Mindful Qigong Movement

You can find this movement called Wise Owl Gazes Backwards within the popular qigong set, The Eight Strands of Brocade (Baduanjin). 

This movement, along with others, have their origins in an ancient Chinese health and wellness culture called Yangsheng or 'nourish life'. Archaeological evidence from the Mawangdui Tomb in Hunan Province, China, can date this culture of 'physical therapy' coupled with quiet breath awareness to 168 BC. 

Before starting these movements we can practice using our simple breathing exercise to slow down and pay attention to what’s going on around us.

Once we feel comfortable with these simple movements, we can use them delve a little deeper into what’s happening within. In Tai Chi, we have the word (Yi) for mental intention. There are many different types of intention we can bring to our practice. 

But before we add any other intentions we may want to discover what our default intention is.

In our day to day life, we can be goal-driven even if we are not striving to be the next Elon Musk, we probably have a strong intention to do things quickly, to find a parking space as quickly as possible, find the smallest queue in the supermarket, get where we are going as quickly as we can, possibly without knowing why.  Sometimes we do have a time limit but sometimes it’s just become a habit. 

Using simple Tai Chi movements we have a chance to explore a different intention for just a few minutes a day. We can explore the intention to deliberately slow down, maybe to observe a bit more maybe even take time to smell the roses?

As we bring our intention to focus more regularly it can help us develop mindfulness and be more aware of what intentions are driving us and what else we could be observing. This can help us become aware of some pleasant or neutral feelings such as clothing on the skin or the feeling the ground beneath the feet. We may become aware of the intention to rush or complete the movement and even enjoy letting it go.

It is fascinating to think that we can connect ourselves to women and men over 2000 years ago who felt the need to slow down and enjoy the very same physical and mindful movements we enjoy today. 

Breathing Space - A Meditation

As more and more businesses begin to re-open and schools are set to restart our lives may be changing again or even be speeding up. Is this something that we want to do?

This may be a good opportunity to check our internal speedometer and decide what speed we would like to be travelling at.  How do we control the speed? How do we slow down if we want to?

Phil's teacher used to say, 'If you give yourself time then you have all the time in the world.'

How do we give ourselves time in between all the other tasks of the day or just find time in between all the thoughts that may be rushing around our heads? 

 

In Tai Chi, we use a simple breathing exercise to practise pausing and slowing down. We can enjoy this exercise anytime, anywhere. We can do it this seated or standing or even lying down if we are at home.

Ideally, step outdoors to really reap the benefits of this exercise that has its roots in meditations practised over 2000 years ago in ancient China.  It could be a favourite place in your garden for instance, or a park, or any open space that resonates with you. 

You may like to begin by observing trees, clouds, plants and listen to the birds for a couple of moments. Just watching and enjoying the sights and sounds. Being in green spaces can help reduce high blood pressure. Observing nature moving more slowly can help us find a different pace from rushing traffic and computers. 

Following the traditional instructions in tai chi regarding the breath, let your breathing feel smooth, refined and continuous. A saying suggests our breath feels like drawing a single thread of silk from a cocoon.

Then we take time to observe the breath and any sensations that may come up. We follow the natural changes that occur as the breath comes in and goes out. We may feel like closing our eyes for a while to really feel the coming and going. 

"This creates a new spaciousness in the mind enabling us to think and see more clearly so that we are better able to focus on the things that really matter."

Dr Tamara Russell, 2015. Mindfulness In Motion. Watkins Media, London.

Why not try it just before settling down to sleep as part of your calming bedtime routine.

Once you get into a routine with this simple exercise you won't even need to use your hands as cues. You can visualise those touchpoints in your mind's eye and follow your natural breath cycle. 

If we can find just one minute to slow down, hit the pause button, and find breathing space, we give ourselves time and then we have all the time in the world.

Music: I Need To Start Writing Things Down by Chris Zabriskie

Tai Chi - Five Ways to Wellbeing

Tai Chi for Health and the Five Ways to Wellbeing.

Research on Tai Chi and Qigong appears to demonstrate the potential benefits these slow, meditative movements can offer adults and older adults looking to remain active into later life. Participants in our classes and at our workshops regularly report, anecdotally and via our evaluation forms, the benefits they feel after joining one of our classes.

We have found these benefits tend to fall in three themes or groups:

1. Functional Benefits
Being more active, improved balance, better coordination and mobility, feeling stronger, deep sense of relaxation, reduced stress, enjoying higher quality of sleep.

2. Emotional Benefits
Feeling more connected, more confident, sense of authenticity, more resilient, feeling of mastery, a sense of calm, humility, grace and ease, a willingness to take on other activies, a sense of Mindfulness throughout the day.

3. Social Benefits
Becoming more engaged in with others, within their community, as a volunteer, or expressing an interest in assisting or even leading a class, and becoming an accredited instructor too.

Image by Michael Hren

This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.

Dr. Peter M. Wayne, at Harvard Medical School, talks about the benefits of Tai Chi as being cohesive and integrative. In his book, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi, Dr. Wayne describes Tai Chi as having a number of active ingredients beyond the common therapeutic factors normally associated with public health programmes:

'Perhaps what makes Tai Chi so special is that this holistic, multicomponent exercise affects us at physical, psychological, social and philosophical levels. Its multilevel effects are especially important for complex chronic diseases that involve many systems throughout the body…' P. 29

Wayne Peter M. PhD. with Fuerst Mark L. The Harvard Medical School Guide to Tai Chi. Boston: Shambala, Harvard Health Publications; 2013.

We think the active ingredients described by Dr. Wayne fit within the evidence based model for wellbeing by the New Economics Foundation (NEF) called the Five Ways to Wellbeing.

The Five Ways offers people a simple way to take an active role in their health and wellbeing. They include:

Five Ways to Wellbeing

Image source: https://www.mentalhealth.org.nz/home/ways-to-wellbeing/five-ways-to-wellbeing-downloads/

Within our classes and workshops we see the Five Ways to Wellbeing in the following ways:

1. Connect – Joining one of our classes can prove a big step for some people. Our relaxed and warm atmosphere encourages people to form new friendships and develop informal social networks of support. 

2. Be Active – Tai Chi fits perfectly as rewarding activity that people enjoy and keep doing. Participants like to know that good evidence supports the reported benefits. 

3. Take Notice – We introduce people to a key Tai Chi principle called Jing, meaning mental serenity or mindfulness. Fostering a sense of Jing helps people listen to their bodies, listen to others, and take notice of the world around them. 

4. Keep Learning – We use a progressive teaching approach in all our classes and workshops. We offer people just the right amount of challenge to foster a sense of growing mastery as they continue to learn and practise their movement skills. 

5. Give – Within our classes we see people connect with others to offer support both within the class and in ways outside of the classroom too.

Whatever reason you have for joining one of our Tai Chi classes we introduce you to the principles and benefits from your very first class. The Tai Chi for Health programmes and Qigong we teach have many depths for you to explore.

Bring an open mind, a willingness to practise a little at home, and you will soon feel the benefits too.

Please do share this blog post with friends, family, and colleagues if you think they may like to find out more about our evidence based Tai Chi and Qigong programmes.

Tai Chi Principles

Tai Chi Principles

Sung and Jing

Sung (sometimes spelt Song), pronounced ‘soong’, represents the most important principle to build into your practice of tai chi and qigong.

Sung has many meanings, such as to relax, to loosen, to open, to release tension. Sung, counter-intuitively describes an active state of relaxation. Not as some people think to relax like a ‘sack of potatoes’.

In the classes I teach I often use an analogy from archery of the perfectly tensioned bow. Not too slack. Not too tight. Just right. Full of potential energy just waiting for the archer to draw and release. Which brings us to a second, yet equally important principle, that pairs nicely with sung, called Jing.

Movement with Stillness

Jing, like sung, has many meanings, such as stillness, motionless, silent, quiet, peaceful, calm and tranquil. When applied to your practice of tai chi Jing describes a quiet mind. An anonymous Tang Dynasty Daoist classic called the Qingjing Jing – The Classic on Clarity and Tranquility –  describes the quality of jing as a mind free from worries and naturally at ease. One can also think about jing as mindfulness or being mindful.

One could say the mind must also have sung. We could also say, that without jing, a tranquil mind, we'll find it difficult to feel sung throughout our body. Each principle supports and relates to the other, like the balance of yin and yang, which together form the familiar diagram of tai chi.

Through our practice of the tai chi form, we begin to realise the meanings behind well known tai chi sayings, such as, ‘movement with stillness’ and ‘when the wind blows the whole tree moves’.

Sung - Tai Chi

Sung and Jing represent very real felt qualities. It can take a little time to get a feel for them. At first you may get a glimpse, just for a moment, as you practice your tai chi form. With some patient practice each day you'll find your feel for sung and jing grow quite naturally like the unfolding of a beautiful blossom.

What do sung and jing feel like? Well, remember the archer and bow analogy? As you get familiar with the movements of the form you can begin to release tension from your mind and in your body. As you find and release all those tensions you will feel your muscles, tendons and ligaments, all the joints in your body, begin to open, loosen and relax. You will have started to develop sung – active relaxation. Further more, as you practice your tai chi form each day you'll find that quality of sung carry into your day to day activities also.

Chen - Tai Chi

Many people find a tai chi class without ever hearing about, let alone getting the opportunity to practice the principles that underpin tai chi, specially, sung and jing. Without these principles, one's tai chi becomes just another set of physical movements or form of thoughtless exercise like so many that people do day to day.

With jing and sung present you'll realise how they relate to, and act as the key to unlock the door to the other tai chi principles: Chen - meaning to sink, to feel heavy, rooted to the earth; Huo - meaning suppleness, agility, elasticity and resilience; the controlled transfer of our weight from one leg to another; and the rhythm for the slow, continuous, flowing movements we aim for when we practice tai chi.

Huo - Tai Chi

As you get a feel for these principles you'll find the health benefits really begin to kick in. You'll feel more  at ease and alert, calm and focused, with more energy for your day to day tasks, have greater physical and mental strength, stability and balance. With your continued practise you feel a real sense of happiness, contentment and feeling uplifted.

Tai Chi - Feels Good

Tai chi ought to feel good. If you don't get to practise it you begin to miss it. Finding a good tai chi class can really help keep you motivated as you learn the movements and give you a great sense of camaraderie. A good tai chi class will have a happy and relaxed atmosphere with lots of laughter present. If you find a class like that you'll know the principles of Sung and Jing are present too.

If you have a friend who you think would benefit from coming to one of our classes please do share this page as a link on social media or email.

We look forward to seeing you : )