What are Qigong and T'ai Chi

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Chen Shiyu: Wudang Liang Yi Quan

The rhythm and expressions are more about fajing for Master Chen Shiyu, as he performs Wudang Liang Yi Quan.
 

Chen Shiyu (1) Wudang T'ai Chi 28

Master Chen Shiyu performs Wudang T'ai Chi 28 in the space between plant sprawl and brick ruins.
 

Chen Shiyu: Wudang Xuan Wu Quan

In the long shadows of late afternoon, Master Chen Shiyu performs Wudang Xuan Wu Quan - Liang Yi Quan.
 

Chen Shiyu (1) Wudang T'ai Chi Sword

Soft and relaxed, centered and rooted is Master Chen Shiyu, as he performs Wudang T'ai Chi Sword.
 

Chen Shiyu: Wudang Qi Gong (Crane Form)

Master Chen Shiyu performs a deeply meditative and graceful Wudang Qigong (Crane Form).
 

How T'ai Chi is Healthy (3) Lifting

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T'ai Chi practice looks deceptively soft and easy, gentle and light, and well it should appear so to a casual observer.  But in reality it is heavy and rooted, that is, keeping the body weight underside.  So moving the arms and legs, for example, requires some lifting, in ways similar to lifting weights in the gym.  More specifically, it's not an exercise where we put on medium to heavy weights on the barbell or machine and where therefore we can only do, say, 8 - 10 repetitions.  Rather, it's an exercise where we work with light weights, which we lift via very slow movements and we perform for several  repetitions.

How T'ai Chi is Healthy (2) Stretching

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T'ai Chi practice is one stretch after another:  from arm reaches and leg extensions (kicks), to Fair Lady Works at Shuttles and Snakes Creeps Down.  Its form - I practice mainly the Yang Long Form - is a gentle, continuous stretch, which is precisely how to do it: not tense or bouncing, but extending in a relaxed, centered manner.  As I (we) get older, staying flexible and limber are a key to managing properly whatever small or large physical demands we face.
 

How T'ai Chi is Healthy (1) Balancing

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T'ai Chi practice works at rooting and centering our bodies throughout the movement, while keeping mindful and relaxed (sung).  There is no way to ensure that we keep our balance, when something knocks us over or when we slip on the pavement.  But the agility and steadiness that T'ai Chi engenders reduces the likelihood that we will fall over or get injured when we do.

Peng Energy as Swiss Ball in Pool

Sifu Ken Gullette gives an explanation of Peng Energy, one of the most important skills in the internal arts of T'ai Chi, Hsing-I and Bagua. Combined with the ground path, it is essential to maintain Peng at all times and throughout every movement. Sometimes, Peng Jin is called "Ward Off," but that is too simple.

I like the Swiss Ball in the pool analogy, as our body has to have an unshakable resilience or bounciness in self defense.  You root yourself, but your root is alive and agile, not stationary or stiff, and the Peng energy you release comes from your root and is directed from the waist.

The Song of Peng (3)

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The entire body is filled with springlike energy,
opening and closing in a very quick moment.

Reference: Songs of the Eight Postures, by T'an Meng-hsien.

T'ai Chi is a Martial Art

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T'ai Chi is truly benevolent and peaceful, yet it is also concentrated and determined, and no less a fighting art than Kung Fu, Karate or Tae Kwon Do.  Each movement can, and does, have any number of self defense applications.  No, of course, you don't move slowly, if you're called upon to defend yourself.  But, just as Bruce Lee emphasized in Jeet Kune Do, you move with economy of effort and abide by principles of calm and centering.  If you need to move quickly, therefore, move quickly.  If not, then don't.

T'ai Chi is Swimming in Air

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Early on I also learned that T'ai Chi was like swimming in air.  That is, in practice, we are to move slowly and imagine that we are underwater.  Our movement is smooth and unhurried.  The more we fight the water, that is, if we veer from T'ai Chi principles, the more the water resists our force and tension.  So swimming in air was also a call to center and relax.

Hollowing Chest, Rounding Back

This principle is about opening up your upper body, so the chi can circulate more freely throughout your body.  Consequently, you can move with greater speed and strength.

Suspending Body from the Crown

'Suspending the Body from the Crown of the Head'... connects the whole body to the heavens.

I'm not sure that Taiji Zen meant this to be Lesson 2, but I think it makes more sense as Lesson 1.  Whether in a standing posture or continuous movement, this is so fundamental to T'ai Chi.   It is important to raise our head as if a string were attached at the crown and suspended our head from directly above.  Besides aligning our body, it also opens our mind (i) and raises our spirit (shen).

When I lose my balance

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When I lose my balance, I calmly recover it.

I may be stepping or kicking, sweeping my leg across, or simply raising it.  If I should lose my balance, I don't get tense trying to maintain it.  That seems to be our tendency: That is, we fight to avoid falling out of movement, and that is not abiding by T'ai Chi principles.

When I do my daily T'ai Chi, I'm not performing for anybody, I'm not demonstrating anything, I'm not in competition at a tournament.  Rather I am simply practicing.

I work at re-centering myself, in a relaxed, natural manner.  Sometimes that's all I need to keep my balance, and I go forward with the movements.  But sometimes I just set my foot down, pause a moment or two, and continue on.

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 Lao Tzu

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A man is born gentle and weak.
At his death he is hard and stiff.
Green plants are tender and filled with sap.
At their death they are withered and dry.
Therefore the stiff and unbending is the disciple of death.
The gentle and yielding is the disciple of life. 

Thus an army without flexibility never wins a battle.
A tree that is unbending is easily broken. 

The hard and strong will fall.
The soft and weak will overcome.

Chapter 76, from Tao Te Ching, by Lao Tzu.

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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.

Why I Meditate (1) Clarity of Mind

I meditate to clear my mind, settle my body, and calm my spirit

Carol McPhee Elaborates on Chi Cleansing

To clear out energy blockages, P.M. T'ai Chi with expert CJ McPhee helps you realign the flow of chi through a series of forms. Starting with opening the major energy gateway to allow chi to circulate. Then
 aligning the spine to encourage free flow of energy to revitalize your body. Ending with cleansing the body of stagnant chi and restoring it with pure chi
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More than 30 years ago, my T'ai Chi instructor and classmates and I traveled from Chicago to Snowmass, CO for two weeks of T'ai Chi training that would last us a lifetime.

In one session, Marshall Ho'o taught an exercise for gathering up negative chi within us, releasing it and letting the Universal work its positive force, then taking in that fresh energy back within us.

Carol McPhee does a wonderful elaboration of this simple exercise.