How T'ai Chi Builds Awareness (3) Empty Mind

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T'ai Chi builds our awareness, not only of ourselves (i.e. body, mind and spirit) but also of our surroundings (immediate environment and broader universe).  It does so by fostering an open mind, which Westerners may call mindfulness but which practitioners call empty mind.  It is a mind that neither allows nor disallows thoughts, but simply remains still, centered and nonjudgmental.  It is a mind, in other words, that is open to everything but doesn't attach itself to anything in particular.  T'ai Chi as empty mind helps us sense things in ourselves, in people, and in our surroundings which may be out of view or earshot. 
 

How T'ai Chi Builds Awareness (2) Open Noticing

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While we T'ai Chi practitioners may have the look of (tunnel-visioned) focus and concentration, our mind must keep divergent at the same time.  That is, we cast our attention widely and openly, so we can notice things that sit at our periphery.  We can then shift our focus and concentration accordingly, if those things we notice are salient and compelling (e.g. an emerging threat or attack).
 

How T'ai Chi Builds Awareness (1) Calm Focus

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To learn T'ai Chi well, we have to focus.  Your instructor may take an holistic approach (i.e. demonstrate the movement in its entirety) and-or a piecemeal approach (i.e. breakdowns or segments of movement).  Regardless, we as students must concentrate on what he or she does, and follow suit, even though it may feel rather self conscious or awkward in the initial stages.  So part of building awareness is converging attention onto particular postures and movements.  In T'ai Chi, we pay attention in calm, purposeful ways.
 

How T'ai Chi is Spiritual (3) Connecting with God

Creación de Adán, Miguel Ángel (c. 1512)

More than just feeling the essence of God within me, T'ai Chi study and practice connects me, I'd like to believe, with God Himself.  Much of its movements are expressed via the hands, and its chi is release through the fingertips.  So this peerless masterpiece by Michelangelo, in which God breathes life into Adam as the first man, is a perfect rendering of what I believe to be the larger purpose of T'ai Chi.
 

How T'ai Chi is Spiritual (2) Much Bigger Than I

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Some of us may resist the notion that we are merely drops of water in a vast ocean.  Some of us, in other words, may see themselves as bigger than they actually are.  But in truth there is a vast cosmos around us, and T'ai Chi practice lets me get in touch with that which is much bigger than I am.  In T'ai Chi, we simply refer to the vast cosmos as the Universal. 

How T'ai Chi is Spiritual (1) Non-Physical Self

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T'ai Chi practice lets me get in touch with that part of myself that is non-physical or non-material.

• Is thought a non-physical phenomenon?  Some may argue that it is merely neurocognitive activity.  
• Is emotional a non-physical phenomenon?  Some may argue that this, too, is a biochemical, anatomical event? 
• What about chi?  Some define it as breath, which of course is physical. But more accurately defined as life energy, it may be an arc toward our spiritual self.
• What about shen?  Meant in the sense of awareness or consciousness, shen may be the essence of God that courses through us.

In T'ai Chi practice, we say sink the chi, raise the shen.  One ought to circulate in our body, while the other reaches upward and lifts us along with it.
 

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 30)

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Whenever you advise a ruler in the way of Tao,
Counsel him not to use force to conquer the universe.
For this would only cause resistance.
Thorn bushes spring up wherever the army has passed.
Lean years follow in the wake of a great war.
Just do what needs to be done.
Never take advantage of power.
Achieve results,
But never glory in them.
Achieve results,
But never boast.
Achieve results,
But never be proud.
Achieve results,
Because this is the natural way.
Achieve results,
But not through violence.

Force is followed by loss of strength.
This is not the way of Tao.
That which goes against the Tao comes to an early end.

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 30), by Lao Tzu.
 

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 29)

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Do you think you can take over the universe and improve it?
I do not believe it can be done.
The universe is sacred.
You cannot improve it.
If you try to change it, you will ruin it.
If you try to hold it, you will lose it.

So sometimes things are ahead and sometimes they are behind;
Sometimes breathing is hard, sometimes it comes easily;
Sometimes there is strength and sometimes weakness;
Sometimes one is up and sometimes down.

Therefore the sage avoids extremes, excesses, and complacency.

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 29), by Lao Tzu

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 28)

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Know the strength of man,
But keep a woman's care!
Be the stream of the universe!
Being the stream of the universe,
Ever true and unswerving,
Become as a little child once more.
Know the white,
But keep the black!
Be an example to the world!
Being an example to the world,
Ever true and unwavering,
Return to the infinite.

Know honor,
Yet keep humility.
Be the valley of the universe!
Being the valley of the universe,
Ever true and resourceful,
Return to the state of the uncarved block.

When the block is carved, it becomes useful.
When the sage uses it, he becomes the ruler.
Thus, "A great tailor cuts little."

Tao Te Ching (Chapter 28), by Lao Tzu.
 

Be wholly alive, aware and alert

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Bruce Lee speaks plainly yet profoundly at the same time.

Song of 13 Postures (1) Waist

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The Thirteen Postures should not be taken lightly; the source of the postures is in the waist.

Reference: Song of the Thirteen Postures.

The Song of Peng (1)

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What is the meaning of Peng energy?
It is like the water supporting a moving boat.

Reference: Songs of the Eight Postures, by T'an Meng-hsien (cf. Peng Jin - Internal Strength for Tai Chi, Hsing-I and Bagua).  

T'ai Chi is Yin-Yang Balance

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The say that Wu Chi is the mother of all things, and the mother of all things gives rise to T'ai Chi, where yin and yang separate, and play, and harmonize. 

T'ai Chi is Meditation in Motion

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I learned early on that T'ai Chi was like meditation in motion.  I took this to mean that whatever state we gained from sitting meditation, we worked at sustaining throughout the practice.  For me, this notion was the foundation of bringing T'ai Chi in our everyday life, that is, that calm, that centering, and that mindfulness. 

Jet Li Introduces Levels 2 and 3

Pull Down, Split, Elbow Stroke, and Release Shoulder

Advance, Retreat, Gaze to the Left, Look to the Right, and Central Equilibrium

These nine kinetic concepts, plus the four from Level 1, constitute the 13 Postures (cf. T'ai Chi Empower - 13 Postures).

T'ai Chi Meditation: Mind and Body

Meditation Lesson 1: Be involved, be productive, be connected. But step back, too. Meditate, and simply observe.

Meditation Lesson 2: How well does your mind focus in meditation, and how do you bring it back when it wanders? 

Jet Li Introduces Level 1

Jet Li introduces Level 1 of Taiji Zen practice, and it covers 4 of the 13 essential postures and movements of T'ai Chi.  

These 4 postures and movements are called "Grasp Bird's Tail" in Yang Style forms

Taiji Zen has posted several lessons on Level 1, which I will cover over the next few weeks.

Jet Li and Jack Ma on Taiji Zen

I believe ancient Chinese culture has some simple wisdom to share with us: balance.

Jet Li is a well-known martial artist, actor and producer, while Jack Ma is the billionaire founder of Alibaba which recently had the largest Initial Public Offering.  Together they arrive at Taiji Zen.  The video lessons are clear and informative, and shot and scored deftly.

Jet Li introduces Taiji Zen, and welcomes us.

Relaxation in T'ai Chi, by Sifu Wong Kiew Kit

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There are three golden steps to relaxation. First, have your body symmetrical. For example, if you are standing, check that you are standing upright, with your shoulders level and your arms hanging loosely at your sides. Then loosen all your muscles. Don't worry how or why you do it; just do it. Second, have your lips gently open and smile from your heart. Again, just do it. Third, close your eyes gently and do not think of anything. Then just let go. All these are easier done than described, and need not worry about the principles behind them. Just do them and enjoy the benefits.

From On Shoong, by Sifu Wong Kiew Kit.

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Michael Garofalo culled information, quotes and references on relaxation - Relaxed - and I am grateful for his effort. Over several days in July 2011, I meditated over each one of these quotes and made notes in my T'ai Chi journal:

Not just to be really, really, but truly to be completely and absolutely shoong. I would like to imagine that in the future, I can be completely impervious to some people's craziness and shenanigans, by being absolutely shoong.

Going forward I will post regularly on relaxation, with more quotes and notes.

Relaxation in T'ai Chi, by Robert Smith

Cheng Man-ch'ing, Pushing Hands

This is not to say that T'ai-chi does not require effort. It does. But it requires quite as much faith. I asked Cheng Man-ch'ing once why none of his students approached him in skill. His terse answer: "No faith." Faith in what? Simply in the twin principles of relax and sink, in not resisting and always remaining gently attached to the opponent.

From Chinese Boxing: Masters and Methods (1976, p 26), by Robert Smith.

*

Michael Garofalo culled information, quotes and references on relaxation - Relaxed - and I am grateful for his effort. Over several days in July 2011, I meditated over each one of these quotes and made notes in my T'ai Chi journal:

Not just to be really, really, but truly to be completely and absolutely shoong. I would like to imagine that in the future, I can be completely impervious to some people's craziness and shenanigans, by being absolutely shoong.

Going forward I will post regularly on relaxation, with more quotes and notes.