And I saw a New Heaven and a New Earth

Looking back over the past few years I see that the areas I was working on and writing about moved from forms, applications and techniques to principles and psycho–spiritual aspects. Now it has gone to a whole new wavelength involving why I do Tai Chi, who I do it with, what I’m looking for and what it really means to me. Yes, it can be a bumpy ride! I imagine as this passes it will be back to forms and techniques and how to gain real skill there. Here is a brief history of time.


Forms

1. Starting movement
2. Step up and make Seven Stars
3. Step back and ride The Tiger
4. Wild Horses mane
5. The Black Dragon waves its tail
6. The Hero makes his strike
7. The Fair Lady works at the shuttle stick with the knives
8. Push the boat
9. The White Crane spreads its wings
10. The Five Element Palm
11. The wind sweeping up the Lotus leaves
12. Diagonal single whip
13. The Fair Lady works at the shuttle no. 1
14. The Fair Lady works at the shuttle no. 2
15. The Fair Lady works at the shuttle no. 3
16. The Fair Lady works at the shuttle no. 4
17. Three Star Stance
18. Repulse The Monkey from the South East With a turn in the wrist


Applications

Person A steps forward RF and punches RH.
Person B steps left RH palm up at wrist and LH palm down at shoulder (roll back).
As person A retracts person B steps in RF touching outside of A’s RF (slightly behind), hook their arm shoulder to shoulder and step left with LF as you turn left for a throw. The more subtle version of this is that you don’t even need to step forward with the LF. Just sink and you’ll naturally turn slightly left.


Techniques

In this technique your partner should come in using press against your press. At the very beginning of their push while they are rear weighted and you are forward weighted you let a little pressure build up and then let it off and then deliver your press with a little pop or light Fa Jing. You have to be careful not to go back at all when receiving them and to time your press just before or with theirs. The press gets stored momentarily in the rear foot and bounces them off.


General principles

Find the center of rotation
Press on hinges for reaction
Go into neutral, hitch a ride
Find the corner or “sweet spot”
Entering
Turning the body
Sticking
Circularity
Timing
Reaching out and hooking the punch first, receiving
Looseness
Rolling out of locks


Physical transformation

There is a thinking center in the stomach (Dantian) that becomes activated in a particular way through slow meditative practice and by the proprioception awareness that the brain in the head can not process. That is the expansion of awareness from the sympathetic nervous system to the para-sympathetic system. This allows the development of tendons, ligaments, sinews and bones to become conscious.


Spiritual aspects

We live in a modern world. Our spiritual advances are being made in a world of phones and computers in buildings of steel and glass. So our world suggests a different way to achieve balance than the old ways. We do not have the luxury of retiring to a cave or a monastery to study in depth. We must find the opportunity in our world to do so.


Psychological growth

Dedication
Imagination
Inquisitiveness
Research
Conceptualization
Study
Ideology
Understanding
Inductive reasoning
Deductive reasoning
Reasoning by metaphorical analogy
Philosophy
Defining goals
Strategy


Emotional growth

Striving
Playfulness
Sense of grace
Self image
Judging
Relationships to students, teachers
Finding yourself
Stubbornness
Ego
Attachment
Virtue
Determination
Anger
Resentment
Joy / Peace


Psychic transformation

Breath / Meditation
Singularity consciousness vs. group consciousness / Individuation vs. neural network
Psychic centers - three levels – hinge, nerve plexus, and psychic center
Energy – ability to perceive, collect, transmute and express
Vision – peripheral vision, colors, auras, shapes, energy
Being transported
Perception of higher order energies – other realities, entities, spirit guides, higher self
Entrainment / Osmosis of energies around you
Universal mind / Cosmic library / Akashic record / The void
Cellular level / DNA
Time – time codes, time slipping, transcending linear time, enfolded, recursive, layered
Earth energies / Telluric energies
Enlightenment / Consciousness / Higher consciousness
Redemption
Ecstatic transformation


Integration

The energetic, extra sensory and body awareness skills are practiced separately or they will not emerge. The changes in the temperament, mind function and perception are likewise practiced consciously. They do not generally appear magically with the study of blocking, punching and kicking. Although this is a solitary journey, no one gets there alone and the connection that we share is so direct and important as we come together over our love and devotion to this thing in our lives, our Tai Chi. It seems in the end we will not keep getting better in Martial Arts unless we become better individuals and work on our core issues that we hold in our minds and our bodies. Softness is a way of letting people in at you, able to touch you at your core. This creation of shared space is one of the deepest places to explore in this art and it is a cooperative exploration in shared space. It is here we discover new levels of meaning and quality of movement.