Tuesday 13 January 2009

Standing on one leg

What can we do to correct unsteady balance?

The question can be answered in different ways depending on how you experience your practice. For a person new to t'ai chi it may be a physical issue. You try to get the body aligned over the foot and use muscles to hold the position rigidly. The problem with this is that it blocks the ch'i and if there is any leaning the muscles become tired unevenly and this causes more difficulty.

The second approach is to get a rough alignment of the body and then relax in a downward direction and sink the ch'i through the legs into the ground. This is still not ideal since the mind is preoccupied with method and cannot cultivate a natural expression of t'ai chi force.

When the body is aligned and you sink the ch'i, then suspend the headtop. Suspending the crown of the head is not achieved using muscles in the neck but comes from putting some awareness of feeling there which has an upward direction. The body feels as if it hangs down from this upward force at the crown. In this position, relaxed, with the bones gentle drawn out, you must get the ch'i. The ch'i enables the awareness to experience the body as one-piece; it is then possible to generate internal force. The intention moves the force - the balance of the body becomes effortless.
Bristol 13.1.09

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