Yes, I’m Getting Rounder. You?
While I’ve been accused of being delusional in the past, I don’t think this is the case here. I really do think I’m getting rounder. The particular flavor of Yang Style Tai Chi I practice uses predominantly large circular movements, and I’ve been steadily working on making better and better circles since I first began this journey of body and mind.
What I see in new students a real difficulty in making circles that actually resemble… well you know, circles. They’re usually so focused on getting their hands from point A to point B that they loose track of what happens along the way. When it comes to small subtle movements, the circles generally disappear altogether, like fali in Yang Style Forms.* I seem to have a vague recollection of having some trouble with this early on, but don’t remember it clearly enough to be certain (must be flash backs from all the chi kung).
Look at the diagram of moving circles above for just a minute. When you see a circle begin to move, focus on it. I think focusing on any one aspect of a form has a similar impact as looking at any one of these circles. When you really focus on something you see if for what it really is, not what you think it is. A side effect of focusing on one thing is that other aspects of the form seem to disappear in the beginning, literally. Don’t worry; this too shall pass.
The nice part about focusing on one thing at a time is once you get that particular aspect into your body, you also begin to develop the ability to do it without focusing directly on it. It becomes part of your peripheral vision, so to speak. So if you want your forms to look better, feel better, and have more “substance” to them, focus on circular movements.
Sometimes people say they see things the rest of us don’t see, kind of like a “Sixth Sense”. Well, “I see tai chi circles”. Can you see them too?
John
* In Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan fali, power releases, are practiced in drills and not in the forms themselves.
P.S. I found the optical illusion of rotating circles while visiting an alternate reality. If you like it, go to the source: http://www.urgle.com/~mike/optical/Illusion.html
I found the crop circles photo in a very unusual spot, a UFO website. To visit this dimension click here: http://www.ufo-reports.com/crop-circles.html
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Jun 5, 2009 - 07:06:12Heh, the UFO site sort of makes my head spin, yes.
If you start looking for circles, cycles, and spirals they are to be found everywhere and in everything, and especially in the structure of the human body. Tai chi is just a “reflection” of this (literally).
As above, so below.
Walt,
I just noticed smaller circles within a larger one while looking at my blueberry bagel this morning. Then I saw swirls in the cream cheese… as above, so below.
Kidding aside, you’re absolutely right. Tai chi is a refection of life and the lessons really are everywhere, even if not in my bagel. This makes writing a tai chi blog a lot easier too.
Thanks for your two cents. You have a good grasp of the subject, and your comments and insights always give me more to think about.
John
Very cool picture in the “As Above, So Below” link you put in.
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