tai chi in park slope

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...

I just discovered an extraordinary t'ai chi artist or warrior  or dancer (or all three),  Sifu (or master) Cheung Kwok Wha.   He's doing a form I haven't seen,   Needles in Cotton,  or  Pak Hok Pai. I believe its roots are in ancient Tibet.  Anyways, Sifu Cheung's  movements are so precise,  so centered,  so ... exquisite. I watched him performing the form  straight through barely breathing.   Click on the highlighted part, and enjoy!

 This morning,  in my qigong class,  I introduced the classic t'aiji image  -- a needle in cotton -- that like so much of t'aiji and qigong, is delightful and mysterious.  What it signifies to me is  -- is nothing less than becoming t'ai chi.   what I mean by that is that you will change and in a magnificent direction.   One day -- after years of  waving your arms around gently and stepping firmly and turning your waist  as instructed,   one day,  you will feel this odd new ... connection.   Your breath enters and leaves, you might feel a tingling in your wrists and suddenly your limbs are weightless.   It's so hard to convey.  I feel I"m not succeeding and I'm not sure that this writer,  Danny Dreyer,   does the job much better but I"m going to let him try.      I'm excerpting from his book,  T'ai Chi Walking,  to better explain it “NEEDLE IN COTTON: GATHER TO YOUR CENTER AN...

"in class, we move hands like clouds and when we leave class, we walk on clouds"  In a nutshell, the piece summarizes a recent study reported on this past April, about the benefits of t'ai chi in improving balance and alleviating arthritic pain.  This is a finding that has been reported on repeatedly, but it never hurts to remind ourselves.  I believe that improved balance is perhaps the most striking and confirmable benefit of regular t'ai chi practice.   Re back pain:   A report that came out earlier in the year --  The scientific community seldom recognizes t'ai chi among the mindfulness techniques. Anyway,  there was an exception recently.   The American College of Physicians published last spring a new study re back pain.   Basically, it states  that someone suffering pain should not "medicalize" the problem -- in other words, don't go the route of X-rays, MRIs and def not opioids.  But DO go the non-medical route. to qu...