Baguazhang

Tai Chi Chuan, Baguazhang & Hsing-I comparison and contrast (part 3)

  BA Gua athlete is known for walking, biking and loops ranging from very tight and close circles to circles of approximately 30 meters in diameter and walking circle is a signature of the practice of Baguazhang.  In as much as Hsing-I am very confrontational Baguazhang is very evasionary.  In an epic battle between Dong Hai Chuan and an Hsing-I, master Kuo Yun Shen supposedly the fight went to 3 days before Dong Hai Chuan finally landed a hit on Yun Shen Kuo.  (Of course if the 3-day part of the story is true, then it was more likely a friendly sparring and compare methods and techniques than a struggling match).  After "game" two became great friends and was said to train with/from each other becomes reasonably skilled in the art.  If you have read the previous post on Hsing-I, then you may have had questions about how someone can also fight against such an art, not to mention turn it.  Basic answer is simply "Move" and "Evade".The best way to beat a straight line is to evade by moving in a circle around it; This is the Forte of Baguazhang. 

  The actual name of art, Ba Gua Chang, which translates as 8 Diagrams (shape) Palm.  Baguazhang is a mix of hard and soft often use force but sometimes use softness as an art.Circles in all shapes and sizes from small non-scrubbing flip and pivot to quickly navigate around a large area such as a 30-foot circle are trained; Many different types of stepping are trained and internal energy policies are trained as well.  In Baguazhang are many internal training methods including special types of energy Palmer as iron palm, vibrant palm, poison hand, penetration palm, crushing palm and others. 

  Tax evasion and accompanying measures movement skills is the primary movement of Ba Gua.BA Gua soothe and then immediately landed a devastating hand strikes which is supposed to finish the fight while still moving so that if the recipient actually survive strike and continues to attack they will still find Ba Gua physicians find it difficult to meet or even touching the circle walking and flanking remain constant until the situation has been completed; Art is entirely different and there are many different styles, moved and patterns can be found in the art of Baguazhang. The most common moves/methods are different types of circle walking and with an emphasis on education, diversity and quick way to change direction.Only Palm change is the most common move found in all Baguazhang system, even though most of the different styles of Baguazhang has its own version of the move that is slightly different from everyone else 's.

Of the 3 major internal arts, Baguazhang the most obvious physical complex patterns by hand and movement; This is not to say that it is better than the other two arts.Efficiency has fortunately not is complicated on the surface to work well in practice; So, do not exclude or underestimate the mere appearance of Hsing-I, or flowing movements of Tai Chi Chuan precisely because they are not physically appears as sophisticated as Baguazhang. There's a lot more happening in internal art than what meets the eye.

BA Gua is a barbed wire ball refers to the idea that a good Baguazhang practitioners break and you feel like you have only tangled with a ball of barbed wire, you do not have to bear it, but it is over you and even if you grab it somewhere, you may still be worse; the center of the ball and where and how the ball is striking, you can easily change at any time, you can only find softness you cannot hit with no effect, and every time you hit it with hardness as you cannot stop.

Tai Chi Chuan, Baguazhang & Hsing-IHsing-IBaguaTagged as: Baguazhang

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Tai Chi and the pursuit of happiness

I have spoken the psycho-spiritual aspects of Tai Chi, qigong and Chi development in some of my recent posts. I've discussed how some of the practices of Arts Chi can lead us to more development.

But I must say a few words about that, what I of "My happiness".

We talk not only about "Enjoy" or "Pleasure" of happiness. We see short-term jobs with short-term results joy and pleasure. Something you do or receive that makes "happy" for a few hours or a few days or even a few weeks, we would probably call enjoyment instead of happiness.In addition many times joy and pleasure a more "passive" Natur.Im General we "received" entertainment rather than actively. From happiness, we have it something more long-term and active.

We thus define happiness: luck an advanced tracking is we to look more and more control over our lives.Goal it is to us we create the type of life live.

Activities that can create happiness does not actually produce pleasure in and of itself, as a matter of fact, they are often difficult and require personal effort. But luck activities produce a kind of pleasure, based on personal satisfaction and sense of accomplishment by the Aktivität.Diese is satisfaction directly related to the level of effort (the more effort, the more satisfaction) and the long-term importance of the final result in our lives.

Tai Chi, qigong and the pursuit of "Pleasure"

For many people, Tai Chi and qigong in General and Chi development are in particular "entertainment jobs".Tai Chi and qigong practice makes you almost immediately feel at home and give you short-term benefit.

Enjoy many people learn as part of a general curiosity about the world, so the joy we feel of Tai Chi and qigong can simply to learn something new.Or the enjoyment can come from the "Escape" learn nature from our daily lives (and stress) by use of timeout and practice to remove.For some people enjoy "feeling" and differ from others by learning an activity, most people learned have. others enjoying might come from the social aspects - interaction with new people and make new friends, personally classes or over the Internet in our online courses.

No matter what source of joy in Tai Chi and qigong this "fun tracking" students tend to keep as long with practice like it simple and makes is fun, and tend to avoid, what you difficult or Tai Chi and qigong difficult to find.

Chi development "Tools" for happiness and spiritual growth

It may surprise you know that I see nothing wrong with the pursuit of Tai Chi and I many times said too many students and faculty qigong only to the Vergnügen.Wie, Tai Chi and qigong should always to your personal goals adapted werden.Und if your goal for Tai Chi and qigong Learn fun - fun something new, escape from a stressful life, friends-, then, that is, what you track sollte.Wir hundreds of students, both our in-person classes and our online courses have objective was pursued.

But for those of us who are looking for something more, not only the pursuit of pleasure, but the pursuit of happiness, Chi development provides information about these tools, three main "Tools" in this pursuit to helfen.Weitere please read our posting on Tai Chi and qigong - three keys into the psycho spiritual Chi development.

As always, you have my best wishes for your Chi development
Al

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As plain as the nose on your face? Herumalbern with Swara yoga.

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Does Swara Yoga prove a link between human biological cycles and the cycles of the sun and the moon?

I’m amazed I’ve managed to live as long as I have while only recently noticing that there is something very interesting about my nose – not just my nose, but everyone’s nose. If you don’t know what I’m on about, may I suggest you try a simple experiment? Close your mouth and breathe in through your nose. So far so good? Now, lightly press a finger against the side of one nostril, sealing it off, then breathe in gently. Okay? Now, release the blocked nostril, seal up the other one and breathe in again. Notice anything odd? The chances are you will find that while one nostril feels relatively clear, the other will seem a bit congested, requiring more effort to get the air through. If they both feel about the same , then try again in another thirty minutes. Keep checking throughout the day.

What I’m driving at here is that at certain times of day you’ll notice one nostril will feel clearer than the other.

And they alternate.

This phenomenon has been known about for a long time of course. It forms the basis of an ancient technique called Swara Yoga – swara meaning “flow of air”. It was developed to a sophisticated degree in India, and reputedly goes back to the pre-Vedic era, which would make it over four thousand years old. What these early scholars proposed was that the switch from one nostril to the other was also accompanied by a change in humour, or mood. Taking this a step further, they surmised that the timing of these cycles was linked to the lunar and solar cycles as well the cycle of the then known planets. From these ideas, they developed a complex system which placed the individual’s natural rhythms in the context of the greater rhythms of the earth and the universe.

As well as paying heed to the rhythmic alternations between right and left nostril breathing, it was discovered that the cycle could be adjusted, so that if you found yourself running out of sync with the natural world, so to speak, you could bring yourself back in line – or you could temporarily change your mode of breathing in order to suit whatever it was that you were doing. Early paintings of swamis and gurus sometimes show them with a crutch-like stick under one armpit as they sit meditating. Leaning on the stick, known as a “danda”, applies pressure to the armpit, and this was said to change the dominant nostril. There was no point meditating, they believed, if one nostril was more dominant than the other and the aim of these early swamis was to achieve a state of balance – a special condition where neither nostril is dominant.

Support for at least for some of the observations of Swara Yoga, comes from recent medical studies of the brain. The brain is divided into two halves – the left and right hemispheres, and it is known that each hemisphere tends to specialise in a particular mode of thinking. The left hemisphere shows greater levels of activity when we are presented with puzzles that require a rational, calculating, analytical or a linguistic approach. On the other hand when we’re engaged in artistic activities such as painting, drawing, writing, or anything else that demands a creative, abstract, fuzzy or intuitive approach, the right hemisphere becomes more active.

As individuals, we all have a particular preference for either left brain or right brain thinking. This is simply a part of who we are and how we approach life. However, studies have shown that the brain switches dominance between hemispheres several times during the day, alternating between left brain thinking and right brain thinking. Obviously, the whole brain is available to us regardless of the time of day, but there is a suggestion that we are better at tackling rational, logical problems at a time when the left hemisphere is dominant, or to put it simply, when our brains are in the correct mode.

Returning to the subject of Swara Yoga then, and the idea of an alternating, dominant nostril, it’s interesting to note that the same medical studies of the brain have also identified a direct link between brain mode and breathing. When the dominant nostril is the left hand one, it is the right hemisphere of the brain that is dominant, conversely, Right nostril: Left brain. This seems to suggest that the early pioneers of Swara Yoga were correct in their observations and that there was indeed a link between the flowing nostril and the humor or mood of the individual. For a start, Swara Yoga seems to grant us a reliable indicator for judging which brain mode we’re in, a claim backed up by respectable scientific studies:

Left Nostril Clear = Right Brain mode: Creative, intuitive.

Right Nostril Clear = Left Brain mode: Rational, analytical.

But we can go further.

If we’ve been particularly diligent with our experiments, we might have noticed that during the switch-over from one nostril to the next there was a period when both nostrils felt about the same. This period corresponds to an exchange of energy between the two brain hemispheres: one is powering down while the other is ramping up. It’s during this hiatus that it is believed we are more prone to making errors or to lapses of concentration. If we can be aware of these crucial change-over periods, we can use them to time our natural breaks in the working day and to avoid pursuing any definite goals. Creative problem solving can be reserved for our right brain periods and tricky analytical problems for the left. Remaining in tune with our own rhythms in this way we can stay fresher throughout the day and feel less drained at the end of it

Or so the theory goes.

Delving more deeply into Swara Yoga, we learn that, according to the theory, our body’s rhythms do not remain fixed but vary, according to the time of the month and the year. Also we are told that it is inadvisable to carry out certain types of action at particular times of the lunar and solar cycle, also the cycle of the major planets. This sounds like Astrology, and indeed it is.

Astrology, as opposed to Astronomy, has rather a bad press in these rational times. There are many types of astrology, but they are all based upon the same premise – that the position of the major heavenly bodies at a given time can influence both world events and the lives of individuals. The most obvious mechanism by which the heavenly bodies achieve this, according to some astrologers, is by virtue of their gravitational field. However, the rational arguments against astrology also tend to hinge upon gravitational forces, saying that, for the major planets at least, the effects of their gravity, as felt upon earth, are far too weak to have any conceivable effect, that, in fact, the computer I’m typing these words into is exerting by far the greater gravitation pull upon my brain than, say, the planet mars. But what about the sun and the moon? It’s obvious that they exert a significant gravitational force on the earth – enough for example to raise the tides by twenty feet or more, twice a day! But are these tidal forces also sufficient to raise psychological or physiological tides in living things? There is much anecdotal evidence to suggest that they do, but scientific studies seem divided on the issue – some saying “no, don’t be stupid”, others saying “maybe – but we need to do another study to be sure because we dare not come right out and say that it does”. These studies have looked at things like fluctuations of the stock-market, accident and emergency admissions, also plant growth and other agricultural phenomenon. Perhaps the most obvious monthly cycle that all women – and married men – are aware of is the female menstruation cycle, or the dreaded “time of the month”. As its name suggests, this seems timed perfectly to a lunar cycle, all be it a personal one, but again the scientific evidence tells us there is no proven link, and that it’s just as likely to be a coincidence.

Now, personally, I have always been open to the idea that at least the solar and lunar components that raise tides on earth, could have an effect on human behaviour, for no other reason than that they appear to have a very large effect upon the earth. I have long been intrigued by the anecdotal evidence that supports this notion, and equally puzzled by the scientific studies that refute it, but a quick reminder of how gravity actually works makes it easier to see why it seems unlikely that gravity can be having any effect at all.

Tidal ranges vary with the phase of the moon. For example, at the full and New Moon periods, the tides are notably higher than at other times of the month, so it might, at first glance, seem unreasonable to deny that there could be a similar effect occurring in living organisms. However, the actual forces involved are still very small. It’s also wrong to imagine the moon as somehow “pulling” the earth’s oceans up into great bulges in order to form the tides, rather like a giant magnet. The mechanism is actually quite different, with the oceans “shearing”, or flowing sideways by a tiny amount which, although small, when taken taken overall adds up to large fluctuations around our coastlines. It is only by virtue of the almost unimaginably uninterrupted vastness of the earth’s oceans that the moon and sun can have any effect at all. The world’s substantially enclosed seas – the Caspian and the Black sea for example exhibit virtually no tidal variation.

When we try to get a feel for the actual force involved, we learn that it can only be detected by the most sensitive of instruments. How small is it? Well, if we imagine a butterfly resting on the back of our hand, the force it exerts upon us is many thousands of times times greater than the force exterted by the moon. Given this understanding then, a link between lunar phase and any human biological or psychological rhythms begins to seem seem less probable.

There is, however, another mechanism by which the sun and the moon might affect all living organisms, giving rise to cyclical variations in physical and psychological states: Geomagnetism.

Before going on to look at this in more depth, let’s see if Swara Yoga can point to any evidence of such a cyclical pattern in a human being – i.e. me!

Swara yoga recognises the following three modes of breathing:

i) Left Nostril (called Ida)

ii) Right Nostril(called Pingala),

iii) Both nostrils (called Shushumna)

The left nostril is associated with right brain activities: inner, mental, feminine, intuitive, abstract. It’s associated with the nightime, and the moon. The right Nostril is associated with left brain activities: logical, masculine, analytical. It’s associated with daytime and the sun. Breathing through both nostrils is said to be associated with spiritual activities: meditation, peace, equilibrium, oneness. It’s time is one of transisiton between dark and light ie at sunset or dawn.

According to the theory the active nostril should flow for 60-90 mins, then 1-4 mins Shushumna (both nostrils), before the other nostril becomes active, again for 60-90 mins etc

In Swara Yoga, both the sun and moon are said to have an influence on our breathing pattern. The lunar month is divided into thirty lunar days (in accordance with the Hindu calendar). The month is split into two halves, either side of the full moon, each half consisting of fifteen lunations, or “tithis”. The first half of the month is called the bright half, a fifteen “tithi” period during which the moon waxes progressively brighter. The second half, as the moon wanes is called the dark half.

It’s important to note that we are not talking about ordinary calendar days here but degrees of lunar separation with respect to the sun – a “tithi” or lunar day in the Hindu calender being a value in multiples of 12 degrees of separation. It’s duration in actual clock time will vary and in order to accurately relate this lunar day to the calendar day it’s best to use a special calculator such as the Panchang Calculator at www.swarayoga.org.

These fifteen days are split into consecutive periods consisting of 3 days each and, according to Swara Yoga, during the bright half of the lunar month, the left nostril should become active at sunrise on days 1-3, 7-9, and 13-15. On these days, the natural cycle will then involve an alternation between left and right nostril, and the rhythm should adjust itself so that the right nostril becomes active at sunset. On days 4-6, and 10-12, during the bright half of the month, the right nostril becomes active at sunrise, the alternating cycle of left to right nostril adjusting itself so that the left nostril takes over at sunset.

During the dark half of the lunar month, the process is said to be reversed – the right nostril taking over at sunrise on days 1-3, 7-9 and 13-15, the cycle adjusting itself over the course of the day so that the left nostril talkes over at sunset, while on days 4-6 and 10-12, the left nostril takes over at sunrise and the cycle adjusts itself so that the right nostril takes over at sunset.

Swara Yoga then suggests that we should be able to detect the effects of both the time of day (solar) and month (lunar) on our breathing patterns, simply by observing the air coming in and out of our nostrils.

Checking for the dominant nostril should only take a moment. You press lightly on the side of the nose, gently closing off one nostril, and you try to breathe normally through the open one. Repeat on the opposite side. Usually, the difference between them will be distinct. However, sometimes it will be hard tell and you end up guessing. If you have the time you can check throughout the day at regular intervals say every thirty minutes, check also if you wake up before dawn, and try to remember which nostril was flowing, so you can make a note of this also.

All of this might be difficult, depending on your lifestyle, but it only takes a second and if you’re discrete, it can be done in the company of other people without them realising what you’re up to.

I managed to maintain a fairly close eye on my breathing for a period of two weeks, either side of the full moon, which occurred on November 15th 2008. The first thing I noticed was that my own rhythms were nowhere near so neat and regular as Swara Yoga says they should have been. Far from having a regular left to right rhythm lasting ninety minutes per side, with a thirty minute changeover, one side would dominate for most of the day, with only brief periods of change of an hour or so, before reverting back to the dominant nostril, which was the right nostril (left brain thinking), during both the run up to the full moon, and after it.

There was however a noticeable changeover from one nostril to the other at dawn, the left nostril(right brain) usually operating before sunrise, before the right one took over and largely dominated throughout the day. There was no noticeable change-over around sunset. Unfortunately then, I could not say that the lunar phase had any bearing at all upon the results of this, admittedly, rather brief study. As for the sun, I was intrigued by the changeover at dawn from left to right breathing – However, the fact that there was not a corresponding switch back from right to left breathing at sunset suggested there might be something else going on here. I can only speculate on this, and believe it might have something to do with light. At the time of the study, dawn coincided with my normal get-up time, while at sunset, the darkness was rendered ineffective by the use of electric lights until I finally went to bed – in other words the normal daylight cycles had been substantially interfered with by artificial light, and this could have explained why my breathing didn’t exhibit a changeover at sunset. Another explanation could have been simply down to which side I was lying while sleeping. Pressure applied to one armpit is said to cause the nostril on the opposite side of the body to become more open – therefore it could be that my sleeping habits determine which nostril is dominant when I wake, rather than any environmental factors.

Another pattern I noticed was that when my left nostril was flowing, (right brain) I was often writing or engaged in some other “artistic” activity, though I cannot say for certain if I was drawn to these activities by the brain mode, or that by sitting down to carry out these activities, the brain mode was forced to switch over to suit what I wanted to do. I did try to deliberately change the flow of the breath by physical means – applying pressure under the armpit as though with a yoga danda, but without success, though this could simply have been due to my lack of skill in this area. Further experiments in simply lying on my side, did reveal a seemingly reliable correlation – lying on my left side would cause the right nostril to open and vice versa.

I found no convincing evidence of a lunar or solar rhythm affecting the patterns of my breathing. However, there were a number of curious observations that suggest at least a practical, physiological basis – if not an astrological one – for the practice of Swara Yoga.

(1) I found it was possible to change which nostril is dominant by lying on your side – the higher nostril being the one that would dominate – so if you lay on the left side for a while the right nostril will dominate and vice versa.

(2) I found that when most absorbed in right brain type activities – writing, drawing, the brain mode was correctly indicated by the more dominant nostril. Therefore, either the brain mode lured me into carrying out those activities, or persevering in them caused the brain to switch over to suit the situation in hand.

This has certainly been an interesting subject to play around with. Though I was unable to confirm the effect of the full moon on my breathing patterns, there is a clear link with the dominant nostril and the dominant brain hemisphere. Also, as the Yogis have been telling us for thousands of years, it would seem we can change the dominant nostril. Techniques for doing this vary – the most reliable one for me being simply lying on one side. Whichever nostril is the higher – i.e. furthest away from the ground will become dominant. This has possible applications in mediation and overcoming writer’s block. The Yogis aim for the balance point – neither left or right brain dominant. My own meditation comes nowhere near the level of sophistication achieved by more dedicated adepts, so I’m happy to accept their greater knowledge of these things for now. But if you do meditate, it might be worth considering this aspect and experimenting with it. However, for me, meditation is about letting go and it’s perhaps not wise to become distracted over the presence or the absence of a dominant nostril

For writing, things are a little clearer: you need a right brain bias. That’s when I find it flows best of all – the words I mean. So if you’re a writer and you’ve hit one of those dark periods when you’re really struggling with it, perhaps the best thing you can do is go and have a lie down on your right side for a bit, check the left nostril – and therefore the right brain – is dominant, then sit down and try to write some more.*

References:

Swara Yoga, the Tantric Science of Brain Breathing: Swami Muktibodhananda, Bihar, India

*errata – I’ve had my left and right brains muddled up in this paragraph. Apologies for any confusion. Right brain thinking is of course associated with artistic activities like writing and drawing – not left brain as I have been showing here for a while.

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The secret of qigong

Why standing still is sometimes the only way to make progress.

It’s strange – I’ve learned such a great deal from books : science, maths, engineering, gardening, keeping goldfish, house repairs, analytical psychology, all sorts of stuff really from the sublime to the ridiculous, but when it comes to qigong, I seem to be struggling. The thing is this: if I want to learn about the structure of the atom, I can pick up any science book and expect there to be a decent amount of agreement. I mean the information ought to be the same because facts are facts aren’t they? The only difference between one book and the next should be in the style of presentation.

This isn’t the case with qigong. Indeed, with qigong there seems to be very little cross-correlation at all. I’m finding the terms used by one author are completely different to those used by another – the impression being that qigong is whatever each author wants it to be. I know there are many different styles of qigong, and different ways of translating the terminology from the original Chinese, but they’re all working with the same basic stuff (this mysterious qi stuff) aren’t they? And they’re applying it to the same basic thing (a human body). But how does it get in? How does it move? Where does it go? Where does it come from? Does it come in through your feet and out through your hands? Up your perineum and out the top of your head? Or does it come in at all points at the same time? Does it come in at all?  You’d think one of those books would have made it clear by now, but they haven’t and I’m getting myself in to a right muddle.

This leads me to suspect either all these qigong authors have a great deal of genuine knowledge but are incapable of expressing it – or they actually know nothing at all of any real substance and are simply pedalling myths. Of the many qigong books I own, all purchased after reading the glowing reviews on Amazon, very few can hold my attention and I generally end up tossing them aside with the feeling that I’ve been conned. One or two have even found their way into the recycling bin.

But hold on: I practice qigong, don’t I? Well, yes, but the qigong I do bears no resemblance to the stuff in the books with all the fancy titles. These titles sound so seductive it makes me wonder if I’m really doing qigong at all. But that’s the trick I suppose – you make the programme sound special, you hint at  “secret” teachings, and you claim to have been taught by a wise old man whose name you mention in reverential tones. You call yourself his deciple. You talk of his lineage like he’s some kind of royalty.

And you sell books.

And credulous idiots like me buy them.

It all seems so complicated though, and I’m struggling with this because I have it in my head that all true things usually turn out to be very simple. I also have it my head that qigong is an important life-skill, like swimming or riding a bike, and none of these shysters will deflect me from that belief. We should all have a working knowledge of it. Understanding what qigong is and how it works has become something of a personal quest, but although I practice it diligently I’m nowhere nearer an understanding of it than I was when I began, some three years ago.

I do the Eight Brocades and a thing called Zhan Zhuang (pronounced Jam Jong), which is also known as post standing or standing meditation. I do this every day – well most days. Sometimes I fancy a change and I do a set called the Shibashi instead, or sometimes another one called the Yi Jin Ching, but the latter two aren’t as easy to remember, so mostly I stick with the Eight Brocades, and Zhan Zhuang. I learned these at my local Tai Chi class,  where the word Chi, incidentally, is rarely mentioned, and where we call our instructor by his first name, rather than Sifu or Sensei, like they do in fancier places that charge the earth and make you dress up in silk pyjamas.

So,… yes,… it seems I know a bit about qigong after all – perhaps more the doing of it than the understanding, but still,… at least I know something, don’t I?

Has it changed my life though? Has it made me psychic? Have I ever gone off on a mind blowing astral journey? Can I project Chi out of my hands and knock people over with it?  Do I possess super-human strength? Can I launch someone across the room by the slightest touch of my hand? Can I set fire to balls of newspaper, hurl pins through glass plate, push chopsticks through tables or bend a spear with its point to my throat?…

Erm,… don’t be stupid

Why do you persist with it then? You’re clearly wasting your time. Well, I do it because I feel  better when I’ve done it. It’s that simple. And I feel good enough to want to do it again, tomorrow.

Oh,… I don’t know. The universe is an infinitely big place, and our minds seem to want to expand to encompass the whole complex mess of it – whilst actually being tethered by a very mundane reality that we’ve invented along the way: decades of commuting, day-job, supermarkets, leaking gutters, mowing grass, getting the car serviced and MOT’d, dealing with computer viruses, computer crashes, chocolate stains on the sofa, cup rings on the hearth,… blah di blah di blah.

This leads to tension – all of it self inflicted because if  we could maybe throttle back and dissolve both ends of this polarity of attachment we could simply enjoy living a bit more. You can’t throttle back? The world feels like sandpaper against your skin all the time? Sure, you’re in a bad way, but then aren’t we all? It feels like there’s something missing? Yes,… I think there’s a name for this condition: it’s called being human.

So maybe you turn to alcohol, drugs, sex,… whatever lightens the load for a more than a millisecond. If you’re lucky you turn to mind-body techniques – like  meditation, before the other three have had the chance to get a hold on you and ruin your life. And sure enough meditation works well. Slowly you start to see the world differently – you achieve a kind of detachment – but sometimes you don’t have the time or the privacy to meditate because unless you choose to live like a hermit you’re always going to be disturbed by someone.

So then you discover qigong. You can do it anywhere, if you don’t mind the funny looks or the wisecracks from your family. But qigong doesn’t need a zen like calmness to get going with it. You just do the moves, get into the feeling of them, and the Zen-like calmness comes on its own. It’s easy. And it works every time. You sit down afterwards and you feel a tingly kind of calm, a tingly kind of warmth suffusing your entire being, and the drip-drip-drip of that leaking gutter suddenly seems so trivial you wonder why you were ever bothered about it. And the most important thing is sitting quietly while you enjoy this feeling. And sometimes, just for a moment, you catch a glimpse of something moving shadow-like through the back of your mind,…

That’s yourself. Remember that person?

The Eight Brocades is just a set of moves, coupled with a kind of synchronised breathing, and the Zhan Zhuang? Well that’s literally standing still with your arms curved up in front of you as if you were holding a giant ball. You breathe deeply while you’re doing it, breathe down into the Dantien. I still can’t do this for more than ten minutes, though I’m supposed to be aiming for twenty. At the end of it you feel warm and calm and tingly. You feel like you’ve gone from being a lump of stone to a soft cushion and you can sink down into yourself for a while instead of ricocheting off like before.

So is that it then? Well, I think so. It’s good enough for me anyway. I guess you don’t have to understand a thing in order to simply use it. Sometime the google box draws me over to the qigong forums and I read all the stuff these kids are talking about, like how it would be “kewl  to nok sumon over with chi”, and you want to say oh, for heaven’s sake young-un, grow up. I’m going to forget all the fancy qigong books with all the fancy titles for a bit, maybe even sling a few more of them into the recycling bin, because they’re leading me on a merry dance, while explaining nothing at all – and I’m going to do the simple stuff – the eight brocades and the standing meditation.

If in doubt – if the world seems to be moving too fast and, it’s making no sense, just stand still for a bit and everything will be all right again.

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Yin and Yang sensory experience, and how Tai Chi got its name

As Chinese Tai Chi master Wong Kiev Kit has said, "Yin-Yang is probably the most used Chinese concept in English; it is also one of the most misunderstood - even among Chinese!" So it's no wonder that there are a lot of confusion to those terms.

Need to understand yin and Yang, we first look at the origins of these concepts.Many people are not aware that the terms "Yin" and "Yang" originally from the observation of the Sun and shadow kam.Die of ancient Chinese noticed how would darken the Sun on one side of an object which would illuminating, and as the opposite side of shadows.

It is also noticed that there was no clear distinction between the "sunny side" and the "dark" side, but the variations of light to change the darkness as you to the object. You also notice that as the Sun on the sky that moves patterns of sunlight and shade would change demonstrate a "ebb and flow" nature of experience.

From this first "Visual" experience of light and darkness finally similar ebb and flow in other sensory experiences - sound noticed the Chinese (with degree of noisy until soft), touch (from hard to soft), sensation (warm, cold) and Kinesthesia (movement to rest). Began also cycles in nature, our health, cycles of birth and death, the work cycles and many more detecting ebb and flow patterns in other experiences such as time, weather, seasonal changes.

ALL OF THESE experiences, that very excited or stimulates the senses such as sunlight, loudness and movement, the ancient Chinese, the Yang called. If the senses weak or not at all were encouraged called as darkness, peace and silence, you it yin. However, the ancient Chinese realized the yin and Yang are not "absolute", but descriptions the ebb and flow in sensory experiences.

Don ' t think "forces" or "Principles"

She think how many people call of yin and Yang as "Powers" or "polar opposites" or "Principles".Yin and Yang instead you describe a way to categorize and ebb and flow within a given experience. In modern Neurosemantic conditions based on which ChiFusion Tai Chi would we call, categorize and describes in this way a "mapping" of experiences on concepts.

And as all associations that drew Chinese indicates that something only can "Yin" or "Yang" relatively - be done on a particular experience call. Decide that something is "Yin" or "Yang" (or somewhere in between) by certain characteristics and their meaning, while ignoring or downgrading to emphasize other characteristics.

Yin and Yang "in the street"

As an example of this "relativity" of the yin and Yang of let's pick a simple, everyday object, how a street Lightpole as here a pictured on the right Seite.Ist Street Lightpole Yin or Yang or something in between? remember it for a moment...

The answer is of course a road can be Lightpole, Yin or Yang or somewhere in between each after we select which part of our experience to emphasize.For example, light is the pole.So to objects, the light, not the pole position falls closer the Yang (sensation stimulate) end of the visual experience.

However, the road Lightpole is more quiet compared to the noisy engines of cars that can happen, so it's more Yin (mild, no sensation) into the acoustic experience.But until walking pole and put your hand on you, you may have noticed that it's essentially hard to the touch it more Yang scheint.Es is however because, reach around him walk, and not move to our sense of movement more yin.

And we could continue on finding a number of both yin and Yang properties, depending which part our experience of the Lightpole we choose to emphasize.

Tai Chi Tai Chi was not originally

How are yin and Yang Tai Chi? well first of all, the term "Tai Chi" not see exercises or Kampfsport.stattdessen was the term first used to refer to this relative mapping of "Yin" and "Yang".Ja, the term "Tai Chi" for many, many centuries the exercises you now know the ebb and flow of yin and Yang.Obwohl as "Tai Chi" to three or four centuries were it only within the last half of this time it was called "Tai Chi" to have.

How purchase these movements this name? A Chinese scholar by the name of the Ong Tong, after just a demonstration of the movement said art in the 1800's movements seemed a physical manifestation of the "Tai Chi" ebb and flow principle of yin and Yang.Daher came the movement art finally accessible to Tai Chi, the same name as the ebb and flow experience.

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Tai Chi: Lymphatic pumps (response video)

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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