find yourself feeling good for no particular reason. The key is to ‘let’ yourself experience it and to do this, all you do is let go of your worries and concerns for a few moments. It’s called mindfulness.

One way to to experience this state is simply by closing your eyes and focusing completely on the sounds in your environment. By this I mean the sounds, not what makes the sounds. When your mind runs off thinking about what the sound means, let go of that and just listen for other sounds. Focus on the direction of the sound, it’s pitch, it’s volume, while at the same time listening for other sounds.

Using your focus in this way for 5 minutes can give you an incredible sense of well being. This is what practicing tai chi does for you and it’s one of the reasons why people become addicted to it. On top of feeling better on an emotional level because of that state of mindfulness tai chi cultivates, it also strengthens the body in a multitude of ways.

So whether you’re interested in tai chi or not, find something you can focus on completely, several times during the day. The simplest way to do this is to focus on one of your senses completely without analyzing any of what you experience. The brief sense of well being you experience will make the rest of your life seem even more worthwhile. The good times and the not so good times will take on more meaning when your stress levels are lower and you can keep things in perspective.

Oh and one more thing.  When we’re not stressed out we tend to make better decisions, leading to even lower stress levels.  Your thoughts?

John

P.S.  I found this pic here:  http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/3d__and__animation/sound_and_vision

With this year’s beginning falling on the Western Valentine’s Day, I guess you could say this is the year of the kissing tiger, at least in the West.  I for one am eagerly looking forward to this year.  Being an Ox, I’m happy for my year to be finishing up.  It’s been said that the year of one’s own birth animal is generally a trying year.  For me this has definitely been the case.

The Year of the Tiger is a year symbolizing growth.  I hope this year turns out to be one of true growth for World economies, your personal life, and of course for all areas of my own life.  I therefore wish you 恭賀新禧 (gōng hè xīn xĭ), Happy New Year - a year filled with happiness, love and prosperity on all fronts.

John

__________________

The following description for the Year of The Tiger comes from http://www.yearofthetiger.net/:

According to the Chinese Zodiac, the Year of 2010 is the Year of the Tiger, which commences on February 14, 2010 and ends on February 2, 2011. The Tiger is the third sign in the Chinese Zodiac cycle, and it is a sign of bravery. This courageous and fiery fighter is admired by the ancient Chinese as the sign that keeps away the three main tragedies of a household. These are fire, thieves and ghosts.

Tigers are physically powerful, gracious, independent and brave, they are extremely bold animals. They are friendly and loving but can also selfish and short tempered. Tigers seek attention and power; frequently they are envious in a relation. Tigers live dangerously which often leads to trouble. They are intolerant, take risks and are always searching for excitement. Tigers are also instilled with a good dose of courage.

The Tiger has an overpowering attraction and is very kind and always takes on the character as protector. The Tiger flourishes by power and attention and takes advantage of all circumstances it gets itself into. The Tiger is a natural leader and loves to be the centre of attention. As a rebel it goes up against authority and speaks out about wrongs in society, and willingly puts up objections. Even if you don’t agree with the beliefs of the tiger you admire his way to protest.

Just as how their counterparts in the jungle are impulsive, so too are individuals born in the Chinese Year of the Tiger. When people think of tigers, it is their vigor and power that comes to mind first. But it has also been noted that tigers are known to share and are unselfish animals. The reason people admire the tiger is due to the fact that they are ferocious and domineering on the outside, but they are just as noble and distinguished on the inside. These are the same personality attributes that persons will have who are born in the Year of the Tiger.

People that are born in the Year of the Tiger are generally well liked because of their charismatic personalities. Often, failing at a given duty or being unproductive in his personal or professional life can cause a Tiger to experience a deep sense of depression. A Tiger is always at their happiest when they endeavor to climb the ladder of success. Attaining the top spot is his foremost purpose; being in a position of power is her ultimate goal. They are quick learners, need to be challenged and often prefer to work alone. Some Tigers tend to change careers more frequently because they get bored quite easily. They are natural born leaders and perform at their best if working towards positions of power and influence. So once there is no further room for progression, they will often move on to something else.

Anyone that is born in the Year of the Tiger is usually straightforward and outgoing by nature. They will never give up no matter how aggravated they may become. But, they are also full of suspicion and at times will take hasty action. Never lose sight of the fact that Tigers are smart and instinctive.

People born in the Year of the Tiger always take pride in being different from others, and normally demonstrate their originality best in their homes. Their homes are typically filled with exotic possessions. It is no surprise that one of the Tiger’s favorite gemstones is the cat’s eye, but tigers also love the sparkle of rubies and diamonds. They like to spend money, and also to share it. They can be very impulsive spenders because they know they can at all times make more.

The Year of the Tiger is the third year in the cycle of “Heavenly Branches”. Customarily, it is called “Yin”. Those born in the Year of the Tiger are compatible with the horse, dog, and dragons. The year 2010 is another Year of the Tiger. It is the ji-chou year. Jji is the sixth of the Ten Celestial Stems and yin is the third of the Twelve Terrestrial Branches and marks the Year of the Tiger.

Were you born during a Year of the Tiger?
You were if you were born in one of these years:
1902, 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, and 1998.

P.S.  I found this tiger image here:  http://media.photobucket.com/image/tiger/HellWard3-WellsideGossip/Tiger.jpg