Not much else has happened since the last issue, which was only a couple of weeks ago, so I shan't ramble and just let you read on!

all the best, Mark

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Chi and acupuncture

The same chi energy which is used as a fundamental base for tai chi and chi ung is what drives acupuncture. The body is seen as a network of channels connected to the major organs and systems within it. These channels are called meridians and they are mapped on the surface of the body. Along the meridian lines there are acupuncture points, places where we know that we can contact the ch'i to work creatively with the body and its healing process. Ch'i is perfect. Ch'i knows what to do and how to do it. From the very second of conception ch'i flows.

On the radial arteries of both arms we read twelve pulses that relate to the major organs and functions of the body. The pulses are ch'i. We read the quantity and quality of the ch'i in the different parts of the body. It is an amazing and profound thing to do. Every person has their own individual picture revealed through the pulses.Changes in the ch'i can be measured by taking the pulses.

The acupuncture points are tiny places. When you touch them you feel a tiny sensation under your finger that is hard to find words to describe. Perhaps the ch'i of the acupuncturist knows the ch'i of the other person? A tiny sterile needle, the thickness of a couple of hairs on your head, is inserted into the acupuncture point. At that split second I feel the ch'i from my end of the needle and I know that it has connected with the life force of the body. Reading the pulses the changes in the ch'i can be felt in detail. For certain energy states moxa is indictaed as being more suitable than needles, or can be combined with needle treatment if that is what is required. Moxa is a herb, one of the Artemesia plants: ARTEMESIA VULGARIS LATIFLORA, also known as Mugwort. Moxa, dried leaves and stem of the plant, is burned over the acupuncture points, either directly on the skin or on the end of an inserted needle according to what is required by the ch'i.

Generally people seek acupuncture treatment when they are ill. Illness is a manifestation of an imbalance or lack of ch'i within the person. If we understand that ch'i should be balanced, harmonious and flowing within us, then we can see that health is a positive state of being. If we are unwell it follows that the ch'i must be disrupted in some way, all ills of body and mind can be understood as a negative energy state. The work of the acupuncturist is to stop the deterioration, stabilise the energy and then build the ch'i to a balanced and abundant state. When you deal with the cause of the problem, the place where the imbalance started, then the body can heal itself.

Susan Woodhead

Susan's full article on chi and acupuncture can be found at http://www.soton.ac.uk/~maa1/chi/taichi/acupuncture.htm

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Breathe with me again...

Last issue Gary tackled breathing within tai chi, by looking at it from a martial aspect. This issue continues the discussion:

Fundamentally, every in breath occurs when a defensive posture is assumed and every out breath marks a strike or block. This is the form of breathing formulated to promote the smooth flow and accumulation of Chi ... and if you do not follow that pattern, you are not really doing Tai Chi. But the good news is, as long as you are doing the form in the right order (of postures) you don't really have to think about all of this or calculate every movement. No, on the contrary. If you just breathe in and out when it feels natural (having mastered the art in the practice of Grasp the Sparrows Tail) the Form will reveal itself to you as a body, mind and spirit experience.

There are - like Grasp the Sparrows Tail: the image of a sparrow that flies out of one hand to be then grasped by the tail as it passes the other - more picturesque ways of 'viewing' every phase of every posture of the form. Birds, by the way are symbolic of "communion between heaven and earth". These traditional visualisations and ancient symbolic meanings do help reveal the Form in mind and spirit; however it is the appreciation of its martial roots and the application of the postures helps reveals it in the body and provide necessary Yin to Yang boundaries. If the martial aspect is wholly absent from an individual's study and practice of Tai Chi, that individual's practice is not balanced and too soft. This is not all said so as to promote the martial of Tai Ch above the spiritual, but to simply try to answer the question fully; not only explaining why you breathe in and out when you do, and why also your feet and hands are where there they are and why - and where they will next be - and why.

The broader the boundaries and the more facets any practice has ... the more complete that practice. The practitioners familiarity and level of development of Yin qualities should be proportionate to the familiarity and level of development of Yang qualities. Intimacy with one and ignorance of the other, whichever way around, amounts to no more than a shallow practice.

Relatively, and especially in comparison to conventional workout regimes, Tai Chi is Yin. But even just in comparison to the Tai Chi of a generation ago, let alone a hundred generations ago, the Tai Chi that we westerners encounter these days is very yin and inevitably becoming more so as teaching in the appreciation of martial aspects is diminished. This is not 'our fault', its jus the way it is, and what we now expect or desire from Tai Chi is not what the average terrorised peasant farmer wanted before the invention of a police dialling number! Nevertheless, to stay true to the tradition one should acknowledge the martial applications of Tai Chi as intrinsic to it and inextricably involved in its formulation and origins.

Tai Chi and Chi Kung are INTERNAL practices, formulated to promote the accumulation and unimpaired (internal) distribution of Chi - for health and well being. Breathing 'into the circle' is therefore one of the fundamentals of all 'internal development' exercises.

Another way of breathing is a recognised method of development of chi - but in this case these exercises are classified as "Yi Jin Jing" and used to develop 'external' chi and encourage the development of muscles and tendons. Yijinjing is a set of limbering up excersises for the tendons, to strengthen them. They are gentle excersises, but also involve vigourous will - using one's will to direct the exertion of muscular strength. Like Chi Kung, it is coordinated through breathing. - breathing is used to force the will, and in a natural tai chi form this may feel uncomfortable to you. In a 'complete' practice, Tai Chi Form is really just the middle ground used to develop the 'spirit' and accumulate internal chi. Martial application and Yi Jin Jing becomes then the Yang aspect which is used to develop the externals and the body. The third and most Yin aspect is meditation which is used to develop and control the mind. So, breathing 'into the circle' is OK (and called Yi Jin Jing) but it will have the opposite effect and encourage hardness as opposed to softness.

Gassho, Gary Robinson