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Notes on Zhan Zhuang Continued

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Art of Tai Ji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan)

Not just for beginners, use as a reminder.

On the 16 April I gave a basic introduction into Zhan Zhuang Qigong or Standing Post. This week I’d like to underline important examples of the benefits of regular practise of this aspect of the art.

A number of practitioners suggest there are three main categories of development, and they are probably right. There are a couple of caveats to consider, it does depend on the depth they wish to divulge, because the length of time someone has practised will make a difference. If one is serious about

this art, things will happen to the body irrespective of deliberate intensity of practise. I use the word intensity deliberately as we all like to get results quickly, but frustratingly it doesn’t happen quickly, so encouraging an over enthusiastic response would be detrimental. As the quotation goes, “anything worth having takes effort, so don’t get discouraged when the going gets tough”.

Yes, to put your body and mind in the right place exposes a multitude of questions as all bodies and minds are different. The prerequisite of practising Zhan Zhuang is; correct posture, relax in this posture while emptying the mind, and concentrate on breathing as instructed.

Let me go through various practise scenarios; sportspersons tend to push their bodies to extreme, TJQ practitioners should never go to extremes, but one should push the boundaries as this is a Martial Art and fitness is a major factor. Setting gaols that are achievable and being astutely aware when you’ve

accomplished it, and importantly to sustaining this fitness. This means to maintain reasonable low stance and the ability to hold postures for at least ten minutes and being able to check the state of relaxation within and have little or no physical discomfort. There is a membrane that runs throughout the body that covers every muscle and organ, it enables the muscles to smoothly flow over each other. As we get older movement can become more difficult as this membrane begins to get tighter particularly in shoulder joints and also other places too. One of the benefits of moving Qigong like the Dao Yin exercises are so important in keeping this membrane fluid and flexible.

The next challenge is to be able to concentrate on a breathing technique throughout the ten minutes. Do endeavour only to inhale 70% of your capacity with the exhalations taking longer. This is not easy and there are many pitfalls on route. The two words that come to mind are perseverance and patience and not to be judgemental. Be kind to yourself as this could take a long time, but it does help to be single minded which is also an aim. Be able to only think of one thing at a time is total concentration which is exactly what’s needed when practising the form.

The intent overall is to be able to create this sense of well-being at will, so at any time, you can become self-centred and calm.

The three categories therefore are as follows; Physical development, Energetic, the feeling of movement of intrinsic energy throughout the body, and Shen the development of internal force issued by the powerful mind.

Without the physical aspect being developed none of these three energetic elements can be achieved.

A word of encouragement to you all, our bodies have an internal mechanism of renewal and replenishment, we can help it by practising our Zhan Zhuang regularly. This will create the will for the mind/body to relax more and will generally increase body awareness which will grow exponentially.

Now I know some of you are not keen on the Martial Art aspects, but this is a whole art and you will not be able to help but become fitter and more flexible by practising it. Therefore, your health will improve if you concentrate on the relaxation aspects. The only fight you’ll have is to maintain good health and longevity helped particularly if you keep 2 metres apart.

Please don’t ignore your Zhan Zhuang (Standing Post) and let me know how your practise is going. Thank you to the students who keep contact.

SiFu David

info@artoftaijiquan.com

SiFu presents the Bow and Arrow Stance – Shorten to Bow Stance

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Tai Ji Quan Yi Symbol
Bow and Arrow Stance
Bow and Arrow Stance

The subtleties of obtaining the correct posture of the Bow and Arrow stance and the movements back and forth as in Pecking Rooster (preps)and Opening the Chest while Riding a Horse (18 Tai Ji qigong).

From the drawings supplied with this I try to convey the finished posture by showing a caricature of Master Yang in a classic move of AN (Press). It shows him in a very long Bow Stance (I’ve shortened the title for convenience),   if this is done correctly the balance and strength needed is considerable.  For placing the heel down with the right foot without falling into it, one has to have a very low stance from the move before.  This is not encouraged for beginners as Tai Ji Quan should be practised being level in the first instance with no bobbing up and down.

Balance is the objective and with the strength gained with regular practise plus good instruction both of these can be achieved by regularly going through the preps and the recently introduced 18 Tai Ji Qigong’s and many other  Dao Yin to come.

The sketch I’ve drawn shows two postures of foot positions in the Horse Stance and Bow Stance, these are the mantra of TJQ.   Understanding these and doing them without thought is the groundwork of the art, the canvas that has to be covered first with these movements, for without them you will never be in true balance.

Some students would have seen in a practical way the drawing I’ve produced, I’ve run to my bag of tricks and retrieved two shoe insoles and laid them on the floor just as the sketch, to highlight this, probably in their early days.  From a true bow stance where the forward foot/leg has 70% weight with 30% on the trailing foot/leg, from this position one can move freely either forward or by retreating.  By retreating I mean moving backwards on the same spot.  This technique is performed by moving the hips backwards, thereby transferring the weight to enable the trailing foot/leg to have 70% weight on it and 30% on the front.  In a martial situation if you don’t move the hips, your back will arch backwards and you will end up a heap on the floor. There is one other I didn’t mention that is the kua, this needs to be open as the weight moves back and forth.  I am delighted to say a student’s remark during their feedback highlighted that I didn’t show a side view of opening the Chest etc. I DID IT ON PURPOSE, I wanted to see if anyone would mention it.  The lady knows who she is, thank you, as it encouraged me to write and produce this article.  I love feedback you will all get more from me if you ask questions and give me something, enabling me to give back to you.

Please look at the small film clip on this subject and if you have any comments please let me have them.  The way I look at every student, is you are all potential instructors everyone has something to offer, this group is a family who have all benefited from this art – I’d like to shout this from the rooftops.  So please value the Art and continue to support your instructors, it’s taken them over 20 years of hard work to get where they are now and it’s so rewarding for me to see how generous you are with such the lovely comments.

SiFu David

info@artoftaijiquan.com

Message from SiFu to all current Students

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Tai Ji Quan Yi Symbol

As I said a few weeks ago I intended to give all students progressively a better understanding of Qi Gong. Well here goes.

There are three major channels involved and they all start at the Baihui point GV-20 and separate at the Upper Dan Tian

The main central channel descends through the centre of the body and finishes at the Perineum Huiyin point CV-1 and continues according to Taoist Philosophy through into the ground. I prefer to think of this as just being grounded without any religious overtones, but just to be as nature intends being held by gravitational pull, which by using the mind interpreting that of being relaxed and sinking into the ground.

Our intrinsic energy is thought to travel through the centre of our bones and then esoterically to the feet and hands. The left and right channels derive from and area of the upper Dan Tian from which the energy travels down through the centre of both sides of the head, through the shoulders (Shoulders Nest which is L1&2) and down the outside of the body then on to the Kua.

The subtly of sensation is needed to feel this energy movement and may I suggest you refrain from the challenge as frustration will inevitably win. In my earlier writings the training initially should be much more in line with the here and now before anything else. Getting stronger by sitting in a deeper stance with a correct posture, train the mind to be still which is a long job anyway, this can be helped by concentrating on breathing.

This training practise is suitable for all whether you’re 9 or 90, inside our mind is a young person and we can all get stronger. In Martial Arts we face our challenges and deflect them away, so being physically strong, clear headed and relaxed, can be a goal worth working towards.

SiFu David

info@artoftaijiquan.com

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom!

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Tai Ji Quan Yi Symbol

Hi to all students

Well I hope everyone who tuned in (if that’s the correct phrase these days) to the live feed on Zoom on Friday enjoyed it. Obviously, it was our first trial and personally I thought it went extremely well. I’m only sorry I didn’t dress for the occasion as I thought mistakenly that nobody would see me! It won’t happen again. It is our intention to persevere with this during this lock-down period. Vindy is already thinking about next weeks tuition, so please keep a lookout for news.

As you can appreciate there is a considerable amount of organisation involved and sometime in the future a small charge will have to be introduced which will be dependent on the number of students that wish to participate. In the meantime I intend to continue introducing the 18 Tai Ji Qigong’s to the website. It would be helpful if I had an indication of how students are progressing, particularly with how it made them feel, and the number repetitions attempted, (36 is the aim). A short text will suffice to the website or to me directly, attention to detail is essential as six really good examples are much better than 12 poor ones.

Please regulate the breathing with the movement and maybe experiment with speed both fast and slow but remember if you go faster the inhalation/exhalation of breath has to match the synchronisation. If you find yourself getting giddy slow down or stop, you are hyperventilating. I would like if we achieve good feedback, to introduce the next exercise in a weeks time, so keep practising.

For those that come to our practise classes on Sunday at Great Chesterfield will know, I provide notes that are nuggets of information that have accumulated not only from my teacher in the first instance, but from experiences which over the years has widened the appeal and given Tai Ji Quan a depth that I would not otherwise have absorbed. I also give Chinese Characters with a description and explanation of how the picturegrams or logograms have been formed and how they refer to the art. We then move on to the practical and various form work. These are three hour sessions with a tea-break. In the meantime, for students that are interested in the acupuncture aspects here is a list of abbreviations used to identify the twelve regular meridians. They are listed in Qi-flow order to include the two others the Conception and Governing circuit.

Thank you again for participating it was great to see you all, plus I enjoyed it immensely.

SiFu David

info@artoftaijiquan.com

Acupuncture Table
Acupuncture Table

Preps Qi Gong and the Form

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Art of Tai Ji Quan (Tai Chi Chuan)

Why does Qigong rate so highly in our traditional style of Tai Ji Quan?

The above questions have easy answers and I can give you an instant one, it’s about commitment. If you truly want to understand Tai Ji Quan you have to study Qigong to a greater depth than just once a week in class! Tai Ji Quan is an art, and any serious artist wants to improve, not to show off or sell something, it’s about personal achievement. Ask any musician how long it took them to become proficient in music, they would probably laugh and say they are still working at it after twenty years. Likewise, after 35 years I’m still working at my TJQ. The truth is the more you practise you will understand that you need to do more practise.

Our training is divided into three sections created by the Yang family to enhance an already well-defined form. (Please check out the lineage). The Preparatory exercises to prepare the mind and body and crack synchronicity. Qigong to develop a sustainable strength with controlled breathing and added mind control. Thirdly the form, which is to instil the ten principles into the body and to create harmonious equilibrium or in other words maintain homeostasis. The individual performing the choreography of the form should also endeavour to incorporate various movements that involve spiralling, forming circles and moving as one unit; e.g. legs and arms moving at the same speed and finishing at the same time with a good attention to accuracy. The reasoning behind this is, if you finish the posture in an incorrect stance you start the next movement from the wrong place.

Although Tai Ji Quan is a martial art, it is defensive, it endeavours to ward off any attacking forces be they internal or external. Zhan Zhuang, or to “stand on a post”, which is an interpretation of the meaning. I’ve said before, this practice goes back many 100’s of years, and in the modern world it is hard to see the benefits until you’ve practised it for a number of years. If during this horrid period of so-called lock-down perhaps you could find ten minutes to spare and stand still every day. Get into your horse stance with your arms in any of the eight positions. Engage your resolve to self-motivate and hold the posture, perseverance and patience are needed, and to help you on your way, see if you can control the breathing too. If you manage it, I’ll heap praise on you as you’ve looked after yourself for ten minutes, and I bet you feel good. Next the first part of the form should take 6 minutes to complete if you need to check something out call me or have a look at the website as there is a group film clip from a residential that is good enough to check out.

Keep well

SiFu David

info@artoftaijiquan.com

Message from SiFu to all current Students

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Tai Ji Quan Yi Symbol

Hello to all current Students and welcome to the website.

I am very aware that we should encourage students to continue their practise, and we are now busy endeavouring to find a solution of how to accomplish this. We know that a number of you are up to speed with modern technology and an equal number of you are not. This hopefully is where we can all learn something; number one is to be patient as it is frustrating for us all and very few of us like to change from the norm.

Let’s now look for new ways of working, for example most of us have a mobile phone that can record a short film, I can hear you saying now, oh my goodness, or words to that effect, I can’t film myself, I hate looking at myself. But let me assure you that when you get over this shock it’s a wonderful training tool for it shows areas that with a slight tweak can improve your postures and make it easier both to remember and perform.

We can all look to improve what we do, as this ART keeps you both mentally and physically fit, plus I and your instructors can reach more of you if you all join in and share in the effort.

The instructors are having a mobile conference meeting in the very near future to schedule different models of training we can integrate to cover details of the art.

What we’d like you to do in the first instance is to contact your instructor if you have WhatsApp on your phone, and if you can use YouTube, this will give us an indication of interest.

We are here to continue to support you all in your Tai Ji practice and we would like to hear from you all. Please share with either your instructor or Sifu (info@artoftaijiquan.com) your thoughts and ideas on how you would like us to deliver instructions on how to practice your Tai Ji. We will do our best to meet your needs and hope we can offer you all something very soon.

SiFu David

Re Covid 19

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Tai Ji Quan Yi Symbol

Dear Students,

Following the governments directive we have decided to temporarily close the classes until we are able to resume them which hopefully will be sooner rather than later.

Having your interest at heart it is important to maintain an element of fitness, as at any age, if you don’t use it, you will lose it, a common phrase but very true. The rate of muscle atrophy from disuse (10-42 days) is approximately 0.5–0.6% of total muscle mass per day although there is considerable variation between people. The elderly are the most vulnerable to dramatic muscle loss with immobility.

Many students may be unsure of their ability either to remember the order or some of the exercises, this is natural as it does take many years of practice to do this. But, let me assure you the body will remember the route it has to take, if you start the movements with confidence. You will also find on this website videos and photographs that may help you, particularly with the preparatory exercises. There are sections of the form also, but I’ll emphasise please do not copy moves you haven’t been instructed in, there is a very good practical reason for this.

This is an ideal opportunity to begin a home practise routine to highlight questions that you didn’t know you needed to ask, it is so easy to follow others and forget to take the exercise home with you, meaning practise them immediately when you get home.

Please everyone follow the Governments Social Distancing guide lines and stay healthy.

Remember you can contact me at anytime on 07713 462556 for Tai Ji Quan advice.

I will still be offering my private lessons to those who would like them.

Best wishes

David SiFu