Tai Chi for health & wellbeing
The other day I rolled out of bed at 5.50 am (my regular resurrection for a week day), showered and dressed and then slowly walked to my living room to practice my 20 minute standing practice called ’embrace the tree posture’.
During that walk I heard voices in my head:
“Do it later”
“I’m too tired”
“I can’t be bothered”
By Chris 2 Comments
It’s taken me over 25 years but I finally achieved my goal of practising Tai Chi in China.
Sue and I just came back from a business trip to Qingdao where we ran a three day workshop on Appreciative Inquiry for an international school. Part of the workshop included my Tai Chi energisers and I was pleased with the reaction as everybody seemed to listen closely, practice the skills and haved a good time.
It was a short stay, 5 days, and I was super busy day and night but managed to practice my stance work in the hotel room while there.
Tai Chi has two basic breathing methods – abdominal and reverse breathing.
When I teach abdominal breathing in my various presentations and student Tai Chi workshops, I usually get someone who ends up doing the more advanced reverse breathing method instead.
I don’t know why some people do this as the explanation and demonstration is clear and simple to follow. Maybe it’s because some people get confused with the concept of breathing in and expanding the abdomen at the same time. Usually after a few attempts they get it right.
I thought I’d write a post, in simplistic terms, on the difference between the two breathing methods and how they are used in Tai Chi.
Abdominal Breathing
You simply breathe in through your nose and expand your abdomen. When you breathe in, your abdomen returns to the resting position. Abdominal breathing is the general breathing method for wellbeing Tai Chi.
Reverse Breathing
This is the reverse of abdominal breathing – you breathe in and your abdomen gently contract – breathe out and your abdomen expands. Reverse breathing is used in Tai Chi self defence.
Sometimes I find when I do my Tai Chi form or Chi Kung exercises I alternate between abdominal breathing and reverse breathing without thinking about it. However when it comes to the Tai Chi self defence applications then reverse breathing is what I tend to focus on.
It’s important for beginner students to focus on abdominal breathing before trying reverse breathing.
Add sitting on a chair Chi Kung exercises to your training so you can get a better understanding and feel for Chi.
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.
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