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Tai Chi Chuan: Moving Meditation, Health, and Philosophy
from:It is debated among black belts in martial arts systems which
one is the most effective style, and the consensus names
Traditional Wu Style Tai Chi as the ultimate. It was rumored
that the practitioner would extend his life span by several
decades. However there was a major barrier that intimidated all
of us and made changing over from Tae Kwon-Do and Karate a
challenge: it would take twenty to thirty years to master, and
our egos would be humbled starting from the beginning.
A light ringing of Chinese music played distant in the
background as a solitary figure moved in slow motion through the
dim light of the Kensington loft. The seven consecutive kicks in
the next sequence of the form increased his breathing and he
positioned himself carefully to anchor his balance. Along
currents of breath, his moving meditation centered the old man
and he focused on the very feeling of life: he knew he'd need to
spend his remaining days gaining strength in his realm, this
circle of calm energy. Wind: Slant Flying. Single Whip. Wave
Arms Like Cloud.
He was a fluid pendulum. Breathing deeply and keeping the pace
of his motions moving in harmony, he directed his body and his
awareness of spirit through a pattern refined over the
centuries. Only by bringing his energy and intention into
another manifestation of particles could he breeze into his
planned port of call through the gales and waves that would try
to force him under. Water: Needle at Sea Bottom. Separate Hands
like Fan. Press Forward.
Life brings youth, and then does its best to reclaim it, but his
body showed none of the rigid decline brought by age; his
relaxed form pushed through the air as he brought his yin foot
forward with a flexing tilt of the pelvis and hands up high
leading through the centerline. He straightened his back and
rooted his weight-bearing foot. Earth: Brush Knee and Push. Play
Guitar. Carry Tiger to the Mountain.
Elusive in the shadows, peace was approaching. His hands felt
hot with chi and a pinpoint of white light appeared in his
mind's eye and he breathed through the ancient route that
ignored the pain of time. He felt ageless and relaxed,
envisioning streams of energy as ripples in the tide heading for
the permanent shore. Step back Seven Stars.
The man returned to his starting point and arranged himself in a
horse stance. He felt completely tranquil and loose, and then he
coaxed his system to relax even more. He stood, right hand over
left in front of his abdomen, controlling an even rhythm of
breath. He stood with closed eyes in the twilight. Conscious
thought was stilled, chaos became peace and he was free to
experience the core of existence.
These lines appear in "The Golden Blues", a novel about the
reincarnation of the famous pioneer of Blues and Folk music
Leadbelly. The reincarnated character develops from crudeness in
his young bar fighting days of the nineteen-sixties to
enlightenment in the first three decades of the twenty-first
century as he studies Taoist thought and practices Tai Chi and
Chinese Buddhist meditation to strengthen his awareness of the
universe and discover a way to understand and influence
existence.
Tai Chi is the most modest of the martial arts and is one of the
branches of Kung Fu, which is a general grouping of empty hand
fighting systems. Others are more commonly thought of as Kung Fu
styles: Wushu, Shaolin, Wing-Chun, White Crane, and hundreds of
others. As with other Chinese arts, tradition was passed down in
families, and often those families would split apart in disputes
over correct ways to interpret the applications. Five major
styles emerged over the centuries: Yang, Wu, Chen, Sun, and
Taoist.
The beginnings of Tai Chi are attributed to changes in
converging fighting systems in ancient China. The rulers
recruited elite palace guards who began refining the Kung Fu
techniques into a mode of fighting that would accommodate the
elaborate ceremonial robes that the guards were required to
wear. They took the energy that was normally used for external
power fighting and they brought it in close. The combat activity
would be internal rather than external, circular instead of
linear.
The major principles are based as much on breathing and
mindfulness as they are on geometry and physics. Centering your
mind, rooting yourself to the ground, and having confidence in
your intention are the factors that add to the strength of your
concentration. Balance and relaxation are critical. When
training, the body never stops moving, there's always a motion
of the hips, the rotating of a joint or a tilting of the pelvis
to be stored in the memory by repetition, so that everything
happens automatically. The elusive energy known as Chi is
generated when weight is transferred from full weight on one
foot to the emptiness of the other, whereby the full-weighted
foot is then the empty one. Storing and directing this energy
correctly will fulfill the three main goals of Tai Chi.
The most attractive lure to the art is the promise of greater
longevity and maintenance of good health. The training,
especially the long form, is designed to massage the inner
organs and keep the body's position in the best possible
alignment to circulate blood and energy. The Chinese reckon by
experience that the body constantly in motion tends to remain in
motion, a thought validated by Newtonian laws of physics. Not
only do you stand a chance of a considerably longer life, you
will be able to live those days in the springtime of youth. The
workouts charge the body with an effervescent energy that stays
for days; it prevents exhaustion and causes one to require less
sleep. Digestion, respiration, and the immune system benefit
greatly.
The next desirable effect is the ability to provide a defense
system in which relaxation is maintained, restraint is possible
by controlling the secretion of adrenalin that produces the
"fight or flight" reaction. Newton's third law of motion, that
for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, is
used to absorb, deflect, and redirect the incoming energy back
towards the attacker, or it can be used to lock up his joints -
all without mutilating the opponent if unwarranted.
Thirdly, Tai Chi contains a parallel effect on spiritual
certainty. Discovering the growing consciousness of knowing of
your inner self extends to an understanding of the vastness of
the universe and the nature of existence. Students are taken
through breathing techniques and standing meditations as the
Sifu guides them to this heightened awareness of their
potential. Chi has a far wider meaning from the philosophical
standpoint. The Confucian stage of Chinese thought advanced
greatly by the writings of Lao Tzu in the Tao Te Ching, a
much-translated series of over sixty verses that explained the
concept of Yin and Yang, the idea that opposite phenomena
complement each other, nor can they exist without each other.
Yin and Yang is an area of subject matter that is too wide to
cover here, and will be the subject a following article, part
two of Tai Chi.
About the author:
Pat Boardman is a songwriter and author of a fiction novel, The Golden Blues. His biography tells of traveling the hard way to pursue his love for music. He is an accomplished martial artist with a black belt in Tae Kwon-do and four years of Wu Style Tai Chi training.
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