Taijiquan
Tai Chi means the “Supreme Ultimate”, and for me I have to share with you what it has done to my life. I began to study tai chi 14 years ago in Santa Fe, New Mexico during my freshman year at the International Institute of Chinese Medicine. I had no idea what I was doing.
The teacher was an actual master of tai chi, and it was over my head how to develop the neural connections he was talking about. It has taken me several years to comprehend and understand what a gift I was being given right out of the gate in my learning. It would be like going to a PhD level class on astrophysics during your freshman year in undergraduate school. I simply had no frame of reference for what I was learning. Nevertheless; I studied the Wu Style short form of taijiquan to the fullest of my capabilities. I practiced some, but in the end I fell behind in the form and struggled to keep up with the teacher.
Years later I began to study Ba Gua old 8 palm, Chen Style taijiquan, and the Yang Style Long Form while I lived in Austin, Texas. I loved the internal arts, I had a passion for the forms, but still no Qi in my forms whatsoever. Looking back on it now, I understand some of the comments that the tai chi masters would make about people being “empty” while doing a demonstration of the form.
What does it mean, when someone is “empty”? It means that they have not developed a Tan Tien, and the meridians are NOT OPEN. No matter how much muscle strength you have, how big you are, you can’t fake having Qi to a master of push hands. So after all these years had passed, I went back to Santa Fe, NM again and was exposed to someone who really had Qi. This teacher had structure, and could demonstrate true internal connections. He could show me what it was like when a person had developed a Tan Tien. All of this was taught to me through Xing Yi Quan and its famous posture known as San Ti. After 2 lessons with this man, I rededicated my life to developing ROOT, and building a Tan Tien. I was going through a terrible time of unprecedented stress, while a baby was being born, my book was being written, and my business was imploding.
I stood in San Ti for 3 years to save my life. I stood in San Ti any moment that I had free to heal my psychic crap and release my blockages. I went to therapy to understand emotional healing and cleansing of the emotional body, and I stood in San Ti to develop the spiritual gift of CONSTANCY. Time after time in life I experienced setback after setback, and I stood in San Ti to release the tension in my body and mind. Eventually I developed a Tan Tien and could do the 5 fists of Xing Yi. I would not say that I was adept at these fists, but I could do them while experiencing the opening and closing of my Tan Tien and acupuncture meridians. I was clinging to San Ti for survival, because I needed it like air to breathe. I am sure that my clinging to San Ti is what kept me from having a total nervous breakdown. I am sure that San Ti is an insane gift to have when living in modern times.
Because of the development of the 5 Elements through San Ti Posture and the 5 Fists of Xing Yi, I was ready to actually understand Tai Chi. So I went to find a teacher, but everywhere I looked my spirit told me that it was not the right class, style, form, or teacher for me. I was frustrated for several months, but would not give up. Eventually I was gifted with a private teacher for Wu style tai chi. I had come full circle in my learning. I was right back to where I started from, only this time I could feel and understand the complexity of this form of tai chi. All because I took the time to study Xing Yi.
My learning really hit a tipping point when I was introduced to the Wu walk of Wu style tai chi. What an insanely cool and amazing walk this little exercise is! You see the Wu walk opens up so much energy in our body, but it truly opens the root of my body better than any exercise I was ever shown for “GROUNDING”. What do I mean by GROUNDING? To me grounding is the conscious effort to send all of your structure and psychic energy through your nervous system into the famous acupuncture point known as zhongquan or bubbling well. You can google a picture of the famous acupuncture point known as kidney 1.
The Wu walk in tai chi sends all of your qi through your body and into the Earth when you do this walk properly. This walk opens the spine, heals the lower back, hips, legs, ankles, feet, and promotes emotional stability and a sense of internal calm. The Wu walk can be used to take a person out of fight or flight sympathetic nervous system dominance. Think about that for a minute. How many people are nervous, scared, scattered, emotional basket cases who need grounding? How many mentally ill people could shorten the length of a bi-polar manic episode if you gave them a method of restoring their nervous system to a place of stability?
This walk has changed my life, and truly opened my eyes to the tai chi forms. The walk is ever-present in the Wu style tai chi forms, the walk is always in push hands exercises, and it is the way we begin and end each class.
More to come next week,
Brian