I get the question all the time, or at least it’s always implied, “When am I going to get it?” Or, “how do I know if I’m getting good at this?” Now, let’s unpack a little bit of what’s behind this question and then I want to share some different ways that I think you can answer this question on your own, without even asking your teacher. Practice Goals I’m on a training trip this weekend out in New Mexico with Robert Tangora.
Try this follow-along practice on Emptying the Leg. We’re combining principles from Standing Qigong and Tai Chi to create a blend of stillness, movement, and internal contrast.
The progression includes: Varying your stance, increasing in complexity and physical demands. Increased contrast over time between empty and full or unweighted and weighted legs Heightened sense of sinking as you stabilize in each posture
Perhaps the most surprising element of this exercise is the way that it’s going to help you build flow.
Every six months or so, one of our Senior Instructors at Brookline Tai Chi tells me that he’s had an amazing revelation about how to do the kwa squat. The kwa squat is one of the very first things we teach, he’s been doing Tai Chi for 40 years, and he gets new insight into it all the time. Amazing, right? Tai Chi and Back Pain One of the reasons we get so interested in this exercise is its power to relieve pressure on the spine and open up important joints of the body.
We’re borrowing a technique from Dragon and Tiger qigong to try and get a better sense of the lower tantien. The lower tantien (“dan-tee-en”) is the energetic center of your physical body, located just below your navel, on the central axis of the body. If you dropped a line down from the crown of the head, through the body, and out the bottom of the pelvis, it would pass through the lower tantien.
In April, we will host Energy Arts Senior Instructors Eric Peters and Craig Barnes for the Wu Style Tai Chi Immersion Week at Brookline Tai Chi. As Craig and Eric have been preparing for the event and planning their curriculum, I’ve been thinking about all the different ways you practice Tai Chi. Sometimes, it depends on your stage of learning. Sometimes it comes down to the kind of day you’re having or your overall practice goals.
In this episode of Qigong Radio, Energy Arts Senior Instructor Paul Cavel explains the 3 different layers of neigong practice: Beginner or Foundational Practices – Dragon and Tiger, Opening the Energy Gates, and Heaven and Earth Intermediate or Power-Production Practices – Spiraling Energy Body and Bend the Bow Advanced or Integration Practices – Gods Playing in the Clouds
Paul explains what to focus on at each level and how your learning spiral takes you back through them over time.
Are you looking for a warm-up exercise that invigorates the blood and loosens up the body? Are you a beginner to physical fitness and looking for an exercise that won’t leave you painfully discouraged? Try this popular form of qigong: Chinese arm swinging exercises are an easy and gentle choice suitable for beginners and professional athletes. The exercise comes from various traditions. In India, British troops learned and adopted the practice of club swinging.
When you perform standing qigong, you develop acute physical awareness, get access to internal space, and make subtle physical connections that you would never otherwise make if you only did moving practices. According to my teacher Bruce Frantzis, the Taoists developed over 200 different standing postures, so how do you know which one to practice? Guidelines for Holding Qigong Postures As we’ve discussed in the past, whenever you settle in to standing qigong, you need to follow these three principles:
