The Accidental Tourist

As I wandered down this Garden Path of Tai Chi I passed by landmarks of personal truth. I don’t know if these are general truths but they are real to me and an important part of the journey that I have made so far. As I have traveled deeper I have moved from one place to another; from one certainty to the next (mutually exclusive) certainty, I have moved

from indifference to interest
from gross movement to fine movement
from solitary to individual
from isolated to integrated
from confined to expressive
from preconceived to exploratory
from random to purposeful
from voluntary to involuntary
from intended to accidental

When I moved from Indifference to Interest that was a surprise to me, I mean I thought that I was engaged and observant. When the world opened up in Tai Chi everything was new and had to be looked at and observed in a way that was almost Psychedelic for those who understand that shorthand.

I moved from Gross movement to Fine movement when I entered in Sub-Space, the smaller, finer more internal movements were more interesting to me. This feeling of Fluidic-Space or Churning the Ether goes away when you make those big movements, you have to get very still and quiet inside.

When I first felt myself moving from Solitary to Individual it was in a group doing Tai Chi. I had to let go of my Ego Self and submit to the Group Mind. I retained my singularity as a node in the neural net and felt the interplay between my individuality and my environment. I had to let go of my Solitude first.

As I changed from Isolated to Integrated it was first in the context of my environment as I mentioned in the previous point and then within my self. I had worked for years at isolations; working an area completely separately from the surrounding areas. As I knit all the individuated centers together I discovered Integration of structure and movement.

These movements inside the body grew from Confined to Expressive. At first it was lightning in a bottle but as it grew a magical thing happened; I learned to project this energy. With a push, a touch or a Gesture I became the conductor of this unfinished symphony, this Music of the Spheres. As a performance art Tai Chi can be so expressive.

Like a good conductor I followed the program. But Energy has a voice of it’s own and I was moved from Preconceived to Exploratory. Sometimes while doing Slow Set I would come to a place and take a hidden path I hadn’t noticed before. I would consciously go off-road and when I was done I would consciously return and continue through the set to the end. This isn’t the same as spacing out or getting lost!! You know who you are!

I did lose my way and wander off sometimes. The shift from Random to Purposeful was to not entertain every single notion that came through my head but to allow certain dynamics to evolve and others to dissipate. It is this feeling of direction or progress that creates a very satisfying feeling of Purpose.

As I played with the psychic valves that change this process from Voluntary to Involuntary I felt the surrender to the inexorable current of the Dao. Was I giving up Free Will? What was this Surrender? Is this the thing that the Mystics talk about? I could feel this even in 2 person practice now and it feels like following not like leading.

Now in Push Hands all of the best moves changed from Intended to Accidental. When people pushed at me sometimes accidents happened to that person. Oops, they tripped, slipped, went the wrong way, got confused for a second or just plain fell down on their own for no reason at all. Oops, let me help you up, ouch, ooh, oh that looks like it hurt!! Hmmm, sorry about that.

I had planned a very orderly and structured curriculum for myself. I had set out with a clear road map to Mastery. I was in the drivers seat. Well, something happened and I wound up in the passenger seat with the road map long discarded and in unfamiliar territory. I had become the Accidental Tourist.

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.

A Sense of Place

Whenever I travel I always do Tai Chi. It is my barometer for feeling the energy of a place. I have done Tai Chi in Crop Circles, Stonehenge, Avebury, at the monumental sites of the Southwest, The Great Pyramid, The Temples of China, in the Desert and at the Ocean. There is a sense of place that becomes communicated to me during this process that I cannot feel as fully in any other way.

Another way that this process plays out is when I do Tai Chi repeatedly in the same place. I feel like I soak in that space and get to know it more deeply over time and in turn that place gets imbued with an energy that palpably changes after days or weeks or years.

I used to practice inside mostly. I liked wearing my Tai Chi shoes and moving over a nice flat, smooth hardwood floor. I decided to make a challenge to myself while I took a sabbatical from teaching to practice outside everyday for a year. Starting in Summer I went out every morning to the only level spot in my yard day after day, week after week, month after month. I saw the grass get worn away and turn to hardier clover, the trees get their first shock of color, then turning red and orange and finally losing all their leaves standing bare against the sky.

Winter came and the snow covered the ground, I did Waving Hands Like Clouds for nearly half an hour just to pack down a suitable area for practice. My practice grew from an hour to an hour and a half to two hours. I practiced in rain and hail and blizzards and sub zero weather and the more extreme the weather conditions the more exhilarating the practice. I now hoped for snowstorms the way schoolchildren wanting to skip school do. I no longer made myself practice but looked forward to it and left the practice session reluctantly because I had to get going with my workday. The woodland creatures came to watch my practice. Mice, squirrels, chipmunks, hawks and cardinals frequented this area. As I practiced I would notice a shift toward peripheral vision and the ultraviolet spectrum. I noticed the tracks around me and really took in the way the spot itself was changing.

Spring thaw came and the ice floe I had built up was so thick that it melted weeks later than the surrounding area. As the water had drained out of the soil around this area I was left on a raised platform when the clover returned. I could see that I had changed this place and this place had changed me. Everyone who knew me saw my body change and my Tai Chi change. Nature was my teacher, this place was my teacher and I became more aware of my whole world.

Summer came again. I moved easily across the clover in bare feet taking care not to injure the honeybees that seemed to favor this spot. The butterflies and dragonflies would congregate here especially when I did Sword form, their movements mimicking my swordplay. The deer and fauns preferred Slow Set. The awareness of the understory and spiderwebs, the tracks and distant trees didn’t distract me; it focused me.

Yes, I had heard that the Daoists linked Tai Chi with nature and sought out extreme locations for their practice but now I understood. There is a locus to our movement, to our lives. We have a center, a place to rest or call home. We have a sense of place.

Chi Body

Developed at the Chi Body Institute, this technique is a synthesis of Tai Chi, Shamanic Studies, Metaphysical Work, Body Mechanics and Sports Science. The methodology bypasses the rote memorization of forms and choreography that generally precede this type of work and we go right to the good stuff.



Yoga not your thing?

Tried Pilates?

Well, Chi Body is the door and you are the key.



Restorative and Integrative Movement
Energy Balancing
Release Blockages and Tension
Strengthen and Tone Body Structure
Study Natural Movement
Repatterning of Mind Body
Exploratory Investigation of Body Mechanics
Principles of Energy Movement
Physical Grace and Balance



Call or email for class availability

603-463-4185
Or
MckFlutes@aol.com

Why don’t we get better?

Well, it is comforting to realize that we may likely succeed in becoming good people like I say is necessary to do Push Hands without ego and aggression. It is still troubling that the likelihood of Mastery is much lower because it is a moving goalpost. Each time we advance it moves farther away. To simply wave your hand through the air with a clear and still mind, to be quiet and peaceful in the breath and movement and to have grace within and without seems like it should be simple. Its just a task of stripping everything unnecessary away or relaxing or something. I think that my followers who have a sitting practice may be able to comment on the likelihood of stilling the interior, shutting off the chatter and releasing tension and worry. Even though the Meditation practices are evolved methodologies for doing just this kind of work it is still hard to release the old programming and install the upgrade operating system.

My method is to return to the Mechanical. I practice form, do stance work and do the work of slow careful repetition of techniques and postures. When things are good I practice; when things are bad I practice. I just keep punching the time clock. It is not just quantitative though it is also qualitative. I am always trying to improve my quality of practice, to be more patient and clear, to pay attention and keep my focus throughout my practice. That is what I consider my doorway; it is the hard work or the Kung Fu of it. Maharishi said there were 5 paths: Physical, Mechanical, Intellectual, Devotional and Psycho-Spiritual. Well, although Mechanical is my specialty I must plead guilty to all the others except Devotional. But I am a Warrior Monk so perhaps Kuan Yin will cradle me in the Enchanted Forest and the rest of my practice will only be to glorify her Grace… perhaps.

But meanwhile, practice, practice, practice. We must improve the methodology so we have better results. I know it seems a little un-Daoist of me but we must do more to get to this place of non-doing! Is it the curriculum? Is it the emphasis on forms rather than improvisatory movement or two person practice? Is it that Tai Chi actually requires a prerequisite proficiency in Martial Arts in order to reach the higher levels?

I mean no disrespect for my Teachers past and present by these questions. The only reason I am anywhere is because of their generosity but we must meet them halfway by creating our personalized curriculums. Imagine if the full weight of the East German state was creating the perfect Tai Chi fighter to go up against Rocky. They would hook him up to computers, feed him the perfect diet, 2.5 minutes of this, 3.7 minutes of that and within 7 months he would be beyond the Olympic level. That is what we need, (except without the whole East German part).

I begin with myself; I am the Experimenter and the Subject. If I am successful I will try my methods on my students and if that works I will move on to rats and then dolphins. Those who have charted this path for themselves have come upon this same rocky shoal for sure. Why don’t we get better?