Al Simon – The Tai Chi and Qigong Blog

I wanted to thank everyone who sent me comments about our last post, on A “Chi River” or a “Chi Goal” Person – Which are YOU? (click here).

A number of you left public comments, but quite a few of you emailed me directly.

Many of the emails were quite emotional.

Quite a few echoed what Jackie, John, Mary, and other “River people” posted publicly in the blog. They talked about being made to feel by other teachers or other “gurus” like there was something wrong with being a River person … that they need to be more goal oriented in order to succeed.

Many said that this was the FIRST TIME EVER they were told it was OK to be a River person!

I also received email from Chi Goal people. They talked about having Chi River teachers who didn’t understand their need for structure. The impression Chi River teachers left them with is that being a River person was what being a Chi student was about. And if you aren’t a River person, you are just not “getting it”.

Let me first say, I truly do understand what both of these groups are talking about. I’m more of a River person myself, so I understand what it’s like when most of the messages and role models you are shown and told to emulate are goal people. And I have to admit with a cringe, that 20 years ago I was one of those asinine River teachers who though that that being a River person was actually part of Chi Development.

Today, that seems so obviously wrong, and I’m really embarrassed to admit that I ever taught that way. But I heard from student after student how their teacher is a Goal person who insists on everyone using Goal methods, or a River person who insists on everyone using River methods.

The longer I teach, the more I realize that each of us is unique. We have unique ways of learning, unique ways of perceiving the world, and unique strengths and weaknesses. And that a good teacher HONORS that uniqueness, and even CAPITALIZES on it in their instruction.

I believe the best way to do that is to teach students how to customize what they are learning. Whether it’s a physical movement, a concept, or a learning approach, you need to teach the student how to make it uniquely his or her own.

It’s obvious to see how important customization is to the physical movements. I was emailing about this with one of our new students who just joined us this week.

She was telling me, “I injured my knee and shoulder through bagua. I really hate it now, I was absolutely healthy, I guess it is my fault, bagua is not for middle aged women.” Well, of course it’s NOT her fault. I told her bagua wasn’t the problem. I told her the problem was she had an inept bagua teacher, who didn’t help her customize the movements to her situation.

She also said that her Tai Chi teacher told her that because of her injuries, she shouldn’t practice Yang style Tai Chi – that Sun style was much better for the knees. I told her that I’d stay away from a teacher who would make such a stupid statement. It’s her teacher that’s the problem here, not Yang style.

As I wrote her, “Forgive my bluntness, but I’ve been there. I had injuries as a student. It wasn’t intentional on the part of my teachers. But when a student complains of injury, it’s a sign that they need to re-examine their teaching skills (or lack of them) – and not shift the blame to a ‘style’ or anywhere else.”

Well, if that’s true of the physical movements, it’s also true of the learning process. Whether you are a Chi River or Chi Goal person, there is a place for you in Chi Development. Don’t ever let any teacher, or anyone else, tell you otherwise.

Though he’s not a Chi teacher, I think Harry Browne put this best:

“You are what you are. Your greatest pleasures will be those you experience when you can be yourself completely. Only then will you be free to enjoy every good thing the experience has to offer you …

“Being yourself is actually a skill. It takes time to become thoroughly acquainted with yourself, to throw off a lifetime of pressures, to relax and accept what you see in yourself (no matter how it may conflict with social standards), and to learn to act in ways consistent with your nature.”

- Harry Browne, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World

And if you can’t be yourself in Tai Chi and Qigong, well then, where CAN you be yourself?

All my best for your continued Chi Development,

The New Year is a great time to reflect on your Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chi Development, and to start thinking about your training for the upcoming New Year.

And one of the most important questions you can ask yourself during this reflection is, “Am I a Chi River person, or am I a Chi Goal person?”

This question cuts right to the heart of what it means to be a self-motivated, independent-minded Chi student.

And having this “self-knowledge” can help you proceed with confidence on the path to better health, stress relief, and Chi Development .

Self-Motivated, Independent-Minded

Before we explore what it means to be a a self-motivated, independent-mind Chi student, let me start by saying the obvious: the VAST MAJORITY of Chi students are neither self-motivated nor independent-minded.

Many students require external motivation to keep them interested in Tai Chi and Qigong, and to keep them practicing. For example, many can learn only in a class format, because they require the external discipline. Having to keep up with a weekly class keeps their home practice on track. Without the weekly class, their home practice eventually falls by the wayside.

Others may require a “guru” or “master” on whom they are dependent to set their training goals or their practice schedule. Left on their own, without this guru to follow, their self-practice would quickly fall apart. Or without some sort of persistent direction, they would flit from program to program, or from teacher to teacher, but never really work towards a strong, independent Chi practice.

As we noted, a majority of students fall into this category. But our focus here is on the remaining two categories of students – “Chi River” students and “Chi Goal” students.

Rivers and Goals

The two terms “river person” and “goal person” come from Earl Nightingale.

Earl Nightingale was a well-known motivational speaker many years ago. He was the first person to ever earn a gold record for sales of a spoken word recording, back in 1956. I highly recommend that 1956 recording, “The Strangest Secret”, plus a follow-up he did before he passed away in 1989 called The Strangest Secret for Succeeding in the World Today (click here).

By the way, I receive no compensation for promoting these recordings, but I’m glad to do it. This is one of the most important motivational works ever created. If you are serious about being successful, no matter what field of interest you are pursuing, you should run, not walk, to get those recordings.

Anyway, Earl Nightingale talked about “goal people” and “river people” as two models of success.

Chi Goal People

As a model for success, goal people are those who work best by having a definite goal and a plan on how to reach it. Goal people need to lay out a clear set of measurable goals for what they want to do. Since they can become easily distracted, they need a lot of external structure and discipline to succeed.

Note that this is different from the first category of people we mentioned above – those who require external “motivation”. Goal people are self-motivated, and they don’t need motivation from outside themselves. But they do need external “structures” to help support their self-motivation and accomplish what they set out to do.

For Chi Goal people, these external structures include writing down their objectives for their Chi development, setting up timetables and deadlines for what they want to learn, and working through them methodically. They need to get in the habit of having a regular time or regular schedule to train and practice.

Even if it’s just ten or fifteen minutes – they have to do it every day. What’s important is the regularity. This helps keep them focused and on track to accomplishing their goals.

When they do lose focus though, it’s easy for Chi Goal people to turn things around. They just need to put the external structures back in place. They merely need to pull out those goals and timetables, and re-commit to using them.

Their success comes through organizing their practice approach, and through a regular schedule. Being consistent is the key.

Chi River People

On the other hand, Chi River people do it differently. They don’t need much in the way of external structure, and they aren’t necessarily methodical. They just mostly “wade” in to the river of Chi and “immerse” themselves in their learning and practice.

Unlike the Chi Goal person, a Chi River person may not have a clearly laid out training schedule or measurable goals. But they are successful because they are so involved in their Chi practice, they can’t imagine NOT pursuing it every day. Their structure is “internal” to how they think and work in Chi Development.

Sometimes people confuse “Chi River people” with the “flitters” we mentioned in the first group above. After all, both types of people have little in the way of external structure. But the flitter moves quickly from one Chi program or teacher to another, and never seems to accomplish much or commit to anything.

So don’t confuse the River person’s lack of structure for a lack of commitment. For Chi River people, their practice and commitment to Chi Development comes naturally. And unlike the flitter who never last more than a few weeks or months without external motivation, the dedication of Chi River people often last years or decades.

Now, you might think that being a “Chi River person” would be easier than being a “Chi Goal person”. And when it comes to actually practicing, it is. But for Chi River people, while they are easily drawn to practice, actual success and accomplishment in Chi Development usually comes a little more haphazardly for them. Chi River people seem to have more ups-and-downs in their accomplishments, rather than the “smoother” journey that persistent Chi Goal people have.

So Which Are You?

Before you can decide whether you are a Chi River or Chi Goal Person, the first question to ask yourself is, “Am I an independent-minded, self-motivated Chi student?”

For example, can you practice on your own without the discipline of having to keep up with a class? Or can you determine your own path to Chi Development without the constant attention of a master to keep you on track?

Don’t be surprised, especially if you are a beginner, if the answers to these questions are “No”. But just be honest with yourself. If you need external motivators right now, that’s OK. Most people do. And many of us actually STARTED OUT that way before making the transition to being independent and self-motivated.

However, once you make that transition, you’ll need to ask yourself the second question: “Am I a Chi River person, or a Chi Goal person?”

Now of course, no one is PURELY a Chi River person or PURELY a Chi Goal person. But we all have our tendencies. So a big step forward in your training is for you to decide if you are more of a Chi Goal person or more of a Chi River person.

In our online program, we accommodate both Chi River and Chi Goal people.

For the Chi Goal person, our Getting Started Guide has tips for setting up training schedules, and for working methodically through the course. I can’t count the number of “Chi Goal” people who have thanked me for the Getting Started Guide. They said it made all the difference in succeeding with our course.

The Chi River people, on the other hand, appreciate the open approach we take to training. They can wade into the program, and spend more time on the areas that interest them, without having to keep to a weekly schedule like they would in a regular class.

That’s one of the reasons we chose an online format for our courses – the flexibility it allows for us to work with both types of independent-minded, self-motivated students. We enjoy working with both Chi River people and Chi Goal people.

So as we start the New Year, begin to explore your own path to independent Chi Development. Look and think about how you like to approach training. Are you a Chi River person, who needs no external structures? Or do you work best when you have a plan, like most Chi Goal people?

Once you know which you are, you can then work towards your Chi Development with confidence, knowing you are on the path that is right for YOU!

Happy New Year.

Best wishes,
Al

Master Simon,

I was wondering if you can help me understand what this means. I am quoting this from a book called “Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine.”

The quote is “Be imperturbable and the true chi will come to you”.

What exactly does this quote mean? I hope that you know what it means, and I trust your 30 years of experience with tai chi and qigong.

Danny

Hi Danny -

When you are looking at translations of Chinese texts, one thing to take special care with is “technical terminology”.

By that I mean, words that have specific meanings in Chinese, but when translated into English appear to use “everyday” meanings.

When I was working on my own translation of portions of the Chinese Tai Chi classics, this idea of “technical terms” comes up rather frequently. A lot of the nonsense you read from English speakers about the Tai Chi classics and other writings results from mistaking “technical terms” for ordinary English.

“True” (as in “true chi”) in this quote falls into this “technical terms” category. It does NOT mean the opposite of “false” as it would in English.

I’m not as familiar with the “Yellow Emperor’s Classic” as I am with the Tai Chi classics. But I believe in the quote you mentioned, “true chi” is a translation of the term “Zhen Qi” in the original.

“Zhen Qi” is often translated as “true chi” in other works. Other translators render it as “genuine chi”, “real chi”, “righteous chi”, “original chi”, “vital chi” or even “upright chi”.

The technical term “Zhen Qi” usually refers to one or more of the various types of chi. Often, it refers to the various “ying chi” (the chi that circulates inside the body through our energy pathways). Sometimes it refers to the combination of “ying chi” with “wei qi” (chi that protects our body from the outside). It may also refer to the conversion of jing (internal essence) to chi energy.

I realize these Chinese terms can be confusing, and we usually stay away from them as much as possible in your ChiFusion course. However, if you are interested in the theory behind these terms, we do have a report in the Bonus Material with your course, entitled “The Four Treasures of Tai Chi”. It explains the theory behind chi cultivation in great detail.

In the course itself, we do cover both “ying qi” and “wei qi”, with specific exercises to help their development. Though we avoid the Chinese technical term “ying chi”, you’ll find that the section in Level 2 on “Energy Pathways” (our “plain English” term for it) is all about ying qi. And wei qi (that’s a term we do actually use) is in the Tai Chi Energetics section in Level 3. Just look for those sections in your course to learn more about these types of “true chi” and how we develop them.

That’s the meaning behind “true chi”. As far as the rest of the quote, “imperturbable” in these ancient writings usually means something like “extreme calm and composure.” The idea, common to Chinese Medicine and Qigong, is that health begins by developing a deep level of calm.

So I would suggest a better translation of

  ”Be imperturbable and the true chi will come to you”

would be

  ”By calming the mind, body and breath, one can cultivate the maximum accumulation and free flow of chi.”

In a few of my recent posts, I’ve been talking about the psycho-spiritual aspects of Tai Chi, Qigong, and Chi Development. I’ve discussed how some of the practices of of the Chi Development arts can lead us to greater happiness.

But I need to say a few words about exactly what I mean by “happiness”.

By happiness, we are not talking just about “enjoyment” or “pleasure”. We view enjoyment and pleasure as short-term pursuits with short-term results. Something you do or get that makes you “happy” for a few hours, or a few days, or even a few weeks, we would more likely call enjoyment rather than happiness. In addition, many times enjoyment and pleasure have a more “passive” nature. Generally, we “receive” pleasure, rather than actively pursue it. So by happiness, we have in mind something more long-term and more active.

Let’s define happiness this way: Happiness is an extended pursuit in which we seek to take more and more control of our lives. The goal of this control is to create for ourselves the type of life we wish to live.

Activities that create happiness may not actually produce pleasure in and of themselves; as a matter of fact, they are often difficult and require personal effort. But happiness activities do produce a type of pleasure based on the personal satisfaction and feeling of accomplishment that results from the activity. This satisfaction is directly related to the degree of effort involved (the more effort, the more satisfaction), and the long-term importance of the end result to our lives.

Tai Chi, Qigong, and the Pursuit of “Pleasure”

For many people, Tai Chi and Qigong in general, and Chi Development in particular, are “pleasure pursuits”. Practicing Tai Chi and Qigong makes them feel good almost immediately and gives them short-term enjoyment.

Many people enjoy learning as part of a general curiosity about the world, so the enjoyment we feel from Tai Chi and Qigong may result simply from learning something new. Or the enjoyment may come from the “escapist” nature of removing ourselves from our daily lives (and daily stress) by taking time out to learn and practice. For some people, the enjoyment comes from feeling “special” and distinguishing themselves from others by learning an activity that most people haven’t learned. For others, the enjoyment might come from the social aspects – interacting with new people and making new friends, either in in-person classes or over the web in our online courses.

No matter what the source of their enjoyment in Tai Chi and Qigong, these “pleasure pursuit” students tend to stick with practice as long as it is easy and fun, and tend to avoid whatever they find difficult or challenging in Tai Chi and Qigong.

Chi Development “Tools” for Happiness and Spiritual Growth

It may surprise you to know that I see nothing wrong with pursuing Tai Chi and Qigong merely for pleasure. As I’ve said many times to many students and instructors, Tai Chi and Qigong should always be customized to your personal goals. And if your goal for Tai Chi and Qigong is pleasure – having fun learning something new, an escape from a stressful life, making friends – then that’s what you should pursue. We’ve had hundreds of students, both in our in-person classes and in our online courses pursuing that goal.

But for those of us who are looking for something more, not just the pursuit of pleasure but the pursuit of happiness, Chi Development offers three main “tools” to help in that pursuit. To learn more about these tools, please read our posting on Tai Chi and Qigong – Three Keys to Psycho-Spiritual Chi Development.

As always, you have my best wishes for your Chi Development
Al

If you’ve been around Tai Chi for a while, you may have heard about the four primary energies of Tai Chi – peng, ji, lu, and an. To make this more “concrete” to my students, instead of using the obscure Chinese terms, I usually call these the Four Elements of Air, Fire, Water, and Earth. But no matter what you call them, each energy can be seen, thought of, and felt as a type of “chi response” to any given situation.

The goal of Chi Development in the Tai Chi is to “balance” your ability and skill in the Four Elements, so that you can mix-and-match the appropriate elements required for any situation in which you find yourself. You learn to “intuitively” see, read, and feel a situation, then emphasize certain elements and de-emphasize others, so that you may reach your goals. These newly-developed “see, read, and feel” skills come about not from intellectual analysis, but are developed by bypassing the slower, logical mind for a faster, more whole-mind-and-body approach.

When we first start exploring the Four Elements, most of us find that we tend to favor one or two elements and “over-use” them, especially in stressful situations. In our daily lives, many of us favor one or two elements/intentions, sometimes to the point of excluding other elements. We all know of “hotheads” (Fire types) who are always angry or aggressive, “airheads” who can never stay focused or be practical, “stuck-in-the-mud” Earth types who resist change and growth, and “wishy-washy” Water types who avoid all conflict or respond passive-aggressively in most situations. We can see how these types of people respond in a limited, almost pre-programmed fashion to stressful situations.

One of the first “insights” that Chi Development training produces is an understanding of our own limited responses. What we can now easily see in others, we begin to see in ourselves. Prior to this insight, we would swear we are not like these other people – that we are free-thinking, free-acting, and free-feeling. After this insight though, many wonder how they could have been so blind to their own conditioned responses.

Exploring Your Chi Responses

Here’s a simple “thought” experiment that can help you explore your own use of the Four Chi Elements in daily life.

Let’s say you are driving home one evening after work, and you get caught in a traffic jam. The local freeway is full of bumper-to-bumper automobiles, full of people just like you trying to get home after work. Here are four “responses” you could take in this situation as you try to get home safely.

1. You try to choose the least crowded lane, and change lanes frequently but safely. Or you try to leave the freeway and find a safer, alternate route home with less traffic.
2. You try to “do your part” to help keep traffic flowing smoothly for everyone. You pause to let others merge in, and you try to fill gaps in traffic so others behind you will not have to brake. You work to make sure everyone gets home safely.
3. You realize there is nothing you can do about the jam, and the safest way is to just ride it out.
4. Before getting on the freeway, you know that traffic jams occur everyday. But you went this way because it is the quickest, safest, and most direct way to get home, even with the jam. So you don’t mind the jam, since you know that you are still getting home safely and directly.

Read over these four responses, and ask yourself, do any those responses seem “better” than the rest to you? Are there any responses that you would choose regularly? Are there any responses that you would almost never choose?

If you haven’t guessed, each of the above four responses represents one of the Four Elements. For many people, one or two of the above responses will seem more attractive than the others. These responses will feel more “right” or “better” or something they would usually choose to do. Some of the other responses however might feel more “wrong” or “bad” or just something they would never do.

The issue isn’t whether any one of these responses is actually better than the others. After all, each of the four responses emphasizes safety, and any one of the four might help us to arrive at our destination safely. Instead, the primary issue is: How easily were you able to pick one or two over the others?

If you found it easy to pick one or two over the others, you might explore whether in other situations, you tend to favor the elements represented by these responses. If you see a consistent pattern, such as you favor the Water response (or Earth, or Air, or Fire) in stressful situations more often than not, you may want to explore the limitations imposed by favoring this one element.

However, if asked to pick the “best” response in the above traffic jam situation, did you find it difficult to choose one response over the others? Did you see advantages and disadvantages to each and every one of the responses? Was your initial thought that it would “depend on what else is going on” before you could choose one of these responses? If so, you may be on the road to developing skills in all Four Elements, and not just in your “favored” elements.

As I mentioned in a previous post on psycho-spiritual training (click here), Chi Development, focused in three key areas, can lead you to happiness, spiritual fulfillment, and emotional freedom. Each of these areas covers a lot of ground, but for now let’s take a brief look at them and talk about a few general ideas, so we have a good feel for these three areas.

PERSONAL INTENTION

PERSONAL INTENTION is the first key area. Here, we are referring specifically to developing an “intentional” approach not just to Tai Chi and Qigong, but to your whole life. You specifically work on identifying the purposes that guide your actions – how and why you make the choices you make in your life.

While there can be numerous, complex intentions, in Tai Chi and Qigong, we’ve identified four intentions we consider the most important. We’ve mapped these intentions onto the Four Chi-Elements – Earth, Water, Fire, and Air, plus the fifth “non-element” of Spirit/Void. While we teach these chi-elements as a way to learn intention in Tai Chi and Qigong, they offer more than that. They can be seen, heard, and felt as the actual “components” or “entities” found in the well-balanced, happy, spiritually-healthy person.

Unfortunately, most of us are “out of balance”. That is, as we make choices in our daily lives, we generally rely on just one element or possibly two elements, and we make all our choices within these elements. This lopsided approach to dealing with life often creates stress, frustration, fear, and unhappiness. But with training that includes all Four Elements, you can begin to develop skills in your “weaker” elements. Developing your weaker elements will lead to greater choices in your thoughts, words, and actions for a more balanced, fulfilling, rewarding life.

SENSORY ACUITY

SENSORY ACUITY is the second key area of Chi Development that can lead to happiness and personal growth. In this area, we are specifically talking about how we use our nervous system and brain to perceive and organize the information we receive. In this area, we are looking to increase both the accuracy and efficiency of our perceptions, so that we have access to more and more information with less effort.

Misperceiving things about ourselves, others, and our environment generates a significant portion of unhappiness and stress in our lives. Instead of perceiving problems ahead of time – whether the problem is with ourselves, with others, or with our surroundings – we fail to see, hear, and feel the difficulties until they are immediate and pressing. Often times, a change in perception allows us to avoid the problem altogether, or at least deal more effectively with it before it becomes critical.

But by training our sensory acuity, we can prevent many types of problems and misunderstandings, decreasing stress and fear, and increasing happiness. But more importantly, by working on sensory acuity, we can directly “see”, “hear”, and “feel” the elusive “spiritual” elements that are missing from our lives. While many people think of the “spiritual” as being non-physical (and some even think of it as “anti-physical”), sensory acuity helps you “look, listen, and touch” the spiritual through widened perception. As a side note, I know that what I’m saying here may sound mystical, but I’m actually speaking of something immensely practical that can be learned directly from Chi Development in Tai Chi and Qigong.

PERCEPTUAL FLEXIBILITY

PERCEPTUAL FLEXIBILITY is the third and final key area. Here, we are specifically referring to learning how you form your concepts, ideas, thoughts, and beliefs about yourself, about others, and about life in general. Tied in with both Personal Intention and Sensory Acuity, this thought-formation process goes beyond these areas to look at how we apply “meaning” to the information we receive from inside and outside of ourselves.

More often than not, the “meanings” we apply to the information we receive fit into “maps” or “models” that we pre-created before the information is received. Most contemporary scientists and researchers believe that these maps and models come from a number of sources: genetic, childhood patterns, cultural conditioning, and conscious selection. Generally, the happier, more fully realized, and more spiritually accomplished person can apply these processes creatively, making new maps and models from the old, much as imaginative children can create stories and songs from the simplest ideas.

Perceptual flexibility underlies much of the creative process. However, many people feel they aren’t “creative”, or that creativity is reserved only for the “talented” or the “gifted” or the “uninhibited”. But this creative process is actually our birthright. Young children often have it, and we can have it too. And we can “get back” this creativity directly from our Chi Development practices.

I know I’ve gone over the three areas of Personal Intention, Sensory Acuity, and Perceptual Flexibility rather quickly. If you would like to hear more about the practical aspects of this Chi Development training, please leave me a comment below. I may do future blog posts on them, as long as there is interest in these topics.

As Chinese Tai Chi Master Wong Kiew Kit has said, “Yin-yang is probably the most widely used Chinese concept in the English language; it is also one of the most misunderstood – even among Chinese!” So it’s no wonder that there is a lot of confusion surrounding these terms.

To understand yin and yang, we need to first look at the origins of these concepts. Many people are unaware that the terms “yin” and “yang” originally came from the observation of sunlight and shadows. The ancient Chinese noticed how the sun would shine on one side of an object illuminating it, and how the opposite side would be darkened by shadows.

They also noticed that there wasn’t a clear demarcation between the “sunny” side and the “dark” side, but variations of light changing to darkness as you walked around the object. They also noticed that as the sun moved across the sky, the patterns of sunlight and shadow would change, demonstrating an “ebb-and-flow” nature to the experience.

From this initial “visual” experience of light and dark, the Chinese eventually noticed similar ebb-and-flow in other sensory experiences – sound (with degrees from loud to soft), touch (from hard to soft), sensation (warm to cold), and kinesthesia (motion to rest). They also began detecting ebb-and-flow patterns in other experiences, such as time, weather, seasonal changes, cycles in nature, our health, cycles of birth and death, cycles of work, and many more.

ALL OF THESE EXPERIENCES THAT STRONGLY EXCITED or stimulated the senses, such as sunlight, loudness, and motion, the ancient Chinese called yang. When the senses were stimulated weakly or not at all, such as in darkness, quietness, and rest, they called it yin. However, the ancient Chinese realized the yin and yang are not “absolutes”, but descriptions of the ebb-and-flow in sensory experiences.

Don’t Think of “Forces” or “Principles”

They did not think of yin and yang as “forces” or “polar opposites” or “principles” as many people call them. Instead, they used yin and yang as a way of categorizing and describing ebb-and-flow within a given experience. In the modern neurosemantic terms upon which ChiFusion Tai Chi is based, we would call categorizing and describing in this manner a “mapping” of experiences onto concepts.

And as with all mappings, the Chinese pointed out that calling something “yin” or “yang” can only be done relatively – in relation to a given experience. To decide that something is “yin” or “yang” (or anywhere in between) is to select certain characteristics and emphasize their importance, while ignoring or downgrading other characteristics.

Yin and Yang “in the Street”

As an example of this “relativity” of yin and yang, let’s pick a simple, everyday object, such as a street lightpole like the one pictured at right. Is a street lightpole yin or yang or something in between? Think about it for a moment …

The answer of course is that a street lightpole can be either yin or yang or anywhere in between, depending on which part of our experience we choose to emphasize. For example, the pole gives light. So compared to objects that don’t give light, the pole falls closer to the yang (sensation stimulating) end of the visual experience.

However, compared to the noisy motors of cars that may pass it, the street lightpole is more quiet, so it’s more yin (mild to no sensation) in the auditory experience. But by walking up to the pole and putting your hand on it, you might notice that it is essentially hard, so to the touch, it seems more yang. However, since you can walk around it and it doesn’t move, to our sense of motion it is more yin.

And we could continue on, finding a number of both yin and yang characteristics, depending on which part of our experience of the lightpole we choose to emphasize.

Tai Chi wasn’t Originally Tai Chi

How do yin and yang apply to Tai Chi? Well first of all, the term “Tai Chi” originally did not refer to movement exercises or martial arts. Instead the term was first used to refer to this relative mapping of “yin” and “yang”. Yes, the term “Tai Chi” for many, many centuries referred to the ebb-and-flow of yin and yang. Though the exercises you now know as “Tai Chi” have been around for three or four centuries, it is only within the last half of that time period that they’ve been called “Tai Chi”.

How did these movements acquire this name? A Chinese scholar by the name of Ong Tong, after watching a demonstration of the movement art in the 1800′s, said that the movements seemed to be a physical manifestation of “Tai Chi”, the ebb-and-flow principle of yin and yang. Hence, the movement art eventually came to be called Tai Chi, the same name as the ebb-and-flow experience.

The name of our main website, CloudWater.Com, comes from the Chinese word yun shui. This is the word used for the wandering monks so often depicted in Chinese stories and paintings.

These monks dedicated their lives to developing mindfulness through practices such as meditation, Qigong, and Tai Chi. Because of the high level of mental freedom and detachment they developed, they were called yun shui. Yun shui literally means “cloud-water”, referring to a line in a poem that symbolized this freedom as the ability “to float like clouds, to flow like water.”

In our courses on CloudWater.com, yun shui symbolizes the personal freedom and enlightenment that can be gained from the Chi Development practices. This mental and emotional freedom complements the physical benefits you’ll receive from your practice to create whole body/mind health. Certain “mindfulness” practices aid you in developing “yun shui mind”. These mindfulness practices are designed to give you an unprecedented level of freedom in both mind and body.

Our goal is to make you a “master”, but not in the conventional sense of a “Tai Chi or Qigong master” who is highly accomplished. Instead, we want to make you a master in the sense of “self-mastery” of your own mind and body.

To that end, there is a saying in Zen, another mindfulness tradition that has been a big influence on me. (I was a Zen student for a short while before starting Tai Chi.) And the saying is, “If you meet the Buddha, the Enlightened One, on the road, kill him!”

This outrageous statement is designed to shock Zen students so that they stop looking outside themselves for their enlightenment. Instead, this saying tells the Zen student to look inside themselves. In effect it says, “Dedicate yourself to your practice so that you yourself will become an Enlightened One, and stop projecting to those outside of you what you should be developing inside you!”

And to me, that’s the highest goal of Tai Chi and Qigong – to dedicate yourself to practice to become your own “master”.

This blog you are reading is “new” and something I’ve just recently started, But actually, I’ve been “blogging” about Tai Chi now for nearly 13 years. Of course, back when I started, the term “blogging” wasn’t well-known. It was just a website and an email newsletter where I talked about myself and my students, and what we were learning and exploring.

Every once in a while, I go back and look at some of those old blogs, websites, and emails. A lot of it is no longer relevant to what I do, but every once in a while, I come across a gem that seems even more true today than when I wrote.

Here’s one of those gems, from over a decade ago. Funny thing though, I don’t even remember writing it. But to me, it reflects how I think of my students, both then and now. Many of them have had to take a “leap of faith” to study with me. Because of my “unorthodox” teaching methods, many have had to overcome their past conditioning about what Tai Chi “is” or “isn’t”, and about how to Tai Chi should be learned and practiced, to join me.

I really appreciate my students, and the personal courage it takes for them to join me. This is just as true today as it was when I wrote it ten years ago.

There are two basic choices in Tai Chi class, as in life. You can expand your awareness to embrace what’s new and unknown, or you can contract and isolate yourself.

The Chinese character for “tai” (as in “Tai Chi”) depicts a person with open arms, expanding. That’s our preference: to embrace the new, to expand and grow beyond ourselves.

Thank you to all of my students who have expanded and embraced Tai Chi with me.

.

.

Back in the early 1980′s, just prior to beginning the “moving meditaiton” of Tai Chi, I practiced seated Zen meditation for several years.

While I no longer practice Zen meditation, the Zen “world-view” still influences me, and especially influences my approach to Tai Chi and Qigong. Of course, both Zen and Tai Chi have a common Chinese ancestry, so that’s not so unusual.

But for me, the one thing really missing from Tai Chi, especially as it is practiced today, is the “independent spirit” found to a great extent in Zen. Zen focuses on working out who you are, and working out your own answers, rather than relying on the answers of others.

That’s why in my Tai Chi teaching, I focus on helping each student customize Tai Chi to their unique body, mind, and energy system. It’s also why I de-emphasize learning choreography and merely “following along” with a teacher or book or video.

For me, Tai Chi is not about listening to what this master says, or that book or video says, or following a certain set of principles. Instead, for me, Tai Chi is a means of self-exploration, of helping you find the “you” inside the movements and practices.

Here is one of my favorite poems by Zen Master Ikkyu. It refers to the practice of solving koans, Zen puzzles that are designed to help you with self-exploration. In that sense, you could say I use Tai Chi as a koan. But this poem really points to the independent spirit of self-exploration:

Who needs the wisdom of ossified masters?
Me, I’ve spent three decades all alone in the mountains
and solved all my koans there.
Living Zen among the tall pines and high winds.

.

.