Tai Chi Chih: Princess In The Valley
Welcome to another installment in the Tai Chi Chih “Joy Through Movement” series. I apologize for the long delay between installments, but life here has been the far side of hectic. But, we are back in stride now!
So, without further ado:
So far in the series (in order) we have:
- Rocking Motion
- Bird Flaps It’s Wings
- Around The Platter
- Carry Ball Around The Platter
- Bass Drum
- Princess On The Mountain Top
Some key points:
- Keep those shoulders loose!
- Make your motions even and steady.
- Don’t bend the knees too much as you get used to the form
As always, please check out my Teaching Gigs page.
Let me know how the videos are working for you in the comments! Cheers!
Tai Chi Breathing
A couple weeks back, Esther left a comment on my video showing the Tai Chi Chih move Bass Drum. She wanted me to mention something about the breathing pattern in Tai Chi. So, today after class at the Sunroom I had her film me giving the answer.
Here it is!
Sorry the sound quality is not so good. ;)
Cheers!
Tai Chi Chih: Princess On The Mountain Top
Here we are with the latest installment in the Tai Chi Chih “Joy Through Movement” series. Today we look at: Princess On The Mountain Top.
One thing I failed to mention in the video – The hand position is gender specific. For men it’s right hand passing in front of left. For women it’s left hand passing in front of right. This does not change as you switch feet. I am not going to defend the political correctness of such a tradition. The fact is that in my experience the thousands of years put into empirical research by both men & women in the development of Chi Kung practices is worthy of respect. But, you are your own authority ultimately and I would enourage any and all to experiment to see what works best for themselves.
During my own initial practice of Tai Chi Chih, over the course of my 1.000 day vow I experimented with reversing the hand positioning. I put left in front of with in the Yin formation for 3 solid months. The results were less than pleasant. I did not get girly, but I did get sick and was afflicted with odd pains in my joints which cleared up a week after the experiment ended. So, in short: mover beware.
Some key points:
- Watch those shoulders! Keep them relaxed, fight against the raise.
- Make your breaths deep. It should feel like your breath is hitting your pelvis.
I hope you folks are enjoying this and finding the vids useful. I would love any, and all, feedback in the comments.
Cheers!
Tai Chi Chih: Bass Drum
Here we go with this week’s installment in the Tai Chi Chih “Joy Through Movement” series. This time we look at Bass Drum.
*drum roll*
(Get it?)
Some key points:
- Do what you can. Push yourself, but not your limits.
- The hand flutter in the left hand comes usually after about two years of regular practice and is a confirming sign that chi is flowing.
- You may experience flushes of gentle warmth while practicing. That is a good thing.
As always, I would love to get your comments on these exercises and their presentation. Cheers!
Food Games: Saving The Yummy Bits
My relationship with food is not quite right. Not much of surprise there since I once weighed 396 pounds. I have a good amount of recovery from my dysfunctional relationship with food, but there are still things I do, games I play with my food unconsciously, that cause me problems and are still coming to light.
So, I was driving home from Aikido the other night and thinking about the dinner I had decided on for the evening. I’d decided to order take-out from Osha Thai my favorite local Thai food place. Because it had been a rough day, and I wanted spices to help with my migraine I was all about extra-spice tofu pumpkin curry over sticky rice. My favorite dish from there. As I was driving I was thinking about the impending meal (another bad habit I have with food), and wondering whether it was going to be too much food. I had a distinct visualization of being over full once I got to the actual pumpkin pieces.
Bingo! A light went off in my head. You see, that is one of the funny games i play with food: I save the “best” bits for last. For as long as I can remember I eat meals that have a part that I particularly like this way. In this specific instance my “ritual” is to put the ball of sticky rice into a bowl, scoop the solids (tofu, pumpkin, peppers, basil, and bamboo) out of the container into the bowl with the rice and then pour about half of the curry fluid over the top. I then proceed to push the pumpkin bits (my favorite!) to the far side of the sticky ride. I eat all the other solid bits, and then the pumpkin and then the sticky rice. This pattern never alters. What that means, and this was the big light bulb, is that I force myself to eat all the parts I don’t want so that I can have the yummy bits i do want, thereby ensuring that on nights were I do not feel as hungry I stuff myself.
Well, that’s silly. I am not suggesting always eating the tastiest bit first since (for me in particular) that would mean not having much of the healthy and nutritious parts of the meal. But, what I am suggesting, and am going to do myself, is that it’s a good idea to have some of the favored portions early in the meal so that I can stop as soon as I feel full without depriving myself of those parts I like most.
Well, there you have it, a simple seeing of one of my own unhealthy food/eating habits that i hope might be useful for someone else out there.
Cheers!
Tai Chi Chih: Carry Ball Around The Platter
Time for another installment of Tai Chi Chih “Joy Through Movement”
This week we tackle the movement, Carry Ball Around the Platter. It’s a variation of the move in the last installment, Around the Platter.
Don’t forget to start with the rest of the set:
As always, a few key point to bear in mind:
- The motion should be smooth and constant. Experiment with speed to get a comfortable feel but try not to vary the pace within a particular set.
- Don’t overdo the repetitions, let your body get used to the movement before doing lots.
- The goal is Joy, not heavy breathing!
You can check out my Teaching Gigs, and give a visit if you happen to be in the Bay Area.
Please feel free to hit me up with any questions regarding these exercises. I’d love to help!
Joy and health to you!
Tai Chi Chih: Around The Platter
Alright, time for another installment of Tai Chi Chih!
This week we go over “Around the Platter.” This is the first of the general set of motions after the two warm ups we went over, Rocking Motion, and Bird Flaps It’s Wings.
Some keypoints:
- The breathing pattern is not strictly one way, but should be consistent within a particular set. I always exhale while moving forward and inhale when moving back, but the reverse works just as good. Find what is comfortable with you, and remain open to changing it if your body seems to dictate doing so.
- Soreness in the knees is okay, sharp pains are not!
- Take your time, go slow, and let the movement show you what it can do for you.
As always, you can check my Teaching Gigs page and stop in if you are in the area. I’d love to see you!
Happy Tai Chi!
Tai Chi Chih: Bird Flaps It’s Wings
Here’s the next installment in the Tai Chi Chih series. Bird Flap’s it’s Wings.
A few points for this exercise:
- Build up the knee flex slowly(!!), and make sure the knee moves along a line guided by the inside edge of the bone process leading up to your big toe. Take it nice and easy and work up to deeper bends.
- Raising the heels is more important to the Chi effect of the exercise than bending the knees
- Breathe!
Any questions, feel free to comment below. Let me know how you are doing with these moves!
Check out the first move in the series here, as well as my teaching schedule.
Until next time, happy Tai Chi!
Tai Chi Chih: Rocking Motion
Welcome to the first installment of my Tai Chi Chih series. Tai Chi Chih is a simplified version of basic Tai Chi Chuan movements developed by Justin Stone, and was what kicked off my first 1,000 day vow, and is what helped me to lose over 200 pounds.
In this video I demonstrate the first exercise in the series, a warm up called Rocking Motion.
A few points:
- Looking into the far distance, as if looking to the most distant horizon, helps with balance.
- Do not strain to lift the balls of the feet, or the heels, to high when starting.
- Try to keep the breathing consistent, but don’t worry about it too much at first. I tend to exhale as I raise my arms for the forward swing and inhale on the back swing, but any consistent pattern is fine.
Please feel free to hit me with any questions. I’ll be releasing these videos weekly until the series is done.
Please see my Teaching Gigs page for my current schedule!
Cheers!
Recipe: A Good Morning
On twitter, tirayk said, “Hey! I’m lovin the recipes! Keep’ em comin!”
So, here ya go:A Good Morning
Ingredients-
- Programmable Alarm Clock
- Prayer Beads
- Exercise Space
- Wife
- Meditation Cushion
- A Good Book
- Coffee
For the Programmable Alarm Clock I use my iPhone. I set three alarms, each to go off at 5 minute intervals. I use the Bell Tower, Robot, and Marimba sounds, in that order. After experimentation I’ve found that I cannot be trusted with a snooze function, so setting three consecutive alarms gives me a much better chance of getting up something like on time.
I set my alarm for 90 minutes before I have to leave the house, or get Daisy (the Wife) out the door, to give me ample time for the rest of the recipe.
Once I actually rise I pray on a mandala of Prayer Beads for 10 rounds. There are 108 beads, so that’s 1,080 prayers. Takes about 6 minutes. The prayer is just a mental repetition of the name of God (for me that’s Ramanama.) I let this be an expression of gratitude for being.
Then it’s time for exercises. At this point I usually give Daisy a pat to let her know that the waking up ritual is beginning. A little warning goes a long way for ease-making later.
My Exercise Space is just a 3′ x 3′ space in the living room that is kept clear. My exercises ar as follows -
- A set of 40 Penguin Flaps
- A set of 40 forward arm raises
- A set of 30 torso twists
- Another set of 40 Penguin Flaps
- 60 Hindu Squats
- 100 hand grips
What the heck is a Penguin Flap, and what in Buddha’s name is a Hindu Squat?!? Well, I’ll tell ya in another post. 
I do this routine and then another pat to Daisy to let her know I am meditating, at which point I hit the Meditation Cushion. I set the timer on my iPhone (an app called Meditator by SimpleTouch) for 32 minutes. I have three alerts set. The first is at 2 minutes. That is the time I give myself to settle in on the cushion. Once I here the Tibetan monk drone out an, “Ooooommmmmm…” it’s time to get focused. My main practice these days is insight style, which means noting everything that happens as it happens. At 29 minutes after the first alert a bell sounds to let me know I’m almost done. Then the final bell and I bow and get up for three prostrations to the Buddha.
Then I get Daisy out of bed and on her way to her day with two good cups of Coffee and some breakfast (usually cold cereal with yogurt and fruit, or Cream ‘o Wheat with fruit.) I get my beans from Rodger’s Coffee & Tea, just down the street.
Finally a bit of reading from whichever of the several Good Books, I am currently working through.
This dish works best served warm.