The concept of “sinking” and the pendulum force

I have found the control of sinking during Jinho Lee’s tai chi lesson. It’s not easy to understand the concept of sinking. However, if you fall many times, you might as well give it a go. Yesterday is one of those blue days whereby I fell down and at the same learned how to sink down to the gravity pull of the earth. I believe the words of Jinho Lee is absolutely true. Practicing Tai Chi regularly will prevent from falling down again.

When we fall down, our muscle is tense and therefore the impact of injuries are higher. Equally if we sink or compress into gravity, the chance of falling down and losing your balance will be minimized.

Yesterday while practicing with Jinho Lee, I am able to control the sinking of my body. For the first time, I learned both the sinking concept and holding my balance. Let me describe my experience and findings.

1. When you are ready to accept anything, everything is possible. Like falling, sinking, balancing, whatever it is, you just needed to follow. Of course you don’t want to fall down if you can prevent it. This is the fundamental thing in doing any sport. If you want to do Tai Chi, you must first accept Tai Chi, that is be ready to learn and practice the basic foundation steps.

2. Concentration and focus play the ultimate key aspects in obtaining the feeling of sinking and the pendulum force. Without concentration, your body can sink, but at the same time, you are fighting against the sinking sensation that you are trying to do. This will create the negative effect, because you are not sinking into the ground naturally and using the gravity force. Fighting against the sinking will only make your body more stiff.

3. Breathing plays an important part of Tai Chi. Breathe in and breathe out. Many of the Tai Chi moves combine with the flow of inhales and exhales. Breathing is a good way for meditation. When your mind is confused, breathe in and breathe out slowly. It takes away the distraction.

4. Make sure you have a good posture. Remember you are holding a huge beach ball wrapped around your chest, your arms, making them curve and soft. Your tail bone (or pelvic bone) curve inward, drop your hips, and your head hangs like a skeleton with a string pulling from above. Balance your body well by making a rectanglar shape with the position of your feet.

5. If you have done steps 1-4, then I will introduce the concept of sinking. The sinking comes from gravity. This means when you sink, you are sinking deep into the ground. If you feel the sinking and not fight against the sinking, you will feel your body drop to a length where you can control when to come back up again. Never fight against your own body weight when you try to sink. If you do that, you will not get enough internal force.

6. Twisting. When you feel the sinking, wait and sense the gravity pull. Control your sinking. When you are ready, you can twist your leg to bounce back up again. The twisting force combine with the initial sinking will create the most powerful internal force. This is not recognised by many, as this is not something everyone has the patience to learn. Sink, sink, sink, look at your opponent, and when you can  control your sinking, twist your feet towards the direction of your opponent. Your opponent will feel the force.

What I described in steps 5 and 6 is the concept of pendulum force. Sinking into the gravity pull of the ground, and when ready, twist your feet and bounce right back up. This will create the ultimate force. Keep practicing, you will also experience this force I describe above.

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Tips of Tai Chi

Tip: Practice the Stake Meditation is getting closer to improving your posture in Tai Chi

Today is another great Qigong and Tai Chi lessons for everyone. What motivates one is knowing how to apply the followings:

1. Linkage in the body.
Each part of our body are linked. Our opponent could feel if your body is linked or not. Also, you as a practitioner could feel whether you are comfortable with the linkage. If each part of your body is not linked, you will feel the pain on that part of the body. To emphasis a bit more from what Jinho Lee told me, there are 3 triangles in our body, we need to maintain these 3 triangles. These triangles must associate with chest, shoulder, toe. (I guess Jinho would be in a better position to describe the linkage.) Without linkage, the opponent could easily defeat you. Without linkage, you could not utilise the whole internal force in your body. I could feel it today practicing with Lizhe, his stand is a stronger forceful one than myself, as my posture is weakening over time.

2. Learn and try to understand the application of the move.
It is a surprise to me today that the application side of the move is deemed the most important aspect of learning Tai Chi. In general class, I am able to replicate the move from Jinho as close as possible in the best of my ability, but I am analysing the move, not how the move applied to an opponent. I was side-tracked by the fact that doing Tai Chi on my own, I was particularly very careful with every stroke or arm or shoulder posture, making sure it looks close to Jinho’s demonstration. But what really surprises me today is that when I am trying to practice the move we learned in class to an opponent, I could not do it. The reason is that I practice with the moves in mind, not the person I am practicing with. Imagining the application to an opponent is absolutely vital. It’s not something anyone can do, unless practice with another person. By practicing with another person, I am able to feel and follow the flow the other person is going, leaving, and pausing. This is the first time I realise practicing tai chi with just the move in mind will not get anywhere, imagining practicing tai chi with another person is closer to what tai chi is about.

3. Internal force.
Again this point comes back to point 1: Linkage in the body. Internal force could only be generated if you have the correct posture and linkage in the body. If your posture dies and weakens, so is your internal force. To start from scratch, you must have a good posture and linkage in the body. I am still trying to get point 1 as a beginner. If I cannot achieve this, the rest is not that important.

4. Gravity force.
One of the key point I almost missed is using the power of the earth. Each and everyone of us have the gravity force. We need to use the gravity force by receiving the energy from the earth and return the energy back to the earth. Energy must come and go, receiving and absorbing. Like sun energy, we receive it but we also release it back to the nature. We need to respect nature. By using gravity force, we could feel where our opponent is going, and follow well, and then at the right time, release the force back to them. Gravity force pull from the ground, if we use it well, we can maximise our internal force.

Learning is about sharing. Sharing is about improving yourself as well as relations to others. Keep on trying! Keep on practicing! This is my fifty cents coin for today!

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Doing Martial Arts is about sharing knowledge and respecting others

Improve yourself or win yourself..
As a pupil, learning martial arts is not about winning in the competitions or championship events. Similarly, a martial arts teacher we called “sifu” is not teaching martial arts because he/she wants to gain a better reputation on their name. The goal is the same – sharing the knowledge in martial arts and learn to respect others. Spread the good news so others would receive the benefits and continue with discipline themselves.

There are many reasons why we would want to learn martial arts. But if you asked “sifu”, he would say he wanted his pupils to learn how to treat martial arts with respect as well as in life in general. Respect and dignity is very important in the martial arts world. If you give respect to others, others will treat you the same. Practicing martial arts with others with respect is very important too. Sometimes if you just want to win and be the best, you will never understand what martial arts has to offer.

Quite often, many forgot this point when they are learning martial arts, because they are looking to wining others. At times, it doesn’t matter about winning. It’s about how well you treat others and play by the rules of the martial arts world. You never overlook others ability, but instead you should look at what they have to share with you. In traditional martial arts world, each person respects the others, even if one loses, this person still has a smile on his/her face and shakes hands. Not one wants to deliberately kill the other opponent. You always give some ground to the other person. No hatred. If we could do this, you already on the path of knowing one of the secrets of what martial arts has to offer. Discipline yourself. Respect others as well as you, even if they do a different type of martial arts than you. Treat others as you would like to be treated. If every martial artist could remember this point, it will be fairer peaceful respectful game. In term, you will change the whole way of perspective on things and people around you. We become better person by learning martial arts.

Always have a calm peaceful heart. In Confucius saying:
“Never look towards the wrong of others, if you do that, it will bring you more trouble and more hatred in your life, as well as those who you loved dearly. Only if you let go the hatred and the wrongs of others doing could you feel freedom and peace within yourself. ”

Let go of the hatred, the pain, the sorrow, release yourself to the light. By doing martial arts this way, only could you discipline yourself, you open up your mind and welcome the new you. You have advanced to the ultimate level of martial arts. It’s you who you are fighting for all along. There is no others.

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Tai Chi is like “following your heart”

Doing Tai Chi is like following your heart. You don’t just learn the routine and purely memorise the steps by heart. Practicing Tai Chi is evolutionary. It took time to comprehend what you understood in the class. Knowing the steps does not mean you are actually doing Tai Chi. Tai Chi, like any sport, you must go where your heart goes. By having said that, I mean you flow where the movements go – your energy, your feeling, your heart and your soul go with the direction where the movement is. You always imagine that you have an opponent in front of you and you need to keep an eye on your opponent at all time. Or you could imagine you have a lover in front of you, and you want to send and pass the energy to your partner. By thinking like this, you will feel the flow of energy like the curls of ocean waves. Each stroke does not go with an even pace, some a tiny beat faster than its own, while other strokes are a beat faster than the other ones, and most of all, not a single stroke stops. It continues whether it’s a slow stroke, a slight “picking-the-pace” stroke, or an extremely slow stroke. You could feel the heart beat of Tai Chi on its own.

I am a beginner. But once a teacher told me that he is teaching me how to do it well, not simply memorizing and anticipating in the routine. I began to understand the essence of his teaching. He is teaching me to follow my heart, feeling it, touching it, listen to my soul, my mind and every energy passing through my body. I never thought this is very important until I am able to apply to Tai Chi.

Sometimes, following our heart is the hardest thing. We forgot how to be just ourselves sometimes (i.e. sometimes it’s ok to be completely relaxed your mind). Everything is a distraction and also an challenge. Sometimes when we treat it as a challenge, we forgot to be ourselves (we get tense up and stress), as we see the challenge as something we want to achieve or meet the ends. But in actual fact, if we loosen up and just feel and follow our heart, we are able to perform each stroke of Tai Chi movement gracefully like the flowing water.

The secret lies in our heart. Listen and follow your heart. Imagine only you and your opponent (or your partner), you would want to face at the direction of your opponent (or your partner). If you are passionate, everything is possible.

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Fundamental

Our bodies are like the four seasons in a cycle – Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, and it comes all over again. Some days the body is like the battery-charged, feeding itself from the air we breathe, the food we eat, and the blood pumps ever faster. Other days we were like a cocoon with sluggish movements, especially during the winter (with the wetness and the cold).

Lately I notice many people including myself got many aches, pain and injuries from time to time. Many, like myself, forgot the golden rule – never push yourself too far which you are unable to cope. At first, you may not notice the pain, but the pain will surface later which could be unbearable. The pain and aches are usually derived from incorrect posture.

Tai Chi, like any other sports, needs to do with caution.

Rule No# 1 – Always do sufficient warm ups on the knee, the neck, the ankle, the spine, the shoulder, the arms and the hands. If you believe you have not fully warm up in all parts of your body, do more warm up exercise before you do Tai Chi.

Rule No#2 – Listen to your body. If you feel pain in one part of the body, try to be careful and stop if you feel uncomfortable. Don’t push it too far! Our body is like a rubber band when it became cold – it won’t stretch as much as we wanted; it becomes dry and brittle. Eventually it could snap! So always make sure Rule No# 1 is checked!

Rule No#3 – Posture is absolutely vital in doing Tai Chi. Tailbone curved in; Knee never push too forward, keep the knees perpendicular 90 degree to the floor at all time! Open the shoulder wide, but relaxed. Arms relaxed. Never tense your muscle!

These are just the fundamental things we need to remember when we are doing Tai Chi. If we forget these “Rules”, we could not get the best of Tai Chi.

The winter is here! Our bodies don’t need to be like a cocoon, but we must act with basic instinct in mind. Keep body warm up, thus the blood would circulate well and making our body like an elastic band. Most all of will help improve “Qi” internal energy. Remember do it regularly, you won’t forget! Not just for Tai Chi, any exercises we do have to do warm ups!

Once your body is warm-up, your body can go beyond the limit and will not get hurt, because it is charged! But remember check your posture every time, feel it and fix it as soon as you notice it!

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Internal Power – The “Qi” (or Chi)

I never thought doing Qigong could help me develop the internal power. On last Saturday class, I could feel it for the first time. I am not sure whether I am too tired after Self Defence, but after practicing Qigong. I could practice my mind power as well as the energy from within. If you put all your heart, mind, soul into practicing Qigong, you will feel the following:

1. At first, simply just warmth

2. If focus your mind to it, feeling the energy going through your body, checking every part of your body, you will feel something like electricity going through your blood vessels and veins. (I could only feel it from the finger tips down to the palm, up the wrist, and to the bottom half of my arms.)

3. The most important, you will feel the forces (positive and negative forces). When your hands go smaller, you feel the compelling force. When your hand go larger, you will feel the energy is flowing like yinyang (balance).

Tips:
1. Focus. Qigong is not just meditation. It is the practice of mind power. (During practice, I am able to block away all distraction and sound. I could only hear the nature and me – i.e. the leaves scattering, your own breathing, Jinho Lee’s teaching and the wind.)

2. Imagine. Sun is a source of life. Where there is warmth, there is energy. You should feel and listen to the glowing sun. Imagine you are holding the sun. In your world, you can be the person in charge and do not need to be afraid holding the sun.

3. Listen to your body. Feel where the energy flows in which part of your body. Breathing is also the most essential part of qigong. Keep breathing in and out!

Lastly practice qigong regularly! You will be surprise what you found. By practicing qigong, you will develop a positive mind.

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Tai Chi (internal marital arts) vs. Dancing

Lately I have reached some “eureka” moments when practicing Tai Chi, Self Defence and Qigong. Most would say practicing internal marital arts have nothing to do with dancing, but I say it is not true. Sometimes like dancing, we all get nervous, worrying how well we looked in front of others, and thinking what step happens next. Like internal marital arts, I could not know every possible moves the other person will try to do, and scared to get hurt.

When Jiho demonstrated the “circle walking” yesterday, I picked a few things which I could relate to dancing:

1. Graceful smooth movement that is coming within the core “inside” and staying upright while relaxing your upper body (Concave “curl” the tummy, so the spine is relaxed)

2. Listen to your heart, soul and mind (Imagine what it could be, rather than seeing what it is – what it is sometimes may not be what truly lies..)

3. Be thankful and graceful what you have (Appreciation and Compassion) – Do not ever be angry at yourself or others. No hatred. Respect and give courtesy to others. Practicing marital arts is a way of learning about yourself and others. Some learned the marital arts and not use it wisely (i.e. hurting others) while others honour this arts by feeling it, imagining it and most of all, truly practice with the mind as a learner, not as a way to have fun or fight others. Equally,  dancing is the same – learning about yourself and others. You can not be the best dancer nor can you dance with the best dancers in the world. But learning how to dance with someone who are beginners, intermediate and advance dancers, you learn about yourself and others – how much you can stay focus, truly give yourself the moment dancing with your dance partner for who he/she is, not what he is good at or not good at. It’s the same for marital arts. You don’t do it for the sake of doing it, you do it for the stake to learn about yourself and others. Imperfection is not flaw, but it is a way to find yourself as well as understand others.

4. Be proud of who you are, not what you do. Don’t be over-confident as some people truly wants to show off their moves, and put down others who are not so good. Be acceptance. Be true to yourself and others. Be respectful to yourself and others. Love yourself as much as you love others.

To sum it up, internal marital arts are like dancing in some ways, as it’s about learning about yourself and others. Feel it. Focus. Never be disappointed, not even when you fall down. Achieve equilibrium. Respect. Be passionate and loving.

I must say if we follow these simple principles, we could be a better internal marital artist as well as a great dancer. It’s the heart that matters. Both demonstrates (in this aspect) well.

- Written by Shirley, 2010

Why am I interested in doing Tai Chi or internal marital arts in general?

I started doing Tai Chi and qigong last year, and thought it was very interesting. After doing for some times, I realise not only Tai Chi could give me some health benefits, it could also help calming my mind and stay focus. One thing I am very impressed with internal marital arts is not the fighting part, as I am feminine, I am more interested in the theory and the philosophy behind Tai Chi and qigong (internal marital arts). I feel everything around me is connected when doing Tai Chi, the ground I am standing on, the air I am breathing in, and my mind is staying focus with everything around me in the time I am doing Tai Chi. I also can apply the theory and philosophy I learned from Tai Chi and qigong to my everyday life scenarios, from work or outside of work. Indeed it gave me in depth knowledge of why Tai Chi is for the mind, not the body. This is one of the most vital thing I want to achieve, as I could eventually apply it for anything I do. Force is not the answer; it’s the mind who is far more powerful than force. What is important is how you want it to be (the mind), and use it accordingly with slow soft continuous stroke of movements to defeat your opponent in a real life situation. Though I am still learning, but I could see if your mind set as one with your movement, and use the opponent force wisely, you could defeat the person physically. Therefore I want to continue on learning both the application of Tai Chi (or internal marital arts) to better help learn about myself and others around me, and therefore use it wisely.

- Written by Shirley, 2010