Opening the Door

I have long wondered why Tai Chi leads to the kind of breaking through, breaking down and breaking open that it does. I have seen it time and time again. Even though I try not to be a “Spiritual Teacher” or even to have a touchy feely environment in my classes it happens anyway. Some people have opined that the “mere Tai Chi” that I teach is not the really deep level of repatterning that constitutes indoor teaching; I do just teach Form, but it still happens anyway. Well, this is what I have observed.

Mechanical centers – There are numerous hinges in the body that we learn to open and close in Tai Chi. At first this is in the form of isolations, the ability to move that joint without moving all the surrounding areas as usual. As we do the form we are slowly and consciously opening and then closing these hinges. We create new pathways and begin to physically change at this level. The joints open up, the surrounding structures receive increased blood flow and after a while we start to feel an energy in the body associated with this action.

Electrical centers – It turns out that many of these hinges that we are opening and closing are located at important electrical junction boxes is the body. These plexus areas have numerous nerve systems all coming together and tying into central relay stations. The centers get fired up and start to run at a higher voltage or frequency in the order that the student can consciously manipulate the mechanical joint. I have observed that the Coccygeal, the Pelvic and the Solar Plexus usually open up first and that the Thoracic hinge and the Cervical Spinal hinge open up later. It is at this stage that Chi Sickness, Psychological Issues and Psychic Aspects begin to manifest. I usually start thinking at this point that some experience as a therapist might not be a bad idea for a Tai Chi teacher.

Psycho spiritual centers – It is no coincidence that at the same location as these hinges and plexus points are the Chakra energetic valves. Once the mechanical hinges are opened and the electrical connections are clearing away old blockages then the Chakras start to clear up and open up. I will tell you that for those who are lightly sprung or have deep seated issues this can be a very big deal. I think that those who can find someone who is a professional in energy medicine do much better and those who think that they understand it or that their practice will be adequate to deal with it do not fare so well.

I have heard that some people learn gradually, always adding to their knowledge base and their experience in an incremental and orderly way. Actually, I have never seen this but I have heard it is possible. What I have seen is a Big Bang, a massive explosion at the center of one’s universe that brings one to their knees. I can tell those who have had it from those who have not. Do not mistake this for injury. Many have a deep injury which they carry. They can nurture, amplify and replay that injury but it doesn’t lead to a breakthrough. The reason is that there is an inability to pass through the doorway of fear and surrender to the transformation. This is one of the most important things that can happen for a Human; to find our true purpose and our true worth. In my life it was a difficult transition which has made all the difference and it all began with Opening the Door.

The Left Hand of Darkness

Where the shadow
Meets the ground
Something lost
Is finally found

Where the soul
Meets the sky
We begin the change
To beings of light

The Left Hand of Darkness
Reaching out towards Infinity
This gesture filled with Wisdom and Release

This inner peace
Begins to make us whole
There’s a piece
That’s broken in us all

Three days grace
Shall give thee time
Take these tools
To change your life

When the student seeks
The teacher’s gift
To claim their power
And their truth

You can
Change the future
In this hour
We greet the dawn

Find
The inner guide
Now your
Teacher is inside

Where the shadow
Meets the ground
Something lost
Is finally found

Where the soul
Meets the sky
We begin the change
To beings of light

A Provisional Truth

One thing that has always surprised me in the free thinking open minded Tai Chi community is the amount of ideology that people have around what Tai Chi is and isn’t. Well, ideology can mean belief or view but the way it comes out here is more like doctrine or dogma - Belief divorced from Reason.

This doctrine can relate to their school or master and the likely supremacy of both. Besides delineating sects it often relates to what constitutes good Tai Chi, which styles are valid, what Push Hands should be, what time of day to practice, what to wear, (I swear to God I’m not making this up) and how the fingers should come together for the beak in Single Whip.

Usually the imprinting of what people believe comes early in their practice. The weird thing is that it seems easier to grow and mature as artists than to update preconceived notions that no longer serve. It is a good idea to take stock of things once in a while. In my own practice when these beliefs fell apart it supercharged my practice. After that I used Tai Chi as a way to test out different ways of doing things. If I could make sense out of it then it became part of my working model but it had to make sense.

Many times with other Martial Artists or at workshops some assertion is made about the way things are. I want to get all I can out of new ideas even if they conflict with what I think I know so I treat it as a provisional truth. It may turn out upon further examination to be untrue or true or even capital “T” True. Usually it turns out to be a useful exaggeration. Probably all the sects that stand unnaturally straight or hunch their backs started out by the exaggeration of one particular energy that does happen in Tai Chi, its just that you don’t get stuck in that shape, it is part of a complex sequence of movements. One school says go forward with the hand first and then the body and another says just move the whole body forward. My current ideology is definitely more the first at this moment but I got a lot out of trying to understand the second so I’m glad I didn’t try to argue it away in advance and instead took it as a provisional truth.

I have stood in many classrooms over the years where the teacher has declared “If there is tension anywhere in the body then there is no Tai Chi” or “If there is no opening and closing then there is no Tai Chi”. I do what I can to pass the baton. In my classes I tell my students “Once you raise your hands on the first day with the intention of doing Tai Chi then you are doing Tai Chi”. I do hope that even this they will accept as only a Provisional Truth.