Meditation in Motion

What I Wish I Had Known at the Beginning

2012-02-10T21:46:00.000-06:00

There are a few things that I wish I had known when I started my tai chi training. I would have learned faster and easier. Here are 5 things to keep in mind: 1. Relinquish your attachment to perfection. All beginners want to move perfectly and match the teacher's movements. Get over it as quickly as you can. Your teacher has years of practice to learn how to move correctly. Just keep

What Is the Best Tai Chi Style for You?

2012-02-05T06:36:00.000-06:00

There are several main styles of tai chi. How do you decide which one is for you? The most common styles of tai chi are Chen (the oldest and most martial), Yang (the best known around the world), Wu, Wu/Hao, and Sun (the newest -- very appropriate for Tai Chi for Health programs). The first consideration is the availability of teachers and workshops. You can't learn tai chi in depth without

Core Tai Chi Principles

2012-01-28T07:08:00.000-06:00

Have you ever rented a car or driven a car belonging to someone else? Even if it is a model you have never driven before, you still know how to drive it. How do you know how? It seems like a silly question because we never think about. It just happens. We know the principles of driving a car and we just do it. Tai chi has principles, too. The movements may look a little different in Chen

Silk Reeling (Spiral Force) in Tai Chi: Part 3 of 3 – Tai Chi Forms

2012-01-21T11:09:00.000-06:00

All tai chi styles include forms that use what is called spiral force. Spiral force is also known as silk reeling because of the spiral movements involved in unwinding a silk cocoon. Silk reeling exercises (drills) are repetitive spiral movements that place an emphasis on ground connection, waist connection, dan tien rotation, knee alignment, and opening and closing of the kuas and folds of

Silk Reeling (Spiral Force) in Tai Chi: Part 2 of 3 – Linking Hands and Feet

2012-01-14T07:07:00.000-06:00

What is the Difference Between Silk Reeling and Spiral Force?

2012-01-07T07:42:00.000-06:00

I recently wrote an article recently about Silk Reeling in Tai Chi. A reader on LinkedIn suggested that I was confusing some terms. What exactly is the difference between "silk reeling" and "spiral force"? My teacher uses the terms interchangeably. He has a Chen background. I did some research online and found the terms silk reeling (chan si jing) and spiral force (luo xuan jing). However, I

Silk Reeling (Spiral Force) in Tai Chi: Part 1 of 3 – Role of the Dan Tien

2011-12-31T08:00:00.001-06:00

Qigong - Strengthening Your Vital Energy

2011-12-24T06:09:00.001-06:00

Qigong is part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. One way to translate "qigong" is "exercises to promote the flow of vital energy." There are thousands of exercises and routines that have been used for centuries to promote wellness. This Qigong for Health routine has been developed as a healthy and fun way to revitalize after a stressful day. I. Warmup The exercises start by working

How Does Mindfulness Help Us?

2011-12-17T09:48:00.000-06:00

Modern psychology tells us that mindfulness can be used to help us manage the stress in our everyday lives. We are taught to pause and reflect when we are faced with a stressful situation. It is often stated as pause and be "in the now". There have been many studies done in the last few years that show this approach has real physical benefits including enhanced functioning of our immune system,

Linking Hands and Feet in Tai Chi

2011-12-09T19:44:00.001-06:00

This week's article is a continuation of a previous article, Manifesting Yin and Yang in Tai Chi. In that article, I wrote "As we begin to move, wu ji separates into yin and yang, the opposite poles. In other words, our body manifests yin and yang throughout the forms. Yin corresponds to empty/insubstantial and storing energy. Yang corresponds to weighted/substantial and delivering energy.

Ten Signs Your Tai Chi for Health Practice is Working

2011-12-02T19:24:00.001-06:00

Tai chi training is all about results. Here are some results that you may see because of your tai chi lessons and daily practice. 1. You feel better after your daily practice than you did before you started. 2. People start to notice that your personality has changed for the better. 3. People start to notice that you walk/move differently. 4. You don't get those minor, nagging illnesses

Guest Blog Post - Allison Brooks

2011-12-02T18:33:00.001-06:00

Tai Chi: Kicks you into shape and cancer out of here Tai Chi is an old martial art that is focused manipulating one’s chi through controlled movements or postures. Chi is an energy that is the core and basic foundation of all Chinese methods of healing. Not like its Bruce Lee’s predecessors, Tai Chi is more a peaceful movement art that is muscle toning, yet relaxing. Many have adopted this

Emptiness Really Does Exist (Part 2 of 2)

2011-11-26T06:43:00.001-06:00

In my last article, Emptiness Really Does Exist (Part 1 of2), I wrote how the word "emptiness" refers to the idea that we assign meaning to sense contacts and the meaning depends on who does the assigning. Read that before you read this. Everything comes from our own minds, from our own perceptions. That doesn't mean things don't exist. Of course they do. Things won't change or go away

Emptiness Really Does Exist (Part 1 of 2)

2011-10-29T08:11:00.000-05:00

I've been thinking about emptiness. No, that doesn't mean I've been thinking about nothing. Emptiness is a word that has a very specific meaning in Buddhism. I had always supposed that it means something like "nothing exists", or "absence of spiritual meaning". It turns out that I was pretty clueless. From Wikipedia: In Buddhism, emptiness is a characteristic of phenomena, arising from the

Taiji – Stages of Development

2011-10-21T18:54:00.000-05:00

This was originally published in the October 2011 Issue of Yang Sheng Magazine. There is an old saying in tai chi that says, "The first 10,000 times don't count". You should expect that you need to practice your forms that many times to move through these stages. There are no shortcuts. You can read about it. You can think about it. But in the end, tai chi is an experiential exercise. You have

Sinking the Qi Part 2 – Focus on Breathing

2011-10-08T06:48:00.000-05:00

I have written about the word sink in the context of sinking the qi. In this sense of the word sink, it means to relax the hips and waist, lower the pelvis bones, and allow your body to settle. Let your shoulders relax away from your neck. Allow your skeleton to support your body. Use your intention to lower your elbows. A big part of sinking is developing song (relax/loosen) and jing (

Sinking the Qi to the Dan Tien

2011-10-01T17:12:00.000-05:00

I have written before about this topic. It sometimes seems a little esoteric, but it doesn't need to. I have rewritten a previous post with more detail about some of the key topics to try to remove some of the confusion. Chen means to sink. Chen refers to using your breathing to sink your qi to your dan tien. The dan tien is important to everything we do in tai chi. Chen enhances song and jing.

Taiji and Plateaus in Learning

2011-09-03T06:35:00.000-05:00

When people begin learning something new, they often learn at a good rate. Their minds become engaged in the learning. However, when learning taiji, learning quickly is not necessarily better than learning slowly and deeply. Taiji has many subtle details that take time to learn. You have to “digest” taiji. It takes time for it to get into your body and your mind. With each lesson, it is important

Cultivating a "Not-Knowing" Mind

2011-08-27T07:20:00.001-05:00

We enter the world not knowing where we came from. We will eventually leave this world not knowing where we are going. Religions and philosophers have debated birth, life, and death for millennia without actually resolving anything. Where can we get answers? Let's look at the Dao De Jing by Laozi. The writings of Laozi indicate a different approach than religion or philosophy. He wrote about the

Tai Chi for Fitness

2011-08-20T18:12:00.001-05:00

As part of the Tai Chi for Health Community, we have done a good job of communicating that tai chi is good for the elderly to regain function and as a rehabilitation training. But let's not forget the benefits of tai chi are available for people of any age. Tai chi can be useful for younger and middle aged people to help maintain fitness throughout their lives. There are many people that would

Proprioception and Tai Chi

2011-08-13T06:02:00.002-05:00

Tai chi is a great exercise to improve proprioception and kinesthetic sense. What does that mean? Read on. During movement of any kind, we are constantly losing our balance and regaining it quickly. The better our ability to regain balance, the safer and more skillful our movement. Better balance makes athletes less likely to get injured and reduces falls among the elderly. Balance is improved by

Tai Chi and Fibromyalgia

2011-08-06T05:29:00.002-05:00

There was a study published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine showing that tai chi improves the symptoms of fibromyalgia. There is something that we need to keep in mind when reading medical studies. The word "significant" is used to mean that there is a measurable difference between the test group and the control group. However, this word does not mean that the difference is enough

Health Benefits of Tai Chi

2011-07-30T08:51:00.001-05:00

There was a recent study published in the European Journal of Applied Physiology that discussed the health benefits of tai chi. The study authors claimed that tai chi significantly increases blood levels of adiponectin. I had to look up the role of adiponectin. Adiponectin is a hormone that regulates glucose concentrations in the blood stream and the breakdown of fatty acids. It also plays a role

Manifesting Yin and Yang in Tai Chi (Taiji)

2011-07-23T07:16:00.002-05:00

One of the fundamental principles of tai chi is that we start in wu ji, or neutral emptiness. As we begin to move, wu ji separates into yin and yang, the opposite poles of the universe. In other words, our body manifests yin and yang throughout the forms. Yin corresponds to empty/insubstantial and storing energy. Yang corresponds to weighted/substantial and delivering energy. Throughout a form,

Moving Slowly in Tai Chi

2011-07-17T08:45:00.003-05:00

Why are tai chi movements done so slowly? I get this question from beginning students. I'm sure most other teachers do, too. There are many benefits to slow movement. As far as I am concerned, one of the major reasons for slow movement is so that the learner can pay attention to every detail. When we move quickly, we move in the way we have always moved. We have habits that we follow. Moving