Perhaps the three parts of the body where tension manifests and gathers most strongly are shoulders, hips and jaw. Each is associated with a dan dien. The shoulders with the heart of course, hips with the belly, and jaw with the brain. By tensing the shoulders we keep our heart to ourselves – crushed and tight. If the shoulders relax down and out – down and away from each other (we have already established that when something relaxes it wants to split into its component parts) – then the chest cavity expands and opens and fills with energy of the heart. Breathing improves – the diaphragm cannot do its work properly if the shoulders pull together. We become aware that we have two nostrils feeding two lungs, each in a different side of the body.
Sinking into the deep postures of Tai Chi should open the hips in a similar fashion. The hip joints – where the femurs join the pelvis – should soften and move away from each other, opening the pelvis at the front and relaxing the sacrum. The belly and legs then start to behave like another pair of lungs – breathing energy to and from the ground as our weight shifts from leg to leg. Sinking must be an expression of such relaxation, and not forceful, otherwise the knees will suffer and the work will not touch your internal aspect (will not affect).
Relaxing and softening the jaw feels like smiling – a subtle, knowing smile. Become aware of where the jaw bone meets the skull beneath each ear and let these joints soften, open and relax down (use gravity) and away from each other – as though the face is widening. Let this softening and widening move up into the temples as well – as though you are trying to expand out the natural depression that is each temple. The brain can then start to breath, as did our heart and belly. It exchanges energy with the heavens through the crown of the head and with the world through the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Start to think of these organs as channels through which you breathe energy – in and out – rather than simple sensory receptors. The more you can smile the face open the stronger will be the breathing.
Once the softening and relaxing of each dan dien is established, that softening and relaxing will begin to become contained. The containing energy issues from the back of each centre and furls around to embrace the breathing process. I suspect this is a natural consequence of any natural process – enough energy eventually develops to protect it. It is effectively ward-off energy – and if you allow yourself to fall into a steady state of relaxation then this is precisely what will happen – your condition will ward-off rather than attract and enter. To keep the relaxation dynamic the breathing of each centre must feed the process of change and development – the forward thrust – rather than simply gather for its own sake and satisfaction. Dynamic implies relationship and interaction. The value of unity is two. Your improving relaxation and togetherness should always be encouraging the world to reveal the next stage – the next hurdle – rather than settling into itself. In a way this is what a true teaching is – something that leaves you forever incomplete. As soon as you achieve settlement and unity (double-weightedness) the teaching throws you into the next stage which leaves you feeling more wretched and incapable than ever before. The good student breathes a sigh of relief when this happens – there is nothing he distrusts more than comfort and expertise.
Sinking into the deep postures of Tai Chi should open the hips in a similar fashion. The hip joints – where the femurs join the pelvis – should soften and move away from each other, opening the pelvis at the front and relaxing the sacrum. The belly and legs then start to behave like another pair of lungs – breathing energy to and from the ground as our weight shifts from leg to leg. Sinking must be an expression of such relaxation, and not forceful, otherwise the knees will suffer and the work will not touch your internal aspect (will not affect).
Relaxing and softening the jaw feels like smiling – a subtle, knowing smile. Become aware of where the jaw bone meets the skull beneath each ear and let these joints soften, open and relax down (use gravity) and away from each other – as though the face is widening. Let this softening and widening move up into the temples as well – as though you are trying to expand out the natural depression that is each temple. The brain can then start to breath, as did our heart and belly. It exchanges energy with the heavens through the crown of the head and with the world through the eyes, ears, nose and mouth. Start to think of these organs as channels through which you breathe energy – in and out – rather than simple sensory receptors. The more you can smile the face open the stronger will be the breathing.
Once the softening and relaxing of each dan dien is established, that softening and relaxing will begin to become contained. The containing energy issues from the back of each centre and furls around to embrace the breathing process. I suspect this is a natural consequence of any natural process – enough energy eventually develops to protect it. It is effectively ward-off energy – and if you allow yourself to fall into a steady state of relaxation then this is precisely what will happen – your condition will ward-off rather than attract and enter. To keep the relaxation dynamic the breathing of each centre must feed the process of change and development – the forward thrust – rather than simply gather for its own sake and satisfaction. Dynamic implies relationship and interaction. The value of unity is two. Your improving relaxation and togetherness should always be encouraging the world to reveal the next stage – the next hurdle – rather than settling into itself. In a way this is what a true teaching is – something that leaves you forever incomplete. As soon as you achieve settlement and unity (double-weightedness) the teaching throws you into the next stage which leaves you feeling more wretched and incapable than ever before. The good student breathes a sigh of relief when this happens – there is nothing he distrusts more than comfort and expertise.
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