Chris Chi

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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

 

 

 

Really Small Frame Tai Chi

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Several years ago I travelled overseas by plane from Australia to Europe for a holiday.

Every now and again I did some Chi Kung exercises in my seat to stretch out, narrowly avoiding the flight attendant running over my toe or knocking my knee with the drinks trolley.

After several hours I needed to do some Tai Chi so I ventured to the back of the plane to practice and get the Chi to flow.

Well, it was an adventure because I had to manoeuvre my way through a fog of smoke that appeared from the back seats, just below the ‘no smoking’ sign.  There was no point in telling the attendants as some of them were smoking as well.

I was probably better off practicing on the wing of the plane but it would have been a bit draughty so I decided to back myself against the wall and adopt a standing posture.

Embrace the tree posture didn’t work as I had passing traffic occassionaly bump into me. I was tempted to do so fajing but that would have been unsociable.

I settled for a standing posture with my arms to the side and visualised the movements from the form. I could feel the Chi flow again and eventually returned to my seat and made sure I tucked my long skinny legs in, to avoid the trolley menace.

I felt energised and was happy I was able to do my ‘really small frame Tai Chi’ in a confined space.

360 Degree Breathing

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One of the Chi Kung techniques I use occassionally to energise my body and calm my mind is what I call  ‘360 degree breathing’.

You can do this skill either lying down, sitting or standing.

Here’s how it works;

  • Take a deep breathe and imagine you are breathing in good Chi inside every cell of your body
  • Breathe out slowly and imagine you are breathing out negative Chi (toxins or negative thoughts or feelings)
  • Do at least 8 repetitions to start with and build to whatever is comfortable for you
  • relax your breathing – make it natural – don’t force it

A very simple technique that with practice will give you a quick way of feeling good and staying focused when you need to.