Chris Chi

Tai Chi for health & wellbeing

 

 

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Archives for 2010

Sitting Meditation

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As part of my overall training I do about ten minutes of sitting meditation each day.

I do it for two reasons;

  1. it enables me to calm my mind
  2. it gives my wonky knees a rest from the more physical training I do

When I do this meditation I spend two minutes on the ‘inner smile’, three minutes on ‘dissolving’ and five minutes on focusing on my tan tien.

Here’s how to do it;

  1. sit on the edge of the chair
  2. relax the shoulders
  3. Imagine a string attached to your head, gently pulling you straight up
  4. feet shoulder width apart and flat on the flloor
  5. Hands resting on the knees
  6. Breathe slowly, deeply and comfortably

Although I combine my sitting meditation with other techniques,  it is okay to sit there and just meditate.

Have a go and let me know how you feel afterwards.

Top 5 Tai Chi Books

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Here are my top 5 Tai Chi books that I often refer to for research purposes.

1. Wu Style Tai Chi Chuan – Wu Ying-hua and Ma Yueh-linag

2. Wutan Tai Chi Chuan – Cheng Tin Hung and D.J. Dockerty

3. Wu Style Taijiquan – Wang Peishing and Zeng Weiqi

4. The Inner Structure of Tai Chi – Mantak Chia and Juan Li

5. Advanced Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan Vol 1 – Dr. Yang Jwing-Ming

I will write up a review of each book in future posts.

What are your top 5 Tai Chi books?


60 Workshops in 26 Days

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I will never forget February, 2008.

I delivered 60 workshops in 26 days.

The workshops were our ‘Pozitive Kidz are Happy Kidz’ schools program which focuses on building self esteem from a Tai Chi perspective.

The students age range from 5-12 years old.

At that stage, each workshop ran for 30 minutes – four per morning – two before the break and two after the break.

These were high energy workshops which included props , games and humour to engage the children for the full session. A traditional approach would have been boring and not work as well.

By the time the third and fourth session kicked in during the morning I had to stay centred and make sure I was not repeating or forgetting to include an activity.

Because when I deliver a workshop I leave some flexibilty so I can react to what is happening in the moment, besides covering the core skills.

I now know what it feels like to be out on the road covering several gigs a day over an extended period.

It may not be rock n roll but it’s great fun and exhausting.

Why put my self through this ‘ordeal’?

I’ve got no choice.

I’m passionate about what I do.

Inner Smile

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The inner smile is an effective way of reducing tension in the body and the face.

I use a simplified version of the  ‘inner smile’ technique as part of my training.

It can be done either sitting or standing.

Here’s how to to do it;

  • align your body correctly
  • breathe slowly and deeply
  • slightly raise the corners of your mouth to form a smile
  • guide the chi (energy) from the smile to any tense areas of the body or face
  • Feel the chi dissolve any tension

The benefits of the inner smile are;

  • in training – stops you from grimacing which can lead to tension and poor performance of your skills
  • in general – makes you feel good and sends out good chi to people you commincate with

So don’t forget, put a smile on your dial with your inner smile!

Source: Tai Chi tip #9