Yin and Yang is The Tao
(The Way) moving in balance
A COUPLE OF THOUGHTS: Have you ever thought of your tai chi as the alignment of all your joints. Take the knee joint and look at your toryu. When does your knee twist coming off the back of a toryu. Why does it twist. It is connected through all the rest of the joints from the knee up, and below. If you have knee issues, you don't need to immediately turn the knee as you go up. The expression for the knee to foot is "the pillar". Leave the pillar alone and let the rest follow the bubbling springs in the hands.
I worked for the railroad for 31 years and have seen a lot of trains leave a station. Every rail car has a knuckle that closes upon another car's knuckle to join up. As they come together they automatically lock up with each other, like a joint in the body linking one member to another. With each car knuckle there is a bit of slack to each joint that is made. When the train is put together, the slack is usually taken out by compressing the knuckles together. However, as the engine (unit) starts to pull a train of 60 or a 100 cars the slack is taken out of each knuckle in turn, one by one until all the knuckles are connected by the pull of the engine. You can hear the metal clang of this process travelling down to the last car as the unit pulls the train out of it's track or station. Think of your body as all those parts lined up and each joint fitting perfectly together and the rails as the direction of your movement. Our joints are rounded but perfectly fitted together; designed to turn. However, the moment you introduce a thought of changing the alignment, your voluntary muscles go into action and alter the natural and relaxed, in gravity, fitting of the joints together. Immediately, this makes a hole in the form, a break in the connection between your bubbling springs on the floor and the bubbling springs in your hands, or finger tips. Let your body rest between the bubbling springs in your hands and the bubbling springs in your feet. Your intention (hands) should guide you, not the tension created from your brain. The brain is really only good for focus once the movement is started. Of course, this is true unless you are trying to break a 'habit', whereby you a managing some part of your body by reversing an unintentional 'hole' in the form.
Stay aligned, and guess what word I will utilize next...relax.
I worked for the railroad for 31 years and have seen a lot of trains leave a station. Every rail car has a knuckle that closes upon another car's knuckle to join up. As they come together they automatically lock up with each other, like a joint in the body linking one member to another. With each car knuckle there is a bit of slack to each joint that is made. When the train is put together, the slack is usually taken out by compressing the knuckles together. However, as the engine (unit) starts to pull a train of 60 or a 100 cars the slack is taken out of each knuckle in turn, one by one until all the knuckles are connected by the pull of the engine. You can hear the metal clang of this process travelling down to the last car as the unit pulls the train out of it's track or station. Think of your body as all those parts lined up and each joint fitting perfectly together and the rails as the direction of your movement. Our joints are rounded but perfectly fitted together; designed to turn. However, the moment you introduce a thought of changing the alignment, your voluntary muscles go into action and alter the natural and relaxed, in gravity, fitting of the joints together. Immediately, this makes a hole in the form, a break in the connection between your bubbling springs on the floor and the bubbling springs in your hands, or finger tips. Let your body rest between the bubbling springs in your hands and the bubbling springs in your feet. Your intention (hands) should guide you, not the tension created from your brain. The brain is really only good for focus once the movement is started. Of course, this is true unless you are trying to break a 'habit', whereby you a managing some part of your body by reversing an unintentional 'hole' in the form.
Stay aligned, and guess what word I will utilize next...relax.
Whether or not you have a body that is overweight, underweight, an imbalance of movement from a dysfunctional part of your structure, you can find balance. Balance promotes ease of movement. Balance is alignment.
Practicing Tai Chi is
learning to find your balance and alignment inside the structure you
have now. Learn how to find where you are out of balance. The answers
may surprise you. The mind works with and is integrally tied to the
body; both are connected to the spirit. Work positively on any one
and the other two receive the same benefit.
Where there is balance,
there is ease of movement and alignment.
Where balance is needed,
there is disease in movement and misalignment.