Issue 51 - Tse Qigong Centre

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Taijiquan is found in Taijiquan practice. There is no amount oftalk that can replace direct experience of the art.Occasionally, as I do the Taijiquan slow set, it has causedme to look at Taijiquan in terms of the path of life metaphor. Ican get entirely lost in the practicalaspects of the form to the pointthat I forget the next step. Thereis something radically nonlinearhappening in the Taijiquanform. This is very good for me.As a computer analyst, Ispend most of my day tryingto straighten out one thing orthe other. I don’t think‘straightened out’ is the naturalstate for most systems. SometimesI think the whole of Westernculture’s search for meaning involveslooking for, or creating, somethinglinear. However, there are other waysto deal with the path of life besides‘straightening it out.’For Westerners, the concept ofbalance is pretty simple. Either something has physical balanceor it doesn’t. The Taoist idea of balance is somewhat larger inits scope. On page four of Master Da Liu’s book TaijiquanCh’uan and Meditation, he says, “On the largest scale, heavenis Yang, while earth is Yin. Day is Yang, while night is Yin.Bright and clear weather is Yang; dark and stormy weather isYin. On the scale of living things, male is Yang, the female Yin.Spirit is Yang, body is Yin.”A recent study on senior citizens and Taijiquan reportedthat seniors who do Taijiquan have better balance than thosewho don’t. This finding may have surprised some physicaltherapy practitioners, but I don’t think it surprised any Taijiquanpeople. Taijiquan is verymuch about balance. One ofthe main moves, repeatedover and over again, is to siton one leg, extend thesecond leg, move the handsto the desired position, thenstep forward onto the secondleg, shifting the body’sweight to the second leg. Aperson who stands on oneleg with knee bent willdevelop better balance.Adding movement of thesecond leg and arms requiresa great deal of attention and a great amount of balance. It isan exaggeration, but just a very slight exaggeration, to saythat Taijiquan is completely about balance.The balance point in the slow set is one type ofbalance. The balance point in the fast set is another type ofbalance. There are Taijiquan forms that combine slow and fastmovements. There are two-person, three-person, and fourpersonforms. Each Taijiquan weapon (sword, broadsword, fan,and staff) all have a different balance point. The more TaijiquanI learn, the more I learn about balance.Taijiquan balance extends beyond the physicalinto emotional, intellectual, and spiritual levels. My teachertells his classes that the Taijiquan practitioner does notrespond to an attack with the flight-or-fight mechanism.Instead we are supposed to respond by relaxing. As werelax we are supposed to listen through thephysical contact of the attack for theenergy expressed in the attack. As weunderstand the nature of the attack,we can decide how to respond. If Iam fearful of being hit, I will notbe able to use my Taijiquantraining to deal with the attack.The ideal state is to beemotionally, intellectually,and spiritually neutral whilein a state of physicalbalance.In thistraining I seeanother metaphorthat can beapplied directlyto my life. It ispretty ridiculousto think I couldtake a Taijiquansword to workand use it todeal with officepolitics (nomatter howmuch I mightwant to takethat action.) Onthe other hand,I can take thebalance lessonslearned formTaijiquan towork anddirectly applythem. If I am under verbal attack at work, I need to maintainmy inner balance and listen to the attack, to understand thesource of the emotional energy released in my direction. AfterI understand, I have the opportunity to decide how to respond.The alternative of responding in kind to an attack withoutthinking does not meet my needs. I want the opportunity to beable to decide how to respond after I understand the situation.I’m trying to lead a virtuous life. It is like walking atightrope while people are pushing and pulling on me. It isabsolutely necessary that I maintain my physical, mental,emotional balance while I strive to reach my goal. Taijiquan isQi Magazine 17
helping me become theperson I want to be byproviding me with apractical mechanism tobecome profoundlybalanced.Twenty-FirstCentury BattlesIt does not seem honest totalk about becoming asoulful warrior withoutobserving that there areplenty of real, physicalbattles being fought todayaround the world. Blood isbeing shed in Bosnia, EastTimor, and various placesin the Middle East, SouthAfrica, and South America.I believe Taijiquan can helpsomeone become a bettersoldier. I can easilyunderstand why someonewould feel called to fightin one of these conflicts.For the majority ofTaijiquan practitioners,physical violence is not aregular part of our lives.The absence of physicalviolence does not meanthat battles are not stillbeing fought.In my work there isa continuing discussion ofhow computer resourcesare going to be used tomeet the company ’sbusiness requirements.This discussion issometimes calm,sometimes heated, andsometimes so radical that people leaveone company and go to work for another.The heated and radical discussions disturbme. I avoid conflict when I can. Heated,radical discussions are occasionally partof everyone’s life at work. Conflict cannotalways be avoided. When conflict comes,I use Taijiquan internals to listen,understand, and then decide how torespond. The normal set of reactions toverbal conflict is the same as for physicalconflict - I find the Taijiquan reaction toverbal conflict to be a product of myTaijiquan practice. The more I practice Taijiquan, the more likelyit is that I will produce the Taijiquan response rather than thefight or flight response. My experience is that the Taijiquanresponse produced a superior solution to the problem underdiscussion. The Taijiquan response is rational and it is moreaccommodating of unusual, divergent, yet useful opinions.Every majorsocial change hascome through theheroic action of aperson with a vision ofhow the world could bemade better. In thiscentury the peoplewho worked in the civilrights movement, thewomen’s movementand the ecologymovement have allexhibited the warrior’stenacity in overcomingi n s u r m o u n t a b l eobstacles. The soulfulwarrior wants to be ahero.In ConclusionMy Taijiquanpractice provides mewith wonderfulspiritual benefits.Some of the Qi work inTaijiquan very closelymatches the pranyamicsystem used by theyogis. The Taijiquanform reminds me in avery practical way thatI should not expect mylife journey to be alinear progressionfrom point A to point B.I need the sense ofmental, physical, andemotional balance thatcomes from practising.Taijiquan helps me to“Conflict cannot alwaysbe avoided. When it comes,I use Taijiquan internals todecide how to respond.”fight the modern battles I am confronted with on a daily basis.In conclusion it all comes back to Lao Tzu. “The personwho knows does not speak; the person who speaks does notknow.” It’s time for me to stop talking and go back to practisingTaijiquanby Andrew WilkesQi Magazine 18
Page 2 and 3: Cover: Master Michael TseQi Magazin
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Page 6 and 7: Sometimes Western medicineconcentra
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Page 29 and 30: New York Seminar 1995John Hayes and
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Page 45 and 46: 10th Anniversary Special 10th Anniv
Page 47 and 48: Instructor InsightJulian Wilde: Nor
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Issue 51 - Tse Qigong Centre

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