T'ai Chi as a martial art and spiritual discipline

Meditation Tai Chi. 

Tai Chi is both a martial art and a spiritual discipline. It's movements are slow and meditative, yet have unseen internal strength. This combination generates the great rewards of improved health and fitness, mentally and spiritually....real healing and spiritual meditation music. 

This music has been composed at the perfect temp for Tai Chi exercises, or alternatively it can be used purely for relaxation purposes.

Spirit of T'ai Chi - Tui

Relaxation music perfect for meditation and Taijiquan. 

These sounds accompanied me (and still do!) in my Tai Ji studies.

Spirit of T'ai Chi - Li

Relaxing music perfect for meditation and taijiquan practice. 

Dedicated to masters who have tought me a lot and to those which who i'm still studying with, and in particular, this video is for M. Jou Tsung Hwa, who have been a very important source of inspiration for me.

T'ai Chi and sinking into your center

(image credit)

T'ai Chi and being at one with the Universal

(image credit)

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

(image credit)

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

(image credit)

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)

(image credit)

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)

(image credit)

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)

(image credit)

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.
 

Engage with T'ai Chi spirit and principles

(image credit)

What distinguishes martial arts in general from other fighting systems, such as boxing, fencing and wrestling is spirituality.  Of course, as I've emphasized before, we can endow any and all activities that engage in with the spirit, mindset and principles of T'ai Chi.

Be wholly alive, aware and alert

(image credit)

Bruce Lee speaks plainly yet profoundly at the same time.

T'ai Chi adopts a peaceful spirit

(image credit)

To my point in the preceding article, true T'ai Chi martial art adopts a peaceful spirit and attitude.

T'ai Chi is Yin-Yang Balance

(image credit)

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 the Way of Nature (Tao)

(image credit)

T'ai Chi abides by the teachings of Lao Tzu in Tao Te Ching.  Whether we practice its application, reflect on its philosophy, or raise our spirit to the Universal, following the Tao is a crucial precept.

Tao Te Ching Empower and Zen Empower

"When you are at one with loss, The loss is experienced willingly.”

tao te ching empower

the way of nature. the way of the universe. the way of virtue. the venerable text by Lao Tzu may be 2600 years old. but it's a guide and inspiration for the modern day. by www.taichiempower.com

“Think of Zen, of the Void, of Good and Evil and you are bound hand and foot. Think only and entirely and completely of what you are doing at the moment and you are free as a bird.”

zen empower

in the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few. from Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki. zen empower is a blog by www.taichiempower.com.

These two blogs on Tumblr are my personal study of Taoism and Zen, and I am grateful that many people have had a read and have enjoyed them.

Searching for Something Deeper and Truer

Spirituality in everyday life

“This is part of a huge cultural shift,” said [clinical psychologist Lisa] Miller, who'd barely heard about spirituality in academia when she started out 20 years ago. “We’re evolving – as a collective – and finding something deeper, more true and more permanent.” 

The story from India “stimulated not only my intellect but also awakened my soul,” wrote one of the readers. 

“It inspired me to live my life with a more open heart,” said another. 

“An energy forced me to read your article,” wrote a third. “While reading, I cried, reflected on my life, felt the wounds of my daughters, exclaimed pain from my sister’s suicide, gave thanks to my parents and even sent advice to a guy I just met. I’m not sure where this will all lead.” 

Miller attributes this opening up, at least in part, to a loss of security, a response to challenges. Financial downturns and, for some, implosions. Natural disasters. School shootings. Domestic terrorism. Pick your pain.

Reference: The new American dream: Searching for spirituality.

Whether we call it spirituality, religion, philosophy, metaphysics or something else, and whether it's clear and firm in our lives or not, that search Lisa Miller refers to is a real thing.  Since the start of the new millennium, our lives around the world have ranged from breathtaking and dramatic, heartbreaking and despondent.  Pick your pain is absolutely right.

In a way T'ai Chi is a solution, a salve, a salvation for me.  I've been practicing and studying it since May 1978, and it's been the one true anchor in my life.  Of course it has its own principles, values and form, but it can liberate any of us from more dogmatic versions of principles, values and form.  It is akin to what Bruce Lee related in Jeet Kune Do:  You take and you adopt what works best for you, and you discard and you dismiss what doesn't.  Or at least set aside what doesn't quite makes sense for now, then maybe come back to it another time.

Weighing Spirituality, Religion and T'ai Chi

Spirituality

I was born Catholic, but in my teens I disavowed that religion for its dogmatism and sexism.  There was a certain rigidity about its beliefs, for example, about not allowing women to be priests and in general putting women in a subservient place.  It perpetuated, rather than challenged, the gender discrimination of Western patriarchy.

Still I believe in God as omnipotent and omniscient, and benevolent and forgiving, too.  So for the longest time now, I have viewed myself as spiritual but not religious.  Religious practices such as going to church was a social phenomenon, and as such I didn't need this particular sort of being among people.  I simply enjoy being around people, period.      

So it was intriguing, and affirming of course, to read Examining the Growth of the 'Spiritual but Not Religious'.  Three women debate the viability of such a stance, from its being a form of ambivalence (Lillian Daniel), to a recoil from institution (Linda Mercadante), to an alternative to traditional worship and medicine (Carolyn Bender).

In the end, though, the following resonates best with me:  

(quote credit)

I've traveled the world, and encountered people from other major religions, such as Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism.  While each may in fact have its own dogma and bias, I learn and adopt what makes to learn and adopt for myself and I am not bound by one or the other.  Rightly or wrongly, this is what T'ai Chi practice and Taoism study have taught me.

Music of Tao ~ Bagan Temples, by Harvey Summers

Tao (pronounced 'Dow') can be roughly translated into English as 'path' or 'the way'. It refers to a power which surrounds and flows through all things, both living and inanimate. The Tao regulates natural processes and nourishes balance in the universe. It embodies the harmony of opposites, or Yin and Yang, which symbolize pairs of such opposites throughout the universe, e.g., light and dark, male and female, good and evil; none can exist without the other.