Balance

Several students have recenlty said, "I can't balance", almost ignoring the fact that it takes balance to walk, which they manage perfectly well. What they really mean is they can't easily stand on one leg without wobbling or feeling unsteady. Blanket statements like, “I can't balance”, only reinforce a negative belief whether it's actually true or not. As humans we do like to think our beliefs are true and that often means a resistance to letting them go so there's no room for change. In this case it's the thought process that's in the way of finding the possibility of balance.

Taijiquan is a method of training oneself in all aspects of balance. Physically we become more stable as we feel a deeper connection through our feet and carry less tension in the upper body. Emotionally we become more centred by feeling where we over extend or are pulled by a reactive mind. Mentally we become more present by resting in the physical sensations of the body (the body is always in the present).

So our practice includes the whole person, inside and out. How we think and how we respond to our thoughts are equally important in terms of balance. One of the best pieces of advise I've ever been given is, “Don't believe everything you think!”

Mental/Emotional Balance

There are many things that cause imbalance: fear, stress, excitement, etc. All of these states are mental or emotional, you can't actually see or touch them. Of course you can see the results of them, you can see how they affect people, but they are all internal, they only exist inside a person, they are all created by thoughts. For example, when someone says they are afraid of dogs, it's not necessarily an actual dog as they can still feel some level of fear even when there are no dogs near them. The fear is caused by the thought of what a dog might do, jump up at you or bite you, even though it's not actually happening. Stress is a form of fear or anxiety. I'm not talking about big traumatic life threatening situations that trigger fight or flight survival responses, rather the day to day thought patterns that take you into either thinking what might happen in a future situation, or remembering what happened in a past situation. Neither of these are real (because they are not happening right now) but they can still set off a stress response throwing you off balance mentally and/or emotionally.

Next time you feel stressed, ask yourself if it is real or are you just thinking yourself into stress. If it is real, is there something you can do about it? If it's just your thinking, and you can recognise that, then you can choose to think differently. Simple, but not necessarily easy. It takes the practise of awareness, observation, and honesty. The results are very worthwhile.

Physical Balance

If you can walk unaided but feel unstable when trying to stand on one leg, there are many possible causes... fear of falling for example, or maybe a deeper belief that was planted in childhood that you're clumsy/unsteady on your feet. It can also be a disconnection from spacial awareness – so the more you can feel where your body is in space and its structural alignment, the more stable you will feel.
Have you ever noticed how a table or chair with four legs needs a very flat even surface to be stable, but a stool with only three legs can be stable on practically any surface? We only have two feet, but within each foot there is the stability of a tripod. Try this exercise...

While standing, bring attention down into the feet and feel how they contact the ground. This means feeling the sensations of pressure on the soles as gravity draws your body weight down into earth. Let the feet soften, gently move the body to feel the 'spot' where the weight is evenly spread between the centre of the heel, the ball of the big toe, and the ball of the little toe. William Chen, one of Cheng Man Ching's senior students, called these three points 'The Three Nails'. These three points are like a tripod and you have two of them! When this becomes familiar try it with your weight mainly on just one leg by feelng the 'tripod' in one foot, making sure the body is vertically aligned through that foot with your centre of gravity lowered, then allow the other foot to begin to float slightly off the ground. As the foot rises, make sure your body alingment (spine/central axis) stays vertical so that gravity continues to pull down through your foot and not off to one side. With practise your awareness and confidence will increase and you can let the 'empty' foot float higher and higher without disturbing your balance.

Melting Tension

When approaching a practice session it is good to have an intention to 'work' on something specific, even if that 'specific' is simply being generally relaxed. It is so easy to have the intention to 'do' relaxing which obviously comes from a tense or controlling place, the exact opposite of what you're hoping to become.

Most of our practises start with some kind of 'Attention' posture. Remember that it's called 'Attention' because it's about paying attention to how you are right now, and feeling what is in the way of being how you'd like to be. The key here is Feeling. So... make it your intention to Feel.

Practising Sinking or Rooting, for example, won't do anything at all unless you feel. We have to come at it from the inside and intend to drop deeper into feeling before Sinking or Rooting can begin to develop. You can think about Sinking or Rooting whilst lowering your weight/centre of gravity, but you won't have Sunk or Rooted, you'll just appear to be a bit shorter than you were a few seconds earlier. Any tensions will still be present and may have even increased!

Feeling the melting of tension internally allows you to Sink. So Sinking becomes the end result rather than the starting point.

Have a clear intention and feel what you're doing, feel for your goal from the inside.

Visualising Martial Applications

There are many approaches to the practice of Taijiquan. Here are a few

• relaxation
• health exercise
• confidence building
• energy development
• meditative movement
• martial art
• spiritual practice
• self-defence

This article is a response to a question I was recently asked, “What or who do you think about when visualising martial applications in a Solo Form practise?”

There are two answers to this: One is physical, the other energetic. They can both be applied to any Form, whether empty hand or using a weapon.

1. Physical

When playing a Form it can be useful to visualise an opponent. This gives a certain degree of definition to the shape of each movement. At this level of practice I visualise an opponent of exactly the same shape and size as myself, in other words a replica of myself, so as not to distort my postures by over or under reaching.

The fact that it is an 'opponent' (something opposed to the move I'm making) can easily create unnecessary mental and/or physical tension, thereby giving an opportunity to deepen my conscious awareness. The more clearly I can visualise 'myself' as the opponent, the easier it is to see 'him' as the embodiment of my negativities/ego. Then each time I strike or cut I can visualise the ego becoming less, the negativities being chipped away. But this cannot be done with any kind of aggression as it would only create more tension and negativity. Intention and clarity need to be underpinned by the fundamental principles of calmness and relaxation. This way of practising in turn leads towards the second answer...

2. Energetic

This is a much deeper level of practice, more subtle, more internal, more meaningful, and more difficult to put into the written word.

At this level it's about ebb and flow, receive and reply, yin and yang (Taiji in action). Here I am creating an oncoming force through feeling rather than thinking. Unlike the Physical method where it's a visualised body or limb coming towards me, this is an energetic movement through the air, like a current moving through water only more subtly through the air. As the current comes close enough it will influence my energetic space (life-force field) and I allow that to stimulate a returning wave of energy that, in turn, moves my body into the next posture.

To feel this process requires a deeper level of relaxation which allows a softer focus of attention (receptive, yin), enabling a sharper focus of intention (active, yang).

Click here for more on the practice of Taijiquan as a martial art

Intention

There are two types of intention within Taiji Form: yang intention and yin intention.

Yang intention is active and leads to physical action. Yin intention, by comparison, is more passive and rides on the movement created by the yang intention. This can be observed when pushing a swing: the initial push is yang, then the yin intention rides the path of the swing as it returns towards you in order to push again.

Other examples -

Drawing a bow: yang is the draw and aim, yin is realesing the arrow.

Pushing a car to get is started: the initial effort to get it moving - yang, once it's moving less effort is required - yin.

We all have little jobs at home we intend to 'get around to' one day. This is a yin intention and will only become action once it shifts to a yang intention.

The Taiji Classics say 'the Mind leads the Qi, the Qi leads the body'. All action begins with a thought. If the thought remains just an idea in your head, it doesn't connect with the Qi so the body isn't moved. When the intention is strong/clear enough the process follows through into action.

One aspect of Taiji practise is to develop this process within each posture. When this becomes second nature the same process will be there in your everyday actions and decision making.

Connecting to Dao

When I recognise I am out of balance (stressed, sad, angry, etc.) and reconnect to Dao, I become everything and nothing.

Everything = an integral part of the world, a part of everything that exists.

Nothing = the ego/personality with its wants, fears, etc, becomes irrelevant and 'I' am at peace. This doesn't mean 'I' become void, just recognise 'I' am no more or less important than a blade of grass.

Interview with Alec Jones: Taiji teacher and Reiki Master

In 2000 my wife, Kate, interviewed me for Reiki Magazine Internaltional about my practice as a Taiji teacher and Reiki Master. In early 2013 she reprinted it as part of a celebration of my 60th Birthday in her Reiki Newsletter and on her blog.

K: What drew you to learn Taiji?

A: I’d always wanted to learn a martial art and meditation. One day in 1973, I was watching a TV programme about the Hong Kong kung fu movie industry. There were shots of actors leaping across buildings. It went straight from this to a little old man in a park, standing still. Then he started moving very, very slowly. What I didn’t realise was that he was actually moving at that speed; I thought they’d slowed the film down. At the back of the park was a road hidden by trees and a lorry went by. It just went belting across the screen and I realised that this man was actually moving that slowly! It struck me as unusual and extremely graceful; how on earth could he keep his balance, moving that slowly? So I started looking for a taiji teacher: it took me seven years to find one.

 

K: How did you come to learn Reiki?

A: After studying and teaching taiji for some years, several people had told me that they felt a particular quality of touch in my hands. They suggested I should do something with it in some kind of healing capacity. Then I found a leaflet about Reiki. I thought that if I learned Reiki, when I touched people to adjust their posture in the taij class, I could zap their tension. Then they would relax into the posture and understand the movements better. Part of my mind thought that this was what I was looking for: it didn’t take long to learn and it wasn’t expensive. But the other part of my mind thought it was some kind of get-rich-quick scheme – how could you possibly learn a healing technique in 3 days? I rang the number that was on the back of the leaflet and they started telling me about the course. They told me how much it was and I had enough money; when it was and I had the weekend free. Then they started telling me where it was and it turned out to be held in my taiji teacher’s house! So that clinched the decision.

Several of my taiji students have learned Reiki. There are certain exercises in the taiji and qigong classes that give you an opportunity to feel your energy moving through your hands. Most people who have done Reiki can feel it sooner and stronger than those who haven’t. It enhances that connection because it’s all Qi or Ki. 

 

K: Do you feel that being a Reiki master affects your Taiji?

A: There’s a parallel path of my personal growth in my practice of taiji and in Reiki. Becoming a Reiki master was part of that growth. So I couldn’t say exactly what Reiki or taiji has done, but they have both greatly affected my path of personal growth. I met someone in 2000 who I hadn’t seen for over 10 years. She said that I’d changed completely in that time: I was a more confident, more open person. She could really see the growth.

I sat down once and wrote a list, taiji one side, Reiki the other. For each of the taiji principles, in terms of using them in daily life, I could put something in the Reiki column as well. It’s the same with Reiki: anything I could put down about what Reiki is or does there was something in the taiji column to match. When I’m giving Reiki to someone it puts me in touch with that sense of there being no boundary between where I end and the other person begins. The energy crosses that boundary and blurs it. I also experience that in my solo taiji practice: I feel a part of my environment; I don’t stop at my skin. Both disciplines give me a sense of my place in the universe, my connection to the scheme of things. 

 

K: Do you think Taiji can benefit Reiki students?

A: When you’re giving a Reiki treatment, whether you’re standing or sitting, you have to find ways of aligning your body to be comfortable and relaxed, so you don’t lean on the other person. One of the main things in taiji is posture and the alignment of the body. You work with balance, so that you’re not fighting against gravity. Also, there are taiji exercises that work on the quality of touch. There is one called ‘sticking,’ where you rest your palm on the back of someone else’s hand. They move their hand around and you keep the same quality of touch as though your hand is stuck to theirs. Having done that for several years before learning Reiki, I found that when I came to put my hands on someone I knew how to touch them: the quality of touch was already established. 

 

K: Could you talk about the discipline in Taiji?

A: There are different styles and schools of taiji, but whichever form you learn you do the same form all the time. That’s the discipline of it: you don’t need to change it. If it’s difficult in places it’s meant to be. Once you relax into the idea that it’s like that for a reason, that simple understanding changes it and makes it easier. Mental resistance creates physical resistance and constriction, so relaxing mentally relaxes you physically. Then the movements become easier.

There is a freedom in discipline. The structure of the form is what gives you the freedom to express the quality of your own energy. You don’t have to change the form to be creative. It’s the boundary of a movement that defines it. If you go beyond that boundary it becomes something else, a different movement. That’s true of the whole form: it’s the boundaries that give shape to the art. Without the boundaries, there is no shape and without the shape it’s just somebody moving about, not following the taiji principles any more. For example there is the principle of empty step: if you take a step that’s too big it’s no longer an empty step: you fall. The boundary of an empty step is very important to discover and to work on the edge of. A boundary is a dividing line; if you cross that line then what you are doing becomes something else, something formless. The difference between form and formless is that form can be reproduced and therefore passed on to others. For example if someone offered you some water to drink and you said yes please and they pour some water at you, it’s not very helpful. You need a container to make use of the water. The container is the form.

I see an exact duplication between Taiji and Reiki in that. I see that as true of any spiritual discipline – you have to have a container and the container is the form. The form includes the personal practice and the method of teaching.

(for Taiji read 'Taijiquan & Qigong')