“Tai Chi Near Me”
A Free Sample Lesson from Tai Chi Energy
In China,”Tai Chi” means “Supreme Ultimate”
It connotes a State of Perfect Harmony underlying all Opposing Forces.
This State transcends even Time and Space.
This Unifying Field connects All and Everything making it possible to improve your
Mind, Body, Emotions and Spiritual State of Being
Simultaneously,
in Real Time, Right Now!
When mind and body are harmonious, you can feel your spirit.
It’s always present, but the stress of life can make us feel out of touch with our spiritual energies.
Humans embody many energies from the physical up through the higher states
of perception and cognition and beyond.
When these various energies are balanced and aligned, you feel better and function better.
You have everything you need to begin
your practice.
Learning How to Use Your Chi or Life Energy
In your possession are Three Keys to balance, purify and increase your energy.
Energy is in your body, mind & emotions and in your spirit. How you define spirit is up to you.These keys are tools to help you use energy to fuel changes in your life.
Posture, Breath and Intention.
This lesson will focus on posture.
You will look better and feel better immediately by adjusting your posture. As you use this key, your positive results will gradually increase.The lesson is in two parts: Knowledge and Practice.
See these as sides of one coin. They are present together. Practice with Knowledge gives good results. Knowledge without practice is fruitless. Random practice is like trying to win the lottery.
Knowledge of Posture
Begin to think of your posture as a statement of who you are in the present moment.When you see poor posture, you form an impression about a person, even before they speak. Beautiful posture makes a positive impression. This is common sense, and proved by research in psychology. But we will look deeper; beyond the surface impression.
Inside your body, energy moves in a pattern. Many things in the body move in a pattern. Your blood and nerve impulses are examples. Your posture has an effect on how material and energy circulate in the body. Look at what happens when your arm or leg “falls asleep.” Blood circulation is cut off and your limb goes dead. This same thing can happen with your energy. Adjusting your posture will let everything move freely. You will feel at ease and you will conserve a great deal of energy because your circulation will be good.
With this Knowledge you will now Practice adjusting your posture and feeling the results.
Practice of Posture
You are probably reading this seated at a computer. Don’t adjust your posture. Just notice it. When the word “posture” is mentioned, people usually “snap to attention” for a moment because they subconsciously know their posture is weak. But then they slump back down in less than a minute. So don’t adjust your posture now; simply notice your shape and how you feel.
Step One: Feel How You Feel
First: Notice your energy level: Is it high, medium or low?
Second: Feel your posture; the general shape and position of your body.
Third: Observe any tension, sore spots or weakness in the body.
Seeing and feeling this gives you a baseline measure of who you are in the present moment. Pay attention to your feelings. Then you can see how they change when you adjust your posture.
Your purpose is to look and feel better immediately and in the long term.
This purpose guides most people’s actions most of the time. We simply want to look better and feel better; now, and in the future. Even when we do hard work it is for some reward that will make us feel better. Sometimes we trade feeling good now for feeling good later. Sometimes the reverse is true. There are two sides to everything. With Tai Chi and Qigong we learn to balance the two sides.
Balance is related to posture. When you are balanced you can hold the body with ease. You feel centered and you send a good message with your body language. When the bones are in good alignment, the muscles can relax. You will save energy.
The best way to have more energy is to save more of the energy you already have. You will also save energy because good posture lets everything circulate more efficiently in the body. Efficiency saves energy.
Before moving to Step Two, be sure to have a clear impression of how you feel right now. Realize that your energy level and posture are somewhere between being dead and being so high that you float off into the sky. You are somewhere between the two sides. The same is true of your posture and tension or pain levels.
You are at a point between the two extremes and can easily move toward the middle. You can achieve balance and enjoy the benefits it brings to life.
A great way to experience how changes in posture will change how you feel is to make your posture worse. Deliberately slump down further. Let your head slide forward while keeping your chin up. Make your shoulders slump down, or, pull them up towards the ears to create some tension. So whatever feels worse. Cross your arms and legs and contract into a ball.
Step Two: Adjust Your Posture
A Snowman, or woman or person, is made of three balls of snow balanced one on top of the other. The balls are different sizes: one small, one medium and one large. A good, stable arrangement is to place the large ball on the bottom, the medium ball in middle and the little ball on top.
This is common sense on the physical plane but people often have most of their energy up in the head and may have a poor connection with the body. This is an unstable, unbalanced state that results in problems like headache, depression, anxiety, anger, confusion, etc. Remember, in Tai Chi and Qigong, the mind and body are two sides of one coin. Anything that happens on one side will change the other.
Use the Snowman model to identify the parts of your body that you will adjust to create better posture. See the main sections of your body as being like the parts of a Snowman.
First: See your hips, pelvis, buttocks, intestines, tail bone and groin as the large bottom ball of the Snowman.
Second:See your abdomen, chest, middle and upper back as the middle ball of the Snowman.
Third: Lastly, of course, view your head as the top of the Snowman.
That is easy; and the rest is simple:
First: You’ll need to move your pelvis, hips and tail bone so they form a nice round ball that is firmly connected to the ground. Begin by moving your pelvis forward and back in a gentle, slow motion. If you are tight, and the area doesn’t’t move much, don’t force it. Don’t activate any pain. At the very least, just gently tighten and release the muscles in this area. Your goal is to relax and soften the area. Relax. Don’t struggle or strain the muscles. Finish by centering your weight on the two bones that are in your buttocks. You’ll probably need to sit up straight to make this adjustment. You are already moving the center ball of the Snowman, your chest and abdomen, to be centered over your hips. This makes the pine straighter, and allows your weight to transfer smoothly down into the lower ball of the Snowman. Take a deep breath and relax in this position.
Second: Move your attention to the chest; the area of the heart and sternum, between your nipples. Find your center here by leaning forward and back. When you lean out of alignment to the front and back you will feel tension increase in the lower ball of the Snowman. Move our chest to the spot where you can sit erect while remaining relaxed. This allows you to remain erect with the least amount of tension. It opens the abdomen and chest so the organs have room to function and the blood can circulate easily to nurture the organs and glands.
Third: Finally, move your attention to your head and the position of your skull. To complete a Snowman that is balanced and stable enough to weather the elements, your head must be on straight. To make this adjustment, simply move your chin down toward your chest as you move your head back so it is centered above your hips and chest. Get the feeling through your adjustment that the top of your head is floating upward to the sky.
It is ideal to feel relaxed and poised in this position. Better alignment will allow your muscles to be engaged, but operating at a low level of tension.
Step Three: Feel Your Adjustments
Relax in your new posture for a moment and notice how you feel.
Check your mind, energy and emotions. Everyone will feel something slightly different. Just notice what comes to your attention. Breathe deeply and evenly to help you relax.
There are some powerful breath techniques you can use in the future if you continue to study and grow. But for now, focus on changes that come when you make a new statement with your posture.
It is easy to feel the changes that posture adjustments bring to your mind and body. And the adjustments are simple. But it will take some work to make the changes part of your daily life. Practice adjustments anytime you have to wait in line. Nobody will know you are doing it. Pick a few times during the day when you will do your adjustments. It could be before you get in the shower or before you walk out the door in the morning. Link your practice to things you already do during the day.
A Special Note about The Shoulders
For some strange reason, when people try to “have better posture” they begin by thrusting their shoulders back and pushing out the chest. They mimic a soldier standing at attention. This is incorrect because it brings tension into the body and is uncomfortable to hold for long.
When the hips, chest and head are aligned; the shoulders can comfortably hang on the body like a coat on a hanger. Place your hands, palms facing down, on your thighs. This will place the shoulders in a neutral position. They will not be slouching forward, nor will they be pushed back. They will be in the middle. Let them sink down so they don’t add any tension in the neck area. Take a deep breath and relax.