Tai Chi Chuan – Raising the Bar.
OK, I got bored.
There we were in class going over a repeating movement, up high on our legs, again and again and again.
“Get more comfortable,” Maggie kept telling us.
“Yes,” I thought to myself. “I AM feeling comfortable!”
I was smooth, easy. I was enjoying myself by working on that sense of everything culminating at the full part of the posture, like a ballerina on point. So I skipped that “comfortable” part because I thought I had that down cold. I was leading the group in this exercise.
But then she was looking at me, talking at me about becoming more comfortable. How can I become more comfortable? I didn’t know. Her words kept coming my way, as did her eyes.
I was a little embarrassed and very confused.
Finally she pointed out a place where I was on automatic. I hadn’t noticed. It got better, it WAS more comfortable. When we returned to the actual form, this was the most smooth, easy, delicious form I had ever done. It was an amazing experience. The form was more like riding in a smooth luxury car cruising down the highway. I was only there for the ride.
This raises a vital question. How do we raise the bar? Particularly when we think we are already on point?
Being knowledgeable can be a tremendous hindrance. As someone who knows a fair amount about tai chi, I sometimes disregard an instruction because I feel it doesn’t apply to me. I’m already there, or so I believe.
I was working with a good push hands beginner who felt she didn’t have any more yield in her neutralization. I thought she did. Initially, she was convinced of her self-observation. But she was open to working on this more despite her feeling, her knowing that she did not have more. Then she found more yield and more neutralization.
The simple, yet hard answer is that we have to assume, always, that there is more. You never really arrive. You have to love what you have but keep looking for those places that are habitual. And see if you can see more.
I suppose this is not particularly good news. Perhaps it’s OK to rest on your achievements for a while and to let them soak in and feel good about them. That’s important.
But they can’t become stuck places or medals of honors or badges of success or places the ego justifies its own existence. Once that transformation takes place, you are carrying around some dead thing to show others like some carcass from the hunt. I’m not talking about trying to be modest or humble. It’s knowing you have not arrived, you never will arrive and, if nothing else, you now have something to give away. You can’t clutch it greedily as a bragging point. It is now a gift to give others IF (IF!) they want it.
There is a lot of potential tedium in tai chi practice. There is a great deal of repetition and this can lead to disinterest (and therefore tedium.) But you have to be in it to get it. Generally, it doesn’t just come to you; you have to reach out to find it. Tai chi is for those of us who like to search, to explore.
And that IS the solution to the tedium. Exploring for new levels of experience pushes aside that tedium. Repeating it for the purpose of finding something else can lead to new insights. That’s where the excitement is!
The reward is more comfort, more chi, more peace, more awareness, possibly more confidence without the egotistical aspects that often gets attached to confidence. This is confidence that wants others to “get it”, not confidence that wants to impress.
So back to reality: there is more more more. That’s why tai chi keeps me fascinated. That’s why I want to keep learning. This is the hardest lesson of all to embody.
I think this is Life at its core.
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan – Exercise Before Breakfast (New York Times)
Tai Chi Chuan – Exercise Before Breakfast
Below it notes that before breakfast exercise has a marked benefit. Of course, we who do tai chi with rigor know that tai chi before your day is the way to go! Of interest. Tom
December 15, 2010, 12:01 am
New York Times
Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
The holiday season brings many joys and, unfortunately, many countervailing dietary pitfalls. Even the fittest and most disciplined of us can succumb, indulging in more fat and calories than at any other time of the year. The health consequences, if the behavior is unchecked, can be swift and worrying. A recent study by scientists in Australia found that after only three days, an extremely high-fat, high-calorie diet can lead to increased blood sugar and insulin resistance, potentially increasing the risk for Type 2 diabetes. Waistlines also can expand at this time of year, prompting self-recrimination and unrealistic New Year’s resolutions.
But a new study published in The Journal of Physiology suggests a more reliable and far simpler response. Run or bicycle before breakfast. Exercising in the morning, before eating, the study results show, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of holiday Bacchanalias.
For the study, researchers in Belgium recruited 28 healthy, active young men and began stuffing them with a truly lousy diet, composed of 50 percent fat and 30 percent more calories, overall, than the men had been consuming. Some of the men agreed not to exercise during the experiment. The rest were assigned to one of two exercise groups. The groups’ regimens were identical and exhausting. The men worked out four times a week in the mornings, running and cycling at a strenuous intensity. Two of the sessions lasted 90 minutes, the others, an hour. All of the workouts were supervised, so the energy expenditure of the two groups was identical.
Their early-morning routines, however, were not. One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions.
The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.
The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.
Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”
Just how exercising before breakfast blunts the deleterious effects of overindulging is not completely understood, although this study points toward several intriguing explanations. For one, as has been known for some time, exercising in a fasted state (usually possible only before breakfast), coaxes the body to burn a greater percentage of fat for fuel during vigorous exercise, instead of relying primarily on carbohydrates. When you burn fat, you obviously don’t store it in your muscles. In “our study, only the fasted group demonstrated beneficial metabolic adaptations, which eventually may enhance oxidative fatty acid turnover,” said Peter Hespel, Ph.D., a professor in the Research Center for Exercise and Health at Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and senior author of the study.
At the same time, the fasting group showed increased levels of a muscle protein that “is responsible for insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscle and thus plays a pivotal role in regulation of insulin sensitivity,” Dr Hespel said.
In other words, working out before breakfast directly combated the two most detrimental effects of eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. It also helped the men avoid gaining weight.
There are caveats, of course. Exercising on an empty stomach is unlikely to improve your performance during that workout. Carbohydrates are easier for working muscles to access and burn for energy than fat, which is why athletes typically eat a high-carbohydrate diet. The researchers also don’t know whether the same benefits will accrue if you exercise at a more leisurely pace and for less time than in this study, although, according to Leonie Heilbronn, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia, who has extensively studied the effects of high-fat diets and wrote a commentary about the Belgian study, “I would predict low intensity is better than nothing.”
So, unpleasant as the prospect may be, set your alarm after the next Christmas party to wake you early enough that you can run before sitting down to breakfast. “I would recommend this,” Dr. Heilbronn concluded, “as a way of combating Christmas” and those insidiously delectable cookies.
Below it notes that before breakfast exercise has a marked benefit. Of course, we who do tai chi with rigor know that tai chi before your day is the way to go! Of interest. Tom
December 15, 2010, 12:01 am
New York Times
Phys Ed: The Benefits of Exercising Before Breakfast
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
The holiday season brings many joys and, unfortunately, many countervailing dietary pitfalls. Even the fittest and most disciplined of us can succumb, indulging in more fat and calories than at any other time of the year. The health consequences, if the behavior is unchecked, can be swift and worrying. A recent study by scientists in Australia found that after only three days, an extremely high-fat, high-calorie diet can lead to increased blood sugar and insulin resistance, potentially increasing the risk for Type 2 diabetes. Waistlines also can expand at this time of year, prompting self-recrimination and unrealistic New Year’s resolutions.
But a new study published in The Journal of Physiology suggests a more reliable and far simpler response. Run or bicycle before breakfast. Exercising in the morning, before eating, the study results show, seems to significantly lessen the ill effects of holiday Bacchanalias.
For the study, researchers in Belgium recruited 28 healthy, active young men and began stuffing them with a truly lousy diet, composed of 50 percent fat and 30 percent more calories, overall, than the men had been consuming. Some of the men agreed not to exercise during the experiment. The rest were assigned to one of two exercise groups. The groups’ regimens were identical and exhausting. The men worked out four times a week in the mornings, running and cycling at a strenuous intensity. Two of the sessions lasted 90 minutes, the others, an hour. All of the workouts were supervised, so the energy expenditure of the two groups was identical.
Their early-morning routines, however, were not. One of the groups ate a hefty, carbohydrate-rich breakfast before exercising and continued to ingest carbohydrates, in the form of something like a sports drink, throughout their workouts. The second group worked out without eating first and drank only water during the training. They made up for their abstinence with breakfast later that morning, comparable in calories to the other group’s trencherman portions.
The experiment lasted for six weeks. At the end, the nonexercising group was, to no one’s surprise, super-sized, having packed on an average of more than six pounds. They had also developed insulin resistance — their muscles were no longer responding well to insulin and weren’t pulling sugar (or, more technically, glucose) out of the bloodstream efficiently — and they had begun storing extra fat within and between their muscle cells. Both insulin resistance and fat-marbled muscles are metabolically unhealthy conditions that can be precursors of diabetes.
The men who ate breakfast before exercising gained weight, too, although only about half as much as the control group. Like those sedentary big eaters, however, they had become more insulin-resistant and were storing a greater amount of fat in their muscles.
Only the group that exercised before breakfast gained almost no weight and showed no signs of insulin resistance. They also burned the fat they were taking in more efficiently. “Our current data,” the study’s authors wrote, “indicate that exercise training in the fasted state is more effective than exercise in the carbohydrate-fed state to stimulate glucose tolerance despite a hypercaloric high-fat diet.”
Just how exercising before breakfast blunts the deleterious effects of overindulging is not completely understood, although this study points toward several intriguing explanations. For one, as has been known for some time, exercising in a fasted state (usually possible only before breakfast), coaxes the body to burn a greater percentage of fat for fuel during vigorous exercise, instead of relying primarily on carbohydrates. When you burn fat, you obviously don’t store it in your muscles. In “our study, only the fasted group demonstrated beneficial metabolic adaptations, which eventually may enhance oxidative fatty acid turnover,” said Peter Hespel, Ph.D., a professor in the Research Center for Exercise and Health at Catholic University Leuven in Belgium and senior author of the study.
At the same time, the fasting group showed increased levels of a muscle protein that “is responsible for insulin-stimulated glucose transport in muscle and thus plays a pivotal role in regulation of insulin sensitivity,” Dr Hespel said.
In other words, working out before breakfast directly combated the two most detrimental effects of eating a high-fat, high-calorie diet. It also helped the men avoid gaining weight.
There are caveats, of course. Exercising on an empty stomach is unlikely to improve your performance during that workout. Carbohydrates are easier for working muscles to access and burn for energy than fat, which is why athletes typically eat a high-carbohydrate diet. The researchers also don’t know whether the same benefits will accrue if you exercise at a more leisurely pace and for less time than in this study, although, according to Leonie Heilbronn, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Adelaide in Australia, who has extensively studied the effects of high-fat diets and wrote a commentary about the Belgian study, “I would predict low intensity is better than nothing.”
So, unpleasant as the prospect may be, set your alarm after the next Christmas party to wake you early enough that you can run before sitting down to breakfast. “I would recommend this,” Dr. Heilbronn concluded, “as a way of combating Christmas” and those insidiously delectable cookies.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Wandering Mind - New York Times article
Tai chi as a meditation encourages well being and joy. Here is an odd article that supports that thesis based on the fact that tai chi forces you to pay attention to tai chi when you practice. Read on if this sort of research intrigues! Tom
November 15, 2010
New York Times
When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays
By JOHN TIERNEY
A quick experiment. Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go. Close your eyes for a few seconds, starting ... now.
And now, welcome back for the hypothesis of our experiment: Wherever your mind went — the South Seas, your job, your lunch, your unpaid bills — that daydreaming is not likely to make you as happy as focusing intensely on the rest of this column will.
I’m not sure I believe this prediction, but I can assure you it is based on an enormous amount of daydreaming cataloged in the current issue of Science. Using an iPhone app called trackyourhappiness, psychologists at Harvard contacted people around the world at random intervals to ask how they were feeling, what they were doing and what they were thinking.
The least surprising finding, based on a quarter-million responses from more than 2,200 people, was that the happiest people in the world were the ones in the midst of enjoying sex. Or at least they were enjoying it until the iPhone interrupted.
The researchers are not sure how many of them stopped to pick up the phone and how many waited until afterward to respond. Nor, unfortunately, is there any way to gauge what thoughts — happy, unhappy, murderous — went through their partners’ minds when they tried to resume.
When asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being “very good,” the people having sex gave an average rating of 90. That was a good 15 points higher than the next-best activity, exercising, which was followed closely by conversation, listening to music, taking a walk, eating, praying and meditating, cooking, shopping, taking care of one’s children and reading. Near the bottom of the list were personal grooming, commuting and working.
When asked their thoughts, the people in flagrante were models of concentration: only 10 percent of the time did their thoughts stray from their endeavors. But when people were doing anything else, their minds wandered at least 30 percent of the time, and as much as 65 percent of the time (recorded during moments of personal grooming, clearly a less than scintillating enterprise).
On average throughout all the quarter-million responses, minds were wandering 47 percent of the time. That figure surprised the researchers, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert.
“I find it kind of weird now to look down a crowded street and realize that half the people aren’t really there,” Dr. Gilbert says.
You might suppose that if people’s minds wander while they’re having fun, then those stray thoughts are liable to be about something pleasant — and that was indeed the case with those happy campers having sex. But for the other 99.5 percent of the people, there was no correlation between the joy of the activity and the pleasantness of their thoughts.
“Even if you’re doing something that’s really enjoyable,” Mr. Killingsworth says, “that doesn’t seem to protect against negative thoughts. The rate of mind-wandering is lower for more enjoyable activities, but when people wander they are just as likely to wander toward negative thoughts.”
Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better predictor of happiness than what they were doing.
“If you ask people to imagine winning the lottery,” Dr. Gilbert says, “they typically talk about the things they would do — ‘I’d go to Italy, I’d buy a boat, I’d lay on the beach’ — and they rarely mention the things they would think. But our data suggest that the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.”
Still, even if people are less happy when their minds wander, which causes which? Could the mind-wandering be a consequence rather than a cause of unhappiness?
To investigate cause and effect, the Harvard psychologists compared each person’s moods and thoughts as the day went on. They found that if someone’s mind wandered at, say, 10 in the morning, then at 10:15 that person was likely to be less happy than at 10 , perhaps because of those stray thoughts. But if people were in a bad mood at 10, they weren’t more likely to be worrying or daydreaming at 10:15.
“We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing mind-wandering,” Mr. Killingsworth says.
This result may disappoint daydreamers, but it’s in keeping with the religious and philosophical admonitions to “Be Here Now,” as the yogi Ram Dass titled his 1971 book. The phrase later became the title of a George Harrison song warning that “a mind that likes to wander ’round the corner is an unwise mind.”
What psychologists call “flow” — immersing your mind fully in activity — has long been advocated by nonpsychologists. “Life is not long,” Samuel Johnson said, “and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.” Henry Ford was more blunt: “Idleness warps the mind.” The iPhone results jibe nicely with one of the favorite sayings of William F. Buckley Jr.: “Industry is the enemy of melancholy.”
Alternatively, you could interpret the iPhone data as support for the philosophical dictum of Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.” The unhappiness produced by mind-wandering was largely a result of the episodes involving “unpleasant” topics. Such stray thoughts made people more miserable than commuting or working or any other activity.
But the people having stray thoughts on “neutral” topics ranked only a little below the overall average in happiness. And the ones daydreaming about “pleasant” topics were actually a bit above the average, although not quite as happy as the people whose minds were not wandering.
There are times, of course, when unpleasant thoughts are the most useful thoughts. “Happiness in the moment is not the only reason to do something,” says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research has shown that mind-wandering can lead people to creative solutions of problems, which could make them happier in the long term.
Over the several months of the iPhone study, though, the more frequent mind-wanderers remained less happy than the rest, and the moral — at least for the short-term — seems to be: you stray, you pay. So if you’ve been able to stay focused to the end of this column, perhaps you’re happier than when you daydreamed at the beginning. If not, you can go back to daydreaming starting...now.
Or you could try focusing on something else that is now, at long last, scientifically guaranteed to improve your mood. Just make sure you turn the phone off.
November 15, 2010
New York Times
When the Mind Wanders, Happiness Also Strays
By JOHN TIERNEY
A quick experiment. Before proceeding to the next paragraph, let your mind wander wherever it wants to go. Close your eyes for a few seconds, starting ... now.
And now, welcome back for the hypothesis of our experiment: Wherever your mind went — the South Seas, your job, your lunch, your unpaid bills — that daydreaming is not likely to make you as happy as focusing intensely on the rest of this column will.
I’m not sure I believe this prediction, but I can assure you it is based on an enormous amount of daydreaming cataloged in the current issue of Science. Using an iPhone app called trackyourhappiness, psychologists at Harvard contacted people around the world at random intervals to ask how they were feeling, what they were doing and what they were thinking.
The least surprising finding, based on a quarter-million responses from more than 2,200 people, was that the happiest people in the world were the ones in the midst of enjoying sex. Or at least they were enjoying it until the iPhone interrupted.
The researchers are not sure how many of them stopped to pick up the phone and how many waited until afterward to respond. Nor, unfortunately, is there any way to gauge what thoughts — happy, unhappy, murderous — went through their partners’ minds when they tried to resume.
When asked to rate their feelings on a scale of 0 to 100, with 100 being “very good,” the people having sex gave an average rating of 90. That was a good 15 points higher than the next-best activity, exercising, which was followed closely by conversation, listening to music, taking a walk, eating, praying and meditating, cooking, shopping, taking care of one’s children and reading. Near the bottom of the list were personal grooming, commuting and working.
When asked their thoughts, the people in flagrante were models of concentration: only 10 percent of the time did their thoughts stray from their endeavors. But when people were doing anything else, their minds wandered at least 30 percent of the time, and as much as 65 percent of the time (recorded during moments of personal grooming, clearly a less than scintillating enterprise).
On average throughout all the quarter-million responses, minds were wandering 47 percent of the time. That figure surprised the researchers, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert.
“I find it kind of weird now to look down a crowded street and realize that half the people aren’t really there,” Dr. Gilbert says.
You might suppose that if people’s minds wander while they’re having fun, then those stray thoughts are liable to be about something pleasant — and that was indeed the case with those happy campers having sex. But for the other 99.5 percent of the people, there was no correlation between the joy of the activity and the pleasantness of their thoughts.
“Even if you’re doing something that’s really enjoyable,” Mr. Killingsworth says, “that doesn’t seem to protect against negative thoughts. The rate of mind-wandering is lower for more enjoyable activities, but when people wander they are just as likely to wander toward negative thoughts.”
Whatever people were doing, whether it was having sex or reading or shopping, they tended to be happier if they focused on the activity instead of thinking about something else. In fact, whether and where their minds wandered was a better predictor of happiness than what they were doing.
“If you ask people to imagine winning the lottery,” Dr. Gilbert says, “they typically talk about the things they would do — ‘I’d go to Italy, I’d buy a boat, I’d lay on the beach’ — and they rarely mention the things they would think. But our data suggest that the location of the body is much less important than the location of the mind, and that the former has surprisingly little influence on the latter. The heart goes where the head takes it, and neither cares much about the whereabouts of the feet.”
Still, even if people are less happy when their minds wander, which causes which? Could the mind-wandering be a consequence rather than a cause of unhappiness?
To investigate cause and effect, the Harvard psychologists compared each person’s moods and thoughts as the day went on. They found that if someone’s mind wandered at, say, 10 in the morning, then at 10:15 that person was likely to be less happy than at 10 , perhaps because of those stray thoughts. But if people were in a bad mood at 10, they weren’t more likely to be worrying or daydreaming at 10:15.
“We see evidence for mind-wandering causing unhappiness, but no evidence for unhappiness causing mind-wandering,” Mr. Killingsworth says.
This result may disappoint daydreamers, but it’s in keeping with the religious and philosophical admonitions to “Be Here Now,” as the yogi Ram Dass titled his 1971 book. The phrase later became the title of a George Harrison song warning that “a mind that likes to wander ’round the corner is an unwise mind.”
What psychologists call “flow” — immersing your mind fully in activity — has long been advocated by nonpsychologists. “Life is not long,” Samuel Johnson said, “and too much of it must not pass in idle deliberation how it shall be spent.” Henry Ford was more blunt: “Idleness warps the mind.” The iPhone results jibe nicely with one of the favorite sayings of William F. Buckley Jr.: “Industry is the enemy of melancholy.”
Alternatively, you could interpret the iPhone data as support for the philosophical dictum of Bobby McFerrin: “Don’t worry, be happy.” The unhappiness produced by mind-wandering was largely a result of the episodes involving “unpleasant” topics. Such stray thoughts made people more miserable than commuting or working or any other activity.
But the people having stray thoughts on “neutral” topics ranked only a little below the overall average in happiness. And the ones daydreaming about “pleasant” topics were actually a bit above the average, although not quite as happy as the people whose minds were not wandering.
There are times, of course, when unpleasant thoughts are the most useful thoughts. “Happiness in the moment is not the only reason to do something,” says Jonathan Schooler, a psychologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His research has shown that mind-wandering can lead people to creative solutions of problems, which could make them happier in the long term.
Over the several months of the iPhone study, though, the more frequent mind-wanderers remained less happy than the rest, and the moral — at least for the short-term — seems to be: you stray, you pay. So if you’ve been able to stay focused to the end of this column, perhaps you’re happier than when you daydreamed at the beginning. If not, you can go back to daydreaming starting...now.
Or you could try focusing on something else that is now, at long last, scientifically guaranteed to improve your mood. Just make sure you turn the phone off.
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan and the Tough Question
Tai Chi Chuan and the Tough Question
I look at my classmates, all senior students; all have many years and valuable insights into tai chi. All of us all have more to learn too.
In addition to real skills, I see in each one a distinct error. It is different for each of us – we generally don’t share the same deficiency. Usually that error has been there a long time. Our teacher has corrected our errors many times. Yet we each forget that correction, and return to that original habit. Somehow we experience THAT particular habit as normal and sort of invisible, perhaps untouchable. These are the deepest habits to correct and require a persistent amount of attention.
Alas, they feel so natural to us. We codify our error in our experience and this is how normal happens. Since much of what we do in tai chi feels good, it is hard to recognize the habit. They become part of the picture that feels good to us and since they are ingrained in our form, even harder to extricate. When they are pointed out to us, quickly they return.
I think if we were to all gather around and tell each other what we see, we might even note different mistakes in each other’s tai chi forms. Out of respect for the practice (and its deeply personal aspect) and for creating an environment of learning together, we tend to be more accepting than critical. Understandably we leave most of the correcting to our teacher.
It’s good to sometimes ask each other what we think needs to be addressed. In this way I learn from their experience. I don’t have to necessarily agree with what they say but I am free to consider it. And if I do ask, I should consider their comment. I have the alternative of putting it aside for now, or even rejecting it.
But seeing that we all carry old patterns, I decided to ask my teacher, Maggie, what MY biggest error is. Her assessment was that I didn’t utilize relaxation as the core impetus in moving into the next posture. I tend to lead with the arms and pelvis before they have a chance to feel the total relaxation of the body. The arms and pelvis are driving the shape forward. The shape of the postures drives my form to the next posture.
For me, this misunderstanding is a very old way of functioning that makes progress in a certain direction nearly impossible. I have spent a great deal of time getting the external shape down with accuracy. Hence, the shaping of the body, arms, hips, was something I was very careful to study. I am aware of a great deal of relaxation, but I see how activation of arms and hips are leading the relaxation and not the other way around.
I can also see why this correction easily leaves my consciousness and that I revert back to “doing the shape”, to leading the body by activating the shape of the posture. There is a built in pride in this accomplishment. I can do this and I can answer questions on how to do this! I’m ahead of the game!
I see “doing the shape” in others quite readily, yet I am guilty of the same problem. I suspect I hide it better than others because of my long standing study in accurate shapes. It has been integrated in the way I do the form. That level of integration hides the fact that it is still there. Subliminally I am constantly trying to improve those shapes, constantly working to get that cart to lead the horse.
It’s frustrating to keep looking and looking and looking at what’s needed for improvement. There has to be a large amount of appreciation for what we have in order to allow that level of scrutiny to not destroy the good and turn into some crazed habit of self criticism. We can’t live in this realm in order to eat ourselves alive. Nor can we live in this realm in order to serve up criticism of others.
Tai chi has to be an act of generosity towards ourselves (and others) so that this experience has a beneficial value. It has to be a gift we give, not some masochistic punishment, like a dog biting its tail to remove a flea that always jumps away.
An attitude of real appreciation for what we have, and a total acceptance of where we are, coupled with a simple question, makes for a good combination.
That question is, “This feels good now but I know tai chi can be even better. What ingredient do I need to add (or remove)?”
This “ingredient” is a magic variable for each of us and as we progress, the “ingredient” will change over time.
I’m so curious. What’s next?
I look at my classmates, all senior students; all have many years and valuable insights into tai chi. All of us all have more to learn too.
In addition to real skills, I see in each one a distinct error. It is different for each of us – we generally don’t share the same deficiency. Usually that error has been there a long time. Our teacher has corrected our errors many times. Yet we each forget that correction, and return to that original habit. Somehow we experience THAT particular habit as normal and sort of invisible, perhaps untouchable. These are the deepest habits to correct and require a persistent amount of attention.
Alas, they feel so natural to us. We codify our error in our experience and this is how normal happens. Since much of what we do in tai chi feels good, it is hard to recognize the habit. They become part of the picture that feels good to us and since they are ingrained in our form, even harder to extricate. When they are pointed out to us, quickly they return.
I think if we were to all gather around and tell each other what we see, we might even note different mistakes in each other’s tai chi forms. Out of respect for the practice (and its deeply personal aspect) and for creating an environment of learning together, we tend to be more accepting than critical. Understandably we leave most of the correcting to our teacher.
It’s good to sometimes ask each other what we think needs to be addressed. In this way I learn from their experience. I don’t have to necessarily agree with what they say but I am free to consider it. And if I do ask, I should consider their comment. I have the alternative of putting it aside for now, or even rejecting it.
But seeing that we all carry old patterns, I decided to ask my teacher, Maggie, what MY biggest error is. Her assessment was that I didn’t utilize relaxation as the core impetus in moving into the next posture. I tend to lead with the arms and pelvis before they have a chance to feel the total relaxation of the body. The arms and pelvis are driving the shape forward. The shape of the postures drives my form to the next posture.
For me, this misunderstanding is a very old way of functioning that makes progress in a certain direction nearly impossible. I have spent a great deal of time getting the external shape down with accuracy. Hence, the shaping of the body, arms, hips, was something I was very careful to study. I am aware of a great deal of relaxation, but I see how activation of arms and hips are leading the relaxation and not the other way around.
I can also see why this correction easily leaves my consciousness and that I revert back to “doing the shape”, to leading the body by activating the shape of the posture. There is a built in pride in this accomplishment. I can do this and I can answer questions on how to do this! I’m ahead of the game!
I see “doing the shape” in others quite readily, yet I am guilty of the same problem. I suspect I hide it better than others because of my long standing study in accurate shapes. It has been integrated in the way I do the form. That level of integration hides the fact that it is still there. Subliminally I am constantly trying to improve those shapes, constantly working to get that cart to lead the horse.
It’s frustrating to keep looking and looking and looking at what’s needed for improvement. There has to be a large amount of appreciation for what we have in order to allow that level of scrutiny to not destroy the good and turn into some crazed habit of self criticism. We can’t live in this realm in order to eat ourselves alive. Nor can we live in this realm in order to serve up criticism of others.
Tai chi has to be an act of generosity towards ourselves (and others) so that this experience has a beneficial value. It has to be a gift we give, not some masochistic punishment, like a dog biting its tail to remove a flea that always jumps away.
An attitude of real appreciation for what we have, and a total acceptance of where we are, coupled with a simple question, makes for a good combination.
That question is, “This feels good now but I know tai chi can be even better. What ingredient do I need to add (or remove)?”
This “ingredient” is a magic variable for each of us and as we progress, the “ingredient” will change over time.
I’m so curious. What’s next?
Tai Chi Chuan and the Art of Balance
Tai Chi Chuan and the Art of Balance
Of course, are we talking about physical balance or mental balance? In tai chi, both are developed, but neither is guaranteed.
That being said, tai chi is well known for helping with physical balance and studies have backed up this statement. But why is this so?
It intrigues me that the tai chi solution to balance has nothing to do with holding yourself together on top of the ground. Tai chi is about letting go and sinking into the ground. Tai chi has nothing to do with a rigid center line that rises up from the feet into the head. It has more to do with the circumference – the outer circle of your body – and letting that circumference be in harmony with itself and in harmony with its surroundings.
When you study tai chi, initially one element is brought forth – a soft upright quality of the body. “Body upright!” we are told. Another way it is approached is letting the spine hang from the top of the cervical vertebrae.
This “hanging” allows relaxation to take over and to let the pelvic bones anchor the torso around a column like or pillar like sense of the upper body. This top section then rests on the hip joints which in turn rest on the legs on the feet on the ground. So the hanging and resting quality in tai chi lets the weight fall into the ground through the body, unimpeded. The joints open and are encouraged to be relaxed and flexible.
At the same time, it allows other muscles to relax and to let you have enough mind left over to feel the outer edges of the column of your torso. This is actually not a literal sense of the torso, but more of relating the front with the back of a circular column, and the right with the left sides of this imaginary column. Later, we extend this to include the lower half of the body and finally we grow from a column to an oval or circular ball like sense of the body.
By being a ball, we roll along the ground as opposed to sort of clomping along. We become smoother. (Observe that a ball doesn’t really balance on the ground, it just IS with the ground.)
Note the progression above. We go from hanging from above to relaxation to a sense of being a column to the sense of being a ball. This has nothing to do with holding yourself up rigidly to maintain some sort of balance.
The tai chi form offers plenty of moments of challenge in terms of balance when we move one foot off the ground to land somewhere else. By being relaxed and open and connected to the ground, we learn real balance. At these particular moments, the training emphasizes being on the foot where the weight actually is and by not lurching or falling onto the foot that is finding a new place to land. This is the opposite of walking where we really do take advantage of falling onto the next foot as we move forward and catching ourselves as we move forward.
Your body is like a scale. One foot connects more and more into the ground where the weight currently is, the other foot lightly lands – no weight – onto the ground it plans to move towards. So there is a moment where you are ready to shift your weight forward, but you haven’t made any physical commitment in that direction, at least for a brief moment. The scale is all on one side of the fence preparing to move to the other side.
We spend a great deal of time working at this precarious place because we are training ourselves to create a new habit. We no longer perch on top of the ground, but we now sink into the ground and use the ground to help stabilize and relax our bodies, utilizing several new tools to assist in the process. Subtly, you relax the upper body to use the ground to find stability.
Another aspect here, somewhat hidden, is that by working this way, we are encouraged to put our awareness into the body. Our mind is not dwelling on some idea, plan, past annoyance and any other distraction. This new kind of balance is so mentally challenging and oddly satisfying that you absolutely have to be very aware of what is going on within the body itself. A new habit is being formed – that of having your mind in your body.
In tai chi training, we return again and again and again to feeling what is going on inside of our physical selves. To have a special exercise where this is required is a huge benefit.
Yet another aspect is that since tai chi is also a martial art, your awareness has to include your surroundings, even those areas that you don’t see with your eyes. You learn to feel your surroundings. Like an octopus with many tentacles, your awareness expands to include the whole space. We are developing a large inclusive way of perceiving the world.
One could argue that you don’t need tai chi to put your mind in your body. That’s true, but I would argue that by practicing tai chi, you have a tool that gently encourages you to put your mind in your body. Otherwise, most likely you wouldn’t want to be bothered. And since practicing tai chi contains many other benefits, you get more “bang!” for the time spent studying and practicing.
I mentioned mental balance. While this is a tough act to achieve, I’ll briefly state that I believe that putting your mind into your body is a good place to begin if mental balance is an issue. This is not the whole answer of course. It seems to help, though like any human endeavor there are many ways to defeat even the best of training activities.
Balance is a worthy practice, a challenge, rewarding and endlessly fascinating.
Tai chi really helps you get there.
Of course, are we talking about physical balance or mental balance? In tai chi, both are developed, but neither is guaranteed.
That being said, tai chi is well known for helping with physical balance and studies have backed up this statement. But why is this so?
It intrigues me that the tai chi solution to balance has nothing to do with holding yourself together on top of the ground. Tai chi is about letting go and sinking into the ground. Tai chi has nothing to do with a rigid center line that rises up from the feet into the head. It has more to do with the circumference – the outer circle of your body – and letting that circumference be in harmony with itself and in harmony with its surroundings.
When you study tai chi, initially one element is brought forth – a soft upright quality of the body. “Body upright!” we are told. Another way it is approached is letting the spine hang from the top of the cervical vertebrae.
This “hanging” allows relaxation to take over and to let the pelvic bones anchor the torso around a column like or pillar like sense of the upper body. This top section then rests on the hip joints which in turn rest on the legs on the feet on the ground. So the hanging and resting quality in tai chi lets the weight fall into the ground through the body, unimpeded. The joints open and are encouraged to be relaxed and flexible.
At the same time, it allows other muscles to relax and to let you have enough mind left over to feel the outer edges of the column of your torso. This is actually not a literal sense of the torso, but more of relating the front with the back of a circular column, and the right with the left sides of this imaginary column. Later, we extend this to include the lower half of the body and finally we grow from a column to an oval or circular ball like sense of the body.
By being a ball, we roll along the ground as opposed to sort of clomping along. We become smoother. (Observe that a ball doesn’t really balance on the ground, it just IS with the ground.)
Note the progression above. We go from hanging from above to relaxation to a sense of being a column to the sense of being a ball. This has nothing to do with holding yourself up rigidly to maintain some sort of balance.
The tai chi form offers plenty of moments of challenge in terms of balance when we move one foot off the ground to land somewhere else. By being relaxed and open and connected to the ground, we learn real balance. At these particular moments, the training emphasizes being on the foot where the weight actually is and by not lurching or falling onto the foot that is finding a new place to land. This is the opposite of walking where we really do take advantage of falling onto the next foot as we move forward and catching ourselves as we move forward.
Your body is like a scale. One foot connects more and more into the ground where the weight currently is, the other foot lightly lands – no weight – onto the ground it plans to move towards. So there is a moment where you are ready to shift your weight forward, but you haven’t made any physical commitment in that direction, at least for a brief moment. The scale is all on one side of the fence preparing to move to the other side.
We spend a great deal of time working at this precarious place because we are training ourselves to create a new habit. We no longer perch on top of the ground, but we now sink into the ground and use the ground to help stabilize and relax our bodies, utilizing several new tools to assist in the process. Subtly, you relax the upper body to use the ground to find stability.
Another aspect here, somewhat hidden, is that by working this way, we are encouraged to put our awareness into the body. Our mind is not dwelling on some idea, plan, past annoyance and any other distraction. This new kind of balance is so mentally challenging and oddly satisfying that you absolutely have to be very aware of what is going on within the body itself. A new habit is being formed – that of having your mind in your body.
In tai chi training, we return again and again and again to feeling what is going on inside of our physical selves. To have a special exercise where this is required is a huge benefit.
Yet another aspect is that since tai chi is also a martial art, your awareness has to include your surroundings, even those areas that you don’t see with your eyes. You learn to feel your surroundings. Like an octopus with many tentacles, your awareness expands to include the whole space. We are developing a large inclusive way of perceiving the world.
One could argue that you don’t need tai chi to put your mind in your body. That’s true, but I would argue that by practicing tai chi, you have a tool that gently encourages you to put your mind in your body. Otherwise, most likely you wouldn’t want to be bothered. And since practicing tai chi contains many other benefits, you get more “bang!” for the time spent studying and practicing.
I mentioned mental balance. While this is a tough act to achieve, I’ll briefly state that I believe that putting your mind into your body is a good place to begin if mental balance is an issue. This is not the whole answer of course. It seems to help, though like any human endeavor there are many ways to defeat even the best of training activities.
Balance is a worthy practice, a challenge, rewarding and endlessly fascinating.
Tai chi really helps you get there.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Lou Reed, musician, does Tai Chi!
Lou Reed
October 26, 2010
New York Times
To the Editor:
Thank you for your columns on tai chi on living to be 100 (Personal Health, Sept. 28 and Oct. 19). Over the years I’ve been asked: “How do you stay in shape? How do you take care of your back, your knees, your joints?”
People ask these questions because they know I probably shouldn’t be here — I’m a study in reckless excess. Yet here I am, at age 68. (And I say this as I watch my cousin Shirley, who is 102.)
I have studied the art of tai chi for more than 25 years…. (You must have an authentic instructor to correct alignment and to preserve and strengthen the knees and back.)
Tai chi is life-changing. It puts you in touch with invisible power of — yes — the universe. You don’t need equipment. My teacher has choreographed a series of moves that can be done in an apartment with very little space.
I know it sounds too good to be true. But as your columnist said, the question isn’t “why you should practice tai chi, but why not.”
Lou Reed
New York
October 26, 2010
New York Times
To the Editor:
Thank you for your columns on tai chi on living to be 100 (Personal Health, Sept. 28 and Oct. 19). Over the years I’ve been asked: “How do you stay in shape? How do you take care of your back, your knees, your joints?”
People ask these questions because they know I probably shouldn’t be here — I’m a study in reckless excess. Yet here I am, at age 68. (And I say this as I watch my cousin Shirley, who is 102.)
I have studied the art of tai chi for more than 25 years…. (You must have an authentic instructor to correct alignment and to preserve and strengthen the knees and back.)
Tai chi is life-changing. It puts you in touch with invisible power of — yes — the universe. You don’t need equipment. My teacher has choreographed a series of moves that can be done in an apartment with very little space.
I know it sounds too good to be true. But as your columnist said, the question isn’t “why you should practice tai chi, but why not.”
Lou Reed
New York
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan - Get Fat!
Tai Chi Chuan – Get Fat!
I’ve been in love with two ideas for some time now. One comes from Maggie Newman (my long time teacher) and the other comes from Lenzie Williams (a teacher whom I have the utmost respect.) Both ideas require a great deal of attention.
Maggie has often stated that as you go into the full part of the posture, the pressure of the foot on the ground stimulates the chi and the chi hits the sides of the wall of the posture. A filling up sensation that requires great relaxation, perfect structure, a sense of the whole, awareness of the central core of the body along with the edges of the perimeter of the shape. You get fatter.
Lenzie has a wonderful exercise in pushing where you take the pressure from your hands against a body that can no longer escape your pursuit, and like an accordion, you redistribute that pressure into your entire body down through the feet. This requires exactly the same great relaxation, perfect structure, a sense of the whole, awareness of the central core of the body, the edges of the perimeter of the shape that Maggie’s suggestion requires, but the pressure begins in the hands. The redistribution of that pressure, if I recall it correctly, is a simultaneous distribution throughout the body, not a sequential distribution. The image of an accordion captures this sense that all layers simultaneously redistribute the pressure. You get fatter.
So one expansion is stimulated from below (feet) while the other expansion is stimulated from above (hands). Of course, in the accordion image, you actually have both ends functioning simultaneously because the body is between two end points. It creates a pressure chamber that contains lots of energy ready to explode. In one sense you are balanced between these two end points which create a unique and perfect shape (in terms of energy).
In the push hands situation, you borrow the energy from the feet and hands and let it burst outward along the perimeter of the shape. The push comes from a natural expansion that happens from total absorption of pressure from the hands and feet. You become bigger than the partner by utilizing the pressure they give you.
It also reminds me of one of those large relax-the-back balls that we use to sit on or exercise with. The whole ball expands when you sit on it and the pressure on the sides of the walls of the ball, every square millimeter, goes out in all directions, including the ground and buttocks of the person sitting on it.
No doing is required here. It just happens.
Does this happen in life? Can two points of pressure create expansion and a resolution of those pressures? Can we solve our pressures, not from fighting them, but from allowing them to work on us in a way that creates a way for energy to go in a proper direction, from non-doing? By just allowing them to work on us and through settling into our body, meticulously adjusting to create a path that ultimately solves the problems? Can we get fat here and even enjoy what happens naturally?
There are a few requirements. Not fighting the pressures, but letting them work themselves out through and within our body (mind, emotions). Being aware of the end points and all the points around the circumference of the situation. Therefore no element is lost to us and all of who we are can be of service to the conflict of two points of pressure. Giving ourselves a structure to work our way through the situations at hand, and giving ourselves some time to be with the situation, the gestalt of what we are “stuck” with, what we feel trapped by. Give up struggling, but don’t give up attending. Being with what is, not fighting or cursing what is. Observe, incorporate, absorb and follow the pathway of the energy.
Using what life presents is a life time of work. This is an exquisite place to be and most likely we can only be there through focused attention and long sustained effort in letting go, relaxation, allowing, being and acceptance. Yes, pain may be part of the redistribution plan (but using that pain to direct energy in a creative direction and not a destructive direction).
The biggest irony is that in order for this to occur, you may have to do the opposite of what your instincts may be telling you. For most of us, that means derailing flight or fight responses. See them, feel them, let them go (this tired old phrase is perhaps the hardest thing to do in life.) It means instilling in our psyches balancing and connecting the pressures to see where this leads. In doing so, pressures give energy to our shape and it is this energy that can lead us to solutions.
Each set of circumstances needs to be embraced as teachers to learn how to apply our effort in a direction that won’t tear us apart. In doing what is needed, we have to find tools that eliminate self destruction. We need to find tools that work towards the creation of something new.
This is my aim in tai chi practice. To be fat. But this fat has nothing to do with eating or even pleasure. This fat comes from being with and allowing pressures to work themselves through us, redistribute within us, and redirect into a new shape that gives solutions to life’s pressures.
I’d like to think this is possible – but I have no argument with those who may think it is not possible. Because I don’t really know. I just see this potential in tai chi and have to wonder if life too has a similar possibility.
Most often, if it happens in tai chi, it happens in life.
I’ve been in love with two ideas for some time now. One comes from Maggie Newman (my long time teacher) and the other comes from Lenzie Williams (a teacher whom I have the utmost respect.) Both ideas require a great deal of attention.
Maggie has often stated that as you go into the full part of the posture, the pressure of the foot on the ground stimulates the chi and the chi hits the sides of the wall of the posture. A filling up sensation that requires great relaxation, perfect structure, a sense of the whole, awareness of the central core of the body along with the edges of the perimeter of the shape. You get fatter.
Lenzie has a wonderful exercise in pushing where you take the pressure from your hands against a body that can no longer escape your pursuit, and like an accordion, you redistribute that pressure into your entire body down through the feet. This requires exactly the same great relaxation, perfect structure, a sense of the whole, awareness of the central core of the body, the edges of the perimeter of the shape that Maggie’s suggestion requires, but the pressure begins in the hands. The redistribution of that pressure, if I recall it correctly, is a simultaneous distribution throughout the body, not a sequential distribution. The image of an accordion captures this sense that all layers simultaneously redistribute the pressure. You get fatter.
So one expansion is stimulated from below (feet) while the other expansion is stimulated from above (hands). Of course, in the accordion image, you actually have both ends functioning simultaneously because the body is between two end points. It creates a pressure chamber that contains lots of energy ready to explode. In one sense you are balanced between these two end points which create a unique and perfect shape (in terms of energy).
In the push hands situation, you borrow the energy from the feet and hands and let it burst outward along the perimeter of the shape. The push comes from a natural expansion that happens from total absorption of pressure from the hands and feet. You become bigger than the partner by utilizing the pressure they give you.
It also reminds me of one of those large relax-the-back balls that we use to sit on or exercise with. The whole ball expands when you sit on it and the pressure on the sides of the walls of the ball, every square millimeter, goes out in all directions, including the ground and buttocks of the person sitting on it.
No doing is required here. It just happens.
Does this happen in life? Can two points of pressure create expansion and a resolution of those pressures? Can we solve our pressures, not from fighting them, but from allowing them to work on us in a way that creates a way for energy to go in a proper direction, from non-doing? By just allowing them to work on us and through settling into our body, meticulously adjusting to create a path that ultimately solves the problems? Can we get fat here and even enjoy what happens naturally?
There are a few requirements. Not fighting the pressures, but letting them work themselves out through and within our body (mind, emotions). Being aware of the end points and all the points around the circumference of the situation. Therefore no element is lost to us and all of who we are can be of service to the conflict of two points of pressure. Giving ourselves a structure to work our way through the situations at hand, and giving ourselves some time to be with the situation, the gestalt of what we are “stuck” with, what we feel trapped by. Give up struggling, but don’t give up attending. Being with what is, not fighting or cursing what is. Observe, incorporate, absorb and follow the pathway of the energy.
Using what life presents is a life time of work. This is an exquisite place to be and most likely we can only be there through focused attention and long sustained effort in letting go, relaxation, allowing, being and acceptance. Yes, pain may be part of the redistribution plan (but using that pain to direct energy in a creative direction and not a destructive direction).
The biggest irony is that in order for this to occur, you may have to do the opposite of what your instincts may be telling you. For most of us, that means derailing flight or fight responses. See them, feel them, let them go (this tired old phrase is perhaps the hardest thing to do in life.) It means instilling in our psyches balancing and connecting the pressures to see where this leads. In doing so, pressures give energy to our shape and it is this energy that can lead us to solutions.
Each set of circumstances needs to be embraced as teachers to learn how to apply our effort in a direction that won’t tear us apart. In doing what is needed, we have to find tools that eliminate self destruction. We need to find tools that work towards the creation of something new.
This is my aim in tai chi practice. To be fat. But this fat has nothing to do with eating or even pleasure. This fat comes from being with and allowing pressures to work themselves through us, redistribute within us, and redirect into a new shape that gives solutions to life’s pressures.
I’d like to think this is possible – but I have no argument with those who may think it is not possible. Because I don’t really know. I just see this potential in tai chi and have to wonder if life too has a similar possibility.
Most often, if it happens in tai chi, it happens in life.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
Jane Brody in The New York Times writes on Tai Chi's benefits
September 27, 2010
A Downside to Tai Chi? None That I See
By JANE E. BRODY
The graceful, dancelike progression of meditative poses called tai chi originated in ancient China as a martial art, but the exercise is best known in modern times as a route to reduced stress and enhanced health. After reviewing existing scientific evidence for its potential health benefits, I’ve concluded that the proper question to ask yourself may not be why you should practice tai chi, but why not.
It is a low-impact activity suitable for people of all ages and most states of health, even those who “hate” exercise or have long been sedentary. It is a gentle, calming exercise — some call it meditation in motion — that involves deep breathing but no sweat or breathlessness.
It places minimal stress on joints and muscles and thus is far less likely than other forms of exercise to cause muscle soreness or injury. It requires no special equipment or clothing and can be practiced almost anywhere at any time, alone or with others.
Once the proper technique is learned from a qualified instructor, continuing to practice it need not cost another cent.
The many small studies of tai chi have found health benefits ranging from better balance and prevention of falls to reduced blood pressure, relief of pain and improved immunity.
The latest and perhaps best designed study was conducted among patients with debilitating fibromyalgia, a complex and poorly understood pain syndrome.
Dr. Chenchen Wang and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center in Boston reported in August in The New England Journal of Medicine that tai chi reduced pain and fatigue and improved the patients’ ability to move, function physically and sleep. The benefits persisted long after the 12 weeks of tai chi sessions ended.
The study was financed primarily by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health. To be sure, documenting tai chi’s purported health benefits is a challenge. As an editorial in the journal noted, it is virtually impossible to design an ideal study of tai chi. There is no “fake” version that could serve as a proper control to be tested against the real thing. Thus, researchers have to rely on less-than-perfect comparison groups. In the fibromyalgia study, for example, the control group was given stretching exercises and wellness education.
And unlike evaluations of drugs, tai chi studies cannot be double-blinded such that neither patients nor researchers know which group is receiving which treatment. Those guided by a tai chi master would undoubtedly know who they are and could be influenced by the teacher’s enthusiasm for the practice.
Still, scientists have come to better understand and appreciate the mind-body connection, which for too long was dismissed as nothing more than a placebo effect, and most doctors are now more willing to accept the possibility that stress-reducing activities can have a profound effect on health.
A Stress Reducer
There is no question that tai chi can reduce stress. As the study authors described it, tai chi “combines meditation with slow, gentle, graceful movements, as well as deep breathing and relaxation to move vital energy (called qi by the Chinese) throughout the body.”
If nothing else, this kind of relaxing activity can lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve cardiovascular fitness and enhance mood. For example, a review in 2008 found that tai chi lowered blood pressure in 22 of 26 published studies.
Thus, it can be a useful aid in treating heart disease, high blood pressure and depression, conditions common among older people who may be unable to benefit from more physically demanding exercise.
Regular practitioners of tai chi report that they sleep better, feel healthier and experience less pain and stiffness, though it cannot be said for certain that tai chi alone is responsible for such benefits.
Yet as Dr. Wang and co-authors noted in an earlier report that analyzed the literature on tai chi and health, a majority of studies have been small and poorly controlled, if they were controlled at all. Therefore, the tai chi practitioners could have been healthier to begin with or could have practiced other health-enhancing habits.
Perhaps the best-documented benefit of tai chi, and one that is easiest to appreciate, is its ability to improve balance and reduce the risk of falls, even in people in their 80s and 90s. The moves are done in a smooth, continuous fashion, as weight is shifted from one leg to the other and arms are moved rhythmically. This can improve muscle strength and flexibility, and enable the muscles in the legs and hips to function in a more coordinated and balanced manner. Thus, practitioners become more stable and sure-footed.
Another benefit, again especially important to older adults, is the apparent ability of tai chi to improve immune function. In a 2007 study also financed by the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center, those who practiced tai chi had a better response to the varicella zoster vaccine that can help prevent shingles.
Talk to a Doctor First
Tai chi is not a substitute for professional medical care, but rather an adjunct to such care and a way to keep debility at bay. As with other forms of alternative medicine, it is best to consult your physician before signing up for instruction.
This is especially important if you are a pregnant woman or have serious physical limitations, joint problems, back pain or advanced osteoporosis. While such conditions do not preclude practicing tai chi, you may have to modify or avoid certain positions.
Although tai chi is a gentle exercise, one can get carried away. Overdoing any activity, including tai chi, can result in sore or sprained muscles. On its Web site, the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center notes that “tai chi instructors often recommend that you do not practice tai chi right after a meal, or when you are very tired, or if you have an active infection.”
Also important is assurance that your instructor is well qualified. Instructors do not have to be licensed, and the practice is not regulated by any governmental authority. There are many styles of tai chi — the yang style is most commonly practiced in Western countries — and there are no established training standards.
Traditionally, would-be instructors learn from a master teacher. Before choosing an instructor, you’d be wise to inquire about the person’s training and experience.
Learning tai chi from a qualified instructor is critical. The Complementary and Alternative Medicine center cautions that trying to learn it from a book or video is no guarantee that you will be able to perform the moves safely and correctly. Reliable sources of instructors include Y.M.C.A.’s and Y.W.C.A.’s, and well-run commercial gyms.
Finally, attending a few sessions or even a 12-week course is not enough to guarantee lasting health benefits. As with any other form of exercise, tai chi must be practiced regularly and indefinitely to maintain its value.
A Downside to Tai Chi? None That I See
By JANE E. BRODY
The graceful, dancelike progression of meditative poses called tai chi originated in ancient China as a martial art, but the exercise is best known in modern times as a route to reduced stress and enhanced health. After reviewing existing scientific evidence for its potential health benefits, I’ve concluded that the proper question to ask yourself may not be why you should practice tai chi, but why not.
It is a low-impact activity suitable for people of all ages and most states of health, even those who “hate” exercise or have long been sedentary. It is a gentle, calming exercise — some call it meditation in motion — that involves deep breathing but no sweat or breathlessness.
It places minimal stress on joints and muscles and thus is far less likely than other forms of exercise to cause muscle soreness or injury. It requires no special equipment or clothing and can be practiced almost anywhere at any time, alone or with others.
Once the proper technique is learned from a qualified instructor, continuing to practice it need not cost another cent.
The many small studies of tai chi have found health benefits ranging from better balance and prevention of falls to reduced blood pressure, relief of pain and improved immunity.
The latest and perhaps best designed study was conducted among patients with debilitating fibromyalgia, a complex and poorly understood pain syndrome.
Dr. Chenchen Wang and colleagues at Tufts Medical Center in Boston reported in August in The New England Journal of Medicine that tai chi reduced pain and fatigue and improved the patients’ ability to move, function physically and sleep. The benefits persisted long after the 12 weeks of tai chi sessions ended.
The study was financed primarily by the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a division of the National Institutes of Health. To be sure, documenting tai chi’s purported health benefits is a challenge. As an editorial in the journal noted, it is virtually impossible to design an ideal study of tai chi. There is no “fake” version that could serve as a proper control to be tested against the real thing. Thus, researchers have to rely on less-than-perfect comparison groups. In the fibromyalgia study, for example, the control group was given stretching exercises and wellness education.
And unlike evaluations of drugs, tai chi studies cannot be double-blinded such that neither patients nor researchers know which group is receiving which treatment. Those guided by a tai chi master would undoubtedly know who they are and could be influenced by the teacher’s enthusiasm for the practice.
Still, scientists have come to better understand and appreciate the mind-body connection, which for too long was dismissed as nothing more than a placebo effect, and most doctors are now more willing to accept the possibility that stress-reducing activities can have a profound effect on health.
A Stress Reducer
There is no question that tai chi can reduce stress. As the study authors described it, tai chi “combines meditation with slow, gentle, graceful movements, as well as deep breathing and relaxation to move vital energy (called qi by the Chinese) throughout the body.”
If nothing else, this kind of relaxing activity can lower blood pressure and heart rate, improve cardiovascular fitness and enhance mood. For example, a review in 2008 found that tai chi lowered blood pressure in 22 of 26 published studies.
Thus, it can be a useful aid in treating heart disease, high blood pressure and depression, conditions common among older people who may be unable to benefit from more physically demanding exercise.
Regular practitioners of tai chi report that they sleep better, feel healthier and experience less pain and stiffness, though it cannot be said for certain that tai chi alone is responsible for such benefits.
Yet as Dr. Wang and co-authors noted in an earlier report that analyzed the literature on tai chi and health, a majority of studies have been small and poorly controlled, if they were controlled at all. Therefore, the tai chi practitioners could have been healthier to begin with or could have practiced other health-enhancing habits.
Perhaps the best-documented benefit of tai chi, and one that is easiest to appreciate, is its ability to improve balance and reduce the risk of falls, even in people in their 80s and 90s. The moves are done in a smooth, continuous fashion, as weight is shifted from one leg to the other and arms are moved rhythmically. This can improve muscle strength and flexibility, and enable the muscles in the legs and hips to function in a more coordinated and balanced manner. Thus, practitioners become more stable and sure-footed.
Another benefit, again especially important to older adults, is the apparent ability of tai chi to improve immune function. In a 2007 study also financed by the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center, those who practiced tai chi had a better response to the varicella zoster vaccine that can help prevent shingles.
Talk to a Doctor First
Tai chi is not a substitute for professional medical care, but rather an adjunct to such care and a way to keep debility at bay. As with other forms of alternative medicine, it is best to consult your physician before signing up for instruction.
This is especially important if you are a pregnant woman or have serious physical limitations, joint problems, back pain or advanced osteoporosis. While such conditions do not preclude practicing tai chi, you may have to modify or avoid certain positions.
Although tai chi is a gentle exercise, one can get carried away. Overdoing any activity, including tai chi, can result in sore or sprained muscles. On its Web site, the Complementary and Alternative Medicine center notes that “tai chi instructors often recommend that you do not practice tai chi right after a meal, or when you are very tired, or if you have an active infection.”
Also important is assurance that your instructor is well qualified. Instructors do not have to be licensed, and the practice is not regulated by any governmental authority. There are many styles of tai chi — the yang style is most commonly practiced in Western countries — and there are no established training standards.
Traditionally, would-be instructors learn from a master teacher. Before choosing an instructor, you’d be wise to inquire about the person’s training and experience.
Learning tai chi from a qualified instructor is critical. The Complementary and Alternative Medicine center cautions that trying to learn it from a book or video is no guarantee that you will be able to perform the moves safely and correctly. Reliable sources of instructors include Y.M.C.A.’s and Y.W.C.A.’s, and well-run commercial gyms.
Finally, attending a few sessions or even a 12-week course is not enough to guarantee lasting health benefits. As with any other form of exercise, tai chi must be practiced regularly and indefinitely to maintain its value.
Thursday, September 16, 2010
The Cost of Losing Your Balance - New York Times article
I was surprised to see the cost of losing one’s balance. Research on tai chi has long established it as a great way for learning greater balance (along with many other benefits.) I quote a portion of a New York Times article that, alas, did not mention tai chi’s balance benefit.
September 15, 2010
Staying on Balance, With the Help of Exercises
New York Times by John Hanc
Unintentional falls among those 65 and older are responsible for more than 18,000 deaths and nearly 450,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Most of these falls are caused by a decline in that complex and multidimensional human skill known as balance.
To remain upright and sure-footed, explained Dr. David Thurman, a neurologist with the center and a spokesman for the American Academy of Neurology, “there are several components of the nervous system, as well as motor or movement functions, that need to be intact.” These include the vestibular system of the inner ear, vision and proprioception, the ability to sense where one’s arms, legs or other parts of the body are without looking at them, as well as the strength and flexibility of bones and soft tissue.
“All of these,” Dr. Thurman said, “tend to degrade with age, particularly as people move into their seventh and eighth decades.”
Yet, unlike many effects of aging, balance can be improved, and the age-related declines can be delayed or minimized with proper training.
“The preponderance of evidence,” Dr. Thurman said, “shows fairly convincingly that strength and balance training can reduce the rate of falls by up to about 50 percent.”
Hence, the Department of Health and Human Services in revising its national physical activity guidelines, issued in 2008, added a recommendation for the elderly to include balance exercises as part of their overall physical activity regimen.
The problem, said Michael Rogers, an exercise scientist at Wichita State University, is that while most major public health agencies recommend 30 minutes a day of cardiovascular exercise for the heart and two or three sessions a week of strength training, “there is no real exercise prescription for balance.” So activities that promote balance tend to become integrated into other activities. Mr. Morea does this with older clients like Ms. Luftig in twice-weekly, 30-minute strength-training sessions.
Of course, while it is good to have supervision by a certified fitness professional, not to mention the benefit of a gym full of balance toys (and there are many these days, including wobble boards, balls and cushions), one does not have to work out with a personal trainer to get the benefits of balance training.
“You can do it anytime, anyplace,” said Mr. Rogers, who is research director at Wichita State’s Center for Physical Activity and Aging and teaches exercise classes to older adults. “You don’t have to be involved in a systematic program.”
He added, “You don’t have to be standing on one foot, which is often too difficult for some older people. You can challenge your balance while brushing your teeth.” Simply put one foot in front of the other while you brush, or stand with your feet closer together.
Balance training is often seen as part of a larger trend called functional fitness exercises, which are geared to helping one handle the physical challenges of day-to-day life. Around holiday time, for example, Mr. Rogers tries to prepare the elderly in his class for crowded shopping malls. He has them walk between narrow gaps, occasionally getting brushed by others. This, he said, “helps give them confidence” to face the holiday throngs.
Trainers like Mr. Morea devise balance training drills for their older clients. For example, a woman was having trouble bending down in her kitchen to reach to the back of a floor-level cupboard and retrieve cooking pots. So he developed “pot squat and reach” — a movement that basically imitated what she was doing, except on an unstable surface, so that she could develop the strength, neural connections and balance to confidently perform that movement at home.
One of the nice things about balance training is that the results can be evident fairly quickly.
“The nervous system has considerably more regenerative capacity well into the senior years than we used to think,” said Dr. Thurman. “The capacity for adjustment, compensation and even developing new skills remains there.”
Which is exactly what Ms. Luftig, who lives in Greenwich Village, has found. “I feel more confident,” she said. “In my neighborhood, you have bicycles whizzing by you all the time. You could lose your balance when they come so close. But when that happens now, I feel more stable. I have this ability that I didn’t used to have.”
September 15, 2010
Staying on Balance, With the Help of Exercises
New York Times by John Hanc
Unintentional falls among those 65 and older are responsible for more than 18,000 deaths and nearly 450,000 hospitalizations annually in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Most of these falls are caused by a decline in that complex and multidimensional human skill known as balance.
To remain upright and sure-footed, explained Dr. David Thurman, a neurologist with the center and a spokesman for the American Academy of Neurology, “there are several components of the nervous system, as well as motor or movement functions, that need to be intact.” These include the vestibular system of the inner ear, vision and proprioception, the ability to sense where one’s arms, legs or other parts of the body are without looking at them, as well as the strength and flexibility of bones and soft tissue.
“All of these,” Dr. Thurman said, “tend to degrade with age, particularly as people move into their seventh and eighth decades.”
Yet, unlike many effects of aging, balance can be improved, and the age-related declines can be delayed or minimized with proper training.
“The preponderance of evidence,” Dr. Thurman said, “shows fairly convincingly that strength and balance training can reduce the rate of falls by up to about 50 percent.”
Hence, the Department of Health and Human Services in revising its national physical activity guidelines, issued in 2008, added a recommendation for the elderly to include balance exercises as part of their overall physical activity regimen.
The problem, said Michael Rogers, an exercise scientist at Wichita State University, is that while most major public health agencies recommend 30 minutes a day of cardiovascular exercise for the heart and two or three sessions a week of strength training, “there is no real exercise prescription for balance.” So activities that promote balance tend to become integrated into other activities. Mr. Morea does this with older clients like Ms. Luftig in twice-weekly, 30-minute strength-training sessions.
Of course, while it is good to have supervision by a certified fitness professional, not to mention the benefit of a gym full of balance toys (and there are many these days, including wobble boards, balls and cushions), one does not have to work out with a personal trainer to get the benefits of balance training.
“You can do it anytime, anyplace,” said Mr. Rogers, who is research director at Wichita State’s Center for Physical Activity and Aging and teaches exercise classes to older adults. “You don’t have to be involved in a systematic program.”
He added, “You don’t have to be standing on one foot, which is often too difficult for some older people. You can challenge your balance while brushing your teeth.” Simply put one foot in front of the other while you brush, or stand with your feet closer together.
Balance training is often seen as part of a larger trend called functional fitness exercises, which are geared to helping one handle the physical challenges of day-to-day life. Around holiday time, for example, Mr. Rogers tries to prepare the elderly in his class for crowded shopping malls. He has them walk between narrow gaps, occasionally getting brushed by others. This, he said, “helps give them confidence” to face the holiday throngs.
Trainers like Mr. Morea devise balance training drills for their older clients. For example, a woman was having trouble bending down in her kitchen to reach to the back of a floor-level cupboard and retrieve cooking pots. So he developed “pot squat and reach” — a movement that basically imitated what she was doing, except on an unstable surface, so that she could develop the strength, neural connections and balance to confidently perform that movement at home.
One of the nice things about balance training is that the results can be evident fairly quickly.
“The nervous system has considerably more regenerative capacity well into the senior years than we used to think,” said Dr. Thurman. “The capacity for adjustment, compensation and even developing new skills remains there.”
Which is exactly what Ms. Luftig, who lives in Greenwich Village, has found. “I feel more confident,” she said. “In my neighborhood, you have bicycles whizzing by you all the time. You could lose your balance when they come so close. But when that happens now, I feel more stable. I have this ability that I didn’t used to have.”
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan is a Vertical, Not Horizontal, Vector
Tai Chi Chuan is a vertical, not horizontal, vector.
I’ve been chewing on a thought for some time, a “life at its core” kind of thought. Ready to join me?
I love vectors, real or imagined, and I see life as having many vectors. There is the career vector, the family vector, the love vector, the health vector (for some), the money vector, the birth vector, the dying vector and no doubt many others.
Fundamentally, however, I see to two primary vectors: the horizontal vector and the vertical vector.
The horizontal vector is time based and looks forward or looks back. You make plans and execute them. You measure progress or no progress. It is like walking down the street with a goal in mind as to where you need/want to go to next. Even if that goal is to just get out of the house and breathe some fresh air, there is a goal here, a beginning-middle-end, and onto the next vector that moves you forward into the next plan, goal, or desired situation.
Then there is the vertical vector. You don’t really move at all and it is not time based. You just be and expand in all directions. This includes, of course, an up and down direction and an in and out direction. But because you are not moving forward or sideways, primarily it is up and down, as if reaching into heaven and digging into earth. This is ultimately a “being” experience. Your “being” can be bigger or smaller, exclusive in inclusive. But it is not concerned with progress, progression, getting something or getting somewhere, landing somewhere, achieving something or avoiding something, or plans to achieve or avoid. It is the vector that takes a break from time itself. This vector forgets time. This vector likes to be where it is. I am more and more convinced that the vertical vector is the real link to happiness.
The horizontal and vertical vectors are not mutually separate. They do have a relation to each other and affect each other. The more developed the vertical vector, the more smoothly the horizontal vector will function. The better you balance all the issues that surround the horizontal vector, or follow that vector with a proper sense of pace, the more likely you are to have time and space to sit with and live through the vertical vector. To be working with your goals is a horizontal vector, to hold your baby and stare into his/her eyes is a vertical vector.
Here comes tai chi chuan. Horizontally, you may be concerned with progress in your tai chi. But the actual experience of tai chi with its physical emphasis on upright posture and relaxing and sinking into the ground clearly demonstrates its verticality. Oddly, to focus on progress or success in tai chi only gets you so far in your development because at its root, tai chi is “non-doing”. That is its essential puzzle: a non-doing that leads to the fulfillment of some action (a form, for example, that does have a beginning-middle-end.)
If you are in a hurry to get it, most likely what you have skipped is any sense of relaxing and sinking into the ground. These are the very elements that create movement in tai chi. Without them you are merely practicing a dance based on your old method of horizontal doing. Somehow, you have to leave that behind, at least for a short while and experience something else. That something else is not related to getting and doing.
Then, surprise! You have a new tool that morphs into a new way to deal with life’s stresses and pressures. Being. This takes time and a willingness to not go forward or look back, but to just be here, right here, really here, the here that is really NOW. This is tai chi as meditation. And like any real meditation, the “goal” is not to get more of something, but to “be” all of what you are and to inhabit “now” more fully. It is a commitment to the fullness of your spirit as it joins the rest of the world, not from a perspective of action (soldiers marching in step), but from the perspective of connection (swimming together in the ocean).
When you are really practicing tai chi as a vertical vector, you slow down to the point where just being still is a pleasure.
I recall a time when only the horizontal aspect of the form – getting it done, getting through it, getting past certain postures that seemed to be landmarks in my mind – was what I experienced. I even thought that it was taking too long and I should have already finished the current posture. “Why haven’t I gotten to the next posture by now, this is taking too long!” I would say to myself, adding an unnecessary layer of tension.
But then it shifted and getting it done for some reason disappeared. Now the form seems to go by much faster, even though I still practice it rather slowly. I have not added speed to the equation; I have removed that sense of “getting it done for the day.” It now gets “done” by merely starting it. After that point, the challenges and pleasure of the moments within the form have my attention. It doesn’t matter if I finish it or not. Getting to the end is not the point, but being in it is the point. And when I do get to the end, I want to work on some piece that grabbed my attention during practice. I enjoy being here and continuing to work on the challenges tai chi presents.
But why? I think it has to do with the vertical vector, the being within it, the innate pleasure of being here and now. Like a baby that enjoys splashing water just for the sake of splashing water, to see water, to feel water, to experience water, to be with water, to BE water. It seems that this is where we start in life and that we are hard wired to keep in touch with just that. If you lose that vertical vector, life might become one dimensional and very dry.
While other activities can give you the same, tai chi is a great way to work with this because of its health benefits, its philosophical/psychological aspects, the way it forges togetherness with others, and of course tai chi is a fascinating martial art. You get so much for the price of one. The downside? Like anything worth doing, it takes time, commitment and thoughtful attention.
My guess is a fully realized life has vectors in all directions. I haven’t arrived there yet, but I do believe it is waiting for me to discover.
I’ve been chewing on a thought for some time, a “life at its core” kind of thought. Ready to join me?
I love vectors, real or imagined, and I see life as having many vectors. There is the career vector, the family vector, the love vector, the health vector (for some), the money vector, the birth vector, the dying vector and no doubt many others.
Fundamentally, however, I see to two primary vectors: the horizontal vector and the vertical vector.
The horizontal vector is time based and looks forward or looks back. You make plans and execute them. You measure progress or no progress. It is like walking down the street with a goal in mind as to where you need/want to go to next. Even if that goal is to just get out of the house and breathe some fresh air, there is a goal here, a beginning-middle-end, and onto the next vector that moves you forward into the next plan, goal, or desired situation.
Then there is the vertical vector. You don’t really move at all and it is not time based. You just be and expand in all directions. This includes, of course, an up and down direction and an in and out direction. But because you are not moving forward or sideways, primarily it is up and down, as if reaching into heaven and digging into earth. This is ultimately a “being” experience. Your “being” can be bigger or smaller, exclusive in inclusive. But it is not concerned with progress, progression, getting something or getting somewhere, landing somewhere, achieving something or avoiding something, or plans to achieve or avoid. It is the vector that takes a break from time itself. This vector forgets time. This vector likes to be where it is. I am more and more convinced that the vertical vector is the real link to happiness.
The horizontal and vertical vectors are not mutually separate. They do have a relation to each other and affect each other. The more developed the vertical vector, the more smoothly the horizontal vector will function. The better you balance all the issues that surround the horizontal vector, or follow that vector with a proper sense of pace, the more likely you are to have time and space to sit with and live through the vertical vector. To be working with your goals is a horizontal vector, to hold your baby and stare into his/her eyes is a vertical vector.
Here comes tai chi chuan. Horizontally, you may be concerned with progress in your tai chi. But the actual experience of tai chi with its physical emphasis on upright posture and relaxing and sinking into the ground clearly demonstrates its verticality. Oddly, to focus on progress or success in tai chi only gets you so far in your development because at its root, tai chi is “non-doing”. That is its essential puzzle: a non-doing that leads to the fulfillment of some action (a form, for example, that does have a beginning-middle-end.)
If you are in a hurry to get it, most likely what you have skipped is any sense of relaxing and sinking into the ground. These are the very elements that create movement in tai chi. Without them you are merely practicing a dance based on your old method of horizontal doing. Somehow, you have to leave that behind, at least for a short while and experience something else. That something else is not related to getting and doing.
Then, surprise! You have a new tool that morphs into a new way to deal with life’s stresses and pressures. Being. This takes time and a willingness to not go forward or look back, but to just be here, right here, really here, the here that is really NOW. This is tai chi as meditation. And like any real meditation, the “goal” is not to get more of something, but to “be” all of what you are and to inhabit “now” more fully. It is a commitment to the fullness of your spirit as it joins the rest of the world, not from a perspective of action (soldiers marching in step), but from the perspective of connection (swimming together in the ocean).
When you are really practicing tai chi as a vertical vector, you slow down to the point where just being still is a pleasure.
I recall a time when only the horizontal aspect of the form – getting it done, getting through it, getting past certain postures that seemed to be landmarks in my mind – was what I experienced. I even thought that it was taking too long and I should have already finished the current posture. “Why haven’t I gotten to the next posture by now, this is taking too long!” I would say to myself, adding an unnecessary layer of tension.
But then it shifted and getting it done for some reason disappeared. Now the form seems to go by much faster, even though I still practice it rather slowly. I have not added speed to the equation; I have removed that sense of “getting it done for the day.” It now gets “done” by merely starting it. After that point, the challenges and pleasure of the moments within the form have my attention. It doesn’t matter if I finish it or not. Getting to the end is not the point, but being in it is the point. And when I do get to the end, I want to work on some piece that grabbed my attention during practice. I enjoy being here and continuing to work on the challenges tai chi presents.
But why? I think it has to do with the vertical vector, the being within it, the innate pleasure of being here and now. Like a baby that enjoys splashing water just for the sake of splashing water, to see water, to feel water, to experience water, to be with water, to BE water. It seems that this is where we start in life and that we are hard wired to keep in touch with just that. If you lose that vertical vector, life might become one dimensional and very dry.
While other activities can give you the same, tai chi is a great way to work with this because of its health benefits, its philosophical/psychological aspects, the way it forges togetherness with others, and of course tai chi is a fascinating martial art. You get so much for the price of one. The downside? Like anything worth doing, it takes time, commitment and thoughtful attention.
My guess is a fully realized life has vectors in all directions. I haven’t arrived there yet, but I do believe it is waiting for me to discover.
Thursday, August 19, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan eases Fibromyalgia - New York Times article
August 18, 2010
Tai Chi Reported to Ease Fibromyalgia
By PAM BELLUCK
The ancient Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.
“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.”
Although the study was small, 66 patients, several experts considered it compelling because fibromyalgia is a complex and often-confusing condition, affecting five million Americans, mostly women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since its symptoms can be wide-ranging and can mimic other disorders, and its diagnosis depends largely on patients’ descriptions, not blood tests or biopsies, its cause and treatment have been the subject of debate.
“We thought it was notable that The New England Journal accepted this paper, that they would take fibromyalgia on as an issue, and also because tai chi is an alternative therapy that some people raise eyebrows about,” said Dr. Robert Shmerling, clinical chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, co-author of an editorial about the study.
“Fibromyalgia is so common, and we have such a difficult time treating it effectively. It’s defined by what the patient tells you,” he added. “It’s hard for some patients’ families and their doctors to get their head around what it is and whether it’s real. So, that these results were so positive for something that’s very safe is an impressive accomplishment.”
Recent studies have suggested that tai chi, with its slow exercises, breathing and meditation, could benefit patients with other chronic conditions, including arthritis. But not all of these reports have been conclusive, and tai chi is hard to study because there are many styles and approaches.
The fibromyalgia study involved the yang style of tai chi, taught by a Boston tai chi master, Ramel Rones. Dr. Solomon and other experts cautioned that bigger studies with other masters and approaches were necessary.
Still, patients, who received twice-weekly tai chi classes and a DVD to practice with 20 minutes daily, showed weekly improvement on an established measurement, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, improving more than the stretching-and-education group in physicians’ assessments, sleep, walking and mental health. One-third stopped using medication, compared with one-sixth in the stretching group.
Dr. Chenchen Wang, a Tufts rheumatologist who led the study, said she attributed the results to the fact that “fibromyalgia is a very complex problem” and “tai chi has multiple components — physical, psychological, social and spiritual.”
The therapy impressed Mary Petersen, 59, a retired phone company employee from Lynn, Mass., who said that before participating in the 2008 study, “I couldn’t walk half a mile,” and it “hurt me so much just to put my hands over my head.” Sleeping was difficult, and she was overweight. “There was no joy to life,” she said. “I was an entire mess from head to foot.”
She had tried and rejected medication, physical therapy, swimming and other approaches. “I was used to being treated in a condescending manner because they couldn’t diagnose me: ‘She’s menopausal, she’s crazy.’ ”
Before the study, “I didn’t know tai chi from a sneeze,” said Ms. Petersen, who has diabetes and other conditions. “I was like, ‘Well, O.K., I’ll get to meet some people, it will get me out of the house.’ I didn’t believe any of it. I thought this is so minimal, it’s stupid.”
After a few weeks, she said she began to feel better, and after 12 weeks “the pain had diminished 90 percent.” She has continued tai chi, lost 50 pounds and can walk three to seven miles a day.
“You could not have convinced me that I would ever have done this or continued with this,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a cure. I will say it’s an effective method of controlling pain.”
Dr. Shmerling said that though tai chi is inexpensive compared with other treatments, some patients would reject such an alternative therapy. And Dr. Gloria Yeh, a Beth Israel Deaconess internist and co-author of the editorial, said others “will say, ‘It’s too slow, I can’t do that.’ ”
But she said it offered a “gentler option” for patients deterred by other physical activities. “The mind-body connections set it apart from other exercises,” she said, adding that doctors are seeking “anything we can offer that will make patients say ‘I can really do this.’ ”
Tai Chi Reported to Ease Fibromyalgia
By PAM BELLUCK
The ancient Chinese practice of tai chi may be effective as a therapy for fibromyalgia, according to a study published on Thursday in The New England Journal of Medicine.
A clinical trial at Tufts Medical Center found that after 12 weeks of tai chi, patients with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, did significantly better in measurements of pain, fatigue, physical functioning, sleeplessness and depression than a comparable group given stretching exercises and wellness education. Tai chi patients were also more likely to sustain improvement three months later.
“It’s an impressive finding,” said Dr. Daniel Solomon, chief of clinical research in rheumatology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, who was not involved in the research. “This was a well-done study. It was kind of amazing that the effects seem to carry over.”
Although the study was small, 66 patients, several experts considered it compelling because fibromyalgia is a complex and often-confusing condition, affecting five million Americans, mostly women, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Since its symptoms can be wide-ranging and can mimic other disorders, and its diagnosis depends largely on patients’ descriptions, not blood tests or biopsies, its cause and treatment have been the subject of debate.
“We thought it was notable that The New England Journal accepted this paper, that they would take fibromyalgia on as an issue, and also because tai chi is an alternative therapy that some people raise eyebrows about,” said Dr. Robert Shmerling, clinical chief of rheumatology at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, co-author of an editorial about the study.
“Fibromyalgia is so common, and we have such a difficult time treating it effectively. It’s defined by what the patient tells you,” he added. “It’s hard for some patients’ families and their doctors to get their head around what it is and whether it’s real. So, that these results were so positive for something that’s very safe is an impressive accomplishment.”
Recent studies have suggested that tai chi, with its slow exercises, breathing and meditation, could benefit patients with other chronic conditions, including arthritis. But not all of these reports have been conclusive, and tai chi is hard to study because there are many styles and approaches.
The fibromyalgia study involved the yang style of tai chi, taught by a Boston tai chi master, Ramel Rones. Dr. Solomon and other experts cautioned that bigger studies with other masters and approaches were necessary.
Still, patients, who received twice-weekly tai chi classes and a DVD to practice with 20 minutes daily, showed weekly improvement on an established measurement, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, improving more than the stretching-and-education group in physicians’ assessments, sleep, walking and mental health. One-third stopped using medication, compared with one-sixth in the stretching group.
Dr. Chenchen Wang, a Tufts rheumatologist who led the study, said she attributed the results to the fact that “fibromyalgia is a very complex problem” and “tai chi has multiple components — physical, psychological, social and spiritual.”
The therapy impressed Mary Petersen, 59, a retired phone company employee from Lynn, Mass., who said that before participating in the 2008 study, “I couldn’t walk half a mile,” and it “hurt me so much just to put my hands over my head.” Sleeping was difficult, and she was overweight. “There was no joy to life,” she said. “I was an entire mess from head to foot.”
She had tried and rejected medication, physical therapy, swimming and other approaches. “I was used to being treated in a condescending manner because they couldn’t diagnose me: ‘She’s menopausal, she’s crazy.’ ”
Before the study, “I didn’t know tai chi from a sneeze,” said Ms. Petersen, who has diabetes and other conditions. “I was like, ‘Well, O.K., I’ll get to meet some people, it will get me out of the house.’ I didn’t believe any of it. I thought this is so minimal, it’s stupid.”
After a few weeks, she said she began to feel better, and after 12 weeks “the pain had diminished 90 percent.” She has continued tai chi, lost 50 pounds and can walk three to seven miles a day.
“You could not have convinced me that I would ever have done this or continued with this,” she said. “I wouldn’t say it’s a cure. I will say it’s an effective method of controlling pain.”
Dr. Shmerling said that though tai chi is inexpensive compared with other treatments, some patients would reject such an alternative therapy. And Dr. Gloria Yeh, a Beth Israel Deaconess internist and co-author of the editorial, said others “will say, ‘It’s too slow, I can’t do that.’ ”
But she said it offered a “gentler option” for patients deterred by other physical activities. “The mind-body connections set it apart from other exercises,” she said, adding that doctors are seeking “anything we can offer that will make patients say ‘I can really do this.’ ”
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan and Anger
Tai Chi Chuan and Anger
While I don’t consider my own anger levels to be out of control, I do have a fair amount of Irish genes! I blame it on my genetics. There have been a few flair ups over the years. Given the New York Times article regarding research on Anger “control” and exercise, I thought I might reflect on my own experience in relation to Tai Chi.
I recall a funny experience I had the first time I pushed with Ben Lo. Having come from the comforting environment that Maggie Newman, my teacher, provides for her students, that first Ben push was a shock. It shouldn’t have been. I was watching what he was doing to other students the whole week at his camp. He did to me what he did to them. But when it came to be my turn and I was flung 10 feet – I had an honest jolt of ANGER. It was along the lines of “That wasn’t nice!! You shouldn’t be doing that to a beginner!! How dare you!!” I remember looking at him directly in anger, shock and awe. He clearly saw my expression. And then I realized I had to go back into the ring to get another one.
Worse, it dawned on me that I was trapped. There was no way I could express my anger. There was no way this anger could be manipulated into some sort of dramatic scene. There was no way I could even channel it into some sort of useful action. There was no way I would win in the coming rounds of repeat slams. I couldn’t act on my anger or mete out revenge. I couldn’t commiserate with others on the unfairness of it all (they had a similar experience and seemed to enjoy it!) I couldn’t let the anger go, either. This was truly a losing battle.
I laugh to think of that anger reaction today: so spontaneous, so complex, so perfect. Tai chi offered yet again a laboratory to face myself and teach me a lesson: not everyone will behave in the way you would like them to and anger only gets in the way. I may be special (to me), but I’m not THAT special!
There have been other push hands interactions that have provoked my anger. It never helped the situation. Anger prevents listening (on all levels) and tai chi is about listening. If you see your anger before it becomes action, you have to admit it is YOUR anger. Sure, perhaps they helped bring it out, but it is still YOUR anger. If you can contain it and stop it from being expressed in an inappropriate way, generally this is a frustrating experience. If you act on it, generally it is a disastrous situation.
There have been others who have ended up in real fights from their anger. They acted on it before they could grasp it. It’s a hard lesson to learn, let alone incorporate into life. Yes, others can and do provoke your hidden treasure, but you are the keeper of the keys. And there are ways to move forward without denying it or acting out on it. The general pattern with anger is that one tends to blame the other for the anger and therefore want to punish or destroy the “cause” of the anger. They are doing something to me. Yes, they may be. But the anger is yours!
The deep practice of tai chi relaxation helps to release as well as alleviate anger. I remember in my earlier years of tai chi that during the form I used to get more and more angry as I worked through the form. My guess is that the relaxing I was practicing was releasing it. My angry thoughts were directed at me, and at those I was blaming at the time for whatever insult it was that I had endured. At the end of the form, I would be furious. I also shook a bit. It was like letting go of some layer of anger that was there all the time but I hadn’t noticed. My anger was being trapped in a very tense body. And believe me, when I began tai chi, I was very very tense.
Another deeply important aspect that tai chi brings out is that if you are angry, it is best that you truly feel it and acknowledge it, at least to yourself. Then you have some choice. You can stop the game and excuse yourself, or you can remain in the game and just be deeply aware of anger while maintaining as much composure and relaxation as possible. That’s a high wire act, no?
Some may need more help with their anger than tai chi can provide, but tai chi can help release it through regular practice. Anger is chi rising and we are working to let chi relax into the body. If you have anger chi, it will rise to the surface and be visible. Individuals with anger issues can see or experience their anger from a different perspective.
For me, the bottom line is that denying it or not feeling it is VERY dangerous. I would NEVER tell someone to not feel angry, or say to them “Don’t be angry.” The real question is “What Exactly Is Making You Angry?” In the meantime, just be clear when it comes to the surface and feel it. Feeling it will not necessarily create some sort of steam engine train that will create irreversible havoc. Not feeling it is the situation you want to avoid! If you need to separate yourself out to give it attention and fully feel it, then that is what you need to do.
You are lucky if you have a push hands partner that you can really express in words that you are feeling angry in this moment. But I think our culture is rather poor at discussing this as an issue. It is still considered to be a “bad” emotion, one that indicates you are not in control. Blame gets attached to it. While I am stating you are responsible for your anger reactions, I am not assigning blame. This is a subtle difference.
If someone is angry with you, an appropriate response is, “What’s going on?” If you are angry at someone, an appropriate response is, “What’s going on?”
I have just spent a few months with a certain situation that has continually brought up LOTS of anger, the kind where I need to keep breathing deeply to be with it. It is a slow process.
Anger is a very complex topic with no simple answers.
While I don’t consider my own anger levels to be out of control, I do have a fair amount of Irish genes! I blame it on my genetics. There have been a few flair ups over the years. Given the New York Times article regarding research on Anger “control” and exercise, I thought I might reflect on my own experience in relation to Tai Chi.
I recall a funny experience I had the first time I pushed with Ben Lo. Having come from the comforting environment that Maggie Newman, my teacher, provides for her students, that first Ben push was a shock. It shouldn’t have been. I was watching what he was doing to other students the whole week at his camp. He did to me what he did to them. But when it came to be my turn and I was flung 10 feet – I had an honest jolt of ANGER. It was along the lines of “That wasn’t nice!! You shouldn’t be doing that to a beginner!! How dare you!!” I remember looking at him directly in anger, shock and awe. He clearly saw my expression. And then I realized I had to go back into the ring to get another one.
Worse, it dawned on me that I was trapped. There was no way I could express my anger. There was no way this anger could be manipulated into some sort of dramatic scene. There was no way I could even channel it into some sort of useful action. There was no way I would win in the coming rounds of repeat slams. I couldn’t act on my anger or mete out revenge. I couldn’t commiserate with others on the unfairness of it all (they had a similar experience and seemed to enjoy it!) I couldn’t let the anger go, either. This was truly a losing battle.
I laugh to think of that anger reaction today: so spontaneous, so complex, so perfect. Tai chi offered yet again a laboratory to face myself and teach me a lesson: not everyone will behave in the way you would like them to and anger only gets in the way. I may be special (to me), but I’m not THAT special!
There have been other push hands interactions that have provoked my anger. It never helped the situation. Anger prevents listening (on all levels) and tai chi is about listening. If you see your anger before it becomes action, you have to admit it is YOUR anger. Sure, perhaps they helped bring it out, but it is still YOUR anger. If you can contain it and stop it from being expressed in an inappropriate way, generally this is a frustrating experience. If you act on it, generally it is a disastrous situation.
There have been others who have ended up in real fights from their anger. They acted on it before they could grasp it. It’s a hard lesson to learn, let alone incorporate into life. Yes, others can and do provoke your hidden treasure, but you are the keeper of the keys. And there are ways to move forward without denying it or acting out on it. The general pattern with anger is that one tends to blame the other for the anger and therefore want to punish or destroy the “cause” of the anger. They are doing something to me. Yes, they may be. But the anger is yours!
The deep practice of tai chi relaxation helps to release as well as alleviate anger. I remember in my earlier years of tai chi that during the form I used to get more and more angry as I worked through the form. My guess is that the relaxing I was practicing was releasing it. My angry thoughts were directed at me, and at those I was blaming at the time for whatever insult it was that I had endured. At the end of the form, I would be furious. I also shook a bit. It was like letting go of some layer of anger that was there all the time but I hadn’t noticed. My anger was being trapped in a very tense body. And believe me, when I began tai chi, I was very very tense.
Another deeply important aspect that tai chi brings out is that if you are angry, it is best that you truly feel it and acknowledge it, at least to yourself. Then you have some choice. You can stop the game and excuse yourself, or you can remain in the game and just be deeply aware of anger while maintaining as much composure and relaxation as possible. That’s a high wire act, no?
Some may need more help with their anger than tai chi can provide, but tai chi can help release it through regular practice. Anger is chi rising and we are working to let chi relax into the body. If you have anger chi, it will rise to the surface and be visible. Individuals with anger issues can see or experience their anger from a different perspective.
For me, the bottom line is that denying it or not feeling it is VERY dangerous. I would NEVER tell someone to not feel angry, or say to them “Don’t be angry.” The real question is “What Exactly Is Making You Angry?” In the meantime, just be clear when it comes to the surface and feel it. Feeling it will not necessarily create some sort of steam engine train that will create irreversible havoc. Not feeling it is the situation you want to avoid! If you need to separate yourself out to give it attention and fully feel it, then that is what you need to do.
You are lucky if you have a push hands partner that you can really express in words that you are feeling angry in this moment. But I think our culture is rather poor at discussing this as an issue. It is still considered to be a “bad” emotion, one that indicates you are not in control. Blame gets attached to it. While I am stating you are responsible for your anger reactions, I am not assigning blame. This is a subtle difference.
If someone is angry with you, an appropriate response is, “What’s going on?” If you are angry at someone, an appropriate response is, “What’s going on?”
I have just spent a few months with a certain situation that has continually brought up LOTS of anger, the kind where I need to keep breathing deeply to be with it. It is a slow process.
Anger is a very complex topic with no simple answers.
Saturday, August 14, 2010
Exercise Soothes Anger - New York Times article
August 11, 2010, 12:01 am
Phys Ed: Can Exercise Moderate Anger?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
David Sacks/Getty Images
For years, researchers have known that exercise can affect certain moods. Running, bike riding and other exercise programs have repeatedly been found to combat clinical depression. Similarly, a study from Germany published in April found that light-duty activity like walking or gardening made participants “happy,” in the estimation of the scientists. Even laboratory rats and mice respond emotionally to exercise; although their precise “moods” are hard to parse, their behavior indicates that exercise makes them more relaxed and confident.
But what about anger, one of the more universal and, in its way, destructive moods? Can exercise influence how angry you become in certain situations?
A study presented at the most recent annual conference of the American College of Sports Medicine provides some provocative if ambiguous answers. For the study, hundreds of undergraduates at the University of Georgia filled out questionnaires about their moods. From that group, researchers chose 16 young men with “high trait anger” or, in less technical terms, a very short fuse. They were, their questionnaires indicated, habitually touchy.
The researchers invited the men to a lab and had them fill out a survey about their moods at that moment. During the two days of the study, the men were each fitted with high-tech hairnets containing multiple sensors that could read electrical activity in the brain. Next, researchers flashed a series of slides across viewing screens set up in front of each young man. The slides, intended to induce anger, depicted upsetting events like Ku Klux Klan rallies and children under fire from soldiers, which were interspersed with more pleasant images. Electrical activity in the men’s brains indicated that they were growing angry during the display. For confirmation, they described to researchers how angry they felt, using a numerical scale from 0 to 9.
On alternate days, after viewing the slides again (though always in a different order), the men either sat quietly or rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes at a moderate pace while their brain patterns and verbal estimations of anger were recorded. Afterward, the researchers examined how angry the volunteers became during each session.
The results showed that when the volunteers hadn’t exercised, their second viewing of the slides aroused significantly more anger than the first. After exercise, conversely, the men’s anger reached a plateau. They still became upset during the slide show — exercise didn’t inure them to what they saw — but the exercise allowed them to end the session no angrier than they began it.
What the results of the study suggest is that “exercise, even a single bout of it, can have a robust prophylactic effect” against the buildup of anger, said Nathaniel Thom, a stress physiologist who was the study’s lead researcher.
“It’s like taking aspirin to combat heart disease,” he said. “You reduce your risk.”
When the men did not exercise, they had considerable difficulty controlling their racing emotion. But after exercise, they handled what they saw with more aplomb. Their moods were under firmer control.
The question of just how, physiologically, exercise blunts anger remains open. Mr. Thom and his colleagues did not test levels of stress hormones or brain chemicals in the test subjects. But earlier work by other scientists suggests that serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain, probably played a role, Mr. Thom said. “Animal studies have found that low levels of serotonin are associated with aggression, which is our best analogue of anger in animals,” he said. “Exercise increases serotonin levels in the rat brain.” Low serotonin levels in humans are also thought to contribute to mood disorders.
Changes in the activity of certain genes within the brain may also have an impact. In a 2007 experiment at Yale University, researchers found that prolonged running altered the expression of almost three dozen genes associated with mood in the brains of laboratory mice. Mr. Thom says he hopes that future studies by himself and others will help to determine the specific underlying mechanisms that link exercise and a reduction of anger.
But for now, the lesson of his preliminary work, he said, is that “if you know that you’re going to be entering into a situation that is likely to make you angry, go for a run first.”
Phys Ed: Can Exercise Moderate Anger?
By GRETCHEN REYNOLDS
David Sacks/Getty Images
For years, researchers have known that exercise can affect certain moods. Running, bike riding and other exercise programs have repeatedly been found to combat clinical depression. Similarly, a study from Germany published in April found that light-duty activity like walking or gardening made participants “happy,” in the estimation of the scientists. Even laboratory rats and mice respond emotionally to exercise; although their precise “moods” are hard to parse, their behavior indicates that exercise makes them more relaxed and confident.
But what about anger, one of the more universal and, in its way, destructive moods? Can exercise influence how angry you become in certain situations?
A study presented at the most recent annual conference of the American College of Sports Medicine provides some provocative if ambiguous answers. For the study, hundreds of undergraduates at the University of Georgia filled out questionnaires about their moods. From that group, researchers chose 16 young men with “high trait anger” or, in less technical terms, a very short fuse. They were, their questionnaires indicated, habitually touchy.
The researchers invited the men to a lab and had them fill out a survey about their moods at that moment. During the two days of the study, the men were each fitted with high-tech hairnets containing multiple sensors that could read electrical activity in the brain. Next, researchers flashed a series of slides across viewing screens set up in front of each young man. The slides, intended to induce anger, depicted upsetting events like Ku Klux Klan rallies and children under fire from soldiers, which were interspersed with more pleasant images. Electrical activity in the men’s brains indicated that they were growing angry during the display. For confirmation, they described to researchers how angry they felt, using a numerical scale from 0 to 9.
On alternate days, after viewing the slides again (though always in a different order), the men either sat quietly or rode a stationary bike for 30 minutes at a moderate pace while their brain patterns and verbal estimations of anger were recorded. Afterward, the researchers examined how angry the volunteers became during each session.
The results showed that when the volunteers hadn’t exercised, their second viewing of the slides aroused significantly more anger than the first. After exercise, conversely, the men’s anger reached a plateau. They still became upset during the slide show — exercise didn’t inure them to what they saw — but the exercise allowed them to end the session no angrier than they began it.
What the results of the study suggest is that “exercise, even a single bout of it, can have a robust prophylactic effect” against the buildup of anger, said Nathaniel Thom, a stress physiologist who was the study’s lead researcher.
“It’s like taking aspirin to combat heart disease,” he said. “You reduce your risk.”
When the men did not exercise, they had considerable difficulty controlling their racing emotion. But after exercise, they handled what they saw with more aplomb. Their moods were under firmer control.
The question of just how, physiologically, exercise blunts anger remains open. Mr. Thom and his colleagues did not test levels of stress hormones or brain chemicals in the test subjects. But earlier work by other scientists suggests that serotonin, a neurotransmitter in the brain, probably played a role, Mr. Thom said. “Animal studies have found that low levels of serotonin are associated with aggression, which is our best analogue of anger in animals,” he said. “Exercise increases serotonin levels in the rat brain.” Low serotonin levels in humans are also thought to contribute to mood disorders.
Changes in the activity of certain genes within the brain may also have an impact. In a 2007 experiment at Yale University, researchers found that prolonged running altered the expression of almost three dozen genes associated with mood in the brains of laboratory mice. Mr. Thom says he hopes that future studies by himself and others will help to determine the specific underlying mechanisms that link exercise and a reduction of anger.
But for now, the lesson of his preliminary work, he said, is that “if you know that you’re going to be entering into a situation that is likely to make you angry, go for a run first.”
Tuesday, August 3, 2010
The Summoned Self - New York Times Article OpEd by David Brooks
This article really has nothing to do with tai chi directly. The non goal oriented approach that he describes, however, is VERY much like tai chi. I found this interesting.
August 2, 2010
The Summoned Self
By DAVID BROOKS
This is a column about two ways of thinking about your life. The first is what you might call the Well-Planned Life. It was nicely described by Clayton Christensen in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review, in an essay based on a recent commencement talk.
Christensen advised the students to invest a lot of time when they are young in finding a clear purpose for their lives. “When I was a Rhodes scholar,” he recalls, “I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth.
“That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it — and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.”
Once you have come up with an overall purpose, he continues, you have to make decisions about allocating your time, energy and talent. Christensen, who is a professor at the Harvard Business School and the author of several widely admired books, notes that people with a high need for achievement commonly misallocate their resources.
If they have a spare half-hour, they devote it to things that will yield tangible and near-term accomplishments. These almost invariably involve something at work — closing a sale, finishing a paper.
“In contrast,” he adds, “investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. ... It’s not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, ‘I raised a good son or a good daughter.’ ” As a result, the things that are most important often get short shrift.
Christensen is a serious Christian. At university, he was the starting center on his basketball team and refused to play in the championship game of an important tournament because it was scheduled for a Sunday. But he combines a Christian spirit with business methodology. In plotting out a personal and spiritual life, he applies the models and theories he developed as a strategist. He emphasizes finding the right metrics, efficiently allocating resources and thinking about marginal costs.
When he is done, life comes to appear as a well-designed project, carefully conceived in the beginning, reviewed and adjusted along the way and brought toward a well-rounded fruition.
The second way of thinking about your life might be called the Summoned Life. This mode of thinking starts from an entirely different perspective. Life isn’t a project to be completed; it is an unknowable landscape to be explored. A 24-year-old can’t sit down and define the purpose of life in the manner of a school exercise because she is not yet deep enough into the landscape to know herself or her purpose. That young person — or any person — can’t see into the future to know what wars, loves, diseases and chances may loom. She may know concepts, like parenthood or old age, but she doesn’t really understand their meanings until she is engaged in them.
Moreover, people who think in this mode are skeptical that business models can be applied to other realms of life. Business is about making choices that maximize utility. But the most important features of the human landscape are commitments that precede choice — commitments to family, nation, faith or some cause. These commitments defy the logic of cost and benefit, investment and return.
The person leading the Well-Planned Life emphasizes individual agency, and asks, “What should I do?” The person leading the Summoned Life emphasizes the context, and asks, “What are my circumstances asking me to do?”
The person leading the Summoned Life starts with a very concrete situation: I’m living in a specific year in a specific place facing specific problems and needs. At this moment in my life, I am confronted with specific job opportunities and specific options. The important questions are: What are these circumstances summoning me to do? What is needed in this place? What is the most useful social role before me?
These are questions answered primarily by sensitive observation and situational awareness, not calculation and long-range planning.
In America, we have been taught to admire the lone free agent who creates new worlds. But for the person leading the Summoned Life, the individual is small and the context is large. Life comes to a point not when the individual project is complete but when the self dissolves into a larger purpose and cause.
The first vision is more American. The second vision is more common elsewhere. But they are both probably useful for a person trying to live a well-considered life.
August 2, 2010
The Summoned Self
By DAVID BROOKS
This is a column about two ways of thinking about your life. The first is what you might call the Well-Planned Life. It was nicely described by Clayton Christensen in the current issue of the Harvard Business Review, in an essay based on a recent commencement talk.
Christensen advised the students to invest a lot of time when they are young in finding a clear purpose for their lives. “When I was a Rhodes scholar,” he recalls, “I was in a very demanding academic program, trying to cram an extra year’s worth of work into my time at Oxford. I decided to spend an hour every night reading, thinking, and praying about why God put me on this earth.
“That was a very challenging commitment to keep, because every hour I spent doing that, I wasn’t studying applied econometrics. I was conflicted about whether I could really afford to take that time away from my studies, but I stuck with it — and ultimately figured out the purpose of my life.”
Once you have come up with an overall purpose, he continues, you have to make decisions about allocating your time, energy and talent. Christensen, who is a professor at the Harvard Business School and the author of several widely admired books, notes that people with a high need for achievement commonly misallocate their resources.
If they have a spare half-hour, they devote it to things that will yield tangible and near-term accomplishments. These almost invariably involve something at work — closing a sale, finishing a paper.
“In contrast,” he adds, “investing time and energy in your relationship with your spouse and children typically doesn’t offer that same immediate sense of achievement. ... It’s not until 20 years down the road that you can put your hands on your hips and say, ‘I raised a good son or a good daughter.’ ” As a result, the things that are most important often get short shrift.
Christensen is a serious Christian. At university, he was the starting center on his basketball team and refused to play in the championship game of an important tournament because it was scheduled for a Sunday. But he combines a Christian spirit with business methodology. In plotting out a personal and spiritual life, he applies the models and theories he developed as a strategist. He emphasizes finding the right metrics, efficiently allocating resources and thinking about marginal costs.
When he is done, life comes to appear as a well-designed project, carefully conceived in the beginning, reviewed and adjusted along the way and brought toward a well-rounded fruition.
The second way of thinking about your life might be called the Summoned Life. This mode of thinking starts from an entirely different perspective. Life isn’t a project to be completed; it is an unknowable landscape to be explored. A 24-year-old can’t sit down and define the purpose of life in the manner of a school exercise because she is not yet deep enough into the landscape to know herself or her purpose. That young person — or any person — can’t see into the future to know what wars, loves, diseases and chances may loom. She may know concepts, like parenthood or old age, but she doesn’t really understand their meanings until she is engaged in them.
Moreover, people who think in this mode are skeptical that business models can be applied to other realms of life. Business is about making choices that maximize utility. But the most important features of the human landscape are commitments that precede choice — commitments to family, nation, faith or some cause. These commitments defy the logic of cost and benefit, investment and return.
The person leading the Well-Planned Life emphasizes individual agency, and asks, “What should I do?” The person leading the Summoned Life emphasizes the context, and asks, “What are my circumstances asking me to do?”
The person leading the Summoned Life starts with a very concrete situation: I’m living in a specific year in a specific place facing specific problems and needs. At this moment in my life, I am confronted with specific job opportunities and specific options. The important questions are: What are these circumstances summoning me to do? What is needed in this place? What is the most useful social role before me?
These are questions answered primarily by sensitive observation and situational awareness, not calculation and long-range planning.
In America, we have been taught to admire the lone free agent who creates new worlds. But for the person leading the Summoned Life, the individual is small and the context is large. Life comes to a point not when the individual project is complete but when the self dissolves into a larger purpose and cause.
The first vision is more American. The second vision is more common elsewhere. But they are both probably useful for a person trying to live a well-considered life.
Sunday, July 25, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan – Shen, Yi, Chi, Chin into English?
Tai Chi Chuan – Shen, Yi, Chi, Chin into English?
Say what?
I’ve been avoiding the Chinese concepts of tai chi in this blog space, but I’ve been reading a book that has me thinking along Chinese concepts. I’m enjoying the read.
I’m also re-writing it, but not with any sort of authoritative quality. I’m trying to match the concepts as he spells them out to my sense of the word and my experience. All of this is a bit heady and dangerous so I don’t take it too seriously. Nonetheless, I thought I might ponder on this for a bit and you can ponder too. We ponder as we wonder.
The book is The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship by Zhang Yun. I’m not recommending it, nor am I NOT not recommending it. From what I see and read, he looks really great. It is mostly pictures with detailed explanations of his sword moves. I’m not even sure I’ll read that part (most of the book) because our form is substantially different.
But his overview of tai chi has been satisfying and I like the ideas. I also like rewriting the ideas.
For the serious tai chi player, Shen (spirit) leads Yi (mind). Yi leads Chi (intrinsic energy). Chi leads Chin (internal force). Ultimately, according to Mr. Yun, Shen (spirit) is the main event and the hardest one to achieve. But it is the leader in this sequence.
He then goes on to say that initially we learn about Chin (internal force). Then we acquire Chi (intrinsic energy). This leads to Yi (mind). And Yi leads to Shen (spirit). So we learn in reverse order to acquire the path that comes back the other way as you gain experience. That sounds right to me. I guess this is because the essence is so difficult to reach or understand or experience, but it is the real key to living.
But those vague concepts. Those groundless words. What DO they mean, really?
Of course, some will argue that to even try to find words to wordless experience is a fool’s errand. Alas, here I go! I think words can help as much as they can hurt. See how this works for you.
I can only guess at meanings and give them my best shot. The translations into English above are OK, but when you hit the word Chi in the Chinese world, you face more ambiguity than I care to deal with. It starts to feel meaningless.
So with a grain of salt let me give you my words. I regret that I can’t hear yours.
To me, Shen, Spirit, conveys a certain Will and Intension to begin your movement. It is not fully expressed yet and can go anywhere, but your mind and body know they are about to make some sort of decision to do something and they pull you together to get ready. Before knowing, this is an act of existence. It is BEING. This is like undirected potential energy. It is BEING here now and BEING ready for …. To me, this has a full quality. To Be.
Yi, or Mind: I like to think this is simply Awareness. You know you know. You observe what you feel. You SEE. You can put your mind where it needs to go to do what the body/mind needs to do. This has an empty quality to me. That is, emptying out so that thoughts are not in the way and pure awareness can take over. It is one step removed from Shen. To See.
Chi. Intrinsic Energy. I’ll go with that. I’ve written some about it before. When I think of Chi, I think of all the cells participating to make this happen. It FEELS very cellular to me – the energy of each and every cell working in concert. This brings me back to fullness. All is in motion, if not quite moving forward or backward. To Feel.
Lastly, Chin. Internal force. He elaborates quite accurately that this is about all the muscles being relaxed and coordinated such that the “force” comes from the whole of the body’s effort. All parts are doing the job for a whole body to do the job for one movement.
But I think I would avoid the use of “force” altogether. Not that it is wrong – a certain kind of “force” does come from using the body in this way. But I like the notion of Wholeness better, or a sense that parts interact with each other to make the whole ACT but no single part is doing all the work. A unified whole ACTION (hence, effortless effort). Another empty “technique”. To Act.
Mr. Yun encourages us to explore each facet individually and really understand them. This sounds very useful, if not impossible. I’m guessing that some of these cannot be separated from the others. But giving some mind (Yi) to each one seems to have some benefit.
I have another thought on this paradigm. Perhaps the sequence could also be described along the following path:
Gather Up Your Intention, Existence (BE),
Find Your Mind’s Focus (SEE),
Feel Your Potential Energy (FEEL),
Act From Total Movement (ACT).
Shen is gathering up your forces (your will or your existance), Yi is adding a needed focus to be here now, Chi is using internal energy for moving, Chin is activating the Chi of the whole body for a total movement. True or false, this seems like a good way to work on the form and to gain greater integrity in your life. Or so I believe.
Being eventually leads to Action. We learn in life first through Action, noting how that Feels, growing this into a larger domain of Seeing what it is you are doing, and ultimately learning what it means to dwell in Being. As I stated before, if we can really dwell in Being, the rest can fall out naturally. But life is often a path where we learn how to be. So is tai chi.
After this, it is all flow, allowing, letting go and letting it happen.
I like this division of “states”. I’m buying it.
Shen, anyone?
Say what?
I’ve been avoiding the Chinese concepts of tai chi in this blog space, but I’ve been reading a book that has me thinking along Chinese concepts. I’m enjoying the read.
I’m also re-writing it, but not with any sort of authoritative quality. I’m trying to match the concepts as he spells them out to my sense of the word and my experience. All of this is a bit heady and dangerous so I don’t take it too seriously. Nonetheless, I thought I might ponder on this for a bit and you can ponder too. We ponder as we wonder.
The book is The Art of Chinese Swordsmanship by Zhang Yun. I’m not recommending it, nor am I NOT not recommending it. From what I see and read, he looks really great. It is mostly pictures with detailed explanations of his sword moves. I’m not even sure I’ll read that part (most of the book) because our form is substantially different.
But his overview of tai chi has been satisfying and I like the ideas. I also like rewriting the ideas.
For the serious tai chi player, Shen (spirit) leads Yi (mind). Yi leads Chi (intrinsic energy). Chi leads Chin (internal force). Ultimately, according to Mr. Yun, Shen (spirit) is the main event and the hardest one to achieve. But it is the leader in this sequence.
He then goes on to say that initially we learn about Chin (internal force). Then we acquire Chi (intrinsic energy). This leads to Yi (mind). And Yi leads to Shen (spirit). So we learn in reverse order to acquire the path that comes back the other way as you gain experience. That sounds right to me. I guess this is because the essence is so difficult to reach or understand or experience, but it is the real key to living.
But those vague concepts. Those groundless words. What DO they mean, really?
Of course, some will argue that to even try to find words to wordless experience is a fool’s errand. Alas, here I go! I think words can help as much as they can hurt. See how this works for you.
I can only guess at meanings and give them my best shot. The translations into English above are OK, but when you hit the word Chi in the Chinese world, you face more ambiguity than I care to deal with. It starts to feel meaningless.
So with a grain of salt let me give you my words. I regret that I can’t hear yours.
To me, Shen, Spirit, conveys a certain Will and Intension to begin your movement. It is not fully expressed yet and can go anywhere, but your mind and body know they are about to make some sort of decision to do something and they pull you together to get ready. Before knowing, this is an act of existence. It is BEING. This is like undirected potential energy. It is BEING here now and BEING ready for …. To me, this has a full quality. To Be.
Yi, or Mind: I like to think this is simply Awareness. You know you know. You observe what you feel. You SEE. You can put your mind where it needs to go to do what the body/mind needs to do. This has an empty quality to me. That is, emptying out so that thoughts are not in the way and pure awareness can take over. It is one step removed from Shen. To See.
Chi. Intrinsic Energy. I’ll go with that. I’ve written some about it before. When I think of Chi, I think of all the cells participating to make this happen. It FEELS very cellular to me – the energy of each and every cell working in concert. This brings me back to fullness. All is in motion, if not quite moving forward or backward. To Feel.
Lastly, Chin. Internal force. He elaborates quite accurately that this is about all the muscles being relaxed and coordinated such that the “force” comes from the whole of the body’s effort. All parts are doing the job for a whole body to do the job for one movement.
But I think I would avoid the use of “force” altogether. Not that it is wrong – a certain kind of “force” does come from using the body in this way. But I like the notion of Wholeness better, or a sense that parts interact with each other to make the whole ACT but no single part is doing all the work. A unified whole ACTION (hence, effortless effort). Another empty “technique”. To Act.
Mr. Yun encourages us to explore each facet individually and really understand them. This sounds very useful, if not impossible. I’m guessing that some of these cannot be separated from the others. But giving some mind (Yi) to each one seems to have some benefit.
I have another thought on this paradigm. Perhaps the sequence could also be described along the following path:
Gather Up Your Intention, Existence (BE),
Find Your Mind’s Focus (SEE),
Feel Your Potential Energy (FEEL),
Act From Total Movement (ACT).
Shen is gathering up your forces (your will or your existance), Yi is adding a needed focus to be here now, Chi is using internal energy for moving, Chin is activating the Chi of the whole body for a total movement. True or false, this seems like a good way to work on the form and to gain greater integrity in your life. Or so I believe.
Being eventually leads to Action. We learn in life first through Action, noting how that Feels, growing this into a larger domain of Seeing what it is you are doing, and ultimately learning what it means to dwell in Being. As I stated before, if we can really dwell in Being, the rest can fall out naturally. But life is often a path where we learn how to be. So is tai chi.
After this, it is all flow, allowing, letting go and letting it happen.
I like this division of “states”. I’m buying it.
Shen, anyone?
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan - What You Don't Know May Harm You
Tai Chi Chuan – What You Don’t Know May Harm You.
Well, I don’t mean to be too obvious so let me elaborate.
It is an interesting phenomenon in tai chi push hands that you get pushed as soon as you are not aware of where you are tense or holding on or resisting. If your partner can find that spot, you are in trouble.
But the real trouble is that many times, even when your partner TELLS you where the spot is, you still can’t feel the stuck place. We can’t see what is right in front of us. We have a hard time feeling ourselves and the more experienced player will have the upper hand. In part, it is more than just an inability to feel ourselves. Sometimes we are simply holding on to an idea and we ignore what our bodies are telling us.
So, too, in the emotional world. The unrecognized holding pattern or resistance will leap out and do you in. It almost seems as if it is a law. What you don’t see in yourself eventually will out. And it is never a good thing. Alas, the unexamined life is not only not worth living: It’s dangerous.
I was in a situation recently where I felt a great deal of internal anxiety. But I was also performing to others that I was not in a state of anxiety. I even hid it from myself. We had an exchange, and out came the tension in the form of a joke. It was not warmly received to say the least. I looked rather dumb. Oy vey!
There it was, the hidden tension waiting to expose it and me. In push-hands, the hidden tension is also waiting there to expose you to their push.
Besides lots of practice, the main solution in both cases is relaxation and observation. Being aware of you, and continuing to peel off those layers of habitual tension that hide the fact of hidden tension. It takes time and thoughtful awareness to allow it to come to the surface. After all, hidden tension is there because you DON’T want to see it. Or you are too lazy to look. It stays hidden unless you actively work to let it go. If you don’t let it go, you find yourself in a situation where the tension takes charge and you become a slave to that reaction.
The simple requirement of tai chi practice to relax relax relax can feel unproductive. It’s not. It’s the primary activity to allow you to have real control over your body and emotions. By control, I don’t mean some way of gritting your teeth to insure that the status quo keeps where it is. Control here means that you have the choice of following the impulse… or not.
If you have choice in the matter, you have control.
So work with that primary practice of relaxation and see where it leads you. And see what leads you to relaxation.
One more point: this kind of relaxation is not some kind of slovenly deadening state. It is an alert relaxation, sensitive to your body and spirit, sensitive to the external world.
The goal of being relaxed is a very serious matter.
Well, I don’t mean to be too obvious so let me elaborate.
It is an interesting phenomenon in tai chi push hands that you get pushed as soon as you are not aware of where you are tense or holding on or resisting. If your partner can find that spot, you are in trouble.
But the real trouble is that many times, even when your partner TELLS you where the spot is, you still can’t feel the stuck place. We can’t see what is right in front of us. We have a hard time feeling ourselves and the more experienced player will have the upper hand. In part, it is more than just an inability to feel ourselves. Sometimes we are simply holding on to an idea and we ignore what our bodies are telling us.
So, too, in the emotional world. The unrecognized holding pattern or resistance will leap out and do you in. It almost seems as if it is a law. What you don’t see in yourself eventually will out. And it is never a good thing. Alas, the unexamined life is not only not worth living: It’s dangerous.
I was in a situation recently where I felt a great deal of internal anxiety. But I was also performing to others that I was not in a state of anxiety. I even hid it from myself. We had an exchange, and out came the tension in the form of a joke. It was not warmly received to say the least. I looked rather dumb. Oy vey!
There it was, the hidden tension waiting to expose it and me. In push-hands, the hidden tension is also waiting there to expose you to their push.
Besides lots of practice, the main solution in both cases is relaxation and observation. Being aware of you, and continuing to peel off those layers of habitual tension that hide the fact of hidden tension. It takes time and thoughtful awareness to allow it to come to the surface. After all, hidden tension is there because you DON’T want to see it. Or you are too lazy to look. It stays hidden unless you actively work to let it go. If you don’t let it go, you find yourself in a situation where the tension takes charge and you become a slave to that reaction.
The simple requirement of tai chi practice to relax relax relax can feel unproductive. It’s not. It’s the primary activity to allow you to have real control over your body and emotions. By control, I don’t mean some way of gritting your teeth to insure that the status quo keeps where it is. Control here means that you have the choice of following the impulse… or not.
If you have choice in the matter, you have control.
So work with that primary practice of relaxation and see where it leads you. And see what leads you to relaxation.
One more point: this kind of relaxation is not some kind of slovenly deadening state. It is an alert relaxation, sensitive to your body and spirit, sensitive to the external world.
The goal of being relaxed is a very serious matter.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan - Five Simple Tunes
Tai Chi Chuan – Five Simple Tunes
Here are five simple things you can do to warm up with. I usually rock from foot to foot and do the push posture over and over and over again. Any posture will do however. With each one of these individual foci, I may spend a few seconds or a few minutes, depending on my mood.
The first is being aware of both legs BEFORE you shift. You relax into the leg you are on, AND you line up the un-weighted leg, being sure that you are fully connected to the ground, but with no weight on that foot. It is like a double rooting. One root is full, into the full leg, the other root is empty, into the empty leg. Both get equal attention.
The second tune is simply putting your mind into the tan t’ien (center) and going back and forth with that as a primary focus.
The third is putting your attention on the external oval that surrounds your body. I’ve written about this in a previous blog in greater detail (Polishing the Stone). You focus on balancing and polishing that outer smooth continuous oval that you are contained within.
The fourth is simply feeling the whole chi of the body as you rock back and forth. To me, this means the sensation of every cell participating in the movement. Millions upon millions of cells are contributing to your wholeness. Nothing is left out.
Fifth and final tune, as you sink into the full part of the push posture, your body fills up, the shape is full, and you are extending to the whole room, the universe, with your mind. Your body relaxes accordingly. I’ve written about this one previously in greater detail in blog essay Release Into Form.
These five aspects seem to me to be central to what we want to achieve in our practice.
What can you discover in the midst of reminding yourself of these tai chi functions?
What can you add?
Here are five simple things you can do to warm up with. I usually rock from foot to foot and do the push posture over and over and over again. Any posture will do however. With each one of these individual foci, I may spend a few seconds or a few minutes, depending on my mood.
The first is being aware of both legs BEFORE you shift. You relax into the leg you are on, AND you line up the un-weighted leg, being sure that you are fully connected to the ground, but with no weight on that foot. It is like a double rooting. One root is full, into the full leg, the other root is empty, into the empty leg. Both get equal attention.
The second tune is simply putting your mind into the tan t’ien (center) and going back and forth with that as a primary focus.
The third is putting your attention on the external oval that surrounds your body. I’ve written about this in a previous blog in greater detail (Polishing the Stone). You focus on balancing and polishing that outer smooth continuous oval that you are contained within.
The fourth is simply feeling the whole chi of the body as you rock back and forth. To me, this means the sensation of every cell participating in the movement. Millions upon millions of cells are contributing to your wholeness. Nothing is left out.
Fifth and final tune, as you sink into the full part of the push posture, your body fills up, the shape is full, and you are extending to the whole room, the universe, with your mind. Your body relaxes accordingly. I’ve written about this one previously in greater detail in blog essay Release Into Form.
These five aspects seem to me to be central to what we want to achieve in our practice.
What can you discover in the midst of reminding yourself of these tai chi functions?
What can you add?
Saturday, June 26, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan - Release into Form, Form from Release
Tai Chi Chuan – Release into Form, Form from Release
There are two crucial qualities that we always balance in tai chi: Releasing into space on the one hand, and maintaining the external shapes of the postures on the other. Both are accomplished through non-doing.
First, we are releasing into space and ground at the full part of each posture. We let go into air and ground such that the mind and body extend outwards, filling the space outside of our physical boundary. It is like letting go of a flock of doves from your body and letting them fly off into the clouds in all directions. The body joins that sense of release and expansion.
Try this: grip your arm and fist, then open it, relax it and follow the dove flying outward with the mind. Imagine this going out from your tan t’ien in all directions. The body will naturally follow that outward expansion, stabilized by the use of ground. This is the infinite.
(That use of ground, incidentally, is much like a dove gently and carefully landing on the ground. This reminds me of where the classics suggest we “walk like a cat.”)
But there is a form that impedes this following. We don’t just flow and release like some improvisational dance. We don’t lose our “form”. Postures don’t fall apart. Or become erratic.
Why?
I’ve stated that the form is a way to test the process that we are exploring. But there is more to the form than that.
In part, tai chi is about the gathering, concentrating and circulating of chi. We don’t let it fly away as I have suggested in the previous paragraph. The body and the shapes of the postures form a vehicle or container to store and circulate that chi. The “capture” of chi via postures is a natural occurrence.
This is more like swallowing water, something that happens with just about little or no effort and just the right amount of particular muscles. The channel is built into the physical body and the postures themselves. Another analogy would be the way that a river bed captures and channels water to create a directed and energetic current. Water does not leap out of the river and travel up the side of the mountain. This is the finite.
The form is a balanced container that cradles this energy. The chi itself is creating the shape of the posture (not muscle and bone). The posture gives us a boundary that surrounds the chi and prevents the chi from escaping. In order for this to happen, the postures must have no gaps, hollows or projections (according to the classics). Gaps, hollows and projections in a posture will impede the chi or let it escape from the body. As you develop your skill, the form itself becomes more and more precise, fuller, more substantial, more internally open, more polished and relaxed.
Currently, I’d say that only in the martial art aspect do we release chi from the body in order to discharge someone. This is the ultimate expression of opening and releasing chi from the body into space.
These are two end points in a continuum where ultimately you have ONE experience. The experience of release endlessly expands into space, but our physical body fills up and becomes the precise posture it wants to embody. We don’t put a lid on that releasing quality because this is one way (amongst others) that we increase our chi and increase our relaxation. The container gets fatter, thicker, more grounded and balanced, more substantial, more round and complete.
We release into space and into the ground, and the postures bloom into great yang energy. The boundless experience and the postures (container) are now fused into one gestalt.
To sound “new agey”, we are fusing our tai chi form with the whole universe, the finite with the infinite.
To be more humble, we are grounding this experience of expansion in the here and now, within our bodies, the infinite with the finite.
By “capturing” it, we become it.
By “becoming” it, it is ours to use.
There are two crucial qualities that we always balance in tai chi: Releasing into space on the one hand, and maintaining the external shapes of the postures on the other. Both are accomplished through non-doing.
First, we are releasing into space and ground at the full part of each posture. We let go into air and ground such that the mind and body extend outwards, filling the space outside of our physical boundary. It is like letting go of a flock of doves from your body and letting them fly off into the clouds in all directions. The body joins that sense of release and expansion.
Try this: grip your arm and fist, then open it, relax it and follow the dove flying outward with the mind. Imagine this going out from your tan t’ien in all directions. The body will naturally follow that outward expansion, stabilized by the use of ground. This is the infinite.
(That use of ground, incidentally, is much like a dove gently and carefully landing on the ground. This reminds me of where the classics suggest we “walk like a cat.”)
But there is a form that impedes this following. We don’t just flow and release like some improvisational dance. We don’t lose our “form”. Postures don’t fall apart. Or become erratic.
Why?
I’ve stated that the form is a way to test the process that we are exploring. But there is more to the form than that.
In part, tai chi is about the gathering, concentrating and circulating of chi. We don’t let it fly away as I have suggested in the previous paragraph. The body and the shapes of the postures form a vehicle or container to store and circulate that chi. The “capture” of chi via postures is a natural occurrence.
This is more like swallowing water, something that happens with just about little or no effort and just the right amount of particular muscles. The channel is built into the physical body and the postures themselves. Another analogy would be the way that a river bed captures and channels water to create a directed and energetic current. Water does not leap out of the river and travel up the side of the mountain. This is the finite.
The form is a balanced container that cradles this energy. The chi itself is creating the shape of the posture (not muscle and bone). The posture gives us a boundary that surrounds the chi and prevents the chi from escaping. In order for this to happen, the postures must have no gaps, hollows or projections (according to the classics). Gaps, hollows and projections in a posture will impede the chi or let it escape from the body. As you develop your skill, the form itself becomes more and more precise, fuller, more substantial, more internally open, more polished and relaxed.
Currently, I’d say that only in the martial art aspect do we release chi from the body in order to discharge someone. This is the ultimate expression of opening and releasing chi from the body into space.
These are two end points in a continuum where ultimately you have ONE experience. The experience of release endlessly expands into space, but our physical body fills up and becomes the precise posture it wants to embody. We don’t put a lid on that releasing quality because this is one way (amongst others) that we increase our chi and increase our relaxation. The container gets fatter, thicker, more grounded and balanced, more substantial, more round and complete.
We release into space and into the ground, and the postures bloom into great yang energy. The boundless experience and the postures (container) are now fused into one gestalt.
To sound “new agey”, we are fusing our tai chi form with the whole universe, the finite with the infinite.
To be more humble, we are grounding this experience of expansion in the here and now, within our bodies, the infinite with the finite.
By “capturing” it, we become it.
By “becoming” it, it is ours to use.
Monday, June 14, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan For Babies
Tai Chi Chuan For Babies
Tai Chi is a rather adult exercise. It takes patience, time, sustained effort, discipline, focus, long study and has many potent philosophical and psychological layers. In all this, it can be a pretty serious endeavor and if you take it too far in this direction, not all that much fun.
But wait! Did I say babies?
I am not thinking about babies in terms of ignorance or immaturity. I am thinking of babies in terms of their innocence, love, glee, curiosity and willingness to explore and play in the world around them. This is a big part of tai chi. It takes MORE than patient study. It takes gleeful curiosity and play to have it come alive.
Babies are all chi, are they not? It is natural and flowing and they interact with the world with a sort of innocent exploration that is key to our creativity and growth as human beings. This is not growth in terms of some preconceived result as in status or money, but growth in terms of experiencing new experience. They explore explore explore. But without any sense of a goal. It is just exploring because of the joy of it.
We are built that way it seems, but this quality gets lost for many of us as we become adults. Our place in the world takes on great responsibility, and this can crush our creative joyful exploratory spirit. Sometimes the playful quality gets attached to addictive or self destructive behaviors and takes us in the wrong direction. Play becomes escape from responsibility and serves as a way to run from difficulties.
Tai chi, with the attitude of a baby, is an endless source of enjoyment and growth. It’s like tapping into the “world of new” just to see what’s there. There is no sense of success or failure in all this. Can you imagine a baby evaluating its next move on the basis of some judgment regarding the worth of the exploration at hand? NEVER! They just do!
OK, they can get into trouble on that basis. I’m not suggesting we throw the baby out with the bathwater (couldn’t resist that one!) We do need to explore with some intelligence (with your internal sense of adult supervision!) We are not babies in total and thank G-d for that! But as long as we are not harming ourselves or others, this is a powerful way to work in tai chi.
This is the tai chi edge, being creative, but not being reckless. Being open, but not being stupid. Finding the new, but not at the expense of the old. Learning from play to better handle our responsibilities, not walk away from them.
So, all you babies out there: Go and play! It’s the robust healthy part of the baby mind that I’m encouraging you to tap into and see where that takes you.
You might rediscover the world and tai chi in one fell swoop!
Tai Chi is a rather adult exercise. It takes patience, time, sustained effort, discipline, focus, long study and has many potent philosophical and psychological layers. In all this, it can be a pretty serious endeavor and if you take it too far in this direction, not all that much fun.
But wait! Did I say babies?
I am not thinking about babies in terms of ignorance or immaturity. I am thinking of babies in terms of their innocence, love, glee, curiosity and willingness to explore and play in the world around them. This is a big part of tai chi. It takes MORE than patient study. It takes gleeful curiosity and play to have it come alive.
Babies are all chi, are they not? It is natural and flowing and they interact with the world with a sort of innocent exploration that is key to our creativity and growth as human beings. This is not growth in terms of some preconceived result as in status or money, but growth in terms of experiencing new experience. They explore explore explore. But without any sense of a goal. It is just exploring because of the joy of it.
We are built that way it seems, but this quality gets lost for many of us as we become adults. Our place in the world takes on great responsibility, and this can crush our creative joyful exploratory spirit. Sometimes the playful quality gets attached to addictive or self destructive behaviors and takes us in the wrong direction. Play becomes escape from responsibility and serves as a way to run from difficulties.
Tai chi, with the attitude of a baby, is an endless source of enjoyment and growth. It’s like tapping into the “world of new” just to see what’s there. There is no sense of success or failure in all this. Can you imagine a baby evaluating its next move on the basis of some judgment regarding the worth of the exploration at hand? NEVER! They just do!
OK, they can get into trouble on that basis. I’m not suggesting we throw the baby out with the bathwater (couldn’t resist that one!) We do need to explore with some intelligence (with your internal sense of adult supervision!) We are not babies in total and thank G-d for that! But as long as we are not harming ourselves or others, this is a powerful way to work in tai chi.
This is the tai chi edge, being creative, but not being reckless. Being open, but not being stupid. Finding the new, but not at the expense of the old. Learning from play to better handle our responsibilities, not walk away from them.
So, all you babies out there: Go and play! It’s the robust healthy part of the baby mind that I’m encouraging you to tap into and see where that takes you.
You might rediscover the world and tai chi in one fell swoop!
Tai Chi Chuan – Why Study A Form If What You Get Is A Process?
Tai Chi Chuan – Why Study A Form If What You Get Is A Process?
I’ve suggested that studying tai chi form is not to learn a form but to learn a process. If that is so, then why do we take so much time to learn such a specific form? Why not just work with the process and dump the form?
Oddly enough, we need that form because it verifies our process. If we don’t have some tool to test the process, we won’t be able to tell if we have mastered any of that process. Hence, the form is the test.
Even from the start, we are learning principles and applying them to the very beginning of the form. Often we then get confused and think that the shape of the form, the form of the form is what we are trying to achieve. Nope. We are applying some principles to help ourselves learn these principles onto a template.
That template has to be very specific. For one thing, it actually helps us learn the process because it requires us to be aligned and relaxed. By separating it out from regular activities and being very specific, we are challenged to maintain these principles in a prolonged act of creating and practicing this form. If the form is working along the lines of the principles, then we are learning the principles.
It takes a long time to really learn what it means to fully relax. Some would say this takes a lifetime. So with a form in hand we work over and over and over again to fully explore these principles in many different shapes. And in doing so, we are polishing the jewel that we already are. It is like the sculptor who removes all that isn’t to reveal all that is.
After this, we take these principles onto the mat. We use them in push-hands which is a modified combat form. Can we maintain these principles through the infinite variations that are presented to us by our tai chi push-hands partners?
This all requires a sustained effort and great attention. Those are qualities that are often missing in our lives, except where we are forced to engage them. But tai chi is an activity that we elect to learn to add health and vitality to our body and mind. In addition to those reasons, it is a fantastic place to learn life altering principles.
These principles work everywhere, but since the form of life is very very grand and complex, the principles are hard to articulate, let alone actually practice. With a specific form to engage in, we can more easily work on the principles as specific challenges within a specific form. In that way, it is very small, but extends outward infinitely to potentially affect everything you do. Tai chi functions as a microcosm of life.
Another reason to practice tai chi.
Another reason to be in awe of the principles.
I’ve suggested that studying tai chi form is not to learn a form but to learn a process. If that is so, then why do we take so much time to learn such a specific form? Why not just work with the process and dump the form?
Oddly enough, we need that form because it verifies our process. If we don’t have some tool to test the process, we won’t be able to tell if we have mastered any of that process. Hence, the form is the test.
Even from the start, we are learning principles and applying them to the very beginning of the form. Often we then get confused and think that the shape of the form, the form of the form is what we are trying to achieve. Nope. We are applying some principles to help ourselves learn these principles onto a template.
That template has to be very specific. For one thing, it actually helps us learn the process because it requires us to be aligned and relaxed. By separating it out from regular activities and being very specific, we are challenged to maintain these principles in a prolonged act of creating and practicing this form. If the form is working along the lines of the principles, then we are learning the principles.
It takes a long time to really learn what it means to fully relax. Some would say this takes a lifetime. So with a form in hand we work over and over and over again to fully explore these principles in many different shapes. And in doing so, we are polishing the jewel that we already are. It is like the sculptor who removes all that isn’t to reveal all that is.
After this, we take these principles onto the mat. We use them in push-hands which is a modified combat form. Can we maintain these principles through the infinite variations that are presented to us by our tai chi push-hands partners?
This all requires a sustained effort and great attention. Those are qualities that are often missing in our lives, except where we are forced to engage them. But tai chi is an activity that we elect to learn to add health and vitality to our body and mind. In addition to those reasons, it is a fantastic place to learn life altering principles.
These principles work everywhere, but since the form of life is very very grand and complex, the principles are hard to articulate, let alone actually practice. With a specific form to engage in, we can more easily work on the principles as specific challenges within a specific form. In that way, it is very small, but extends outward infinitely to potentially affect everything you do. Tai chi functions as a microcosm of life.
Another reason to practice tai chi.
Another reason to be in awe of the principles.
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Tai Chi Chuan - The Push-Hands Dialogue
PLEASE NOTE: I am going ahead with posting this one despite some hesitation. It is hard to find the right language to describe a complex interaction when words are being used to help each other. I may update this one from time to time. In addition, each verbal exchange has a context. There are infinite contexts. Clearly I’m choosing a context here but not explaining it. Hence the ambiguity of language, intention, personality, etc. cannot be elaborated in great detail.
Tom Daly, 6/24/11.
Tai Chi Chuan –The Push-Hands Dialogue
Again, because I believe this is very important, I want to explore what we say to each other when we are working on push hands. (First things first: I’m assuming you and your partner are comfortable with exchanging views. I am assuming you want to help each other. I am assuming you want feedback, at least some of the time. This is not always the case. Some simply like to experience whatever comes their way and work from there. I think that’s also a great way to work on push-hands.)
Which of the following statements is not helpful and may be counterproductive?
a) You didn’t take my force into the ground.
b) You pulled your arm away from your body while neutralizing.
c) You are using your arm to protect yourself and block me.
d) You were twisting in the torso.
e) Your push is too hard.
Have your answer? (If you are confused about how to approach this, try my blogs on Critique, or Fact vs. Judgment.)
Let me elaborate on these statements:
a) This is a specific item that needs to happen in creating a return (yield-return) to the force received. An observable fact.
b) Your arm was not moved by your body, but separated from the body and did its own thing. Another observable fact.
c) The arm is stiff and protective, instead of inviting and listening. Therefore, it stops me from coming towards you. We don’t block in tai chi. We invite them in. A fact.
d) We want the torso full and aligned at all times. A turn in the hip joint is where rotation comes from. Twisting the torso is adding some sort of tension in the torso. We push tension. A fact.
e) This describes your subjective experience. Often there is a hidden linkage of “hard” and “bad” fused together here. The statement is a value based assessment (hard=bad) of my subjective experience (the “hardness” of your push.) An unspoken judgment goes into how you feel about this (good, bad) from how you experience it (soft, hard). If this is what I want from my partner, fair enough. But in general, I think this is a serious mistake. (At face value, a “hard” push is the result of some other error. Oddly, I could be hard, but you may not experience it that way. )
Helpful push-hands discussion, your verbal communication, is not music appreciation where opinions reign supreme – where what you hear is your experience and sharing your feeling is the point of the statement.
If you are looking for pushes that feel good to you, you may be in the wrong arena. Most of us have to start somewhere and generally it takes a long time to learn how to do a push without force.
Yes, that push may have felt hard. Yes, in fact it may have been hard. I’m noting that this statement doesn’t help anyone. I learn that your experience of my push felt hard to you. This may not be the case with someone else.
That “hard push”. It is almost impossible to actually measure this because if you feel hard to me, I am hard to you. So who is “hard” and who is being “bad”? I’ve heard it said that when students complained to Professor Cheng Man’ching, “his push was too hard”, Professor would reply it takes TWO to be hard!
“Your push is too hard” might set up a relationship that you don’t want to create between you and your partner. If I make such a statement, by inference, I am superior. Besides the power of being the Judge, it also assumes I know a “soft” push from a “hard” one in my own body. Without any proof, I am saying I understand a hard push vs. a soft push.
No, you say, you have felt a good soft push from someone else and therefore you know the difference ‘tween soft and hard in pushes. But your second hand experience is not enough. It does not confer on you judging rights. You are an expert when you can do a soft push and you can explain it to someone else.
Here is my favorite passive aggressive judgmental statement – a hidden “you are hard” statement. Your partner tells you “When Master Cho-Chi pushed me, I didn’t feel anything. I was just flying.” True or false, you may as well tell me Bill Gates is a billionaire. Really what they are saying is “Your push doesn’t compare to a perfect push. Your push is hard, or bad, or not very good, or…. You don’t feel like Master Cho-Chi.” Now, is this helpful?
Again, if you experience that push as hard, you had to be harder in resisting it. A more honest statement would be, “I must be VERY hard in comparison to your push. If you are hard, I must be harder.” That, of course, would be a self judgment. Even this statement is not so helpful because again you are assessing something so personal and subjective that it won’t help you progress your skill. But at least it puts the onus on you and not on them.
To embrace your experience of helplessness by a hard push is very frustrating. The experience may mean that this push frightens me, or frustrates me because my skill is too small to work with it, or I don’t like to “lose”, or simply feels uncomfortable for whatever reason.
Let’s face it, if you could neutralize that hard push, you would not say “Your push is too hard!” More likely you would laugh with delight and say, “Do that AGAIN.” You would want to continue practicing your wonderful neutralization. And those hard pushes wouldn’t feel hard to you at all because you did not offer any resistance. You didn’t get in the way. You let them in. Your hard partner would then be forced to ask, “How is it that I can’t seem to get you?”
To say “Your push is too hard” is really saying STOP THAT! Who, besides you, does that help? In fact, it doesn’t even really help you.
True, the pusher may not be aware of the strength being used to push. But your judgment doesn’t give the pusher a clue as to what to do next. “Be more soft”? How much “more soft”? “Be totally soft”? How does soft pushing do the job in the first place? What is needed to accomplish that feat?
It’s very complex. If the words “be more soft” were really helpful, everyone could do a good push. But most of us can’t. For most of us, being “more soft” is an empty gesture. It seems to me that a good push, while it is soft, has many elements that create that sensation of softness. The words hard and soft do not specify what is needed to achieve the effect of being soft. Some partners, in an attempt to be soft, don’t push at all when they push. There is no there THERE.
“Soft” or “not using force” is the sum total of many aspects that happen simultaneously to create a push that does not rely on force. It relies on good timing, direction, listening, following, no intention to push, sticking and whole body movement connected to and into the ground and connected to the partner. When I hear the suggestion “be more soft”, it reminds me of those who suggest to some sad person to “be more happy.” Great idea. Like, has that ever helped anyone?
To add nuance to that last paragraph, yes, you want the total experience of your push to be more “soft”. That is a big goal. We need to embrace that goal, but at the same time, it is not a tool for criticism of the other. It’s far too vague, too loaded with judgment, and complex.
So what do you do if you can’t deal with that force? A few options are: simply continue to get pushed, but focus on the feeling in your body (and soul), not their arms/hands.
Or, tell your partner you simply don’t have the skill to deal with that (perceived) force and ask if we can take the game down a notch.
Or, another way is to ask the partner to explain what they are feeling when they push you. This may tell you what you need to work on to alleviate their pressure and to improve your neutralization.
Or, ask the partner what they are doing when they are pushing you.
Or simply excuse yourself from the game. Walking away can be the best option at times.
The hardest lesson in push hands is that what they do is not the point. It is your reaction or action to what they do that is the point. And what you do is in the realm of your choices. Are they limited? We study push-hands, among other reasons, to give ourselves more choices.
Please, don’t tell them their push is too hard, or that it didn’t feel good. Find something else to say that’s helpful and specific, or just be quiet.
Tom Daly, 6/24/11.
Tai Chi Chuan –The Push-Hands Dialogue
Again, because I believe this is very important, I want to explore what we say to each other when we are working on push hands. (First things first: I’m assuming you and your partner are comfortable with exchanging views. I am assuming you want to help each other. I am assuming you want feedback, at least some of the time. This is not always the case. Some simply like to experience whatever comes their way and work from there. I think that’s also a great way to work on push-hands.)
Which of the following statements is not helpful and may be counterproductive?
a) You didn’t take my force into the ground.
b) You pulled your arm away from your body while neutralizing.
c) You are using your arm to protect yourself and block me.
d) You were twisting in the torso.
e) Your push is too hard.
Have your answer? (If you are confused about how to approach this, try my blogs on Critique, or Fact vs. Judgment.)
Let me elaborate on these statements:
a) This is a specific item that needs to happen in creating a return (yield-return) to the force received. An observable fact.
b) Your arm was not moved by your body, but separated from the body and did its own thing. Another observable fact.
c) The arm is stiff and protective, instead of inviting and listening. Therefore, it stops me from coming towards you. We don’t block in tai chi. We invite them in. A fact.
d) We want the torso full and aligned at all times. A turn in the hip joint is where rotation comes from. Twisting the torso is adding some sort of tension in the torso. We push tension. A fact.
e) This describes your subjective experience. Often there is a hidden linkage of “hard” and “bad” fused together here. The statement is a value based assessment (hard=bad) of my subjective experience (the “hardness” of your push.) An unspoken judgment goes into how you feel about this (good, bad) from how you experience it (soft, hard). If this is what I want from my partner, fair enough. But in general, I think this is a serious mistake. (At face value, a “hard” push is the result of some other error. Oddly, I could be hard, but you may not experience it that way. )
Helpful push-hands discussion, your verbal communication, is not music appreciation where opinions reign supreme – where what you hear is your experience and sharing your feeling is the point of the statement.
If you are looking for pushes that feel good to you, you may be in the wrong arena. Most of us have to start somewhere and generally it takes a long time to learn how to do a push without force.
Yes, that push may have felt hard. Yes, in fact it may have been hard. I’m noting that this statement doesn’t help anyone. I learn that your experience of my push felt hard to you. This may not be the case with someone else.
That “hard push”. It is almost impossible to actually measure this because if you feel hard to me, I am hard to you. So who is “hard” and who is being “bad”? I’ve heard it said that when students complained to Professor Cheng Man’ching, “his push was too hard”, Professor would reply it takes TWO to be hard!
“Your push is too hard” might set up a relationship that you don’t want to create between you and your partner. If I make such a statement, by inference, I am superior. Besides the power of being the Judge, it also assumes I know a “soft” push from a “hard” one in my own body. Without any proof, I am saying I understand a hard push vs. a soft push.
No, you say, you have felt a good soft push from someone else and therefore you know the difference ‘tween soft and hard in pushes. But your second hand experience is not enough. It does not confer on you judging rights. You are an expert when you can do a soft push and you can explain it to someone else.
Here is my favorite passive aggressive judgmental statement – a hidden “you are hard” statement. Your partner tells you “When Master Cho-Chi pushed me, I didn’t feel anything. I was just flying.” True or false, you may as well tell me Bill Gates is a billionaire. Really what they are saying is “Your push doesn’t compare to a perfect push. Your push is hard, or bad, or not very good, or…. You don’t feel like Master Cho-Chi.” Now, is this helpful?
Again, if you experience that push as hard, you had to be harder in resisting it. A more honest statement would be, “I must be VERY hard in comparison to your push. If you are hard, I must be harder.” That, of course, would be a self judgment. Even this statement is not so helpful because again you are assessing something so personal and subjective that it won’t help you progress your skill. But at least it puts the onus on you and not on them.
To embrace your experience of helplessness by a hard push is very frustrating. The experience may mean that this push frightens me, or frustrates me because my skill is too small to work with it, or I don’t like to “lose”, or simply feels uncomfortable for whatever reason.
Let’s face it, if you could neutralize that hard push, you would not say “Your push is too hard!” More likely you would laugh with delight and say, “Do that AGAIN.” You would want to continue practicing your wonderful neutralization. And those hard pushes wouldn’t feel hard to you at all because you did not offer any resistance. You didn’t get in the way. You let them in. Your hard partner would then be forced to ask, “How is it that I can’t seem to get you?”
To say “Your push is too hard” is really saying STOP THAT! Who, besides you, does that help? In fact, it doesn’t even really help you.
True, the pusher may not be aware of the strength being used to push. But your judgment doesn’t give the pusher a clue as to what to do next. “Be more soft”? How much “more soft”? “Be totally soft”? How does soft pushing do the job in the first place? What is needed to accomplish that feat?
It’s very complex. If the words “be more soft” were really helpful, everyone could do a good push. But most of us can’t. For most of us, being “more soft” is an empty gesture. It seems to me that a good push, while it is soft, has many elements that create that sensation of softness. The words hard and soft do not specify what is needed to achieve the effect of being soft. Some partners, in an attempt to be soft, don’t push at all when they push. There is no there THERE.
“Soft” or “not using force” is the sum total of many aspects that happen simultaneously to create a push that does not rely on force. It relies on good timing, direction, listening, following, no intention to push, sticking and whole body movement connected to and into the ground and connected to the partner. When I hear the suggestion “be more soft”, it reminds me of those who suggest to some sad person to “be more happy.” Great idea. Like, has that ever helped anyone?
To add nuance to that last paragraph, yes, you want the total experience of your push to be more “soft”. That is a big goal. We need to embrace that goal, but at the same time, it is not a tool for criticism of the other. It’s far too vague, too loaded with judgment, and complex.
So what do you do if you can’t deal with that force? A few options are: simply continue to get pushed, but focus on the feeling in your body (and soul), not their arms/hands.
Or, tell your partner you simply don’t have the skill to deal with that (perceived) force and ask if we can take the game down a notch.
Or, another way is to ask the partner to explain what they are feeling when they push you. This may tell you what you need to work on to alleviate their pressure and to improve your neutralization.
Or, ask the partner what they are doing when they are pushing you.
Or simply excuse yourself from the game. Walking away can be the best option at times.
The hardest lesson in push hands is that what they do is not the point. It is your reaction or action to what they do that is the point. And what you do is in the realm of your choices. Are they limited? We study push-hands, among other reasons, to give ourselves more choices.
Please, don’t tell them their push is too hard, or that it didn’t feel good. Find something else to say that’s helpful and specific, or just be quiet.
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