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Newsletter issue 28 April 2004
Welcome to the latest issue
of the taichido newsletter, and yes, once again its late!
The past month has been so busy that we simply have not
had time to get the April edition out to you, so it's coming
in May. Because we've been late a few times now
and we're getting a bit out of sync, so the next issue,
which is actually the May one, will reach you around the
15th of this month, and from there you should receive each
newsletter during the middle of each month.
This month brings the
first of a two-parter from Gary Robinson about breathing for tai chi
by looking at its martial applications, and I'm also looking at
practising within a small space. In other taichido news, the 'research
and development' of the Yang Form instruction DVD version is now
almost complete, and the production of Part One is due to start, so
keep an eye out for the first of these (for the exisitng CD-ROM
versions, see the bottom of this newsletter).
all the best, Mark
Tai chi in a small
space
Recently, I was asked how
much space is needed to practise tai chi. As much or as little as you
like, I replied. For example, when I first met Gary Robinson, I was
transferring from his teacher Ray Wood to Gary as Ray was winding up
his classes; and Gary was then manager of a large hall. Our Long Yang
Form gently traversed the hall with complete freedom. In contrast, in
theory you can practise the Lee form inside a shower cubicle! I have
also heard Lee being called 'Wardrobe Form' because of the very small
amount of space it takes up. It is possible for Lee to be practised
inside a square metre of space, but the Yang form is something
different. It is easy to move about in a large hall, but many of us do
not have that luxury at home. In Britain many of us have small gardens
and our temperamental seasonal weather and temperatures further
reduces our doing tai chi in our gardens enormously. Practising in
public spaces is still something of a novelty in this culture, and is
is not as readily accepted as it should be.
Therfore for many of us,
we are left to practise in a room in our house. It might be a spare
room (usually the smallest room in the house apart from of course,
well, the Smallest Room) or it might be the living room, with the
sofas moved after the kids have gone to bed. In my case, we had a
conservatory extension built, and we made sure that there was enough
open space for me to practise. I have practised in a 5-foot by 6-foot
space in the living room of a one-bedroom flat I used to own, or even
in the smaller loft of our current house prior to the conservatory,
including sloping ceilings!
So how to we get around
this problem and still stick to the moves that we have been taught?
The fact is that while there is an acknowledged set of moves to the
Long Yang form, it is highly adaptable to our own needs, and having to
use a smaller space than one would wish for should not put us off from
being able to do tai chi. Within the Yang Form, one can keep to the
principles of the move by reducing the 'step' of the moves by about a
third, so you are travelling only two-thirds of your original
distance. Then you can identify which moves or set of moves make us
travel longer distances in one direction or the other - a classic
example of this would be the sequences that first appears in Part One,
when you move from strike shoulder/retreat shoulder into stork spreads
its wings. You mov forward with the strike shoulder from a position
that is already further forward from your original starting point of
Part One because of the preceding moves, and which a number of moves
later on you find has put you too far forward in the space in front of
you to execute moves if your working area is small (you start 'wall
crawling' and those of you who try to practise in a small space know
exactly what I mean by this!). The answer to this is to take a smaller
step forward on the strike shoulder, and then a much longer step
backward on the retreat shoulder so that you end up much farther back
than your starting point of strike shoulder. A dozen moves later, you
are not trying to hug the wall, with your arm movements looking like
you're trying to crawl up it!
The next move from stork
spread its wings are significant for small spaces: a series of brush
left and right knees, in which move you quite a distance to the left
of your starting point - if you don't have the space, then you simply
start wall crawling in this part of the room instead! The answer here
is to make much smaller steps as you execute the brush knees, and by
doing them diagonal rather than straight you help reduce the distance;
and to use the intervening moves to take bigger steps 'backward'. For
example: Stork moves into brush left knee (reduce the step by a
third), and then into play guitar (step backwards further than you
went forwards). Then brush left knee, brush right knee, brush left
knee (each with reduced step) and into play guitar (again take a very
big step backwards). The next brush left knee (reduced step) goes into
a step forward (reduced step), parry and punch that should end up in a
place where you can still continue the form without compromise - in
fact in really small spaces I have started with this move and then
worked backwards so that I can see where I start from and step in
order to reach that point.
All of these examples do
not in any way compromise the form, change it or reduce its quality in
any way - they merely adapt slightly to a changing environment, and
are as valid as when you are in a class. Don't be put off if you have
little room to practise in, just adapt a very adaptable form at key
points and enjoy the benefit of regular tai chi. For an idea of where
to adapt your form for a small space, we have a table of suggestions
at: http://www.soton.ac.uk/~maa1/chi/netguide/smallspace.htm.
Mark Allen
Breathe with
me
Breathing is an extremely
important as pect of tai chi, and its is often difficult to get it
right, or to assimilate this part of the practise. Sometimes you are
told or understand that a breath in goes 'here' while that part of a
moves does 'this', and so on, and it becomes confusing beacuse what
you feel should be happening might be the other way around.
What you "feel" is exactly
correct! If your car broke down and you needed to push it a few feet,
you would not need an instructor to tell you that before you push you
should breathe in - and as you push ... you should breathe out. This
is what you would do anyway. This is the way - or the tao - of pushing
a broken down car; and the way or tao of Tai Chi is no different.
Rather than using the
terminology or jargon of breathing "in the circle" or "out of the
circle" may I please describe this in 'martial art' terms instead:
Whilst teaching no one to fight, I do find that an understanding or
explanation of the 'martial' application of each posture of the Yang
Long form (and every single posture does have a martial application)
clarifies the breathing techniques intrinsic to the form - with this
breathing in an out in co-ordination with twisting movements of the
truck being one of the main process that brings about the heath and
well being that Tai Chi was designed to promote.
Every defensive posture
(inside the circle) in Tai Chi is performed on the in breath, and
every strike (or block) is performed on the out breath. When
exaggerated, this out breath is the "Ki" shout that we hear at Karate
bouts or at demonstrations of brickbreaking etc. The shout is used to
'externalise' add energy to the strike or block, as well as a
psychological weapon! Karate is an 'external' martial
art
Do you remember the VW
advertisement for a family hatchback that said "Have you ever noticed
how safe you feel when you make yourself smaller"? This is the tao of
feeling safe! Do it right now - i.e. make yourself smaller. You will
automatically do the opposite of pushing a broken down car and you
will ... breathe in as you make yourself smaller and
safer.
As far as Grasp the
Sparrows Tail is concerned, the part that called "holding a circle" is
the defensive phase of the posture. The feet are brought into "cat
stance" - ready to step either forwards or back - this by the way is
the purpose or application of "cat stance". The forward foot is
'empty' the other is 'full', bearing 99% of body weight. In this
manner, if the leading leg is kicked, balance is not
compromised.
The "holding a circle"
part of the posture is derived from a full defensive posture and (when
exaggerated in Form or applied in martial) the top hand is/was held
further across and closer in to the body to protect the face/head. The
lower arm is/was used to protect the ribs on that side - which is
facing the opponent - and the lower arm is also positioned diagonally
across the body with that hand protecting the groin area. Furthermore,
in application, the knee of the forward or leading leg (the 'empty'
one in cat-stance - thestandard footwork pattern for Grasp the
Sparrows Tail) is also turned inwards for further protection, to
'load' a kick. Effectively, you make yourself smaller as you do all of
this ... you breathe in.
The part of the posture
when we grasp or stroke the sparrows tail represents the strike or
block being applied. The lower hand is raised to strike and the higher
hand is lowered to block a potential kick. Therefore, when
representing this in Form (stylised or refined as opposed to applied
martial), we breath in as we take up the defensive (holding a circle)
phase of the posture and out ("out of the circle") on the strike
phase.
And then, logically, you
breath in again. Please read on in the next issue! I would not have
gone to the trouble of explaining the martial application above if the
theory was not consistent throughout the whole of the Yang Long Form
and therefore potentially the answer to every question you may ever
have regarding breathing within the Form.
Gassho, Gary
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