Dear all,
Welcome to the 48th issue of the taichido newsletter.
In this issue Gary continues his Tai Chi meanderings,
the full version of which can now be seen on the www.taichido.com
webiste. I continue the theme of yin and yang this month
by looking at its application in traditional Chinese medicine,
an area that is interlinked with tai chi.
On the website iteslf, last month saw a complete change
in the 'finding a teacher near you' and 'teachers wanted'
section of the site. We have had so many instructors get
in touch with us that I have split these pages up into
regions to help viewers sort them out. A lot of you are
asking for teachers, so our notice board has been upgraded
in a similar way. The full version of October's newsletter
article 'The Origins of Yin and Yang and the Symbol Deconstructed
are now on the website, too under the 'Taoism' section.
One thing has gone, however. The Guestbook has been for
many years a great feedback and interaction between us
and yourselves and we have found it a very useful tool
- hundreds of you have written in it! In the last few
months however, it has become a target for bulk spam,
people trying to sell their own goods and even the odd
recurring crackpot, which has rendered the real role of
it useless. I have had to check each incoming entry manually
before releasing it live, and when during bad days up
to 600 a day are from unwanted attention, the whole thing
becomes pointless. Our Guestbook providors, MyComputer.com
have been outstandingly uninterested in helping us resolve
or make manageable what must be a problem for others too,
so it is with great regret that we have pulled the plug.
I apologise to those of you who have recently added entries,
and thank everyone for their input.
Mark
webmaster taichido.com, taichidoshop.com, editor Taichido
Newslette
More tai
chi meanderings:
When we set up the taichido web-site we drew considerably
upon text provided by Ray. He had written a 200+ A4 page
book called simply "Tai Chi Chuan". This document
had hitherto been published only as home DTP and mainly
given away to friends. The majority of the first pieces
published at taichido.com were taken from that DTP book.
Most of Ray's
articles @taichido.com have been superseded with re-writes
on the same or similar themes - by Mark or me - and now
there are only feint traces of Ray @taichido.com. In most
instances all that remains of the originals is the title
or theme.
So we stand
now alone, independent and self-sufficient; yet we are
still inspired by Ray to develop taichido.com as a free
online resource and we try to be - a virtual teacher -
or a teacher between teachers.
Ray would
also say that every subject under the sun has the potential
to be a possible start point in a new journey of personal
discovery. Unfortunately, one never knows what is worthy
of further study until one has studied it! It would be
nice to know where to start, wouldn't it? A Great Teacher;
that's what we all need isn't it? One each, that would
be nice! But then, even better one each … forever. Taichido.com
tries to fill that gap between our everyday reality (the
do-able) and our outrageous expectations.
Meandering
4:
Tai Chi is an unending journey towards oneself and towards
Oneness with all things.
It is a way of life demanding the most exquisite self-examination
and total awareness of what is happening around you.
In order to have a clear vision of the way things are
you must endeavour to pierce the veil of prejudices and
mindsets of the society in which you have been nurtured.
In the Void the ego is no more. There is only unceasing,
spontaneous, harmonious movement.
Meandering
5:
Tai Chi cannot be practised using the rational mind. Beginners
try to make the movements with their minds, and they cannot.
The movements are too complicated. Indescribable.
Hands and feet, timing, balance, speed etc. - these cannot
all be controlled by the mind. Just leave the body alone!
When you do not interfere with it, the body moves with
the Tao spontaneously.
Meandering
10:
The ability to increase the efficiency of the respiratory
system is one of the main health benefits derived from
the diligent practice of Tai Chi as a dance like art Form.
This is not to say there is anything wrong with "Chuan"
as this includes all of that and more. It's just that
the fighting forms go a little beyond the necessary for
the average westerner who, let's be honest, are not called
upon to lay there lives on the line every day of the week!
Form practice
concentrates upon techniques that utilise this increased
capacity over the long term; Chuan adaptations can produce
instantaneous bursts of energy. In the case of the latter,
energy may also be 'stolen' from an opponent.
Meandering
16:
The Tao is emptiness, nothingness, the Void. From the
Void comes all that is. Nature is emptiness. Nature is
nothing-much-ness and everything-ness! Tai Chi is ...
not trying to be anything.
Empty yourself
of ego, ambition, attachment and fixed ideas about the
way the world is. It is ... as it is. Come to terms with
this Truth (it is as it is) and life can be faced with
tranquility and be neither pessimistic nor optimistic
but realistic.
Gary Robinson
The full
Tai Chi Meanderings can be found here on the www.taichido.com website.
Yin-Yang Theory and its applications
to Traditional Chinese Medicine
In tai chi, yin and yang are vital
aspects of our attempts to balance ourselves. We understand
the concepts of yin and yang in terms of a philosophical
treatise of equilibrium: light and dark, up and down,
aggressive and passive, and so on. This concept ranges
much wider than just that of Taoist dogma or martial arts
culture; it is an inherent part of the practice of traditional
Chinese medicine. It is used to understand the structures,
functions and changes that take place within the human
body.
In an article on taichido.com,
I explained Chinese medicine in very broad brushes as
that the Chinese believe that as well as the body being
made up of individual organs, they interact with each
other on a global or holistic level - a fundamental interconnectedness
of all (Twentieth Century Western physics has a parallel
with aspects of quantum physics). Flowing throughout the
body is 'Chi' or energy, which runs along a complex series
of pathways, known as meridian lines, closely related
to the nervous and vascular systems, connecting all parts
of the body. The Chi is found at a molecular level, and
to find a western parallel, it could be the force that
holds the atoms in orbit around each other - electromagnetism.
Yin-Yang theory has a role to play in this: there is an
interconnectedness between tissues and organs and other
structures within the body – and each of these can be
subdivided into yin and yang aspects, and overall, the
upper body is associated with yang, the lower with yin;
the back yang and the front yin, the outside of the body
yang, the insides yin.
When the body is healthy, it is in balance – there is
a natural equilibrium of yin and yang organs, and of yin
and yang states of individual or grouped organs – although
it should be noted that even when your body is healthy
the balance is exact: In the deconstruction of the yin-yang
symbol we see constant change represented, so too does
the yin-yang of the body change, depending upon internal
and external influences. This is a natural state. When
the shift in balance becomes more pronounced – when one
aspect dominates the other, then we see a compromise of
health - a dis-ease (as my acupuncturist rather lucidly
put it).
So we see that if an aspect of
an organ is diminished or missing, the organ cannot function
properly or in some cases at all. The underlying principle
behind traditional Chinese medicine practice is to find
the imbalance and correct it though the use of a variety
of methods, including acupuncture, hydrotherapy, massage,
moxibustion, herbs, and other types of health practice
such as chi kung.
So how is this supposed to work?
Ying-yang theory suggests that an imbalance of either
within an organ results in overbalance (dominance) of
one aspect and diminishing of the other. When a disease
develops, the pathogenic factors are balanced by antipathogenic
factors ands the body’s resistance. The pathogenic factors
themselves are subdivided into yin and yang – yang factors
bring about increase of the body’s yang which then leads
to an diminishing of the body’s yin and a ‘heat’ nature
of disease occurs. Conversely yin pathogens bring about
excess of body yin and therefore diminishing of bodily
yang, and a ‘cold’ nature occurs. It then starts to get
more complicated, and way above my head.
The correct diagnosis or a problem
or dis-ease is the classification of whether it is a yin
or a yang-based syndrome, and the cure or relief of the
dis-ease to use one or more methods discussed above to
restore the balance back. For example, in herbal medicine,
the use of a herb with a ‘hot’ nature that is known to
affect the particular organ in dis-ease is used to address
the balance of ‘cold’ symptoms, and vice-versa. Herbs
and other drugs with cold or moist properties and/or bitter,
sour or salty flavours are yin, and used to treat yang
problems. Herbs with hot or dry properties and/or have
pungent, sweet or insipid flavours are yang and are used
to treat yin problems. This is all a huge generalisation,
but it fits. In the case of acupuncture, the needles stimulate
the central nervous system, possibly shutting off certain
neurological gateways and blocking pain signals from other
parts of the body – and therefore allowing the body to
relax and be in a much more receptive position to heal.
The last question has to be: does
it actually work? There is no doubt that herbal treatment
can drastically reduce symptoms and even in some cases
be more efficacious than standard western medicine. An
added bonus is that because they do not have a high potency,
they can be used successfully for long-term treatment
with minimal or no side effects. Acupuncture and moxibustion
I can personally vouch for, as I have had a great deal
of treatment to help my back fight and recover from the
effects of ankylosing spondylictus and chronic acute sciatica,
where standard western treatment was insufficient. However,
I still need to exercise daily in a regime set out for
me by standard medicine. In many cases relying solely
on traditional Chinese medicine may not be enough (and
it may certainly hit your finances hard), but to be a
part of the healing process along with standard medicine
may well be the answer. All I know is that I have certainly
benefited enormously from traditional Chinese medicinal
practices and as westerners we should not be throwing
away as crackpot the accumulated knowledge of over 4000
years of oriental experience.
Mark Allen
The full article can be here viewed at www.taichido.com
See also:
the origins of Yingyang and the symbol
deconstructed
Acupuncture & Chi
bibliography:
The Application of Yin-Yang Theory to
the Filed of Tradiitonal Chinese Medicine. Traditional
Chinese Medicine.com website
Understanding the Yin and Yang by Sherene
Gotico
Yin and Yang in Traditional Chinese
Medicine A world of Medicine.com
THE YEAR OF THE DOG BEGINS 29th JAN
06
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