Tai Chi - Moving Meditation

I don't know if I mentioned it or not but I am also a student of tai chi and qigong. Tai chi is a form of moving meditation and qigong is slow, gentle movements which cleanse the body, balance the chi, or internal energy, increase longevity and aid self-healing.

I take a tai chi class three days a week. I try to find time to practice each day, which is hard to do, plus I like to do some qigong exercises daily also.

This becomes a time crunch. I meditate for 20-25 minutes a day, go to 3 yoga classes and 3 tai chi classes per week, and still I need more time to practice.

In yesterday's tai chi class, (the Thursday class is a beginner class, while the Tuesday and Sunday classes for for advanced) our instructor led us through a series of hand motions relating to each of the tai chi postures. Usually in tai chi, the feet and hands are moving in unison but the idea of this exercise was to teach us to use our waistline to move and to keep our feet firmly planted, knees pointing forward. In tai chi, the lower dan tien, or the area just below your belly button, is your energy center and all movement and power comes from here. This is why it's essential to perform all movements from this area, not simply waving arms around haphazardly.

In tai chi, you can never practice too much or go over basics too often. Each practice adds another brick to the wall of knowledge and as our instructor always says, "One brick at a time." I learn something new each time about myself and my practice.

Doing the tai chi hand motions alone is a very meditative exercise. You get into the flow of the movement, focusing deeply and you begin to experience that deep calm and peace which meditation brings.

This morning, instead of doing my usual seated meditation, I put Steven Halpren's Music for Healing on my ipod, put on my headphones and did cloud hands, brush over knee and stroking the horse's mane, using hands only with my feet planted. This was an extraordinary experience. For the first time, when I was very focused and deeply invested in doing these simple movements, I started actually moving from my waistline.

It's very strange but I'd always thought I WAS moving from my waistline but now I see, I wasn't truly. To do this, you have to let go of all arm and shoulder tension and exhibit absolutely no muscle strength there. It takes time to learn this and I'm certainly no expert, even after 2 years of study.

So, I've made a decision now to commit to a morning moving meditation practice for the next month and see where it takes me. I have to say, after this 25 minute session, I felt every bit as calm and centered as I did following seated meditation.

If you have difficulty meditating, you might want to get one or two of Lee Holden or Francesco Garripoli's Qigong DVD's. I own several of these and you can pick out various exercises and perform them repeatedly in meditation. there is also a lot of great information on chi and what each moving meditation exercise can do for your health and longevity.