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The Kinesthetic Approach to Tai Chi and Qigong
What is Tai Chi?
In its simplest form, Tai Chi is an exercise that focuses on natural
physical movement, breathing, and mental concentration. It produces
fantastic benefits. You'll get healthy, be more fit, relieve stress, and develop
abundant energy.
The exercises and practices of Tai Chi come directly from kung fu
(Chinese martial arts). Unfortunately, when we say "martial arts,"
most people think of the forceful, muscular movements of karate or the
impossible acrobatic feats seen in the movies. But put those out of your mind!
Tai Chi is graceful, slow, and relaxing, and these days, most people
practice Tai Chi not for self-defense, but for the great health and stress
relief benefits it provides.
What is Qigong?
Now that you know a little about Tai Chi, what is
Qigong? On the surface, most Qigong
looks similar to Tai Chi. Qigong exercises use natural,
physical movements like Tai Chi. They also use coordinated breathing,
visualization, and mental concentration, just like Tai Chi. So how are they
different?
Actually, Tai Chi can be thought of as just one form of Qigong!
The
term Qigong (also spelled "chi kung" and pronounced "chee
gung") literally means "energy practice." It refers to a family
of practices for health, fitness, energy development, and stress relief.
Qigong
includes more than just movement
exercises like Tai Chi. It also includes standing and sitting
meditations, massage, therapeutic healing techniques, and other health and
energy-building practices. Qigong is also sometimes referred to as "Chinese
yoga."
The Benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong
Originally from China, but now practiced the world over, Tai Chi and Qigong helps its practitioners improve their health and fitness, aid in healing and recovery of illness, relieve stress, develop energy and vitality, and gain a better sense of connection to themselves and the world around them.
Qigong practice has many benefits.
Here are just a few, as reported by doctors, hospitals, research studies, and
students around the world:
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The Traditional Approach to Learning Tai Chi and Qigong
Have you ever been to Tai Chi classes or watched Qigong videos? If so, you know that many classes and videos teach Tai Chi and Qigong as if they were "dance choreography." The instructor leads you through the movements and exercises with instructions such as "put this hand here, this foot there, and move this way." You watch the instructor and copy her/his movements, just as you would in a ballet class or performance dance class.A choreography approach works well for ballet classes, because what is important in ballet is making the movements look a certain way for the audience. But for the great health benefits of Tai Chi and Qigong, it's more important that the movements "feel" a certain way rather than "look" a certain way.
The ChiFusion™ Approach to Learning Tai Chi and Qigong
ChiFusion™ Tai Chi and Qigong is quite different from these "choreography" classes. We don't want your movements to "look" like your instructor's movements. As a matter of fact, your movements should not look like your instructor's or anyone else's, since we all have different bodies, with different physical abilities, different strengths, and different weaknesses.In the ChiFusion™ program we concentrate more on how your movements "feel." We want your movements to feel the same way to you that they feel to your instructor. To this end, we've supplemented the traditional "visual" approach to Tai Chi and Qigong with "kinesthetic" details - details that allow you to "feel" how the movements are done.
We've found, through working with students at all different levels of ability,
that these details have a number of benefits over merely a "visual"
approach:- You'll start seeing faster improvements in health and vitality.
Many students report improved levels of relaxation and energy right from
their first lesson with our kinesthetic approach.
- You'll learn more quickly. Instead of wasting time watching your
instructor and trying to figure out "how does she do that?" -
we'll tell you exactly how and why! You'll also remember what you've learned
more easily, since you'll understand the reasons behind the movements.
- Finally, you'll learn more than just isolated Tai Chi and Qigong
movements. You'll learn movement skills that you can apply to
many different types of movements. These skills will give you freedom of
movement that you'll carry with you outside of Tai Chi and Qigong and
into your daily life!
So How Does this "Kinesthetic Approach" Work?
So what exactly do I mean by a "kinesthetic approach"? How does that approach differ from more "visual" or "traditional" Tai Chi/Qigong programs? And how do you know if your teacher and learning materials are providing these kinesthetic details?I've found that the best way to answer these questions and to understand the "kinesthetic approach" is to actually experience it! To that end, I'm now going to teach you a Tai Chi movement.
| FIRST I'M GOING TO TEACH
YOU a Tai Chi movement using the traditional "visual"
approach found in most Tai Chi videos and books, and in most
"regular" Tai Chi classes as well. This is about all that you
would get from most "traditional" Tai Chi and Qigong
programs. But then I'm going to continue on to give you a kinesthetic "detail" for the movement. This will be just one detail for the movement that is included in most kinesthetic approaches to Tai Chi and Qigong. (Actually, this detail is part of Level 2 from our Complete ChiFusion course.) I'm certain that experiencing just one "kinesthetic detail" will convince you. You'll see that with a kinesthetic approach, you'll be so much more successful in learning Tai Chi and Qigong. You'll see how these details increase your level of physical and energetic awareness, and how this approach will help you reach your goals of improving your health, relieving stress, and developing energy and vitality. |
Tai Chi's Lifting Water -
The Visual Approach First, here are some simple visual instructions on how
to perform this movement. Lifting Water uses
continuous movement. Use the step-by-step photos to help you understand
the basics, but realize that the still photos are not stopping points in
the motion, since the motion should be continuous and "flow". "Monkey-See, Monkey-Do" - And
You're The Monkey! OK,
from this point on, I'll assume you've learned Lifting Water using the above description and
photos. If that's the case, what you've just experienced is how Tai Chi is
taught "visually." Whether it's a book, a video, or an in-person class,
you watch the instructor, and then try to copy her movements. The goal of
this instruction is to try to make your movements look like your
instructor's. We often call this "monkey-see, monkey-do" instruction. How "NOT" To Teach
Relaxation I
have a rather strong opinion on this next point: I personally think that just telling students to "stay
relaxed" is a sign of incompetent teaching. Just saying those
words is worthless - it's a sure sign of a poorly trained teacher, an
inefficient teaching method, or both.
The movement I'm about to teach
you is a simplified version of Tai Chi's Lifting
Water pattern. This pattern is one of the simplest Tai Chi
movements, as it involves no torso movement or weight shifting. It
is completely done with the arms. Because this pattern is done with just
the arms, it is sometimes called Raise Hands or
Lift Arms. It's also sometimes called Tai Chi Commencement, as it usually is the first pattern found in longer Tai Chi
sets.
We prefer the
name Lifting Water, which has been said to be
the original Shaolin Kung-fu name for the movement. We've heard that in
the Shaolin Temple, this arm-lifting exercise was practiced holding jugs
of water as an early form of strength training. In "kinesthetic" Tai Chi,
however, the emphasis is not on strength per se, but on relaxed movement
using deeper layer muscles.
Step
1: Stand in a comfortable stance with some distance between your feet.
Your arms should be at your sides, with your elbows turned out
slightly.
Step 2: Inhale and lift up
your arms slowly, until your hands are somewhere between chest and
shoulder height.
Step 3: Now exhale and begin
lowering your arms slowly from the shoulders.
Step 4: Continue exhaling and
lowering your arms back to the starting position.
Before
you continue on with this article, I'd like you to get out of your chair -
right now! - and start learning this Tai Chi movement. Get up and try
to learn this exercise from the above photos. The only way you are
going to understand what I'm talking about in the rest of this article is
if you try it. You have to experience the "visual" approach
that I've just used above, and then experience the "kinesthetic" approach
below. Just sitting in your chair and reading about
it does not count!
The teacher, book, or video
may include some "verbal" instructions to supplement the visual "monkey-see, monkey-do" teaching. Beyond simple
instructions like those I wrote above, some teachers will tell you to
"stay relaxed" as you do Lifting Water. They
will tell you that Tai Chi should be done "flowingly" with all your
movements "smooth" and "graceful." And they may emphasize over and over -
"relax, relax, relax" as you move.
After all, if you already knew
how to "stay relaxed" while you moved, you wouldn't be going to the
trouble to learn Tai Chi! And it's also pointless to
"demonstrate" how to stay relaxed. After all, relaxation is a feeling, and
no amount of watching someone do the movements will ever teach you how it
feels.
However, with a
kinesthetic approach to Lifting Water, you
never have to be "told" to stay relaxed. It will automatically happen when
you are given the proper kinesthetic instructions. As a matter of fact, a
kinesthetic approach opens up an entire new "world"
of experience and understanding in Tai Chi and Qigong. You'll
find an immense complexity of details and feelings in any Tai Chi or
Qigong movement, even so "simple" a movement as Lifting Water. As a matter of fact, kinesthetic students learn more about Lifting Water (and indeed Tai Chi) in just a
few weeks than many "visual" instructors know after decades!
But even more importantly,
you'll see that these kinesthetic details increase the power of Lifting Water. Kinesthetic details "pump up" the
level of benefits you'll receive from this so-called "simple" Tai Chi
movement. You'll come away with a greater appreciation of how a
kinesthetic approach makes Tai Chi one of the most powerful and
beneficial types of Qigong there is.
So let's take a look at just one kinesthetic detail
that adds some "feeling" to this movement. This
detail is what we teach instead of pointlessly telling our students to
"stay relaxed!" And trust me - it will only take one detail to
convince you of the power of the kinesthetic approach.
Here's an excerpt directly
from our ChiFusion™ Level 2 program.
Excerpt from ChiFusion™ Level
2
Pushing The Wall - A Kinesthetic Experiment in
Relaxed Movement
We often start
many of our ChiFusion™ workshops and classes by telling our students:
"When we do a Tai Chi or Qigong movement, it often feels quite differently to us, and to Tai Chi and Qigong masters and senior instructors, than the movement will feel to you. One of our most important goals in the ChiFusion™ program is to make the movements feel a certain way to you. We want the movements to feel to you the same way they feel to us when we do them. In other words, we want you to feel the same way doing the movement that Tai Chi and Qigong masters and instructors feel when they do it."You've now learned the basic arm movements for Lifting Water. While it may have been simple for you to learn, for us to give you the "correct" feeling is a bit more difficult. However, we have an experiment we teach in our classes that, when done properly, will "trick" your body into making the movement feel the same way that it feels to us. We call this experiment Pushing the Wall.
| Note: You will need to follow these directions precisely. If you don't, you won't get the proper feeling that we want you to experience. And reading about this experiment is not enough. You have to actually try the exercise to fully understand and experience it. Don't be an "arm-chair" Tai Chi student! Try this experiment out for the full kinesthetic experience! |
Note: If you have any health concerns, you might want to take it easy with this Pushing the Wall experiment. Especially if this is your first time doing anything like this, respect your body's limits and don't over do it. But if you are relatively healthy, GO FOR IT!
Here are the instructions for Pushing the Wall.
- For this experiment, first perform Lifting Water about 5 to 10 times. Pay special
attention to how your arms feel each time you lift them into the air.
- Now you will need to stand facing a sturdy,
blank wall. Stand as close to the wall as possible, and place the backs
of your wrists against the wall.
- Now, push as hard as possible against the wall
with the back of your wrists. You should push VERY HARD! The harder, the better. Use every bit
of strength you have to push against the wall with your wrists. You
should push harder and harder for about 10 to 15 seconds.
- Now take a 5 second break, then push against the
wall a second time. PUSH REALLY HARD! Push
even harder this time, for 10 to 15 more seconds. The harder you can
push, the more successful this experiment will be. Push, push, push, and
push more!
- Now take another 5 second break, then begin
pushing again. If your arms are getting tired, don't stop! We want to
push as hard as you can for 20 to 30 seconds this time. KEEP PUSHING AND PUSHING - DON'T STOP! The
harder you push, the better this experiment will work. Keep pushing,
keep pushing.
- After about 20 to 30 seconds, step away from the
wall. Now perform Lifting Water again, paying
attention to how your arms feel. Do they feel differently this time? Try
to describe to yourself the difference between how your arms felt in
step 1 above, and how they feel now.
Excerpt from ChiFusion™ Level 2 (continued)
Pushing the Wall: How Deeper Layer Muscles Produce Relaxed Movement
If you performed the Pushing the Wall experiment and followed our directions precisely, your second set of Lifting Water should feel quite differently than your first set did. Your arms will feel more like they are "floating" or "rising" by themselves. The movement will feel more effortless and relaxed.
How did this exercise work? Well, basically we tricked your body into using deeper layer muscles to perform the movements. By pushing against the wall, you "tired out" your surface layer muscles - the muscles most people use for normal movement. By tiring them out, your deeper layer muscles "kicked in" to help with the pushing against the wall. By the time you stepped away from the wall, your deeper layer muscles were fully engaged and ready to help you with Lifting Water.
Now that you've experienced how this movement should feel, take a look at the video from our ChiFusion Level 2 course for this movement. You can view the video by clicking on the "video" window below.
When you see instructor Carole Taylor demonstrate the movement in the video, you'll now know not just how the movement looks, but how it feels to her. You'll know that the smooth relaxed movement you see her performing comes from using these deeper layer muscles.
| While we used a trick to give you this feeling, advanced Tai Chi and Qigong instructors and masters don't need to use tricks. They can engage these deeper layer muscles under conscious command without having to "push the wall" first. They can not only use the deeper layer muscles with arm movements, but with torso and leg movements as well. That may seem fantastic to you at this point, but the Pushing the Wall exercise shows you can do it too - just like a Tai Chi master! As you progress in the ChiFusion™ program, your body will eventually learn to use these deeper physical structures automatically. |
End of excerpt
As I
said before, you have to get out of your chair and try Pushing the Wall. If all you've done is read about
the exercise and about deeper layer muscles, you've missed the entire
point of this article! You are no better off than if you were a student or
a teacher in a "visual" Tai Chi or Qigong program. (As a matter of
fact, you are worse off - at least they are trying!)However, if you did try the exercises in this article, you now have first-hand experience in both the "visual" and "kinesthetic" approaches to Tai Chi and Qigong. And I don't have to say another word about it! I'm confident you now have an appreciation of the power of a kinesthetic approach to Tai Chi and Qigong - all from just one kinesthetic detail - and a simple one at that!
I'm certain you now see how these details can increase your level of physical and energetic awareness, and how this approach will help you reach your goals of improving your health, relieving stress, and developing energy and vitality. And best of all you've seen that with a kinesthetic approach, you can learn to "feel" like a Tai Chi and Qigong master - right from your very first lesson!
I just tricked you! Find out how I did it (click here)
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