During college I found, by accident one morning, an older man practicing Tai Chi. He was from Beijing on a student visa so was only in the United States for a 3-4 years. I got to know him and he taught me some Chi Kung and eventually Red Cimarron Palm. This was over 30 years ago. I've recently found your video classes and they have inspired me to start practicing again. Your videos have helped to explain chi theory too so thank you very much for your time and effort!
What a find that was back when you were in college! I wish I had been introduced to Tai Chi sooner. It is gratifying to know that my channel and videos have inspired you to reconnect with Tai Chi. Thank you for sharing and for commenting!
@cinmac3 A coworker introduced me to a friend of his that had been learning five animal style Shaolin for about 8 years. The guy wanted to spar with me so I did. During the sparring I had an opening to attack so I took it... with as little chi as I could since we were sparring. He screamed and jumped back angry that I hit him with full force contact. When he lifted up his shirt there was a bright red hand print on his left side above his hip. If I hadn't only used a tiny bit of chi he'd be dead from an exploded spleen or stomach. It scared me and I stopped practicing. But now, being 35 years older I realize that I should have kept practicing. Recently after talking with life long friend, who has studied Shaolin White Crane for 45+ years, a few times about me not practicing... he convinced me to start practicing again... so I am.
@@InternalTaiChi Thank you! It feels odd when chi starts trickling into stagnant channels. I've forgotten what that felt like when I first started learning back in college. I'm sure Zhan Zhuang will even out the chi flow and bring everything back into balance. :). However, I've forgotten some of the 48 form Tai Chi so I need to brush up on it. Sad to admit that. :(
Yes. I would suggest my Beginner Tai Chi course. It will help develop improved balance and body awareness. You can view that on my website. www.taichisusan.com
The pour into the earth sounds good. What about the growing roots. Are they kind of the same ? Or ones just relaxing and other is just rooting. My feet get tired and hurt
I am not a fan of the idea of growing roots, like tree roots, down into the ground. We want to be light, nimble and mobile in Tai Chi, not rooted so much that we can't move easily. A tree doesn't move. When we pour into the earth as discussed in this video, your body has a natural upward buoyancy in response, which gives us a perfect balance of lightness and "rootedness." The reason your feet get tired and hurt is because there is too much intention on the rootedness. Try, in your instance, to create lightness in your stance. This will balance you out.
@@נאדר-ש4ז yes but with a balance of rising upward. It is one of the biggest challenges to release our muscles and tension. Releasing this tension is the water going down. As you learn to release you will feel a natural uprising. This state then can be carried into your day, your posture, and your Tai chi movements.
I often teach this first in a seated position. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, your back away from the back of the chair and your hands resting on your thighs. Become aware of your sit bones, where your butt bones sink into the chair. Now, pour your upper body into those sit bones. Imagine your sit bones are getting heavier and heavier, leaving a deeper divot into the chair. Soon you will feel a light expansion to your upper body, and sometimes even your lower body. This is the sensation you want when you are standing. When standing do the same procedure. Instead of pouring your upper body weight into your sit bones, you pour them down to your feet, then down under the ground. I hope this helps. Thanks for the engaging , great questions!
how do you release into your feet and not into your knees? my teacher's teacher kept saying to go to the feet, to stand a bit higher (especially in push hands). I think I'm getting better at this but it often feels more like chance than conscious effort. I can 'get there' in zhan zhuang but as soon as it involves movement, eg white crane spreads wings or a bow step, I 'lose' the grounding. do you have some other cues?
These are excellent questions and common challenges, so you are not alone in discovering the difficulty of transitioning from stillness to movement while maintaining a grounded or rooted feeling. I will make a video as these are great questions. In the meantime I encourage you to place your awareness in the releasing to lift. In other words the reason you are losing the feeling is because your awareness shifts to your upward moving arms in White Crane, rather than the downward pouring sensation of connecting with the earth beneath you, which RESULTS in the floating of the arms. Don't move until you feel an upward reaction to the downward flow. In fact, you can augment your standing meditation to include this practice. Flow the awareness downward and when you sense (or at first pretend to sense) an upward expression, then allow your arms to move or your body to step. Then hold that position for a while, then practice it again....stand, move, stand, move, etc. I hope this helps! Thanks for the great question and for watching my videos!
When you said sink I thought of a faucet sending water and the gravity flows downward and the evaporation would cause the water to rise. Strange thought, good thing it won't cause it to rain in the kitchen, bathroom.....
lol! Steam rising is another great visual! I did standing meditation by the lake the other day. The lake was still and there was steam rising and moving over the lake. It certainly helped my standing meditation to join that visual!
During college I found, by accident one morning, an older man practicing Tai Chi. He was from Beijing on a student visa so was only in the United States for a 3-4 years. I got to know him and he taught me some Chi Kung and eventually Red Cimarron Palm. This was over 30 years ago. I've recently found your video classes and they have inspired me to start practicing again. Your videos have helped to explain chi theory too so thank you very much for your time and effort!
What a find that was back when you were in college! I wish I had been introduced to Tai Chi sooner. It is gratifying to know that my channel and videos have inspired you to reconnect with Tai Chi. Thank you for sharing and for commenting!
Why did you stop!!
@cinmac3 A coworker introduced me to a friend of his that had been learning five animal style Shaolin for about 8 years. The guy wanted to spar with me so I did. During the sparring I had an opening to attack so I took it... with as little chi as I could since we were sparring. He screamed and jumped back angry that I hit him with full force contact. When he lifted up his shirt there was a bright red hand print on his left side above his hip. If I hadn't only used a tiny bit of chi he'd be dead from an exploded spleen or stomach. It scared me and I stopped practicing. But now, being 35 years older I realize that I should have kept practicing. Recently after talking with life long friend, who has studied Shaolin White Crane for 45+ years, a few times about me not practicing... he convinced me to start practicing again... so I am.
I am glad you are returning to the art. Welcome back! :-)
@@InternalTaiChi Thank you! It feels odd when chi starts trickling into stagnant channels. I've forgotten what that felt like when I first started learning back in college. I'm sure Zhan Zhuang will even out the chi flow and bring everything back into balance. :). However, I've forgotten some of the 48 form Tai Chi so I need to brush up on it. Sad to admit that. :(
Many thanks for the video
You are welcome. Thanks for commenting!
Wonderful Lesson, Thank you🙏🏻
Thank you! 😊
Outstanding lesson. Thank you, Susan
Thank you for watching and for your positive feedback!
Susan do you have some fall prevention exercises for seniors. Help
Yes. I would suggest my Beginner Tai Chi course. It will help develop improved balance and body awareness. You can view that on my website. www.taichisusan.com
The pour into the earth sounds good. What about the growing roots. Are they kind of the same ?
Or ones just relaxing and other is just rooting. My feet get tired and hurt
I am not a fan of the idea of growing roots, like tree roots, down into the ground. We want to be light, nimble and mobile in Tai Chi, not rooted so much that we can't move easily. A tree doesn't move. When we pour into the earth as discussed in this video, your body has a natural upward buoyancy in response, which gives us a perfect balance of lightness and "rootedness." The reason your feet get tired and hurt is because there is too much intention on the rootedness. Try, in your instance, to create lightness in your stance. This will balance you out.
🙏
Thank you!
Do i try to constantly try to release down?
@@נאדר-ש4ז yes but with a balance of rising upward. It is one of the biggest challenges to release our muscles and tension. Releasing this tension is the water going down. As you learn to release you will feel a natural uprising. This state then can be carried into your day, your posture, and your Tai chi movements.
@InternalTaiChi so should be done standing first?
I often teach this first in a seated position. Sit in a chair with your feet flat on the floor, your back away from the back of the chair and your hands resting on your thighs. Become aware of your sit bones, where your butt bones sink into the chair. Now, pour your upper body into those sit bones. Imagine your sit bones are getting heavier and heavier, leaving a deeper divot into the chair. Soon you will feel a light expansion to your upper body, and sometimes even your lower body. This is the sensation you want when you are standing. When standing do the same procedure. Instead of pouring your upper body weight into your sit bones, you pour them down to your feet, then down under the ground.
I hope this helps. Thanks for the engaging , great questions!
how do you release into your feet and not into your knees? my teacher's teacher kept saying to go to the feet, to stand a bit higher (especially in push hands). I think I'm getting better at this but it often feels more like chance than conscious effort. I can 'get there' in zhan zhuang but as soon as it involves movement, eg white crane spreads wings or a bow step, I 'lose' the grounding. do you have some other cues?
These are excellent questions and common challenges, so you are not alone in discovering the difficulty of transitioning from stillness to movement while maintaining a grounded or rooted feeling. I
will make a video as these are great questions. In the meantime I encourage you to place your awareness in the releasing to lift. In other words the reason you are losing the feeling is because your awareness shifts to your upward moving arms in White Crane, rather than the downward pouring sensation of connecting with the earth beneath you, which RESULTS in the floating of the arms. Don't move until you feel an upward reaction to the downward flow.
In fact, you can augment your standing meditation to include this practice. Flow the awareness downward and when you sense (or at first pretend to sense) an upward expression, then allow your arms to move or your body to step. Then hold that position for a while, then practice it again....stand, move, stand, move, etc.
I hope this helps! Thanks for the great question and for watching my videos!
@@InternalTaiChi thank you, I'm at a point where I'm significantly ramping up my tai chi practice so these are some great pieces of advice to apply :)
When you said sink I thought of a faucet sending water and the gravity flows downward and the evaporation would cause the water to rise.
Strange thought, good thing it won't cause it to rain in the kitchen, bathroom.....
lol! Steam rising is another great visual! I did standing meditation by the lake the other day. The lake was still and there was steam rising and moving over the lake. It certainly helped my standing meditation to join that visual!
@@Jennifer-wr9si thank you! Glad I am able to enhance your Tai chi practice!