Читать книгу Tai Chi: A practical approach to the ancient Chinese movement for health and well-being - Angus Clark - Страница 10
ОглавлениеTAI CHI OFFERS more than exercises for health, it also provides a program for self-development. The influential teachers Cheng Man-ch’ing and Chi Chiang-tao mapped out a sevenfold path to tai chi practice. For just as the postures are composed of seven basic qualities, so there are seven dimensions to practice, seven steps to progress through the form.
Tai chi teaches you to respond to a partner’s movements. Sumo wrestlers use force against force.
Imagine trying to stop the flow of a river or make it flow faster. The way of tai chi is always to flow with the river. Beginners may be surprised to find that they have been conditioned to fight the river’s natural flow, to use force against force. We are trained to keep to timetables and meet deadlines rather than follow the natural rhythms of our body and mind.
Tai chi teaches people to correct this imbalance by becoming alert to intelligence from within while learning to listen to what is happening outside and to respond to others. It teaches patience, the ability to wait, poised and quiet, for the right moment to move or act.
When tai chi movements are performed correctly, they work to calm and focus the mind, so that mind, energy, and body work in harmony. The seven dimensions of tai chi practice are described next, and represented on the graph.
MAPPING TAI CHI PRACTICE
The seven dimensions of tai chi practice, described previously, may be represented by a graph on which you map your progress along the path to natural way. The vertical axis measures your progress on a scale from 1 to 10. A teacher might help you assess your abilities in each area. Draw a new graph to review progress after a year. Your tendency to use force against force should have fallen and your energy and coordination have risen.
FORCE AGAINST FORCE
Are you trying to dominate by blocking your partner’s responses, or responding too quickly, before your partner stops pushing? If so, you are using force against force. In this interaction you enter into a dialog, inviting your partner to respond to your push. Do not try to force one. When receiving a push, listen as the movement unfolds, knowing that each push has its lifetime. Do not stop it by force, but move in response to the other person. This is the natural way.
CORRECT TECHNIQUE
Although the rules of tai chi are challenging, they are effective. Hands and feet need to be correctly aligned, placed, and arranged; doing this enables you to reap the richest reward from practice. And bear in mind that improvement often comes without a struggle. Working on the mind, for instance, sharpens concentration, which brings about improvements in technique.
JIN OR WHOLE BODY ENERGY
Beginners feel all left feet. As practice evolves, feet, legs and pelvis, spine, arms, and hands feel more connected, and movements of head and body begin to feel coordinated. There comes a time when breathing and movement of all parts of the body follow one rhythm, and this cohesion is jin (whole body energy).
CHI OR LIFE FORCE ENERGY
Tai chi movements stimulate the chi circulating in the body and the musculoskeletal system, exercise the internal organs, and open the meridians, allowing chi to build. Resting the mind quietly in the lower tantien energy center after practice also builds chi. People often feel contentment and greater vitality after practice.
MIND
Cultivating awareness is the key to mind control – if your mind keeps returning to one of the day’s events while you are practicing, acknowledge it. Notice where your mind is directed as you move. Soon, there will be moments when it becomes absorbed in the moves you are making, and the moments will extend to minutes. Then you find your mind making visualizations at will.
SPIRIT
There is a dynamic equilibrium between earth and spirit in tai chi. The way to spirit is through the earthing of the body, and the stronger the connection with the earth, the greater the possibilities for spirit. One of the joys of practice is allowing the body to radiate the spirit that powers each posture – the spirit of fire or of clarity. Enjoy the spirit of the moment; you may feel poised, like a cat about to pounce, then you might become quiet, nurturing the spirit inside.
NATURAL WAY
Follow the natural way to emerge into the seventh dimension. Let go of the binding patterns of force against force, become receptive to the natural way of things, and learn to wait for the right moment to move. Attaining natural way is a sevenfold process. The qualities work together to realign the whole person toward natural way.
MIND GAME
This visualization may take a while to become real, but it will show how your mind and your energy can work together. Turn your left palm toward you. Point the fingers of your right hand toward your left palm keeping them about six inches away. Imagine the fingers of your right hand are brushes. Paint strokes very slowly over your left hand. At first you may not sense anything, but soon you will feel the light brush strokes moving across the sensitive palm of your hand as clearly as if you were really painting it.
