Skip to main content

My July post is going to be brief.  It's just too hot and impossible  for in depth post-making.   So,  a very short note which may give you some pause.  There's the  phrase in t'ai chi,  "fighting based on softness."   In today's world, this may be more metaphor than prescription  How many of us need to physically fend off enemies, or prepare for battle?  I hope its very very few!

 (though we still have a military mindset in this country,  that's based. on literal heavy artillery.  We're in the mindset in this particular moment in our nation history particularly that we have to fight aggression with physical aggression but that's probably a digression)   

So,  the point to maybe meditate on.  Why does fighting have to be hard?   Why does one need to combat ones enemy with force?  The idea of fighting aggression with softness.  It's quite something isn't it?

stay cool...

 And,  hey let's bring this thought to the LOU REED TAI CHI DAY.  We will be accompanying the activities that day,  AUGUST 3rd,  with some of our own

But more on that later.  For today,  here's a quote, from the purported originator of t'ai chi,  Zhang Sanfeng.


The true origins of tai chi remain a mystery, but the concepts are rooted in Chinese history, Taoism, and Confucianism.
The founder of tai chi is believed to be Zhang Sanfeng, a 12th-century Taoist monk. Some stories claim that Zhang Sanfeng left his monastery to become a hermit and that he created a form of fighting based on softness.
Sanfeng reportedly said:
"In every movement, every part of the body must be light and agile and strung together. The postures should be without breaks. Motion should be rooted in the feet, released through the legs, directed by the waist and expressed by the fingers. Substantial and insubstantial movements must be clearly differentiated."

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

 In my classes I like to introduce the many Qigong sequences I've learned,  mostly from a fascinating teacher I studied with for a few years,  up in Stone Ridge,  NY -- Hawkes, he calls himself.   A powerful student of the internal arts,  Qigong,  t'aiji as well as Shamanism.  Over the years I learned one after the other,  and we would then alternate,  a few months with one,  then on to the next,  in cycles -- the  Eight Taoist Moves,  the Ten Daoists,  and to one of the most beautiful, and most well known  of these,  Eight Pieces of Brocade I've since found a version that was very moving, demonstrated by Laoshi Faye Yip, now teaching in London I believe.  While I haven't incorporated all of her style and form,  I've adopted, and now teach Laoshi Fay'sopening,  the last move,  as well as a flower-like 6th move, a punch with amazing spiraling of the wrist at the end.   This is a ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Ma Wang Dui__Health qigong

 I'm jumping into the middle of my stories from a recent trip to China.   My plans of posting here daily or thereabouts were dashed for some reason.   Maybe it was seeing and experiencing so much that was new, or traveling in a large group -- meeting new people in our long bus rides.   Or maybe it was getting up often at 6 for breakfast  on  "command"    Late in the afternoon the day before, someone -- usually our logistical leader, Lili -- would bellow at the head of the bus,  '  7 am in the lobby and we'll find a place for Qigong/t'ai chi!'  Or      'Breakfast at 6:30.   Be ready to board the bus at 7!'      It was a whirlwind trip of fantastic sights and encounters that I'm still processing.  And it was high energy, early mornings, late nights and activity and walking throughout the day.   But I feel responsible for notating the outstanding things relating to t'ai chi and so here goes ...
Post a Comment
Read more

By not doing nothing is left undone

Taoism, a philosophy as well as a religion Came across an interesting article in the NYT recently about Taoism’s perspective on what it means to be human and what it means to die.   Tai chi as you may know is the movement embodiment of Taoism, and I’ve been curious for most of my time studying this Eastern art to understand what Taoism is all about.  But aside from the amazing writings of LaoTze -- a must! -- I've been somewhat disappointed.  there's precious little on the books.   (Though ask me about the few t'ai chi stories that you come across now and then, including the one about the man at the drive-through Starbucks!)   ALL JOKING ASIDE,    I’ve found only simple one sentence references to what Taoism is — like being in sync with nature, or yin-yang.  ho hum.   Glibly said,  easily forgotten.    So when I came  across this  article the other day, titled  A conversation with the religious scholar Brook Z...
1 comment
Read more