Tai Chi, the works (part 2) - A checklist to ensure that your practice is bringing you advantages

In Part 1 of this article (click here), we discussed that people who practice for health sometimes have a difficult time knowing if their practice is really “working”.
That’s because many of the health changes provided by arts like ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong can be subtle and easily overlooked. So you might find yourself asking, “Is my practice really making me healthier? How can I tell?”
We talked in Part 1 about three important signs to look for. These signs show you that your are getting the health benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong. To find these three signs:
You actively search out and look for examples that your health condition improvesYour health care professional evaluates your condition and notices changesYour “body signals” tell you about it, recognizing that there may be a delay effect identified by psychoneuroimmunology (PNI).
If you are unsure how to find any of these three signs, please refer to Part 1 of this article (click here).
What To Do If You Don’t See Results – The “Serious Health Benefits” Checklist
So what if your health condition doesn’t improve, your doctor or chiropractor doesn’t notice any differences, and you don’t notice any body signals? Should you give up practicing?
Instead of abandoning your practice, first check these important points to make sure you are giving your body “what it needs” to improve. This checklist will ensure that you are getting “serious health benefits” from your practice.
Know the Precise Purpose of the Movements You Are Practicing

This may seem obvious, but knowing the precise health purpose of a Tai Chi or Qigong can tell you whether the exercise is appropriate for the results you want.
For example, a Qigong exercise that concentrates on the legs probably won’t do much for a stiff neck. Or a Tai Chi movement that concentrates on the liver may not help you improve your blood pressure, if that’s what you want.
So it’s important that you know the precise purpose. I can’t stress this enough: Never do a Tai Chi movement or Qigong practice unless you know precisely what it is trying to accomplish!
Too often, we accept vague “reasons” or “purposes” from our instructors for what we are learning. But in order to make sure our practice is working, we need definite descriptions of what to look for. Instead, let’s look at an example of the type of precision we want.
Here’s an example of a precisely defined purpose from our Level 3 advanced training, for the movement called Water Pump Qigong:

Water Pump Qigong helps us loosen and stretch muscles in our lower back, hips, waist, thighs, and calves. These are important posture-stabilizing muscles, as they connect our spine and lower back physically through our hips, and into our legs and feet.
And as with all of our kua-focused exercises, Water Pump increases our range of motion in the hips, making everyday activities like walking, bending, and squatting more fluid and free. Finally, Water Pump Qigong will allow us to look at the structural alignment in our legs and feet, adding to our physical awareness of stability and rooting.

This is the type of information you’ll need to know for every Tai Chi or Qigong movement you learn. Your instructor or learning material should spell this out for you clearly and precisely for every single movement.
Make Sure You Are Practicing Regularly
Some of your health problems may have been around quite some time. In addition, it takes repeated practice for PNI systems to become “habituated” (physically used to) regular doses of increased endocrine and immune secretions.
So as a result, regular practice is necessary. 10 minutes of practice daily is not the same as 20 minutes every other day, or 30 minutes every third day. While you may think that these practice schedules are equivalent, you’ll notice benefits much more quickly in small daily doses rather than large weekly doses.
An analogy I’ve used before is brushing your teeth. Brushing your teeth two minutes a day is far better than fifteen minutes once a week!
Make Sure You’ve Customized the Movements to Your Body
Let me be as blunt as possible: If your movements look exactly like your teacher’s, or like the other students in the class, you are doing it wrong!
I make no compromise here. Every movement must be customized to your body. If not, at best you will delay any benefits from your practice. At worst, you’ll cause injury or further aggravate any conditions you have.
The only way for you to notice benefits is for you to make sure your practices fit you like a glove! So how do you customize the movements? Quite simply, you need to …
Make Sure You Are Following All Details Specified in the Course

Every movement in ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong is accompanied by several “ChiFusion Details.” These details tell you how to customize the movements, and also point out common pitfalls that can prevent you from seeing benefits from your practice.
Make sure you understand and practice every one of these details. It’s better to limit your practice to a few movements that have all of these details in place, rather than practice a dozen (or a hundred!) movements in a sloppy fashion. So do not skip over any details, or skimp on your practice of any details.
As an example, Michael once mentioned on our Support Forum exactly that point. He told us of what happened when he learned to follow the details for one of our simplest exercises, Touch Heaven and Earth. “I must say”, he wrote, “that even though the difference (spatially) was only an inch or so [in the placement of the hands], the sensation was quite different.”
The old saying is that “horseshoes is a game of inches” – but as you’ll notice when you start incorporating more and more ChiFusion Details into your practice, Qigong and Tai Chi are games of inches as well. And these inches may spell the difference between that works … and Tai Chi that doesn’t work!
Checking Your Practice to Get “Serious Health Benefits”
Quite simply, the reason these details are in our ChiFusion course material is because they work! From our research backed by intensive research, testing, and feedback from masters, instructors, and students just like you, they are GUARANTEED to improve your health, relieve stress, and provide you with in-depth, advanced Chi development quickly and easily.
Of course, that only happens if you are serious about your practice and you actually do them! Don’t expect to see benefits if you sign up for the ChiFusion Complete Course, then let it languish on your hard drive or in your email!
Many people practice ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong for health, but are you certain your practice is bringing you benefits? To make sure you are getting benefits, actively look for improved health conditions, get the objective observations of your health care provider, and look for body signals after your practice.
If that doesn’t work, check your practice to make sure it’s regular, customized, and detailed. Use the above checklist. If you do, you’ll know that ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong is bringing you the benefits you want – and that you have Tai Chi that works!
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Does your Tai Chi? To benefit three important characters that is your practice!

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While some people practice Tai Chi and Qigong just for the fun of it, most of us practice with a purpose in mind.

We may want to improve our health, or relieve stress, or become more fit. We may want to recover from an illness or disease, or become more balanced and flexible, or just to bring some peace and relaxation into our lives. And of course, we might be practicing for martial arts or self-defense purposes.

So if you are practicing for a given purpose, you may be wondering – “Does my Tai Chi and Qigong actually work? Is it actually bringing me the benefits I want?”

Of course, if your purpose of practicing is martial arts or self-defense, it’s easy to tell if your art works. After all, in martial Tai Chi, you can usually tell if a movement works or if it doesn’t work by how well you “handle” your opponent. You generally get immediate, direct (and sometimes painful) feedback on how well you have or haven’t responded to a martial situation.

But when it comes to evaluating effectiveness, people that practice for health actually have a more difficult time evaluating results than those who practice for martial arts. After all, which is the easier question to answer: “Did this Tai Chi move prevent my opponent from hurting me?” or “Did this Tai Chi move improve how my liver functions?” I think most people find the second question much more difficult to answer.

That’s because many of the health changes provided by arts like ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong can be subtle and easily overlooked. So you might find yourself asking, “Is my practice really making me healthier? How can I tell?”

If you are practicing ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong to improve your health, here are three important “signs” that can help you check the results of your practice. And if you aren’t noticing these signs, we have some hints on what to do to make sure you do notice them.

Three Important Health Signs That Your Practice Is Working

1. Your Health Condition Improves

If you are practicing to improve a certain aspect of your health, seeing a positive change in that health aspect is a sure sign you are on the right track. This may seem obvious, but it’s important that you actively search out and look for examples that your condition has improved.

For example, a bad back is one of the most common health conditions that leads people to ChiFusion Tai Chi and Qigong. We hear this from students like Martin all the time. “The lower back is a concern for me,” Martin wrote, “because I work in construction and do a good bit of lifting.”

Martin practiced ChiFusion Level 1 daily for several months, and knew that his back improved – the day he could go ice skating! “I just went ice skating for the first time since before doing this program and was just enjoying immensely the ease with which I could skate. Every other handy man project around the house has been so much easier as well.”

So if you are practicing to improve a certain illness, disease, or physical condition, make sure you actively look for improvements in your health. Beyond just “feeling better”, look for signs of physical healing, improved capacity, the ability to perform tasks you couldn’t perform before, or other obvious indicators.

2. Your Health Care Professional Notices Changes

One of the best signs that your practice is working is when your doctor, chiropractor, naturopath, acupuncturist, or other health care professional notices changes.

It might be changes in the results of tests and measurements, (for example, lower blood pressure readings or improved T-cell counts), or it might be just the considered opinion of your health expert.

For example, Joan, one of our students in Massachusetts, was a retired schoolteacher. She sent me this email, “I just want to tell you that I visited my chiropractor for the first time [since starting the ChiFusion course] and he said that whatever I’m doing to keep doing it, because he hasn’t seen my body as mobile as it is now. So something is working.”

Don’t be afraid to ask your health care advisor for his or her opinion. Because they are “objective”, they may actually notice signs that you’ve missed.

However, make sure you ask them the right question. DO NOT ask them “Is my Tai Chi or Qigong helping me?”, because many of them only have a passing familiarity with the arts, usually based on what they’ve read about them. Hence, you’ll get their opinion (or more likely the opinion they’ve borrowed from what they’ve read) rather than the objective answer you want.

Instead, ask them to evaluate your condition. Do they see signs of improvement? What do they see in any tests and measurements they perform? Do they notice any indicators of healing, improved capacity, or improved physiological responses?

Even if their opinion of Tai Chi and Qigong is positive, it’s not what you want. What you want is their opinion of your health. Asking them to evaluate your condition (rather than your practice) will give you a more objective picture.

3. Your “Body Signals” Tell You About It

I first learned about the concept of “body signals” from my teaching partner (and certified nutritional advisor), Carole Taylor. Carole uses “body signals” with her health clients to make sure they are on the right track to getting the proper nutrition for health and longevity.

Carole says that your body sends you clear and easy signals that tell you if you’ve eaten properly. Most people, however, don’t know to look for these signals, or how to interpret them if they receive them.

Well, your body does the same thing when you practice Tai Chi and Qigong, and you have to know how to look for these signals. Specifically, your body signals the effects of your Tai Chi through (1) your energy level, (2) your mental reactions, and (3) your emotional reactions.

Be aware though that, unlike food-based reactions, which happen generally within 1 to 2 hours of eating, Tai Chi and Qigong-based reactions can sometimes actually take longer. While some people experience signals during or immediately after practice, it’s not unusual for there to be a “delay effect” of several hours up to a full day in body signals from Tai Chi and Qigong.

For example, one of our students who had numerous physical problems once told us his peak always occurred about three hours after practice. “I don’t know what it is, but I just feel great after about 3 hours,” he said, despite having constant pain from a hip injury. “The pain just seems to disappear and stays gone for several hours. I’ve never had that happen before.”

This delay effect has been identified by psychoneuroimmunology (PNI), which studies how the nervous system, endocrine system, and immune system interact. PNI has also studied how these systems interact through chemicals that are released by practices like Tai Chi and Qigong.

Generally, these systems interact through chemical secretions, including a variety of chemicals known as “neuropeptides”. According to the late Robert Anton Wilson, Ph.D., “Since neuropeptides travel through virtually all body fluids (blood, lymph, cerebrospinal fluid, etc.) as well as between neurons, the neuropeptide system acts more slowly but more holistically than the central nervous system.”

What this means is that while the effects of practice may be happening “during” practice, your brain may delayed in getting the “signals” from these effects. So in looking for body signals from your Tai Chi practice, make sure you pay attention to how you feel over a 2 to 24 hour period after practice. Check your energy level, look for how mentally sharp your thinking appears, and notice any feelings of happiness or well-being.

Most people find that there will be a “peak” in these body signals somewhere during the 24 hours after practice. And if you practice at the same time each day, often times you’ll notice that the peak will occur at the same time each day as well.

What To Do If You Don’t See Results

So what if your health condition doesn’t improve, your doctor or chiropractor doesn’t notice any differences, and you don’t notice any body signals? Should you give up practicing?

Instead of abandoning your practice, first check some important points about your practice. In Part 2 of this article (coming soon), we’ll give you a checklist will make sure that you are giving your body “what it needs” to improve.

With these checklist items, you can be sure that your ChiFusion practice is bringing you the health benefits you want – and that you have Tai Chi that works!

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Is trembling during the Tai-Chi - practice - it a sign of Chi?

On the ChiFusion support forum for my advanced training students, a few students asked me about “trembling” during Tai Chi practice. One student wrote about a recent experience:

I’m a beginner, about 4+ months into ChiFusion, no previous experience with Tai Chi or Qigong. I’ve worked through Levels 1 and 2 … Yesterday I did my Level 1 early in the morning, then mid-morning began my Level 2 routine. … I then started Lifting Water, and after a minute or two, my hands and forearms started trembling uncontrollably as I raised them. This didn’t feel like fatigue, rather like my arms were over-excited or something. It felt like a surge of pressure or energy that had nowhere to go and caused a shuddering sensation as I lifted my arms. When I tried to relax my arms to quiet the shuddering (still lifting), my legs actually started shuddering too!
This alarmed me a bit, as I’ve not had this happen before, so I stopped exercising, and went into my relaxation routine (Embracing the Pearl and Falling Water) and everything calmed down and I was fine. This morning I performed both Level 1 and 2 routines with no trembling/shuddering.

Another student wrote:

I’ve been doing [other styles of] Tai Chi for about a dozen years now … that is similar but usually just with my fingers. They will begin to flutter as I move through my [non-ChiFusion] Tai Chi forms. I’ve heard that, in fact, it’s a result of the energy in your system. It’s not harmful and I’m told it’s relatively normal.
That’s why I brought the question up. It doesn’t happen all the times but it was rather disconcerting the first time I saw it.
It only happens after I’ve gotten into my routine after about 15 -20 mins.

I actually had trembling as well when I was a student. When I became a teacher, I looked at the experience in great detail to find out what was going on. Trembling is a complicated issues in Tai Chi and Qigong, because many different situations can cause it.
Assuming it isn’t just simple muscle fatigue, with trembling I usually look for:
Increase in energy flow through meridians Increased flow encounters a blockage in a meridian Overflow of vessels into meridians (storing too much chi or storing without meridian preparation) Misalignments in movements Physical problems (pinched nerves, misalignments, dehydration, and other medical conditions)

 

For #1, if you are relatively new to advanced chi training, sometimes the body isn’t accustomed to the increased chi flow. This can cause trembling. The trembling goes away though once your meridians become habituated to the increased flow. Assuming you are practicing regularly (5 to 6 times a week), the trembling shouldn’t last for more than a few days, certainly no longer than a week, as the body adjusts.

For #2, the trembling is caused when increased chi flow encounters a blockage in the meridians. Ideally, the increased flow will remove the blockage and the trembling will go away. This can happen in a single practice session, but may take a few days or a week. But if the blockage is really stubborn though, it may last longer. If it does, other intervention (acupuncture, Qigong massage, herbs) may be needed to help with the blockage.
#3 happens when students work on chi vessel storage Qigong or Tai Chi BEFORE working Qigong to improve meridian circulation. Unfortunately, this is quite common among Tai Chi students outside our ChiFusion program. (It should be rare among ChiFusion students who’ve never done Tai Chi before, because we work on meridians first before working on storage).
The reason it is common is that Tai Chi is usually taught as a vessel storage practice. The idea here is that if you work on Tai Chi storage and store enough chi, it will “overflow” the vessel reservoirs and automatically flow out to the meridians, and automatically improve meridian circulation by forcing the chi out the vessels.
That’s the theory. In my experience, it usually doesn’t work quite that smoothly. In the first place, most students cant get enough storage to happen to make that “overflow” work for them, at least not until a few months or years of practice. Then when they do get the overflow, the meridian system is often not prepared for the increased chi flow. The overflow becomes a bull in the china shop, causing all sorts of problems as it encounters blockages and discontinuities in the energy system. Trembling is often a major sign here.
This is what happened to me as a student. And unfortunately, my meridian system never seemed to “right itself” using this method. It always responds the same way to the increased chi overflow. And as the student becomes better and better at storage, the overflow becomes more regular, and the trembling becomes a regular feature of the student’s practice.
Prevention is the best medicine here – work on circulation BEFORE working on storage. (We talk about this both in the “Energy Pathways” section of our advanced training, plus in our Complete Chi Health webinar that we occasionally hold for people on our mailing list. We discuss how you can structured your practice and how we’ve structured the ChiFusion program to do this.) If you’ve seen some of the introductory videos to the sample lessons in our course, I mentioned how I started over at one point, stopping everything I was practicing and going back to the beginning. This is part of the reason I did that. I needed a meridian system “reboot”, to give my meridian system a chance to right itself after stressing it out for so many years.

 

#4 can happen when there is a physical or energetic misalignment in a movement. If a particular Qigong or Tai Chi movement always causes trembling, or it always happens at the same place in your practice, that can be a sign. Whatever limb or part of the body is trembling, try adjusting the movement or posture. Often times, an inch or two can make a big difference. If the trembling goes away when you make the adjustment, then it was probably #4.
#5 are usually physical problems that are not a result of practice, but practice can bring them out and make them more obvious. Pinched nerves often cause trembling. The irony of course is that while you might experience trembling in your hands, for example, the pinched nerve is usually NOT in your hand. It might be in your spine, neck, shoulder, or elbow. Spinal vertebrae that are out of alignment might not even be noticed by you during your regular day, but Tai Chi might be showing them to you.
Believe it or not, dehydration might also cause trembling, and again, you might not notice it during the day, but Tai Chi can bring it out. There are many more physical causes and medical conditions that can cause trembling. (Actually, I’ve just been emailing with a new student who joined us that has Essential Tremors, a medical condition that causes trembling in some postures.) So if the trembling is persistent, you might want to have this checked by a chiropractor, osteopath, medical doctor, or other health professional.
For the first student above, I suggested that his experience was most likely #2 above. He should monitor this for the next week or so. If the trembling comes back and stays around, it might be something else. But if it has happened just once, and stays away for a few days, it was probably #2.
For the second student, it’s a little more complicated. I suggested that it’s probably #3, based on a few things he said: that he has been practicing Tai Chi for a dozen years, it happens during his form, and it happens after about 15 or 20 minutes in. I’m wondering if it takes him that long to build up the storage in a practice session until it overflows. And if it happens sometimes and not others, he might just be sometimes hitting the “high water mark” for overflowing, and sometimes not.
But it could also be #2 with a stubborn blockage, #4, or #5. If it was #2, he should probably notice the trembling as he practices the meridian work in Level 1 of his new ChiFusion program. If it’s #4, he might want to see if it’s reaching certain postures in his practice (rather than just practicing for 15 to 20 minutes) that is causing the trembling. Keep in mind that I can’t give medical diagnosis, but #5 is the least likely in my opinion, though it’s a possibility he should check out.
Trembling is so complicated that it’s hard to know exactly what’s happening without some experimentation and observing on each student’s part.
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