To Qi, Or Not to Qi

The other day I was having a conversation with a potential student regarding the effectiveness of Tai Chi and Qigong to mitigate chronic pain. I explained that the goal of these disciplines is to balance mind, body and Qi, and in this process it can help to ease some causes of chronic pain. This person then asserted that they do not believe in Qi, so this probably would not help them. This brought up a discussion that I have had many times about the nature of Qi and why it seems so difficult for the western mind to grasp. As the noted author Alan Watts wrote in his book The Way Of Zen, a major stumbling block for the western student is that the basic premises of thought and methods of thinking are very different in Chinese culture. As a result, the way we seek to define concepts such as Qi cannot be discerned through the literal model that is central to western thinking.
Rather than regurgitating definitions pulled from any number of authoritative books, translated by authors far more capable than me, let us just agree that all things have energy and that that energy cannot be completely defined or understood, and we will call this energy, Qi. According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qi circulated best through a relaxed, aligned and balanced body, and this is exactly the point I wish to make. The conditions necessary for proper Qi flow in the body also create an environment where the body is balanced and therefore directly affects conditions that can cause pain.
When we are born, the instinctive parts of the brain start to stimulate the muscles that we will need for basic function, core muscles, the glutes and the legs as evidence by a baby’s first actions move their heads around and start kicking their feet. As we watch children develop, and observe the order in which they perform locomotive functions, we see that the muscles of the posterior chain are dominant in these foundational stages. This process creates a model for how our posture should be, but the difference between the way toddlers and adults move is vastly different. As we read through the texts describing the best posture for Qi flow, see many similarities to the foundational posture of the child.
As we go about our lives, the variety of our movements slowly decreases and many muscles atrophy leaving only a select few to do the work that the entire body was designed to perform, resulting in pain. Pain often comes from impingement and the reason for that impingement can be that the skeleton is being pulled into an unnatural position by muscles and connective tissues that are overcompensating for the muscles that are no longer capable of offering support. We see these conditions occur when someone suffers an injury to an ankle or a knee and walks with a limp until the injury heals but often, elements of the limp remain. Over time, lack of movement, or more accurately lack of variety of correct movement leads to similar conditions.
The good news is that we can begin to correct the defects in posture, unfortunately, since it did not occur overnight it will take time and patience to adjust. One thing that we want to keep in mind as we search for the true source of our pain is that the locations of the aggravation may not be where the actual cause is. Much like a leaky roof that can present a drip far from where the actual hole is, so it is for the body. When we discuss balance, the source is actually the opposite side from where the issue manifests, for example back pain can be from a weak core or abdominal wall, knee pain can be caused by the opposite ankle. Exercises like Tai Chi and Qigong compel us to examine our movements in extreme detail so that we can truly discern where our bodies are weak, and then we can begin to slowly strengthen them.
As I tell my students, do not let your ego get in the way. You are interested in real data that your body can tell you rather than just accomplishing a goal. There is no such thing as too light of a weight, too slow or strict of a movement, so do not be discouraged if you are asked to perform an exercise with a 1lb dumbbell, an exercise band or even just the weight of a single limb of your body. Your posture is indicative of many issues, pain, breathing difficulties, anxiety, among many other things. As we seek to correct our posture we often see many of these issues correct themselves. Unfortunately, this takes dedicated, disciplined, routine practice, not just a medication that will mask symptoms. The potential for such relief exists for most people but each individual must choose to walk the path. A teacher can show the way, but the cannot carry you to the destination.

Caution: Drowning Hazard

All creation begins with the spark of conception. The difficulty lies in taking the concept into a tangible reality. The more complex the concept, the more difficult this transition becomes. Along the way the concept can get bogged down and the functional end goal may become lost. In martial arts, all techniques and principles must be dealt with in the context of how they can be functionally applied. Study in the theory and idea, and then test it in practical application. The abstract nature of the conceptual system is like a lake connecting two shores. If one loses sight of the destination, the waters may become overwhelming and result in drowning in the concept.

The T-Rex Shuffle

When I was a boy I loved dinosaurs. I’m sure that doesn’t seem much different from kids today, but just 40 years ago dinosaurs, or rather our ideas of dinosaurs, were quite different. T-Rex stood upright and dragged his tale behind him, and we knew it was true because King Kong fought one, and our science teachers in school showed us the pictures of the skeletons and images of the beasts reimagined as flesh and bone. Today ten year olds would laugh at our depictions of the fearsome monsters and point out our glaring inaccuracies.
How could we get it so wrong? How could something as universally accepted as a T-Rex be so misintepreted? More importantly, how many other things have we been wrong about? The earth being flat, the sun revolving around the earth, tomatoes causing madness are all ideas that were, at one time, commonly accepted. So, what if I told you that you have been using your body wrong since you were about 7 years old?
All things in nature have been designed to accommodate their environment and humans are no different. The problem is that our current environment looks virtually nothing like the one we were designed to inhabit. The fact that we have removed the necessary effort to move around in an obstacle riddled world has resulted in massive imbalances and an asymmetrical posture that has given rise to a large number of common medical issues.
If you want to feel better, take out the poster of the evolution of man, tear off the last few phases and start moving more like a primate so those muscles you’ve been ignoring start to fire up again. Your body will thank you after you get over the initial soreness. T-Rex didn’t drag his tail and humans weren’t designed for chairs.

The ZigZag Path

The Zigzag Path

It would be nice if the true nature of things was just readily apparent but this is rarely the case. My first experience with Tai Chi was for its meditational value. I was trying to go to college, work full time, check in on two cancer stricken parents (at separate addresses) and my brother and I lived with my 83 year old grandmother who was largely self sufficient but still occasionally caused anxiety. I was twenty years old and working on an ulcer. I tried yoga as an elective at college, self hypnosis and meditation in psychology but I didn’t have the attention span or focus for them. My Sifu talked about how it relaxed him so I asked to try it and I haven’t had another stress induced stomach ailment since.
In the many years since, my study has gotten deeper and deeper. Master Ting opened up such vast potential that I felt overwhelmed, yet I trudged on doing the best I could. I started to notice that despite repeating everything Master Ting uttered, using his descriptions, his approach, myself and students were not progressing consistently but I just assumed this was the way it was.
To say I have not treated my body gently in my 51 years might be an understatement. Chronic back pain, loss of flexibility, the only time I didn’t feel discomfort was when I was performing the Tai Chi form. A couple of years ago I decided I wasn’t ready to be old and signed up for an obstacle course race. I very quickly realized that I was no longer twenty five and that I had some serious limitations. I have been blessed with some great friends with great insight which led to some intense research and epiphanies. I learned about the posterior chain and the function of the glutes and how the abdominals should be elongated and how the back muscles need to engage. Once I started making connections and felt the results I realized that I was in the Tai Chi posture. After 32 years I had finally cracked the code. The reason everyone has so much trouble achieving the Tai Chi posture was because their bodies were not being completely utilized. Almost half of our bodies are not engaged, and those muscles that are not firing are exactly the muscles needed to perform the movements correctly. I would go so far as to say that without an awareness and understanding of the underlying musculature, correct tai chi posture is not possible. I am sure that over a considerable amount of time some people may be able to overcome the natural favoritism associated with the quadriceps or a deltoid that is primarily used but I think most people will remain subject to the ingrained movement pattern. Over time I have noticed tremendous improvement in not just myself, but everyone who trains with me. One student with a large spinal fusion, and limited mobility has regained the ability to run, another with chronic knee pain has eliminated his need for a brace, another in her 70’s has regained mobility and now walks without her cane. All because we started working the neglected muscles and reengaged them into a unified body.  My goal is to spread this knowledge and help as many people as I can. This can be difficult because the course can seem intimidating. I try to lay out the issues and show a clear path on how to correct these conditions, and so far it has met with great success. It does not happen immediately, but with time and dedicated training, emphasizing these principles may yield great results for those willing to commit to it.
In conclusion, the Tai Chi system is a wonderful vehicle for people to reinforce correct movement patterns. My understanding of the art did not take a straight and predictable course, it switched direction unexpectedly but ultimately led to to the right place. It is not easy and it seems most people are reluctant to face the reality of hard work because it may seem intimidating, but if you break the work into smaller pieces, it is very attainable. We all have to make the choice whether we want to make the changes or suffer the consequences of letting ourselves go.  It is undeniable that modern convenience and the extreme amount of time people spend sitting in chairs has led to a breakdown in natural movement patterns. If you believe in yourself and are willing to progress slowly, you will see that the hard work is manageable. Without correcting these first, a practitioner has little hope of achieving the best results from Tai Chi practice.

Work with what you’ve got!

Many years ago, in the early 90’s, I worked an over night shift so I could take college classes during the day. I would leave work and usually stop at the Texaco gas station to fuel up my car and over time struck up a friendship with one of the attendants. His name was Jim and he was 4’11”. One day I had to pop open my trunk to get something and he saw some of my martial arts equipment and said “oh I do that too!” He was a 2nd degree blackbelt in Tang Soo Do, which much like it’s cousin Taekwondo, is a predominantly a kicking art, and would seem to give an advantage to a taller fighter with longer legs. Despite this, he found a way to succeed. He had enough trophies from competitions to fill a number of cases. He realized that his legs were longer than the arm reach of most opponents and if he got in tight he could jam their kicks while staying out of punching range and still kick effectively himself.

Over the years I have had many opportunities to work with people who may appear disadvantaged to society at large and I have watched each of them make great improvements, attain great success and surpass all expectations. Most importantly it has taught me that everyone, even the most physically gifted of us, should approach life with the same attitude. Take the hand you have been dealt, and forge it into something with the fire of your will and vision. It would do me little good if I were to dwell on the fact that I never grew to 6′ tall, or that my eyesight was poor. Wishing and hoping that you were something else is pointless. It’s like the person who gets implants to make it look like they have muscles instead of working the muscles themselves. We each have vast unrealized potential. Do not look at what you’re “missing”, instead take account of what you have and make the most of it. You will find the satisfaction you achieve to be greater than any facade you can muster.

Happy New Year! Time to find the OLD you.

Welcome to 2019! A new year to face new challenges and new opportunities.

Unfortunately, most of us limp around complaining of various aches and pains which limits our quality of life. We have been convinced that each year on the calendar means we become weaker and slower and less able to enjoy the things of our youth. While it is true that aging does have some of this effect, the majority of problem lies in gradual changes to our bodies that, over time, have had a crippling effect. In short, we don’t get weaker because we age, we get weaker because we have stopped using many or our muscles. This leads to a weakening of the entire system and an over-reliance on a select few muscle groups. The good news is that you can begin to strengthen those muscles, coordinate them again and find yourself moving like you haven’t moved in a long time.

When we are born our bodies are programmed to utilize our posterior chain muscles, our core muscles, and our back muscles. Watch the way very small children move and walk. They have a very straight posture with bent knees and the hips functioning as a hinge. As we start school and spend more and more time in chairs we reprioritize our musculature and begin neglecting vast groups of muscles, the neural pathways atrophy along with the muscle fibers and they forget how to contract effectively.

The ancient Chinese understood this natural posture and recently some in modern exercise science have rediscovered it. Using a combination of both, there is a method of regaining what time and under-use have done to our bodies.

It’s 2019, and its time to find the body you were born with, which has become buried under years of poor movement patterns. You have nothing to lose except the aches and pains of 2018.

Happy New Year!

Another year is beginning and another chance to make positive changes. The majority of problems are caused by ourselves but we can also have most of the solutions. If you aren’t sure where to start, look where balance is lacking in your life and start making adjustments. A balanced mind, a balanced body and a balanced spirit will help balance your life. You cannot control outside forces, you can only control how much you let those forces affect you.

Time.

Time is, at once, both an oppressive tyrant and a silent assassin. Every day we live with the knowledge that we have limited time, and yet it is very easy to fail to realize how much time has passed. This is so important when it comes to physical activity, and I believe a serious impediment to people when they start exercising again. Few people and few trainers are patient enough to realize that we need to rebuild ourselves from the ground up, getting the body balanced and THEN begin to strengthen in earnest. It might have been years, even decades since you pushed yourself and more than your muscles have atrophied. Chances are you have been holding your body incorrectly for a long time, neglecting vital muscles and those muscles need to be retrained, the connective tissues, the bones, they adhere to must all be gradually be brought back up to speed. This will help avoid injury and also help your body progress in a balanced fashion. Time can deceive you but patience will show you the truth.

The decline of martial arts

Long ago there was a state called Chu, that existed during the 4th century BC, and in this state lived a man named Zhuang Zhao, more commonly known as Zhuangzi. Zhuangzi called our perception of reality into question. His teachings were of nature and the nature of man. In nature things are created and sometimes rise to great heights but eventually diminish. Success breeds failure. Martial arts were created thousands of years ago, seeking to find ways to better destroy other people. As such, the methods that became effective thrived while those which lost were abandoned. No one has use for a knife that does not cut. Over the centuries each of these knives, which were once sharp seemed to lose their edge, but in reality it was the fault of those who wielded the knives who lost the understanding of those who first forged it. Just as the knife is crafted to cut, martial arts were crafted to fight. They were successful, they developed a following and eventually the quality diminished and it died out, to be replaced with something else, which in turn, is eventually replaced.
Today too many people look at history with a modern bias, as if we are sitting atop the pinnacle of development of all things, but in truth there is nothing new. Grappling arts, kicking arts, striking arts, have all been around for thousands of years, using the same human body, the same laws of physics and were developed and used during some of the most violent periods of history.
In 1958, Chuck Norris began studying Tang Soo Do, and he wrote his wife, who casually mentioned this to a local policeman in town who implored her to convince him to stop, for fear of Carlos becoming and uncontrollable killer. This was the mystique karate held in the sixties. It was difficult to find a school, difficult to achieve a high rank and the people that did so succeeded due to deep personal commitment, sacrifice and determination. The fights in those early days were hard and intense and the winners earned their titles. As the popularity grew, so did the number of schools and the quality diminished. Bruce Lee came along and the martial arts exploded in popularity. According to authors in 1986, the number of martial arts schools in the US went from 150 in 1972 to over 1.5 million in just a few years. Today, despite the presence of so many schools martial arts are looked at as ineffective and dismissed. Maybe something to keep the kids occupied, teach them some discipline. The 60’s had karate, the 70’s “kung fu”, the 80’s had the ninjas, the 90’s showcased Gracie Jui Jitsu, and now we have MMA. Every school in each shopping plaza seems to be offering some kind of grappling program. Already we see practitioners performing techniques and the experts will look at it and say where they are deviating from principles. This will follow the same model as the others and start to decline.
Perhaps we should ask ourselves why something doesn’t work today, yet worked hundreds of years ago. Shuai jiao (grappling) has existed in China since at least the Zhao Dynasty. Japan was exposed to Chin na around 900 AD and became the basis for Aikijutsu, which led to Juijitsu which led to Brazilian Juijitsu. Are we to assume the other arts that gained prominence were never exposed to grappling? Something changed, and since our bodies are the same, physics are the same, violence is the same, clearly we are not doing what the originators did. Yang Lu Chan was given the nickname “Yang the invincible” because he defeated so many opponents of so many different styles, which led to him being invited to teach the Emperor himself, yet tai chi practitioners are not taken seriously as martial artists. Why did it work for Yang but not today?
The ego leads us to seek fame and victory, it makes us seek tool that we can use to elevate ourselves. We proudly wield a copy of the knife yet do not spend the time to hone the edge like the original and wonder why ours doesn’t cut. For centuries, masters of every discipline have told us it is the individual, not the style. Rediscover the principles on which a style was founded, verify that they are sound, and adhere to them. Styles come and go, just as the State of Chu ended long ago, so will the latest “ultimate style” diminish but the principle will remain. History contains these lessons about ego, underestimating opponents, demonstrating the endless cycle of invention, prominence and decline, you can learn from them or suffer from repeating them.

Back to page one

Tai chi practice consists of always going back to page one because there is only one page to correct practice. It just takes a novel to explain the one page. A long novel.