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Welcome to the taichido monthly email Newsletter where we give you news about taichido and Doshi Gary Robinson gives his thoughts on aspects (both practical and esoteric!) of tai chi and related areas.

Hello and welcome to the 18th Newsletter from tai chi website Taichido.com. and my apologies for the lateness of this month's issues (due to family crisis). This month Gary talks more about theYang Form Tai Chi Interactive CD (see bottom of the newsletter), the yin/yang symbol, the cycle and internal flow of chi and the I-Ching. Happy reading!

Please email mark@taichido.com if you have a view. Mark Allen, webmaster for taichido.com

Thesaurus Chit Chat

Once upon a time someone E-mailed Taichido.com to compliment the website and this newsletter saying, "keep up the good work" etc. and "we need more coursive pieces like this". What I had to do then was look "coursive" up in the (Oxford English) Dictionary! I could not find it there so I resorted to a Thesaurus. Here I finally found that the word implies 'chit-chat' type conversation. It was only then that I was able to join up the words and gratefully accept this most encouraging compliment! I have often confessed in previous Newsletters that they in fact contain very little real news and more like letters between pen-pals. Good! That means that they are "coursive".

This is the 18th of these monthly newsletters. I had written 16 of the onesthat went before it but Mark wrote issue 17 …. This break from tradition was on account of the fact we did actually have some very important news to pass on to you and Mark was indeed the best person to do this. This news was that we had released the first set in a series of three two-disc interactive instructional CD's designed to function as a 'remote learning facility' for the Yang Long Form. Mark and I see this as the evolution of our popular and still unique 'Tai Chi Netguide' section of www.taichido.com and indeed have taken it to a new level with various views of feet and hands, from a distance, close up, and from the front and the rear. For a tour - Please go to http://www.taichidoshop.com or http://www.taichidoshop.co.uk.

Logically, this first release features Part One in its entirety. Parts two and Three will follow very soon. Work on the second set CD's featuring Part Two is well underway and the finalised components of content of are now in Marks safe hands to carry through to completion and release some when in July. The next issue of this Newsletter will probably announce the release of this second set of CD's. If not, it will confirm an imminent release date.

Having beaten a track during the construction of CD 1, a lot of the most difficult process's relating to the next set of CD's are already in place, therefore it should not take quite as long to put this one together as it did the last. However it must be born in mind that Part Two of the Form is around about twice as long as Part Two and so there is more to pack into this second CD. More video, more postures, more sequences, more symbolic meanings and more visualizations.

And then there is Part Three!

Despite the fact that Part Three of the Form takes as long to play or perform as Parts One and Two put together, CD 3 should also follow hard on the heels of its predecessors. Again, already a lot of the donkey work has already been done, including all of the video filming of From and warm up routines, and text inclusions on link moves and background or support articles.

"The further you go, the deeper it gets" ... or
"The deeper you study, the further you go".

The first set of CD's comes complete with a number of article on the history of Tai Chi and other pieces that Mark and I felt appropriate for inclusion with Part One. Because Part One is perfectly capable of standing alone as an independent Form (it contains everything apart from kicks) the articles provided on this first CD are suitable for beginners. So to are our interpretations of the various symbolic meanings and visualizations for each and every posture. However, the further you go, the deeper it gets; therefore as the series expands into Part Two and Part Three (CD 2 and 3), so too does the accompanying articles and our analysis of symbolic meanings and and visualizations. There is no point in extracting any symbolism's or visualization's from these future CD's here now, however I am very pleased to conclude this Newsletter with a preview of just a few extracts of pieces that are currently under consideration for inclusion on CD 2 and 3.

The Yin Yang Symbol

The Yin Yang symbol graphically illustrates the philosophy of Tai Chi.

The first representation of Tao was this simple circle and the idea was that "all is contained within, yet all is also without". Furthermore, unlike a straight line, there is no particular weak spot in a circle.

The curved moments (of the arms and legs) in Tai Chi are rooted in this theory and the utilization of this principle is the basis of the Chuan (fighting) application of Tai Chi.

Within the circle is the double helix; a complicated shape that we have become even more familiar these days as the structure of DNA. Science now confirms apparently that this microscopic DNA structure contains the code of life itself, issuing the orders to an individual throughout their lives and dictating whether they be tall or short, fat or thin and so on. Along side this it has become science fact that the analyzing of this structure - even whist still in the womb - can reveal significant details about the future well being of each individual and identify hereditary conditions. Notwithstanding these complex implications, the interlocking black and white shapes within the circle is a clear representation of the cyclical nature of the natural world when left to its own devices. Day becomes night, summer becomes autumn, hot becomes cold … and life becomes death.

However, and perhaps most important revelation of all (to the less scientific) is that the message conveyed by the white dot (or seed) in the black area and the black dot in the white area is that NOTHING IS ALL BLACK - AND NOTHING IS ALL WHITE. The strongest person has weaknesses, just as the weak person has strengths. This is the theoretical basis of Tai Chi. There is not "good" Tai Chi and there is not "bad" Tai Chi … there is just a person, and there is just Tai Chi.

Theory of the Chi Cycle

The structure, form or design of Tai Chi tally's with many other oriental philosophies. Perhaps the most significant of all of these is the I Ching. The I Ching represents the functioning of Yin and Yang in relation to eight essential forces and structures of the Universe (as perceive of by Ancient Taoists). These are: Heaven, Earth, Thunder,r Water, Mountain, Wind, Fire, The Sacred Lake (inland water and 'the depths'). Each of these 'characteristics' are associated with particular phases of natures cycle and placed accordingly around the Yin Yang - with maximum Yang (midday) being bright/white, and maximum Yin (midnight) being dark/black. This cycle operates on the micro or personal and macro or cosmic level and as such incorporates the 'birth' and 'death' of stars as well as the birth and death of all the other "ten thousand things".

This theory of the waxing and waning cycle of chi is the basis of the I Ching and is therefor fundamental to all associated oriental theories.

The Internal flow of Chi

With some imagination it is not difficult to see how a series and combinations of lines (6 lines of simple 'on/off' binary code = 64 hexagrams) can be used to illustrate regular cyclic processes of nature, such as the phases of the moon and seasons of the year. Ancient Taoists applied this same theory and codification to cyclic processes within the body. This theory is the basis of Chinese Medicine and the flow of energy during the playing of the Tai Chi Form travels the same pathways as Acupuncture and various massage techniques.

To describe this flow of vital energy as being cyclical or waxing and waning is quite appropriate and the same hexagram code may be used to indicate the progression of the energy to a certain parts of the body.

Consider first the very first 'in motion' posture of the Form ("Beginning"), in which the arms are raised while the knees are slightly straightened. The arms are then lowered and the knees are bent once again.

The movement of this posture is designed to guide the flow of chi (vital energy) from the feet, up the spine to the top of the head, and then down the front of the body to the abdomen.

Fu (hexagram number 24) represents the very beginning, in which the energy rises from the soles of the feet.
Ch'ien (hexagram number 1) represents the point at which the knees are straight and the energy has risen up through the spinal column all the way to the head.
K'un (hexagram number 2) represents the outcome of the lowering, in which the energy has moved down to the abdomen.

In cross referencing these hexagrams with the I Ching it is revealed that the 'holistic' inference of hexagram 24 "Fu" (Returning) is: You may move freely as there is advantage in all directions with no one opposing you. Keep a firm goal in mind as this is a new cycle of growth - so let things grow. Put behind you the wrong doings of others and they will do the same for you.
Ch'ien (Creative Originality) suggests that it is time to take action and continue with determination.
K'un (Fulfilling Destiny) suggests that there is no need to force the issue. Good fortune comes from passive compliance.

The I Ching

The Chinese character Romanised as "I" represents easiness, clarity, change and changelesness. Ching may be transliterated as "a classic" (book/writing). I Ching therefore translates as "The Classic book of Change". Interpretation suggests the clarity with which nature; society and the individual could or should work together.

The I Ching is most known or recognised by westerners as a method of divination and often perceived as some kind of fortune telling based upon instinct or extraordinary almost supernatural ability - like reading tealeaves in the bottom of a cup. This misunderstanding or erroneous interpretation by many westerners is perhaps excelled only by our attempts to Feng Shui our cluttered homes with a coat of pastel paint.

The I Ching represents cyclical change. Symbols in the form of combinations of broken or unbroken lines are used to represent particular phases or characteristics. The Yin Yang symbol is actually an accurate pictorial simplification of the 64 hexagrams of the I Ching.

The simple 'code' of the I Ching is that 6 unbroken lines represents maximum Yang, and 6 broken lines represents maximum Yin. The total number of permutations of this (essentially binary; on or off, just like today's computer language) pictorial code is 64.

Whilst the white dot in the black and the black dot in the white is symbolic of the idea that 'nothing is all black' (bad, dark, quiet, slow etc.) and 'nothing is all white' (good, bright, loud, fast etc.); the Yin Yang symbol also illustrates the functioning of harmonious, interdependent and balanced order. This cycle operates on the micro or personal and macro or universal level therefor it incorporates the 'birth' and 'death' of stars as well as the birth and death of all the other "ten thousand things"; the coming and going of the seasons and the rise and fall of the tide.

Confucius eventually became regarded as the greatest authority on the I Ching. However, he did not commence his study until he was well into old age, insisting that up until then his accumulated wisdom was totally inadequate! In conclusion, although I Ching is best know for here in the west as a form of divination, this particular aspect is in fact no more than just one element of a comprehensive and interlocking theory of internal and external harmony.

Gassho, Gary