Points of Focus.

I am having a hugely difficult time concentrating on what to write for this week’s web ‘blog’  Maybe it’s the heat, maybe it’s the major life decisions I seem constantly to be weighing, or maybe it is just that there is nothing particularly on my mind to share this week.

And as with so many things – I find the solution lies in the problem or question itself.  In this case, it is the matter of mental focus and concentration about which I am indeed inspired to muse. Something that the practice of tai chi and qigong are very good at developing, and that also helps to improve one’s practice of tai chi and qigong. As Art Baner notes in his Qigong workbook – it is a beneficial feedback loop.

Mental focus: the ability to concentrate the mind on a task, idea, mantra, etc. Usually it just happens when there is a project so engaging, or a deadline so looming, or a need so great, that we are able to hunker down and do it. Thus it is said if you want something done, give it to a busy person. Busy people do not have time to fool around, they concentrate their minds on the schedule of tasks and get them done. I have come to conclude that they tend to be busy people, precisely because people know that they can concentrate and accomplish effectively and so assign them even more responsibilities.

The ability to concentrate the mind need not be relegated to the unconscious processes of just happening when needed. Nor need it be an unconscious habit of highly successful and overworked businesspeople in our lives. Instead, it could be a skill that we can develop, master, and use at will; recognizing that there is a time for concentration of mental energy and a time for diffusion or relaxation of mental energy.

This is how I think Tai Chi helps  - yes, the form itself is interesting (maybe - the first 50 times through) and, sure the day is ending and I promised to practice – but I don’t know how urgent this deadline is, and honestly, as much as I believe in the promises of tai chi – my greatest needs are food, sleep, shelter, health, love and friends. I happen to know that tai chi improves all these – still, practicing my form just doesn’t seem to be a great need of the same caliber as all that.

And this is precisely why I think Tai Chi helps me develop and master mental focus. There is nothing unconscious about it. The mental and emotional focus that are the great by-products of a regular tai chi practice, also seem to me to be the things I actually have to choose before I can really begin my practice.  Practicing my form requires all of me, not just my body on autopilot - it is too rich and juicy to just check it off my to-do list. Yes, it takes concentration to learn and memorize the form – maybe even the less than conscious kind. But once it is learned and memorized, there is nothing unconscious any longer about the choice to concentrate on my form.  Because I can do it without concentrating. Choosing therefore to concentrate develops the skill of concentration.

For those times when we do practice without concentrating, we can thank the ancient tai chi masters of old who put a few wake up spots in the form ( like every time I leave a Single Whip, or White Snake Spits Out its Tongue, or even just to keep track of the Cloud Hands). But I don’t want to rely solely on the wake up points – to gain the most from my practice, I want to pay attention throughout.

It is often said that the hardest thing about these practices is showing up – sometimes that means showing up for class, sometimes it means showing up in the place and time we set aside for practice, and most of the time it means choosing to pay attention to this – right here, right now.  Choosing to focus mentally and emotionally improves my tai chi – and it also gives me an incredibly valuable life skill that I can apply to much more than the 108 moves of my form.

Enjoy your focus

Dorian

 

 

Relax – it is only life.

I am working with Art Baner’s workbook – The Heart of Qigong, A Path to Self Mastery, and I am loving it   Clearly written, compassionate and patient in his explanations, and willing to keep to the simplicity of foundational elements, the workbook is really enhancing my understanding of Qigong.

 

This week’s lesson is Chapter 4: Dynamic Relaxation - a topic rich for attention and daily – even constant - practice. What exactly is it? Well, it’s relaxation - the kind that is a prerequisite to doing anything effectively and with ease. Ultimately, it is a deeply comfortable state of being. And it is not passive – it is not resting, sleeping, napping, even lying back and watching tv. It’s the kind of relaxed that we all want to be – that is vibrant, ready, patient, alert, and without needlessly constrictive tension.

 

I think my favorite thing about this chapter is the Chinese proverb with which he begins the chapter:

 

            Tension is who we think we should be. Relaxation is who we are.

 

That just says it all to me – it captures the cause for me of so much physical, emotional and /mental tension. The more time and effort I expend trying to be who I am not – better, skinnier, bigger, stronger, smarter, kinder, funnier, more loving, perfect….you name it – if I am trying to be someone I think I should be I am creating tension - somewhere. And when I release the tensions of who I should be (perfect), I discover who in fact I am (imperfect).

 

The paradox in all this is that change, while inevitable – is so much easier to direct and enjoy - when I accept the reality of what is. Failure to accept reality leads to resistance and denial which are obstacles to lasting change.  Accepting my imperfect self is the starting point for conscious growth. 

 

Growth stems from useful tension. What do I mean? We know that not all tension is bad. In my tai chi practice, to remain standing I create a structure that holds me up against the force of gravity; this structure demands a certain kind of useful tension. What is important is finding and releasing all the tension that is not necessary.  (Hence, the lifetime practice)

 

And I think the same holds true here – useful tension prompts growth. For example, it could be that I do in fact need to become a kinder, more loving person. This need creates a certain tension - the release or resolution of which can move me toward greater acceptance of my imperfect self and from there the ability to demonstrate genuine kindness. When I release the tension of trying, there is movement. In this case movement toward who I am; movement that I can ride and build upon.  Maybe another way to say it is - when I stop trying to be kinder (release the tension) there is room for me to just in fact behave more kindly (ride the movement toward the new desired behavior).

 

Letting go of the tension of trying to be someone I think I should be (trying to be perfect), and simply being who I am – (imperfect changing and growing beings), is turning out to be one of the greatest gifts that my tai chi practice is bringing me.

 

For more about Art Baner’s really terrific workbook  - check out his website at www.opencircletaichi.com and …..

 

Enjoy your gifts –

Dorian

Let 50% of Your Practice be Play –

I love this instruction – let half your practice be ‘as written’, and let half be improvisation or play. I love it, because it is one of those instructions that when I hear it, I nod my head in agreement and say ‘yes, yes, of course.’ And then I proceed to practice with all the determination and dedication in the world to doing everything just exactly as I have been taught and believe it to be ‘as written’.  I mean if all I was going to do was play, why did I go to the class or the lesson or the seminar? I can play without instruction. Right? And, after all, the whole Tai Chi/ Martial Arts thing feels like play most of the time anyway – serious play– I don’t need to make myself play.

Or do I? There are those days when I just don’t feel like practicing. I think. Really what happens is I procrastinate and then in my warm-ups, I just randomly move in ways that feel good. Because, indeed what I feel like doing is just moving; I feel like playing. Moving, leaping, dancing, spinning, standing, swirling – anything but commencing, followed by left ward-off, then right ward-off, then roll-back, then…well, you get the picture. 

 

And usually on those days, that is exactly what I do -  I  move, I play - until gradually inevitably,  I find myself craving the form, as written, with every thing I have just explored and discovered and tickled myself with begging for expression through the structure of the form I have learned and repeated and love.

 

According to Wikipedia ( my new favorite reference manual):

 - as a theoretical concept, play is notoriously difficult to tightly define. Rather than having a single meaning, play is best seen as descriptive of a range of activities that can be ascribed to humans and non-humans. People at the National Institute for Play are creating a clinical, scientific framework for play. On their website they introduce seven patterns of play (along with reference sources for each) which indicate the huge range of types of activities and states of being which play encompasses. Seven patterns of play - that to most people are unrelated behaviors – but work as elements of a larger, holistic framework

 

There is something in all seven that they describe, but I like the second pattern for understanding how play is an important part of my practice.

 

Body Play and Movement -  

Learning about self movement structures an individual’s knowledge of the world - it is a way of knowing, and we actually, through movement and play, think in motion. For example the play-driven movement of leaping upward is a lesson about gravity as well as one’s body. And it lights up the brain and fosters learning. Innovation, flexibility, adaptability and resilience have their roots in movement. The play driven pleasures associated with exploratory body movements, rhythmic early speech (moving vocal cords), locomotor and rotational activity - are done for their own sake; pleasurable, and intrinsically playful. They sculpt the brain, and ready the player for the unexpected and unusual.

 

Pretty cool description of the benefits of moving for the sake of and sheer joy of moving! I have found more and more that it is in play that I discover and create the connections between all that I know and even what I don’t know.  And, of course, the deeper and more solid the foundation in the basics of our arts, the more fun and creative becomes our play.

 

Like so many lessons from my teachers that I think I understand, once I start to move in my practice  a new understanding – a feeling -  emerges, and I get the lesson again on a whole ‘nother level.  (Makes me wonder what else might be lurking in the ‘drop your shoulders’ instruction.)

Enjoy your play –

Dorian

Discovering What You Know

Song of the Essence and Application of Taijiquan

How wonderful is taijiquan,

Whose movements follow nature!

Continuous like a jade bracelet,

Every movement expresses the taiji symbol.

The whole body is filled with one unbroken qi

Above and below are without imbalance.

Place the feet with cat steps,

Moving the qi like coiling silk.

In movement, everything moves;

In stillness, all is still.

Above, the crown of the head is suspended,

And below the qi sinks to the dantien.

Drape the shoulders and sink the elbows;

Raise the back and relax the chest.

When the wei-lu is naturally vertical,

The body feels relaxed and the qi is lively.

Use the mind and not strength,

Turning the body with the waist.

Everything rises from the root in the feet,

While legs and waist are perfectly aligned.

Energy issues from the spine,

Reaching the arms and fingertips.

Stretch the sinews and draw out the bones;

Relax the wrists and spread the fingertips.

There is a slight feeling of swelling in the fingers,

For wherever the qi goes there is a manifestation in the body.

All of this a function of the mind,

And has nothing to do with brute force.

When full and empty are clearly distinguished,

Hard and soft follow the changing situation.

Yin and yang must complement each other,

As moving back and forth we shift and change.

The qi is aroused with the changing power relationship,

And the spirit is held within.

Movement arises from stillness,

But even in movement there is stillness.

The spirit leads the qi in its movement,

And the palm and wrist are connected to the waist.

Our steps adapt to the changing situation,

And hands and eyes conform to conditions.

Speed or slowness follow the opponent’s movements;

With the weight on one side our movements will not be tardy.

Without either losing contact or grappling,

Every posture must anticipate the opponent.

After drawing the opponent in and neutralizing his energy,

We issue power like a bubbling well.

Let the strongest aggressor attack us,

While four ounces deflect a thousand pounds.

Li I-yu (1832-92) (translated by Douglas Wile, in the Lost T’ai-chi Classics from the Late Ching Dynasty)

Because some days it is better to simply read the classics and ponder the meaning through movement, than to write a ‘blog’ -

Enjoy your tai chi –

Dorian