T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement; 13

I'm Carmen and we're glad that you could join us for the final program of this series. We'll begin this with a review of the movements that we've learned in the past that could always use a little more practice and then after our conversation with Justin, we'll review the movements that we've learned since our last review. Put your feet shoulder with a part and we'll begin with rocking motion. Our theme for today is freedom. Get your hands ready and begin. Come forward, gently roll the hands over, softly back down, relax as you go by the body. Come up. I hope that when you're doing your own practice at home, raise the toes that you're doing at least 36. Feel yourself beginning quiet. Feel how your body just knows now that whenever you get into a relaxed position

that your shoulders automatically relax. Notice that the elbows are coming all the way away from the body. This is the last one. Gently shift the weight over, bring the hands back to your chest, separate and close. Very good. Breathe now. The next one will be pulling taffy, variation number one, or the anchor. Bend here at the knees, the hands are ready. Now get them ready. Let the foot out to the front. Come forward with the anchor taffy, gently back and down gently. Now to the side and feel as if the waist were unwinding. That's the first half. Now here's the second half of number one. Come forward, feel that yarn hand and gently feel the taffy between the hands and close. One more set.

Come forward. Breathe. Notice how much freedom you have in just this little space that we're using. Even though the body is flowing to the front, flowing to the back, you still have a great deal of freedom. Feel the balance that you have as you move. One more time. All these things that we have inside of ourself, gentleness, gracefulness, that we're healthy, that we're growing. There's so many things that we can treasure. No wonder people say, who knows something, that we should always look within ourselves for all the answers that we want to find. And breathe. The next one is pulling taffy, variation

number two, or wrist circles. Feet are again, shoulder width apart, very relaxed. Hands ready, come up onto the balls of the feet, make your first wrist circle, gently down. Back part of the circle, the front part of the circle. On the third one, be sure to make your circle, get ready, let your foot out, you snake it out, you pull that taffy, step over and close, up again, and down. Feel synchronized between your hands and your feet. Gently let your foot out and pull, let the wrinkles out of your forehead and breathe. Gently up and again, sink on the third one, make that wrist circle, get ready, let the foot out, pull across, breathe and close. Then again,

one, two, sink on this one, get ready, pull across, feel the, yinning and yawning in the legs and close. Here's one more, up, breathe, feel it, sink on this one, get ready, let the foot out, pull across, feel it, feel it, feel it. Remember it is the waist moving, the arm across, one, two, are you feeling your shoulders relaxed, your back, good, step over now and close, and breathe. The next one is pulling taffy, perpetual motion. Get ready, let your foot out and then pull. Now you don't close, you just get the hands ready,

bring the foot up and down, without letting the head go up and keep getting ready, this is number two, and then here's number two. Remember that right now your yon hand is your left hand. Now your yon hand is your right hand. Come across, feel it, and notice how as you do this movement, you feel kind of like a juggler, there's so many little parts to pay attention to, where are the hands am I turning at the waist, am I yinning and yawning, life is kind of like that isn't it, when we don't pay attention to certain parts, those may be the very parts that are so precious, that have something very special to offer us, feel as you continue doing this movement, how you can feel the yinning and the yawning, very good, and now this is our last set,

feel the waist turning, and this is our last one, notice how you stand, strong like a mountain, and flowing like a river, and breathe. Our next one is working the pulley. Now start by bending the knees, bring the left hand up, let the left leg out, get the right hand ready, palm up, and come forward, and bring it back. Push as if something were going out, feel the whole body turning, this one will really unlock the waist, if you haven't turned enough on the taffies, this one will really help, let the waist do the work in carrying the arms all the way through, now push, it turns, they both turn, then this one pulls back and it keeps pulling,

now at the waist it goes all the way back around, and it pushes again, this one goes straight out from the shoulder, and this one comes at a diagonal, now it pushes again, feel the strength in the arm that is pushing, we only need to pay attention to one arm, one hand, pay attention to the one on the left right now, and this one is number nine, push, and with this one bring it all the way back, bring the foot back, hand goes all the way around, and close, and breathe, to do the other side, and push out, now we're paying attention only to the right side, remember I'm your mirror, push, feel it, bring it back all the way around up over the shoulder, push,

feel the strength as the hand pushes out, and it turns, you're turned to one side, now you turn to the other side, hand is at a diagonal, now it goes straight out from the shoulder, back gently, and push, bring it back, and push, bring it back, push it out, feel it, and here's our last one, with this one, bring the hand back over the shoulder, and close, it's now time to be with Justin Stone, join us in just a moment. We're glad that you could join us, we always enjoy having you with us, Justin, thank you for coming.

I like being here coming. There is so much talk on this program about practice, I tell people to practice, and every time that you've talked, you've also talked about practice, do you do a Tai Chi practice every day? I certainly do, sometimes twice a day, it's a good deal of difference in how you feel if you get up in the morning and do your Tai Chi Chi practice, it stays with you all day. Chinese have a saying which is, you cannot appease the hunger by reading the menu, you've heard that before, you have to eat the food in order to get the nourishment, same thing happens with Tai Chi Chi. Regular practice means that it will gradually accumulate because Tai Chi Chi practice is cumulative, the flow of the

Tai Chi and the balance thing of the Tai Chi are cumulative in effect. After a while, friends may say to you, they notice why you're practicing, there's a slight trembling in the fingers, the energy has accumulated and it's coming out in that way. Now, if you don't practice, it's similar to the idea that I tell you about chocolate, what chocolate is, what the ingredients are, how it's shipped to this country and how it is disposed of them, so forth. You won't know anything about chocolate, but if I hand you a chocolate bar and you take a bite, you taste it, then you know what chocolate is. So it is important to remember, you must practice if you want to get the benefits of Tai Chi Chi, and it is best to practice every day if you can. And again, I want to remind you that the effects are cumulative. The Chi will be stored in the bones,

and will accumulate two inches below the navel. It's there when it's needed. Perhaps you'll find that the bones get much harder, not brittle, and subject to accident, to falls, and so forth. And in your rate, it's not hard to practice because practice is very joyous. You get so you enjoy it. Well, that's very, very true. The students are always saying that on the days that they don't practice, they notice that something is missing from their day. As to practice, my suggestion is that you work out of routine. I do think that once you learn all the movements, that it would be good to practice every morning for 20 or 25 minutes. After a while, you may enjoy it, and I'll soach you, make it a little longer. If you find that there is some movement that bothers you, just skip it. Do the ones that you enjoy,

and get the benefits from them. But practice them enthusiastically, and do not practice them carelessly. That's very, very important. Now, if you have time when you come home from school, or from work, or whatever, late in the afternoon, try to get in five minutes, 10 minutes of practice before dinner. You find you may be a little sleepy when you start, but then you'll be wide awake to enjoy your dinner. However, it is important to stress that you shouldn't practice after dinner at night. Why? Because the energy that is generated may very well keep you awake, may cut it into your sleep. Two o'clock in the morning, you'll feel like running down the street, instead of getting the restful sleep that you're in need. There have been many who have wondered about that. They've tried it just to see if it was really true what I was telling them about it, keeping them awake, and it did. How many times you should practice each movement is,

of course, up to you. We usually practice in groups of nine. Do the movement nine times, or do it 18 times, or do it 36 times. A couple of teachers have at one time or another practiced one movement several hundred times, and got a good deal from it. You'll have to work out your own practice schedule according to the amount of time that you have, but be sure to do it. Well, I agree with you. It doesn't matter whether we have five minutes or ten minutes of practice, that it's always good to practice. So, I think that with that thought, since this is our last program, thank you so much for having been with us, we'll just continue to practice, and see where our practice leads us. It seems to be going in a good direction. Thank you for inviting me, Carmen. Thank you, and stay with us. We'll be right back for our review.

We're glad you could join us for the final review. Let's begin with light at the top of the head. Come down as if you were closing. Bear down, break the connection with the past, bring up that energy all the way to the top of the head. Feel it right over the crown of the head, gently up to the balls of the feet. One, feel the hands bend to the wrist, and now gently polish the energy at the top of the head. Then again, one, about five times is enough. Two, three. Some people like to do it less, some a little bit more right hand underneath, bring both

hands up, turn them, and close. Isn't that beautiful? And then again, down, break the connection, bring it up. You're still flat on the feet, then gently now up onto the balls of the feet. Two, three, and polish. Feel the fountain of light that is constantly renewing you. Hold it and feel it, and then one, two, three. Bring everything down flat, and then bend the knees one more time, gently up, all the way to the top. One, keep the nose up, two, three. There's always a tendency with this one to put the nose down, but lift your head just slightly, feel it. Remember the hands move as if they were the wheels of a car. Two, three, gently open up. Feel this new life inside of you.

That beautiful diamond at the top of your head is now polished. Now light at the temples down, gently bring it up, and here's one, two, three. The palm of the hand is at the temples, and hold it and feel it, and one, two, three. Gently your flat, turn the hands over and close. Break the connection, come up, and one, two, three. It's amazing how these simple hand movements really do move the energy inside of the body, and one, two, three. You open up to something brand new, one more time, gently up, then one, bending at the wrists, not going out too far,

elbows are relaxed, then one, two, three. Come on all the way down, flat, right hand underneath, and close, and breathe. Feel that breath as our next movement is joyous breath. Bear down. This is the only one that has some force. Bring it up. Shoulders stay relaxed, stay down, hands are just here, to the shoulders. Finish filling up to the top of your head, turn over, and again. Finish filling it up. Enjoy that breath. Make it strong, and again. Feel that hollow tube behind the nose.

Feel the dantian, come together, and close, and breathe. Passing clouds, let these clouds show you the way, the way to freedom, take that step out, left hand now, passes through the bottom of the body. It gets to the shoulder, both hands now, come across the entire body, and again, they pass. Here's number two, and here's the second one. So each time you go in front of your face, you can count. Number three, and here's number three.

Feel the yinning and yawning, and how it doesn't go and stop, and how you're not letting the shoulder lean. It's turning at the waist, turning at the waist. Find that L, here it is, then turn the hand and let it down. Find the L, turn it, let it down. There's your L, turn it, let it down, turn it, let it down. Each time that we go by the body, we begin to realize that like a cloud, we can be soft, we can be gentle, and at the same time, this is number nine, so finish the movement, and close. We can be soft at the same time, very, very rooted, very, very strong. The next one is healing sounds, so breathe again, breathe very, very deeply and gently.

Keep in mind that these healing sounds really do affect different parts of the body. That's why you might feel a little cotton mouth after doing them, and begin. Let yourself feel strong. Feel the richness of each sound. About at waist level. Role at one time and close. Each sound has that richness as if it were a temple bell.

That sound just comes all the way from the dantian, let it out, let it out to move the energy through you, and it really does. And the last one is cosmic consciousness pose, put the right foot flat on the ground, bring the left up against it, overlap the hands, right hand farthest from the face, thumbs are up, and look through that space between the thumbs. And breathe, shoulders are relaxed. Notice how easy it is, the right leg is relaxed, the knee is relaxed, you're looking through that space, elbows are up, your hands are not too far away from the face, but they're not touching the face, the hands are separated, so that they're not touching, their space between the fingers, you're breathing.

Good, by now you should be able to hold it to about the count of 60 or one minute. You actually could probably hold it for a lot longer than that. And if you relax the right leg, you'll find that you can hold it for a lot longer, foot flat on the ground, and relaxed. You come to a gentle conclusion. You've now learned all 20 movements. Isn't that a wonderful feeling? You've done good work at home. Be gentle with yourself. And know that sometimes you may even feel very thankful and very grateful for everything. I'm very grateful to my original Tai Chi Cha teacher Helen Pope who taught me these movements to help keep me healthy and strong. And I'm also very grateful to Justin Stone who originated the movements and has given us the opportunity to learn the meaning of balance and of circularity. It's as we circulate this balanced energy through the body, we have a wonderful response from inside

of us to all the good that there is. We begin to feel how these movements do nourish and nurture our body. Remember to breathe especially when you're in a crisis. Let yourself practice every day. This is your special time for you and you deserve it. Even five minutes is enough. A hundred percent of you is enough. But most especially, I want you to have a great day and share the Chi. For a 60 minute video, Cassette copy of all 19 movements and one pose of Tai Chi Cha,

Joy Through Movement with Carmen, or a copy of the companion book, call 1-800-328-5663.