Practice

 Practice today:  Awaken tonus with torso circles, vertical shake, joint vibration, silent Ah, swing/kicks, spiral gaze,

Goal versus Process

 

Goal versus Process

That is a very boring topic heading, but it gets interesting (to me) as you delve into it.  My attention was caught by a YouTube video that referred to the “Growth Mindset” which presented information about how children lost motivation to do things they once enjoyed, when they were given rewards for their efforts and then had those rewards removed.  Simple enough and makes sense, but it brought to mind a lot of others thoughts I have had that are similar.

Just letting my mind do a brainstorming of similar aspects related to being in the moment and not needing an external goal to motivate towards an altered state of consciousness, awareness or action.

Thich Nhat Hanh may be considered the father of Mindfulness Meditation.  His book “The Miracle of Mindfulness” lays out his philosophy of “Interbeing”  which emphasizes “finding peace in every moment” rather than striving to reach an outer goal.

Baba Ram Dass popularized being in the moment with his book “Be Here Now.”

Eckhart Tolle led a movement with The Power of Now.

Process Goals versus End Goals was basic to Tony Robbins motivation methods.

Zazen:  Philip Kapleau in “The Three Pilars of Zen” relates the answer to the question, “Why sit it in Zazen”.  Zazen simply means zen meditation.  The answer to the question is that “one sits in Zazen inorder to sit in Zazen”.  To sit for an expected purpose is a contradiction in itself.

 

All of those references are just the tip of the iceberg for this topic and don’t really relate to the reward/motivation dysfunction, but it is where my mind went with the topic and this is my blog, so that is where I will go.

How does being in the “Now” relate to why I do taiji?  There are numerous reports on taiji that reference the health benefits.  A typical one states that tai chi is good for falls prevention for the elderly.  Another explains how Taiji is a martial art effective in combat with an opponent.  The generation of an energy component called Qi or life force is taken for granted as being integral to the purpose of taiji (or Qigong) practice.

All of the above may be true, but misses the point that taiji is the practice of “Awareness” which says everything about its value in making life meaningful.  Victor Frankl’s classic “Man’s Search for Meaning” puts forth the tenet that finding meaning in one’s life is what makes it sustainable.  Awareness is what “Meaning”” is made of.  How one becomes aware has endless manifestations and as such awareness becomes undefinable; yet you know it when you see it, or feel it or become aware of it.

So it all comes down to having a “Practice” that enhances our awareness and through a sustained application of that practice one experiences a change or growth towards greater meaning.  Perhaps a better heading for this post should be “The Search for Meaning Through Awareness”.  Again, that might only be meaningful to me.

In a recent post titled “The Power of Gaze” I presented “gaze” as a tool towards increasing the development of “Awareness” through exercises that emphasize the impact that gaze has on maintaining central equilibrium during movement.  Much of what follows is a repeat of that information, but with focus on how gaze is instrumental to taiji movement in line with the 10 Principles and also how this practice relates to increased awareness and thus enhanced health.

I quoted F.M. Alexander in the recent post where Alexander said, “Anyone can do what I have done, if they will only do what I did”.  What he did was change the way he used his body through consistent meticulous observation, over a long period of time, to correct a dysfunction he had with public speaking.  Realizing that the process he undertook was a universally applicable one that when practiced would enhance the efficient “Use of the Body” and could eliminate dysfunctions, he developed the Alexander Technique which has been used by innumerable people with success. 

I am applying F.M. Alexanders process to my practice of taiji.  For 25 years I have practiced and taught the sequential choreographed sets of “Forms” seeking to perfect them according to the 10 Principles set out by Yang ChengFu and applied throughout taiji regardless of the style. See a previous post for a discussion of these 10 principles.

See GM Yang Jun's thorough description of the 10 Principles.

I am now expanding my practice to attempt to enhance the psychosomatic and kinesthetic  awareness of these principles.  I have no idea what to do and taiji literature has little to suggest that this is even a realistic goal.  I am staying within the bounds of taiji movement, as I understand it, but stepping out side the box with the practice. 

I will present on example of how I am applying this practice and will use future posts to expand on this with additional practices. 

Standing in central equilibrium applying song in the horse stance as best I can, I turn just my gaze to one side, just enough so that my peripheral vision comes to rest.  As my view comes into focus my torso will rotate, without any effort in my part, just enough to align with the direction of my vision.  I note that this turn comes primarily, if not completely from a turn of the waist in the lumbar portion of my spine.  Once focused in this new position, I turn my gaze again .n the same direction to a new spot and allow my waist (torso) to turn again.  Shortly I reach the extent of my waist’s ability to turn.  Additional turning must then come from the shoulders turning which results in the thoracic portion of my spine rotating.  Again a limit is reached and I need to turn my head (neck) around the cervical portion of my spine.  Reaching the full rotation of my torso with spiral rotation of the spine I hold for a second or two and then release my eyes back towards the original forward position in central equilibrium. No effort is use to turn my torso to the front.  The spiral tension’s release is enough to result in a free swing to the front and then beyond.  Letting this happen without muscular effort results in a swinging action that takes several turns, pendulum like, to come to rest. 

I practice this several times on each side as often as I can on a daily basis.  With practice, I am improving how I do this, increasing the amount of rotation and the ease with which I do it.  The turning of the gaze (eyes) becomes almost a continuous smooth turn with the gaze leading the movement.  Speed is not an objective, so I slow it down to be sure it does not become movement without awareness.

It is difficult to relate this practice directly to one or more of the principles.  In a way it requires the application of all 10 principles throughout.  This is also true of applying the principles to ones taiji practice.  Clearly central equilibrium is maintained; the action of continuous without interruption is evident; the transition from empty to full is clear; the use of Intent and the balance of inner and outer energy is applied; and finally the stillness within movement and movement within stillness seems to pervade the movement. 

What do I hope to gain from this practice?  Well, in the spirit of being in the Now and keeping end goals at bay, I am only hoping that the practice adds clarity to my understanding of the 10 principles. Over time I hope that I carry this practice into my taiji movements so that gaze becomes the initiator of movement.  While gaze is not mentioned directly in the 10 Principles, it is one of the essential 5 Directives of all taiji practice.

This practice also aligns with my health practice belief that keeping the spine supple, innervated and nourished is central to overall health.  The aging of connective tissue is unavoidable, but the negative affects can be delays and/or minimized. I would like to think that this practice is one step in the right direction. 

In the spirit of Meaning through Awareness I will continue this practice without any specific outcome or reward to justify the effort.  I will just be a child at play.

 

The Power of Gaze

 

The Power of Gaze

Paraphrased quote from F.M. Alexander, who created the powerful movement awareness protocol that transformed his life and the life of untold numbers of others through a painstaking process of self observation to reveal how the improper “use of the self” can cause debilitating blockage and dysfunction. 

“Everyone could do what I did, if only they would do what I did”

The above quote could be applied to any accomplishment (innate abilities aside) The point being that innumerable small steps and efforts are necessary to successfully undertake a difficult journey.  I will leave it to your imagination to find examples meaningful to you.

Becoming “aware” is a broad palette of many templates.  Narrowing and broadening ones visual focus is one such template.  Consider the role of vision or “gaze” as it initiates and defines movement.  Later, I will give a functional definition of gaze and its role in awareness and movement, but first I want to relate this topic to the opening quote.  I am seeking to answer the question as to whether one can become more aware of movement through exercises that challenge the use of gaze to initiate movement, especially as occurs in the practice of taiji.  And then, of course, whether the use of gaze is beneficial or even essential to maintaining the body in “central equilibrium” during movement.

What is this awareness that I speak of?  Any of the following are aspects of an understanding of awareness; kinesthesis, proprioception, contemplative practices, somatics, or consciousness itself are all involved with the subject of awareness.  What changes might take place with long term practice of gaze related exercises in initiating and controlling movement.  It is difficult to measure awareness as the observing subject is also the object of observation. 

Paraphrased quote by F.M. Alexander: “Our Faulty Sense of Perception results in our feeling that a dysfunctional posture is normal” 

 

Gaze is the stimulation of the visual cortex in the brain.  But, to be understood and functional we need to add intention and attention to expand on the context.  Attention is an observation in the present, while intention is an expectation for the future.  Intent can also be synonymous with “meaning” or “purpose”. 

Ones visual focus is controlled by the retina which is shaped by the contraction of eye muscles.  As vision is focused more closely during reading or use of a computer the muscles contract and when looking out into the distance the muscles relax.  Hence one reason for the relaxing feeling of being out in nature and looking into the distance.  What comes first; the focus of the vision or the level of contraction of the muscle around the eye?

The application of gaze to taiji has endless implications.  If I wait until I elucidate all of them, this post will never get posted.  Instead I offer just one of the many I have tried and continue to experiment with.

Standing in Wuji with a song gaze into the distance I begin by first refocusing my gaze to the left (or right) just a bit until there is a refocus on the object in my vision.  Then staying song I allow my waist to turn until I am again song around this new central equilibrium.  Then turn my gaze a bit more to the left and wait for waist turn to bring me into equilibrium.  Staying in a song horse stance and sinking instead of turning the hips results in coming to a maximum amount of waist turn to the left.  Then gazing left I allow my shoulders (mid-line of torso) to turn until again in equilibrium.  When maximum shoulder/torso turn is reached, I allow my head to turn continuing until I have reached the absolute maximum rotation to the left.  After a brief hold I release the gaze without any control so that the head, torso and waist turns without effort back to the original wuji position.  If done without any muscular control the torso will swing past the original wuji position, back and forth pendulum like, until settling in the wuji position.  Then I repeat the process to the right. Several repetitions to the left and right will complete this practice.

 (thinking anatomically the waist turn is a rotation of the lumbar spine, the torso turn is the thoracic spine and the head turn is the cervical spine.  This rotation at the spine is a gathering of spiral energy which is led by the gaze and then released by the gaze.)

The above process can be applied during form practice, but takes a good deal of practice to stay true to the intent.  A better starting point is to apply this gaze practice to a qigong form such as Shi Ba Shi.  I have been doing it while doing my favorite qigong sequence which my first teacher called “Longevity”, but my not be known by many in the Yang Family Tai Chi circle.  Perhaps a single form practice of cloud hands, first stationary and then with footwork would work well.  I will try it and add my results to this post at a later time.

The object of the above is not to become aware of using “gaze” extensively during taiji performance, but only to observe the impact that gaze has on the internal energy aspects of taijichuan.  (“Movement begins with intent (internal gaze) which moves the Qi through stillness within movement; the Qi directs the movement towards to desired goal through a gathering of energy followed by a release to the end point.” This is a very rough draft of how this takes place in taiji.  Feel free to restate it more accurately and/or eloquently and let me know.)

While too much focus on gaze during taiji practice  would be a distraction, too little attention to gaze will deprive the practitioner of the full value of internal energy.  This is what makes the taiji journey a lifetime endeavor rather than a short term goal.

The Yin and Yang of Taiji and Bonsai

 

Bonsai Informs Taijii as Taiji informs Bonsai.  Is it a coincidence that both arts come from the East and have been adopted in the West by ardent enthusiasts?

 I started Taiji as rehab from hip replacement surgery.  It also was a replacement for my lifetime connection to sports as a basketball and volleyball player.  After 25 years of diligent practice taiji has become much more than rehab; it is now my life endeavor and will be so forever. 

Bonsai was started on a whim with no intentions of it becoming important in my life.  It is still just a hobby but has become a passion that is very important to me on a daily basis. 

I didn’t look to find ways that taiji and bonsai overlapped, but I kept coming across things that I found to be very similar in both, so below I have thrown out some thoughts about how the two arts relate to each other.  I have taken some license to make connections that may not be valid, but it is a fun project and stimulates my thinking about both of the arts.

Looking at the 10 Principles of Taiji: the first four are related to alignment around a central equilibrium which allows for the free flow of Qi and result in being rooted to the ground and feeling supported throughout your frame.

1-4 Feel an uplifting energy from the head top as if it is lifting the head in suspension.

Release the chest and round the back.

Lower the shoulders and drop the elbows

Relax (sink) the waist which unlocks the knees.

The next three result in the graceful seemingly effortless circular movements that flow from one to another with no end point.

5-7 Continuous without interruption describes the free flow of energy that accompanies each movement.

Connect upper and lower body; when one part moves all parts move. 

Distinguish between empty and full or substantial and insubstantial; the end of one movement is connected seamlessly to the beginning of the next.

These three blend the mental with the physical

8-10 Use intent rather than force gives meaning to the movement.

Balance inner and outer energy recognizes the need for strength and resilience in the company of letting go, neutralizing or deflecting rather than resisting.

Find stillness within movement and movement within stillness speaks to the power of gathering energy in preparation for a full expression.

In Bonsai the above principles are realized in the artistic balance achieved through meticulous pruning of leaves, branches and roots.  Advanced bonsai artists seek to also perfect potting mix blends, soil enhancers and exotic fertilizer formulas with precise application schedules to promote the health and growth of their trees.  Pot size and color can disrupt this balance or enhance it. 

1-4 Alignment around a central equilibrium is achieved by an observable connection of the Apex to the power of the trunk, the nebari (base of the trunk with exposed roots) and the supporting roots.  The apex or “head” of the tree should be the first thing you see and it is important to have the apex lean towards the observer.  This relates to the suspended head top in tai chi.  The branches extend from the trunk at appropriate positions to the left, right and back that create a balanced view.

5-7 Bonsai artist speak of creating movement in the trunk and branches.  This is done with gentle curvature of branches and a lean of the trunk.

8-10 Creating an aesthetic appeal through a balance of forces acting on the tree.  There should be a sense of an intent which creates meaning for the bonsai artist as well as the observer.  This meaning may differ for the creator and the observer.  In taiji this meaning can also be very different for two practitioners with many possible martial applications for any one taiji form.

 

Learning Taiji may start with a few footwork and arm shape basics and then into  sequential forms followed by a lifetime of refinement.  Bonsai starts with trees in basic pots for development, shaping and trunk development before transferring to a bonsai pot followed by a lifetime of refinement.

Where, in taiji, we seek to achieve this balance before starting any further taiji movement.  In bonsai it is only achieve after years of attention to detail.

A taijii adage says “energy is rooted in the feet, developed in the legs, controlled by the waist and expressed outward through the arms, hands and fingers.”

In bonsai the roots bring the nutrients and water from the earth, sending it up through the trunk, out through the branches to the leaves.  “A tree is rooted in the earth, controlled by its trunk, reaching outward with its branches, spreading its leaves to embrace the sunlight,  with energy being created through photosynthesis and released through transpiration.”

A bonsai tree can expand in the thickness of the trunk, the ramification of its branches and the proliferation of leaves only to the extent that the root system supports such growth.  In taiji all movement must wait for the footwork to be rooted or energy will be dissipated before being able to be expressed. 

Another adage asks that the lower body (below the waist) be rooted like a tree so that the upper body can be light and flexible.  The waist turns to add spiral energy to the expression of force through the arms, hands and fingers.

It is said that there are no straight lines in taiji.  The flow of energy must be continuous without interruption.  A circle or circular path is the only way to avoid an endpoint or a stopping of the flow of Qi.

To achieve this balance the practice of song (pronounced soong) sinks the entire body while also expanding the entire body.  When applied appropriately to the lower body it gives stability or rooting to the earth, while also letting the upper body expand with outward energy that stays connected to the lower body by sinking or song.  This is a highly refined advanced taiji ability that takes a life time and then some.

Straight lines are avoided in bonsai.  Taper in the trunk and branches is preferred and movement in the trunk and branches is sought to suggest a direction or flow of the energy of the tree.  Branches extending straight up or down are often removed and  wiring used on branches to direct then in a curved line either upward or downward, forward or back.

Bonsai uses the same words of rooting to the ground.  As roots spread below the surface the trunks thickens, branches ramify and extend outward to express the energy of a vibrant healthy tree. 

Bonsai attempts to imitate nature with very small trees that appear to be very old and substantial.  The shallow bonsai dish adds to this image and also aids in restricting the size of the tree.  There are also quite large bonsai in large planters, but the objective is the same; control of the growth of the tree through multiple techniques and applications.

Taiji legend has it that taiji movements were created to imitate nature in the movement of animals such as the crane, the bear or the monkey and more. 

Thank you for your attention and patience with the above analogy between taiji and bonsai.  Poetic license was used to freely express the joy I find in these two beautiful arts and the points of similarity that occur to me.