WUJI, TAIJI, QIGONG, XI, CHI, YINYANG

It's not the first time that a YouTube video has inspired me to learn more. I watched a video that clears up a lot of questions about meaning and pronunciation of five Taoist elemental concepts. Master Huang’s TED TALK lecture is informative and fun.  The video is at the bottom of this post. I'll offer a brief (me?) synopsis.

YouTube description:  

"Chungliang Al Huang is the founder & President of the Living Tao Foundation and author of numerous best-selling books, including the classic "Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain." 

Master Huang speaks about using the Tao philosophy of TaiJi and YinYang to embrace opposites and make a whole picture/life, and leads the audience through a number of TaiJi movements that incorporate key concepts and all parts of our lives. 
Master Huang paints five key Chinese characters and discusses the role of each in the dance of opposites."

WUJI: An open circle, limitless possibilities, potential, the beginning. As you see, the wuji circle is not closed. We are open to potential. 

We stand in wuji, emptiness stance as a meditation, and also as a starting place during a practice.

TAI: The top character, or “hanzi” in Mandarin Chinese, is Tai. Four strokes: horizontal arms opening, one leg, then the other, then the final stroke in the center, the Dan Tian. 

Expansiveness, with arms open and legs kicking out. Reach for heaven, ground your feet on the earth. 

JI: the hanzi under Tai is made up of two symbols. On the left is a symbol for a tree, reaching upwards. On the right the top horizontal line represents heaven, the bottom line represents earth. The vertical line represents us, people connecting heaven and earth. The square shape on the left of the vertical line is the Dan Tian, our center. The "X" on the right, YinYang. 

Balance. 

TAIJI: polarity. This is often mispronounced as Tai Chi. 

                                                                             

QI also spelled CHI:  Literally means "vapor", "air", or "breath". The word QI is often translated as "vital energy", "vital force", "material energy", or simply as "energy”. I have simplified the concept by saying that QI is synonymous with electricity. But, electricity is just one form of QI. 

The hanzi for QI includes the character for “rice”. Steaming rice is a symbol for the energy provided by food. Like steam, QI rises but also flows in all directions. 

Now, who wouldn’t like a “happy face?” XIN pronounced sheen, sort of, say “she” with your tongue towards the back of your palate and then add an “N”. XIN is the symbol for the “heart-mind.” Here we make the distinction of the brain and the heart. 

Confucius taught that knowledge lies in the heart. In Chinese medicine the heart is the king of all of the organs and also the center of consciousness. Taoism teaches that having a balanced heart will influence all of the senses. 

A lofty “happy face.” 

So where does that take our Qigong in a Park practice today? We will be “painting” the Wuji with shoulder circles and then pausing and breathing into Emptiness. Tai will take the form of Breaking out of the Cocoon. To make some smiles and celebrate the heart, we’ll practice Monkey Raises Paws. Ji, polarity, one of our favorite forms: Separating Heaven and Earth which we like to call Combining Heaven and Earth. 

Again, my inspiration for our practice today? Master Huang. 

Without delay, I present the one and only…

I wish you health and happiness, follow your bliss!

Brian

TAIJI YANGSHENG ZHANG = TAIJI HEALTH PRESERVATION

TAIJI = Tai Ji = Polarity

YANG = Preserve

SHENG = Life

ZHANG = Stick

"TAIJI HEALTH PRESERVATION"

I've been practicing these forms for some time now but am ready to being them into our "Qigong in a Park" practices. I’ve been holding off for two reasons:

1. The longer bamboo "sticks" are not conducive to practicing indoors. Remember, we've been hibernating for the winter. 
2. We're heading back to the park to practice outside tomorrow and it's going to be chilly, we'll need to move, get the blood and the Qi flowing.

There are various stories about the origins of the stick forms, and various movements of the stick depending on our intentions. 

We have practiced indoors with shorter bamboo sticks doing joint opening exercises with amazing results. Remember, if Qi is to become stuck and then stagnant or turbid, it's likely to happen in the joints. "Oy, my knees." 

There are also TaiJi forms that are used with an opponent. I make the distinction of TaiJi and Qigong in a rather simplistic way: TaiJi cultivates and draws on Qi by practicing blocks and strikes used with an opponent, there are no opponents in Qigong. We are simply cultivating our own Qi. 

Spinning is a fast moving, focused movement of the stick which might come in handy if faced with an opponent. Intentionally. 

But, what sparked my interest initially? I stumbled on a very beautiful video by Tara0Tao practicing Taiji Yang Sheng Zhang. 

Yang Shen Zhang is a set of eight forms:

• Boatman Rows with an Oar
• Boat Rows Slowing
• Wind Kisses Lotus Leaves
• Boatman Tows a Boat
• Iron Stick Calms the Sea
• Golden Dragon Wags Its Tail
• Search for Treasure in the Sea
• Qi Returns to the Dan Tian

 

In the Pictures of Daoyin Exercises from the Han Dynasty (206 BCE - 220 CE) two figures are in different postures wielding sticks. While stick forms have been practiced for centuries, the practices were formalized more recently into this set by the Chinese Health Qigong Association (CHQA.) 

The exercises harmonize Yin and Yang. All of the movements are soft and slow. The CHQA recognizes five key points of the practices:

1. The stick coordinates the body and spirit. Chinese philosophy uses "spirit" to describe thought and concentration of the mind, or the heart-mind. 
2. The waist functions as a pivot to harmonize the body and the stick. We twist, turn, bend, and stretch around the waist as a center. Keeping the waist and hips relaxed we practice lifting the stick while lowering the Qi to the Dan Tian. As we lower the stick we raise the Qi to the crown of the head, the Bai Hui. When we rotate the stick our waist becomes the anchor. 
3. We massage acupoints and the internal organs. We not only press on points and areas of the body but also stretch, thereby stimulating internal organs, and clearing meridian channels. By moving and shifting weight we are also increasing bone density. 
4. Movements are circular just as they are in nature. 
5. We integrate the hands and the stick as one by thinking of the stick as an extension of the arms. We focus on the Lower Dan Tian to guide our movements while letting the stick pull and push our bodies. 

Where does one find a good stick? While there are plenty of online resources for fancy sticks, I procured all of mine at the local garden store. Short sticks which we use for those shoulder opening exercises in the first video are 40" although 36" would work just fine. 

You'll notice thread wrapped around the sticks. Sure, bamboo cracks. This is an old trick I learned from my days of Nordic skiing with bamboo poles. 

The longer sticks are 6' although the CHQA suggests that 4' will suffice. 

This week's practice

The very top photo of this post is a "Where's Waldo" game. Where is the person practicing Yangsheng Zhang? 

I wish you happiness and health, and remember, follow your bliss.

Brian

TAKING IT TO THE NEXT STEP

 

So, you want to take your Qigong practice deeper.

I wrote a post called Getting Started and another called Practice, Practice, Practice. The take-away? Find resources: groups, teachers, videos, books. Practice, study, practice some more on your own, turn off the video, make mistakes, fix, adapt, make it your own, pat yourself on the back, smile. 

Do you want to go even deeper? It's okay if you don't. If you do, you might consider one-on-one lessons. Practicing with a teacher encourages movement beyond imitation. 

The teacher can: 

• address your specific goals, 
• plan a practice tailored to your needs or desires, 
• practice along with you, 
• observe and provide feedback, 
• make it fun. 

When I'm designing a practice for a group or for individual students I start with a loose outline of what the practice may look like. Friends who practice regularly with me know that sometimes I stray from my outline. 😉

• Warm up.
• Hook up: get into the mindset, begin turning off distractions or at least lowering the volume.
• Define your space: this is MY time, my space. 
• Purge: let go of baggage you're carrying around.
• Start with bigger movements: Yang, active, expansive.
• Begin to slow things down and move your attention inwards: Yin, Neigong, Internal Alchemy. 
• Ground.
• Close: I have a little routine, okay ritual, for closing, showing gratitude and setting an intention for the rest of the day.

These "blackboard" outlines #1 keep me somewhat focused and my plans 😋 and #2 provide a reminder for fellow-practitioners of what we did, or probably did during our time together. 

The forms written in orange are the more Yang, active, expansive forms. The focus is placed on the muscles and joints. The forms in green are more internal, feeling the movement of Qi. The notations in white are topics of conversation about concepts and intentions of forms. 

After a practice I like to recommend YouTube videos showing some of the forms we've practiced. I always present videos of other teachers doing the forms, get their perspective. 

Coiling Silk with Karen Soo

Spinal Wave with Vivian Chao

Tracing Meridians with Sifu Bodhi

Dredging the Channels with Dr. Jason Gordon

Ji Ben Qigong / Mountain Pathways Nei Gong

Be happy, be healthy, and follow your bliss. 

💗

Brian