{"id":846,"date":"2010-04-30T02:01:00","date_gmt":"2010-04-30T06:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dontow.com\/?p=846"},"modified":"2010-05-02T08:46:35","modified_gmt":"2010-05-02T12:46:35","slug":"meditation-an-often-neglected-component-of-taiji-practice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dontow.com\/2010\/04\/meditation-an-often-neglected-component-of-taiji-practice\/","title":{"rendered":"Meditation: An Often Neglected Component of Taiji Practice"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Major Components of Taiji Practice<\/strong>
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\nThere are three major components of Taiji practice:\u00a0 Forms, Push Hands, and Meditation.\u00a0 Everyone who has ever practiced Taiji knows about and has practiced the Forms component, i.e., engaging the body in various sets of prescribed movements, and depending on the level of practice, perhaps integrating with breathing techniques.\u00a0 Most people who are interested in Taiji from the perspective of martial arts probably also know about and have practiced the Push Hands component, i.e., engaging with another practitioner in various choreographed or free-style arm and leg movements trying to execute some of the martial applications of Taiji.\u00a0 However, many people who practice Taiji may not have engaged in the Meditation component, even though they might have heard about it.
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\nThis article will provide a brief introduction to the Meditation component in Taiji, and also explain why so many Taiji practitioners have neglected, relatively speaking, this important component of Taiji.\u00a0 Later in this article we will explain why we classify Meditation as a separate component from Forms when it is often said that performing Taiji forms is considered to be involved in moving meditation.<\/p>\n

Two Central Principles of Taiji<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the central principles of Taiji is that you need to relax, both body and mind.\u00a0 From the health perspective, the more relax you are, the better is Taiji for your health.\u00a0 For example, relaxing more will release more of the tension and stress in your body and mind, and you will feel more refresh after practicing Taiji.\u00a0 Relaxing more will also reduce the physical impacts on your body from performing the forms, thus making Taiji a good exercise for people of all ages, including senior citizens.\u00a0 From the martial arts perspective, the more relax you are, the more effective you will be as a martial artist.\u00a0 For example, relaxing more will make it more difficult for your opponent to sense your intention and your next move, and at the same time will make it easier for you to sense your opponent\u2019s intention and his next move.\u00a0 Relaxing more will also allow you to respond with more quickness and more power.<\/p>\n

Another central principle of Taiji that is based on Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is that there is some sort of energy, a bio-electrical energy, called Qi that circulates in the human body, and the proper accumulation and circulation of Qi in the body is very much related to a person\u2019s health. [1]\u00a0 When there is blockage of Qi in a part of the body, then most likely there will be some sort of health problem related to that part of the body.\u00a0 Thus it is very important to develop techniques that can properly generate and circulate Qi in one\u2019s body.<\/p>\n

What is Meditation in Taiji?<\/strong><\/p>\n

In this article, by Meditation in Taiji, I am referring to a set of techniques that focus on getting the body and mind to relax and into a deeper level of \u201cquietness.\u201d\u00a0 When one is in such a state of relaxation, Qi is more likely to be generated and circulate through the body.<\/p>\n

Meditation can be static (i.e., the practitioner is not purposely moving his body [2]) or dynamic (i.e., the practitioner is purposely engaged in moving some parts of his body).\u00a0 In this article, we will focus our discussion on Static Meditation because for a beginner trying to get into a more relaxed and Qi-generating\/circulation mode, Static Meditation is more effective than Dynamic Meditation.\u00a0 However, for an experienced practitioner, either method could be just as effective.<\/p>\n

Some Simple Techniques of Static Meditation<\/strong><\/p>\n

There are many techniques for Static Meditation, we will describe just five.\u00a0 In each one, one should relax the body as much as possible, and should also empty the mind, with eyes closed, partially closed, or open.<\/p>\n

Standing Meditation 1:<\/em> Stand upright with legs about one shoulder-width apart.\u00a0 Knees should be slightly bent, with some flexibility to the degree of bend.\u00a0 Upper body and head should be straight.\u00a0 The tailbone and the buttocks should be slightly drawn in to help relax the hips and waist.\u00a0 Hold both arms outward as if holding a big beach ball at about stomach or chest height, with the shoulders relaxed and sloping slightly downward and the chest slightly concave.<\/p>\n

Standing Meditation 2:<\/em> Similar to Standing Meditation 1, but instead of holding a big beach ball in front of the body with the hands, the hands are on the sides of the body with each hand a few inches from the body, with the elbows slightly bent.\u00a0 The knees should also be slightly bent, but not bent as much as in Standing Meditation 1.\u00a0 Again, the shoulders should be relaxed and sloping slightly downward and the chest slightly concave.\u00a0 This is the same meditation position as in Spontaneous Qigong or Zifagong (\u81ea\u53d1\u529f). [3]
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\n<\/strong>Sitting Meditation 1:<\/em> Instead of standing, the practitioner sits on the edge of a chair, with the upper body and head almost straight but with a slight forward lean, and with hands on the knees.
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\n<\/strong>Sitting Meditation 2:<\/em> Instead of sitting on a chair, the practitioner sits on the floor with legs crossed, preferably in the lotus position if the practitioner is comfortable with that position, with the upper body and head almost straight but with a slight forward lean, and with hands resting between the folding legs.<\/p>\n

Lying-Down Meditation:<\/em> The practitioner lies on the floor on his back, although alternatively he can also lie on his stomach or side.\u00a0 Lying down is the meditation position where the body has to do the least to counter gravity, thus conducive to relaxing the body and mind.\u00a0 However, the practitioner should avoid falling asleep.\u00a0 Therefore, do not practice Meditation, especially Lying-Down Meditation, if you are tired.<\/p>\n

Initially, while doing Meditation, the practitioner can breathe naturally, i.e., breathe normally.\u00a0 With experience, more sophisticated breathing techniques could be incorporated.<\/p>\n

For each of these techniques, the objective is to relax the body and mind.\u00a0 The most effective way of doing that may vary with the individual.\u00a0 One may try repeating a mantra, e.g., a single word like calm, peace, quiet, etc.\u00a0 One may visualize a serene scenery as a beautiful spring day.\u00a0 Or one may do nothing special and just let the emptiness take hold.\u00a0 But one has to be patient, because this deeper state of relaxation, also called a Qigong state, may not be reached by beginning practitioners until 15, 30, or more minutes have passed.\u00a0 For non-experienced practitioners, it may not be achieved the first time or even the first few times one practices; furthermore, it may not be achieved every time one practices, even though it has already been achieved in previous practices.\u00a0 A cautionary note:\u00a0 One should not practice Meditation if one has a cold or flu, because Meditation could make the cold worse.<\/p>\n

When one gets into this Qigong state of deeper relaxation, one may feel some tingling sensation on parts of the body, especially the hands and fingers.\u00a0 One may feel a fullness of the body, as if an invisible force (Qi) is expanding inside the body.\u00a0 One may undergo some bodily motions, such as rocking forward and backward, the arms moving in circular motions, including rising upward against gravity.\u00a0 One may also engage in other more vigorous bodily motions, such as walking backward, walking forward, jogging in place, lying down on the floor and rotating, or twisting the body into various positions.\u00a0 As described in the article in Footnote 3, I have observed all such motions in Spontaneous Qigong practices involving about a dozen people.\u00a0 According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, some of these motions may be due to Qi trying to get around blockages within the practitioner\u2019s body, with the blockages due to illness or injury.<\/p>\n

Before finishing a Meditation practice, it is extremely important to go through a cool down or wrap up process (\u6536\u529f).\u00a0 This is not the usual warm\/cool down after a strenuous exercise. The purpose of properly cooling down is to ensure that the practitioner has terminated the Qigong state.\u00a0 There are various cool down methods.\u00a0 One method is the following:<\/p>\n