Using Tai Chi To Direct Your Qi
Balances Your Energy
And Gives You A Complete Workout
The Chinese martial art of Tai Chi has been around for centuries, and combines smooth, flowing body motions with mental conditioning and meditation. Indeed, there's a school of thought that describes Tai Chi as moving meditation', because of its emphasis not on force of the punch or spinning back kick, but rather on moving the essential energy of life, called “Qi' through the body. Throughout Asia, it is used as a mechanism to improve fitness and flexibility, and it is widely regarded as having health benefits for treating diseases.
One way of looking at Qi balance in the body is to treat the body as though it were an electrical system, rather than a merely chemical one. Making sure that your Qi is balanced is important for happiness and good health. What draws people to Tai Chi are the ways it improves muscle tone, fitness, and overall energy levels. It's a great way to boost your mood and to combat the stiffness and soreness that plague us as we grow older, and lose flexibility, bone mass and muscle tone. Seniors find this exercise extreemly appealing due to its low impact work out. It is much different from other martial arts, where it provides a pleasurable form of whole body exercise.
The founding of Tai Chi as a discipline stems from a semi-
It is, in many ways, emptiness of mind that draws out it’s healing benefits. Clearing the mind keeps it from interfering with the flowing, graceful movements of the crane, or the swift movements of the serpent as the student moves their body through the forms. In doing so, the practitioner draws breaths in deeply, which focus the attention on the airways, and helps one purge negative emotions, stress and toxins through Tai Chi healing.
Since its founding, it has expanded from the core 13 motions, as additional practitioners have added on to it and attempted to give it their own stamp. However, the fundamentals remain the same. Each motion you do flows from the prior one, and leads into the next one. The motions are not to be hurried; hurrying is its antithesis. The motions are to be savored and walked through slowly.
To balance the flow of Qi, posture is very important. The body remains upright, as if a string from the heavens is attached to the practitioner's head, and the rest of the body moves slowly along. All movement starts in the lower Dan Tien (just bellow the belly button) providing excellent stability and balance, this helps the student focus on breathing properly, deeply from the diaphragm, in through the nose, and out through the mouth. Focus on breathing, and keeping your mind clear of distractions, and the rest of Tai Chi flows as naturally from these principles as the motions flow from one to the other.
The traditional benefits of this focus on breathing is that it helps the body's energies circulate, bringing balance to ones Qi. It helps the student center themselves on what is important, exhaling all the things that bring them stress when they breathe out, and taking in the air of purity when they inhale. In addition to aiding the interplay of gases in the lungs and getting you to breath fully, using the bottom of your lungs as well as the top (which improves wind, vigor and energy levels), Tai Chi healing also massages the internal organs, and helps you become more aware of your surroundings. It brings balance, not just mentally, but physically. Practitioners report that their overall balance in the world – the likelihood that they'll slip and fall – is greatly reduced.
It is the interplay of both mental and physical health benefits, and its ability to redirect the flow of energy within the body that allows Tai Chi healing to perform some of the functions of acupressure and acupuncture, in addition to building up flexibility in the body.
Reiki, Reconnective or Matrix Energetics healing sessions are available by contacting
Mark Smith @ Angelic-