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more awakened and real to you if you are connectedto the knife that chops as it slices and dicesyour food. (People who do sword forms might wellrelate.) How are you holding the knife? Are youthinking of unrelated thoughts or listening to radioor TV, or are you on the phone? How can yourfood be given the attention it needs? If you cursewhen you cut yourself, or simply because the foodslipped to the floor, this negative energy is aroundyour rather sacred space that you might come toenjoy. If you were to take on the task of cookingwith a sense that you are making a better meal bybeing more alert and in a more joyful mood, considerthe idea that your food might be enjoyedmore by you and others who eat it. If a voice insideis objecting loudly, hold on for a bit to hear morepoints that will be made.Your attention and attitude play a great part inhow you are approaching your role as chief cookand possibly bottle washer, too. A better moodemerges simply by standing in bow and arrowstance, as done in most tai chi/taiji forms. It is astrong point to note that standing with your feettogether too closely, (or even in a horse stance,)causes you extra tension. Your feet and legs areless likely to grab Mother Earth’s gravity withrooting power.Let us review what you do in any ‘ward off’motion in tai chi. (Newcomers can well get the pictureby looking at the photo of the author suppliedhere.) Connecting with Mother Earth happenswhen you use martial art power most effectivelytransformed into healing power:Your back leg is behind you in a somewhat longstance with your own L. heel being lined upwith your left eye if you are left handed. (thephoto is showing the pose as required for lefties.)The knife would be held in the left hand.Right handed people, please reverse this andall further points.1. The toe of that back foot is rotated at a 45 degreeangle between your side and front.2. Your belly, sternum, eye and your right hand isholding the food you are cutting up all lined upwith your center.3. Your weight in your back Left leg is 30%. Thefront, Right leg has 70%. It connects down into theearth via your Kidney 1 point and brings up theplant world spirit. (This position is a variation ofholding a small chi/qi ball, in my humble opinion.The way a ball in tai chi/taiji, is held comfortablyis a facing of the back of the ‘ball’ with base ofpalm out and it’s fingers up. (L. hand) and front ofthe ball with your R. hand. It’s palm faces you withand its’ fingers to the L. (Please remember thismust be reversed for ‘righties.’)4. To get the most relaxation and power intoyour knife, please, put the cutting board close tothe edge of the counter. The first slice will bemade, (certainly attentively,) while you feel thechi/qi power coming through your back leg fromthe foot up the inside and back of your leg andbring chi/qi to your L. front-of-hip-joint, as itshows in the photo.5. From there, the energy travels up your spinevia the governor route, then it goes over your L.shoulder and down your upper L. arm and knifeholdinghand. (The inside of the hand is quite empowereddue to the laogong point being at palmcenter. It is projecting the Mother Earth qi/chi intoyour knife that is cutting straight into, let’s say… acucumber.) Your cutting arm is round-in straightat a 135 degree angle or a bit smaller.The round-in-straight elbow points down to thefloor. This is why you must stand enough of a distanceaway from the counter. If you have beenpreviously tense when cutting food, this willchange the tendency to tighten your chest whencutting or mixing food. Your shoulders and elbowsof the front, food holding hand are also relaxed.Letting go of muscles is the key. It helps if youkeep your all your shoulder and elbow jointsdown.How many chops will you need? Maybe you mightengage your mind in counting them. Countingthem keeps you in rhythmic relationship withyour food rather than jumping steps ahead in your34 Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 3, Issue No. 3