In his new book, the Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, Dr. Peter Wayne lays out the “8 Active Ingredients of Tai Chi” to help us understand the interface between traditional Tai Chi practice and the Western biomedical paradigm. As the Research Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, jointly based at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, and the founder of the Tree of Life Tai Chi Center, Peter blends more than three decades of teaching experience with ongoing inquiry into what makes Tai Chi an effective medical intervention.
I was talking to a friend last night about standing qigong and different meditation traditions that we had both tried. When we say “meditation” in this context, we were including all practices like breathing for relaxation, Tai Chi, qigong, and sitting practices too. Part of what I’d like to hear from you (see below) is how you define “meditation” in a way that’s practical and part of your everyday life.
Tai Chi has the potential to solve many common posture-related problems, but only if you follow the correct Tai Chi principles. Specifically, you want to pay attention to the body alignments that unify the arms, legs, and spine, creating effortless openness throughout the skeletal system. In Tai Chi, the way you hold your neck and head and release the pelvis into the legs are the exact opposite of what those of us who sit all day do.
Here is my mid-week update from Tai Chi Immersion Week 2013 at Brookline Tai Chi. It’s pretty cool to see folks come from all over to train for a week, but you really have to have the right mind set to make the most of the format. See what I mean here: http://youtu.be/tBOBhSljYNo When you practice, be sure to include a clear: Warm-up: where you settle in and transition from the rest of your day.
The meaning of relaxation in a Tai Chi context is often confused with the same kind of limp, collapsed, let-go feeling you get from flopping on to the couch after a long day. In fact, there’s a very different sense of “song” or relaxation in Tai Chi, which is at once easy and loose, but also energized and alert. In his translator’s introduction to Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan, Louis Swaim nails the nuance of the concept.
Most people are familiar with the benefits of basic Tai Chi: relaxation, better balance, relief from stiff joints. As you get more internally connected and learn to listen to the inside of your body as you practice, there are whole other layers of benefits, hidden beneath the surface of the graceful, flowing movements typically associated with Tai Chi. In this video, Robert Tangora explains one of the more interesting ones, that is rarely taught with the precision he is outlining: how to use specific Tai Chi movements to target and massage individual organs in your body, like your liver, spleen, heart, and lungs.
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.
