Posted with LifeCast
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Monday, November 24, 2008
About The Eight Silk Brocades
The classical Qigong sequence known as the Ba Duan Jin is usually attributed to the famous general Yue Fei who lived from 1103 - 1142 (Song Dynasty). He is also credited with inventing the internal martial art of Xingyi quan.
The story goes that he created the sequence for his troops to ensure their strength and physical health.
There are both a standing and a seated sequence, with many different versions of each. Northern versions tend to have lower stances and more physically demanding postures compared to Southern styles.
Despite the variations, all share similar names and within each posture, key movements to regulate Qi flow and harmonize all of the body's functions.
Posted with LifeCast
The story goes that he created the sequence for his troops to ensure their strength and physical health.
There are both a standing and a seated sequence, with many different versions of each. Northern versions tend to have lower stances and more physically demanding postures compared to Southern styles.
Despite the variations, all share similar names and within each posture, key movements to regulate Qi flow and harmonize all of the body's functions.
Posted with LifeCast
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Testing Technology
Sometime technology is helpful, sometimes harmful. What often escapes our attention is 'technique' - the mindset and thinking required to use the technology. With mind and matter sometimes matter shapes mind.
Posted with LifeCast
Posted with LifeCast
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Beyond The Obvious
This weekend I had my annual Open House at my Traditional Chinese Medicine clinic. It's an opportunity for people to ask questions about acupuncture, Chinese herbs, etc.
Usualy people ask about acupuncture. They are curious about the needles, do they hurt, what's he most I've ever used in a treatment...
We talk about the more obvious and easier to discuss aspects of acupuncture. Rarely at this kind of event do I get to talk about the less obvious aspects. These would be things like how are the points to be treated chosen, or what does stimulating an acuppont with a needle affect the Qi of a person, etc. These are the things that define Traditional Chinese acupuncture and are the most important. Unfortunately they are also harder to discuss.
This is the same for qigong and taiji.
Posted with LifeCast
Usualy people ask about acupuncture. They are curious about the needles, do they hurt, what's he most I've ever used in a treatment...
We talk about the more obvious and easier to discuss aspects of acupuncture. Rarely at this kind of event do I get to talk about the less obvious aspects. These would be things like how are the points to be treated chosen, or what does stimulating an acuppont with a needle affect the Qi of a person, etc. These are the things that define Traditional Chinese acupuncture and are the most important. Unfortunately they are also harder to discuss.
This is the same for qigong and taiji.
Posted with LifeCast
Tuesday, November 4, 2008
cultivating the upright
Training in Chinese martial arts tends to emphasize solo practice at the beginning, especially with the internal styles, like Taiji. Many of the reasons are practical. But I personally think that part of the reason is the influence of Confucianism and the cultivation of character.
Forms practice at first is about learning the movements and postures, then it is about technique and alignment. After this, attention can be put towards building and moving Qi. And it's in this later stage that character - proper bearing and attitude - becomes an important part of forms practice.
If you started with applications and sparring, it'd be easy to become distracted with the endless of details of technique and never make a start in this later stages of learning. And it's not that building character is required to do applications effectively. But if the effective execution of an technique was the only goal, we'd all be better off taking street fighting classes. Extensive solo practice brings the focus back internally and sets the stage for the Confucian ideal of cultivating maturity.
Forms practice at first is about learning the movements and postures, then it is about technique and alignment. After this, attention can be put towards building and moving Qi. And it's in this later stage that character - proper bearing and attitude - becomes an important part of forms practice.
If you started with applications and sparring, it'd be easy to become distracted with the endless of details of technique and never make a start in this later stages of learning. And it's not that building character is required to do applications effectively. But if the effective execution of an technique was the only goal, we'd all be better off taking street fighting classes. Extensive solo practice brings the focus back internally and sets the stage for the Confucian ideal of cultivating maturity.
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