Chris Chi

Tai Chi for health & wellbeing

 

 

Tai Chi: Arrow Visualisation

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In a previous post Tai Chi: Reverse Thinking I discussed a way of adding depth to your Tai Chi form by thinking in the reverse way of the direction you are moving.

Yesterday I was perfoming the Tai Chi from in my garden and a thought flashed through my mind of how you could use a visualisation technique to help you with reverse thinking.

As I moved throughout the form I imagined arrows shooting out the reverse direction I was moving. Just like arrows you see in a book indicating which way to move.

Only in this case  the arrows were shooting out in the opposite direction.

For example, when I moved my arms up I visualised these arrows shooting out of my arm downwards. This focused my attention in the opposite way I was going and I certainly felt  a slight resistance which added to a more balanced and connected form.

The arrow visualisation technique is a good method in taking your Tai Chi form to the next level.

Yi leads the Chi

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In Tai Chi the Yi (mind) leads the Chi (energy).

In other words, when you are doing your form your mind which involves your attention and intention should  initiate a  movement.

Using this concept avoids the problem of moving from posture to posture aimlessly. And if you move without the Yi leading the Chi then you are not doing Tai Chi.

If your mind does wander which is a natural occurence for beginners – focus on your dan tien. This will allow you to become centred again and also makes it easier for your Yi to lead the Chi.

Try this concept the next time you do your form and let me know how it feels.

Understanding Yin Yang

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To understand and appreciate the philosophy of Yin Yang is a never ending journey and takes years of study and practice.

When I deliver a presentation with my colleague Sue James, and need to cover Yin Yang in a very short time I use the ‘Yin Yang arm exercise’.

The ‘Yin Yang arm exercise’ works for adults in our facilitation work – children in our Pozitive Kidz are happy kidz workshops – secondary students Year 7-12 students.

Here’s how the ‘Yin Yang arm exercise’ works.

  1. Hold out your arm in front of you to about shoulder high
  2. Now stretch your arm out further until you feel a slight strain – that is extreme Yang
  3. Drop your arm down to your thigh – that is extreme Yin
  4. Now hold your arm out in front of you again
  5. Bend your are elbow slightly
  6. Now the outstretched arm is relaxed

By bending the elbow slightly you now have Yin in your outstretched arm. There are no longer extremes of Yin and Yang in your arm.

The idea of this exercise is how in Tai Chi you can maintain postures for long periods of time  i.e. there must be Yin and Yang in all postures.

I’ve demonstrated this exercise for children as young as five years old to mature adults in their eighties.

To really understand Yin Yang you need to go beyond theory and practice and feel it in your Tai Chi form and Chi Kung exercises.

 

Footnote: Basic explanation: Yang – active energy. Yin – inactive energy

 

 

 

Rainy Day Tai Chi

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It’s been raining for the past few days here so I haven’t had a chance to practice my Tai Chi form outside.

Today I’ll practice the form indoors.

The difficulty is that I’ve haven’t enough clear space to practice the entire form continously.

So rather than miss out on my scheduled training session I’ll go to Plan B.

Plan B in this case is to perform the form in a stop start manner without focusing on continous movement.

For each point of the form I stop and hold the posture for 5 seconds. Then go to the next point.

For example, let’s look at the opening posture.

  • Raise arms up – stop
  • bend elbows – stop
  • lower hands – stop

Because of the weather conditions this is a good alternative than not practicing at all.

So, don’t let rainy days stop you from practicing.

Adapt and keep practicing!