I decided I wanted to to do Tai Chi when I was in my mid 20’s while watching a friend spin spheres of light with his hands, while moving through a pattern. The pattern is called a Form and I have spent much time in my life enjoying playing with those circles of light, called Qi, moving through patterns of Tai Chi Forms and also the pattern of my life. There is an old adage in Tai Chi that says that after 30 years of practice, you know a little. By a conservative estimate, I am at about 29 years. So, I almost know a little, and I suppose I am almost qualified to talk about it. And I have long since stopped thinking of it as “practice”. Practicing for what? For me, Tai Chi is almost always in the moment, and that is a big part of the joy of it. I do Tai Chi because I love it.
I know Forms as short as 2 minutes or as long as 18 minutes and I am happy to share and teach them. Much of the time it feels both exquisite and magical, and that is really what I wish to share. Also, health bestowing benefits, both physical and mental, continue to be revealed, and as we age it becomes apparent that this can also be quite magical.
Tai Chi is a way of moving from one’s center and so where is that? Not from the head or heart, as it turns out, but from your physical core, a place just below the navel and a couple of inches inside. I used to think that this was simply the physical center of our beings, but now I have intimations that it may be much more than that. This center is referred to as the lower Dantien, which is translated not only as “Energy Ball” but also as “Elixir Field”.
I can tell you that moving from one’s physical center is very good because if one can relax one’s limbs, this then is pure stress relief. Think about it. Our minds are constantly talking to our selves, telling us how everything is- what we want, what we don’t want, whom we like, whom we don’t like. It tries to do the impossible, which is to try to keep up with everything, and this is especially impossible today, in this age of globally instant information about everything under the sun. This can be so stressful, and these ideas of the mind gain power by uniting with our emotions, which we carry around in our chests via our heart and lung energy. Consequently, stressful energy accumulates in our shoulders and neck – right between head and heart. Doing Tai Chi, sinking ones energy down, and moving from one’s Center, or Core or Hips or Dantien is a beautiful cure. You can do it almost anytime or anywhere, perhaps in a pattern of 2 to 18 minutes.
So, Tai Chi is about moving from the center, with legs bent, and moving your weight slowly from one leg to another. Sounds boring as hell, right? Well, what makes is cool is that you are doing this while experiencing balancing a sphere of light that come out from your Center and is defined and controlled by the arms. It is the light that matters. It is Your Light, and you can make it swirl and flow in and out as much as you like. It can expand and contract, concentrate and stretch out as far as the horizon or to another world. The only limit is your imagination. The balance, as you move in the pattern is like a game you play with your self and the world you are in. It is always in the moment and so never grows old. There are moves that I have done tens of thousands of times and I constantly discover new depths in them, because they are always in the moment, and as I relax my limbs the Energy starts to really flow. Linear movements become circular, then spiraling, as one moves through the patterns and through time.
The Chinese have an ancient way of looking at the human body and energy that can be called Energetic Anatomy. There 20 Channels or Meridians and that number can be divided into the 12 Main or Ordinary Channels and 8 Extraordinary Channels. The 12 Meridians go mostly from ones internal organs, back and forth all the way to fingertips and the bottom of the feet and toes – 6 are in arms and 6 are in the legs. And don’t think of these channels as being “lines” of energy as on an Acupuncture chart. Yes we are talking about the same thing, but the lines on the chart are simply connecting the dots and the dots are where a therapist can manipulate the Qi to slow it down or speed it up to disperse a blockage. But think of these 12 Meridians as rivers of Qi that fill up your arms and legs to overflowing. They say that if Qi can flow evenly in these channels you are and will remain healthy. Now picture how one moves in Tai Chi, slowly but strongly moving from the center of the torso while relaxing one’s arms and legs as much as possible, and you can see that Tai Chi is quite the regulator of the 12 Meridians and your health.
The 8 Extraordinary Channels are much more mysterious. I know very little about them. But what seems to be starting to be revealed is that they function as master channels of energy and that they help to regulate the Ordianry 12, as well as endocrine and hormonal functions. And, at least some of their energetic origin is in the Dantien or Elixir Field. This area is stimulated by moving from it in Tai Chi. By doing Tai Chi as Qigong (which is simply translated as Energy Work), Qi is accumulated there.
There is another way to stimulate and collect Qi in this Elixir Field, and it is by Qigong and Meditation techniques. I have had 3 marvelous Tai Chi benefactors. One is the late Master Tingsen Xu, with whom I studied the patterns and forms of Yang Style Tai Chi for 9 years, and another is my current teacher, Yun Xiang Tseng, who is known as Master Chen. Master Chen is a true Master of Energy or Qi, and in addition to being an All-China Kung Fu champion as a young man, is a Master of Qigong, Tai Chi and Qi Healing. He is considered to be a Chinese National Treasure by the Chinese government. He is often asked that if one only has limited time to practice one discipline, what should it be? He always answers, Meditation.
A simple Meditation technique that Master Chen taught at this past Chinese New Year celebration is basically reverse breathing. He said to contract the Dantien when inhaling and let it slowly expand when exhaling. So, the abdomen goes in towards the backbone on the inhale, and goes forward on the exhale. I can remember him telling us once to visualize light coming in through all the pores and gathering in the Dantien, like a thousand bees of light to the hive. Concentrating or contracting on the inhale, and then gently expanding on the exhale. Do this for a hundred days, he said. Sit with your back straight, tongue touching the roof of your mouth, eyes partially closed. Count breaths in groups of 9 and work up to 108 breaths per day. Just do this and don’t place any special importance on any sensations or visions you might have. Don’t force the energy that you accumulate there to go anywhere else in particular. Just do it and let it expand on its own.
So perhaps the best thing of all for physical and mental health is a simple Meditation technique to bring gentle energy to our Elixir Field, from which are direct pathways to kidneys, reproductive organs, the endocrine system, and all of the 20 Meridians. And Tai Chi has been called a Moving Meditation. Learn a Form well enough so that you don’t have to think about it, and experience the flow of Qi to and from your very own Elixir Field. Smile and enjoy the Magic…!