Questions you may have on Tai Chi
TAI CHI
WITH
CIARAN CORR
Newry, Co. Down,
BT34 1PJ,
Northern Ireland
FORTHCOMING
TAI CHI CLASSES
SEPTEMBER 2010
BEGINNERS CLASS
STARTS: Thursday, 23rd September 2010
EVENING CLASS: 7pm - 8.30pm
Duration: 7-week course
Cost: £70
Payable: At your first class
Reserve a Place: Ring (028) 3026 2123 or email: cc@flowsoftly.com
Location: Mourne Country Hotel, Newry City.
INTERMEDIATE CLASS (for those who have completed the Beginners class)
STARTS: Monday, 20th September 2010
EVENING CLASS: 7pm - 8.30pm
Duration: 7-week course
Cost: £70
Payable: At your first class
Reserve a Place: Ring (028) 3026 2123 or email: cc@flowsoftly.com
Location: The Scout Hall. Home Avenue (off the Warrenpoint Road), Newry City.
Q: What is Tai Chi?
A: Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese practice that is performed in a slow graceful series of relaxed, natural postures. It is performed very slowly, with a gentle even pace, with continuous conscious focus on the continuity of the movement. The Chinese use a beautiful metaphor which likens this pace and control to that of pulling silk from a cocoon – if we pull steadily, the strand will unravel; whereas if we pull too slow or too fast, it will break.
When practising Tai Chi, the body always remains relaxed and at ease, with the mind centered in each movement, feeling the natural flow from substantial to the insubstantial as weight is redistributed from one side to another – there is never any over-extension or wasted effort – a description of the Chinese concept of ‘Wu Wei’ (effortless ease). The body moves as one, around the circular movement and control of the waist, continually moving, rotating, transforming into the opposite (Yin into Yang and vice versa). Beautiful to watch and even more beautiful to do. The breathing is done through the nose – inhaling as we expand and exhaling as we contract in the form.
Q: I read about the benefits of Tai Chi from both a Western Medicine and Eastern Medicine perspective in your FAQ’s section of your website (www.flowsoftly.com) . Are there any other benefits?
A: Yes. Tai Chi teaches us that we are more than our physical body – we have an energetic body which consists of many layers. It brings us in contact with this energetic body through our attention to our breath, developing awareness of the feeling of Qi (meaning energy and pronounced ‘chee’ – also spelled as Chi)) and the flow of this Life-Force through our body. We begin to understand that where our thought goes, our energy follows and then we can now enter the wonderful world of conscious intention with deeper understanding and appreciation.
Q: Is Tai Chi just for younger people?
A: Not at all. Tai Chi is suitable for all ages. As our physical capacity diminishes with age, the gentle continuous movements of Tai Chi keep the ligaments and tendons of our feet, ankles, knees and hips gently toned and conditioned, making them more resilient, less prone to injury and improving their range of motion.
As we continually shift our weight from one foot to another, our body awareness increases to develop a better sense of balance and confidence in our ability to be centered and grounded. We become more secure in our body movements. While practising Tai Chi, we condition our body gently while increasing our capacity to focus and concentrate.
Q: So it has particular benefits for the older person?
A: Western Medical research has confirmed that it has many benefits for the older person, including:
Improving strength, mobility, balance and endurance;
Increases joint flexibility;
Increases strength & range of motion of joints;
Develops greater knee and leg strength;
Increases the efficiency of breathing & enhances breathing capacity without causing cardiovascular stress;
Reduces falls by up to 47% and reduces the fear of falling;
Improves mood states;
Reduces blood pressure;
Reduces anxiety;
Reduces tension;
Reduces fatigue;
Reduces confusion;
Safe exercise for older people, including those at high risk from cardiovascular disease;
Highly recommended aerobic exercise for coronary heart disease;
Improves our immune function
Q: How would you explain the benefits of Tai Chi from an Eastern medical perspective?
A: There are many benefits for the Tai Chi practitioner, including:
Tai Chi stimulates the meridian system of the body;
It facilitates the free flow of energy (Qi or Chi) throughout the body;
It releases blockages of Qi and improves the flow of Qi;
It calms, clears and sharpens the mind;
Mental, physical and emotional health are promoted simultaneously;
It helps to integrate mind, body, emotions and spirit;
It maintains youthfulness and aliveness;
When the body & mind move harmoniously together, the human spirit soars.
Traditional Chinese Medicine views the mind, body, emotions and spirit as inseparable. Each is a reflection of the other. If our thinking is rigid and uncompromising, then the body will, in time, show this in rigid musculature. Rigid suppression or unacceptable expression of emotions become the normal way of being and the spirit suffers as a result. Conversely, if the body’s muscles are rigid, then our thinking and the expression of our emotions will most likely be more rigid too. Tai Chi’s slow mindful movements reflect the union of mind & body.
Q: Ciaran - How long have you been teaching Tai Chi ?
A: I’ve been practising Tai Chi for about 20 years, and have been teaching for 10 years.
Q: Are you a qualified Tai Chi teacher ?
A: Yes. The Oriental approach, which I’ve followed, is that of an extended apprenticeship to a Tai Chi Master. This apprenticeship lasts many years, and I’ve spent 10 years in study and practice, before teaching Tai Chi.
Part of my study has included the study of Acupuncture, Qi Gong, and Shiatsu. This has consolidated a deeper understanding of the infinite world of Qi and the development of personal responsibility for protecting health, promoting vitality, prolonging life while cultivating spiritual awareness and insight.
Q: Who is your Tai Chi Master ?
A: I have two Tai Chi Masters –
ChungLiang Al Huang, who is a highly regarded and internationally respected Tai Ji Master and authority of East-West cultural synthesis, and
Cielle Tewksbury, of the Living Tao Foundation in the USA, another highly respected and internationally renowned Tai Chi teacher who brings her unique expression and delight to the never-ending Tao.
Q: What Tai Chi form do you teach?
A: I begin with “The Five Elements” form, and progress to the more advanced forms of the 1st, 2nd, & 3rd Circles.
All these forms have been developed by Chungliang Al Huang over the last 40 years, which are a syntheses of different aspects of traditional Tai Chi forms and Qi Gong.
Q: Do you belong to any Tai Chi Association or Group of Tai Chi Teachers?
A: Yes. I belong to Living Tao UK & Ireland which represents Tai Chi teachers and advanced students associated with ChungLiang in the UK and Ireland.
Q: Where do you teach?
A: I’m based in Newry, Co. Down in Northern Ireland and regularly teach Tai Chi at workshops throughout Ulster and abroad, as well as teaching weekly classes in Newry.
Q: I hear from a few people that you don’t teach Tai Chi in the traditional manner, and that your Tai Chi classes tend to be very enthusiastic and lively!
A: Because life has become so stressful, I have chosen to teach Tai Chi very differently from the traditional manner. I use imagery, sound and humour as an integral part of the learning process, and this helps us to discover and develop our sense of Qi very quickly.
This allows us to remember very easily the sequence of gentle movements that incorporate the essence of each of the various Tai Chi forms.
Q: I see from your website that you maintain that there is no wrong way of doing Tai Chi! That goes against all that I’ve been taught so far, where every movement is very precise and specific?
A: This is part of the non-traditional way that I teach. You’ll notice in my classes that my focus is in the internal world – as we become more relaxed and at ease internally, so too does our body on the outside (as within, so without). Removing the fear “That I’m not doing it right” allows much quicker access to the delights that Tai Chi brings.
In a combination class that I occasionally run which acts as an introduction to the various disciplines I teach, I use the practice of one single movement as a Tai Chi access point to the internal world. It opens a door to awareness and feeling of the physical and energetic bodies into the world of the Infinite.
Q: But you teach much more than Tai Chi in your Tai Chi class!
A: Yes – I teach about Life through the medium of Tai Chi. How to apply the principles of Tai Chi in our practical every day living, how it can be used to acquaint yourself with our Shadow side and to be at ease with it as we give ourselves permission to explore it with a gentle and soft heart.
Students often return each week with stories of how they use these techniques in their everyday life, how they now deal so easily with the challenging people in their lives, or how they have so many “Aha” moments when they realised how they created or contributed to the problems in their lives.
Q: What do you try to achieve in your Tai Chi classes?
A: I see the Tai Chi form as a wonderful introduction to meet the true self that is often buried so deep inside, to make friends with ourselves, which leads us to change our perceptions and to see the world in a much better light.
For me, Tai Chi is much more than just a moving meditative practice. It allows us to access the inner world of Truth and to be completely at ease within ourselves, and learn to choose how we wish to be in the world.
It is a great place to learn how to become responsible for ourselves and to allow others to do the same. As is said humorously in class….‘We learn to mind our own business and to stop minding the business of others!’.
Q: I’ve heard Tai Chi described as an exercise, as a form of meditation, and even as a martial art. How do you see it?
A: It’s all these and more. Ultimately I see it as a dance with life. Tai Chi frees the body and helps with relaxation and overall circulation. It activates muscles, sinews and joints in the body. It strengthens physical power without stress. It maintains youth and aliveness, and slows down the aging process through rejuvenation. It calms the mind. It clears and sharpens the mind to help us in focusing and centering our daily activities. It allows intuition to flourish.
When the body and mind move harmoniously together, the human spirit soars.
It’s a soulful experience that helps to balance the conflict of duality, as mind and body polarize and unite. It introduces soft approaches to otherwise hard living. The ultimate benefit of Tai Chi is to experience life in a wide-awake, present state of healthy being.
Q: Tai Chi translates as “The Great Ultimate” – what’s your understanding of this?
A: My understanding of this concept changed from the theoretical to the experiential over 12 years ago when during Tai Chi practice one morning something strange happened. It’s hard to describe but try to imagine this - it was if you let go of your ‘control’ of your Tai Chi movements and allowed your body to move without the presence of your mind. The person behind the Tai Chi disappeared. The Tai Chi form was doing-being itself.
As the Tai Chi body movements moved out, the Universe moved out. As the body returned to centre, so did the Universe. There was no difference between the Universe and the Tai Chi – it was all One. In this place, there are no problems, no day-to-day worries – they all disappear. It is a place of complete peace, tranquillity and blissfulness - where the mind does not exist and where pure awareness just is.
So, in a profound and transcendent way, the ‘Great Ultimate” is when our Tai Chi merges with the Infinite Universe and All That Is, and the person doing it no longer exists! We are all One – that is the great ultimate!
