Awareness of Pathways

[Anonymous]

What should the mind be doing during the practise?

When practising a movement with a single pathway such as “Tiger Crouches” or “Tiger Separates Her Cubs” I become aware of the single pathway. Which is relatively easy. Is this correct? For example in Tiger Crouches, I become aware of the dai mai, dantien, kwa, down the leg and up again to the kwa, dan tien back to the dai mai.

What should I be doing with the more complex movements such as the simultaneous up and down pathways of “Dragon & Tiger Meet”, “Dragon looks to the Horizon” and “Dragon & Tiger Soars” etc. Do I become aware of the down movements, or the up movements. What should I be doing with these movements.

Thanks,

Adam

[Anonymous]

Hey Adam!
My mind fries when I try to pay attention to specific pathways, always has and I have been doing this for 40 years (DT since about 1986). What works for me is to simplify and just pay attention to what I am feeling. To open up more and more, as completely as possible, to what is GOING ON rather than trying to make something specific happen (like circulating or moving the chi etc). I feel my hands, I feel my body, and I make it a holistic experience rather than making distinctions of arm, leg, hands, etc. Don’t know if this helps or hinders. I just think too much is made of moving chi along meridians and channels when the essence of T’ai Chi is to experience yourself as vibration, energy, light.

[Anonymous]

Hi David,

Thanks for your reply. It helps much more than hinders. In fact it doesn’t hinder at all.

I practised yesterday just being mindful of what was going on. That alone made such a difference. Thank you.

Adam

[Anonymous]

Goooood! Happy playing:)
DZ

[Anonymous]

Hi Adam and David,

This is a nice discussion. With your mind do you pay attention to the whole (or as David said, what’s going on) or the parts (i.e. the pathways each move is designed to stimulate)?

For Dragon & Tiger the answer is ideally both. Most people initially pay attention to feeling along the pathways, and for the more complex movements perhaps along just one side at a time, i.e. the up or the down, the right or the left, so that they know they’re moving along the pathway the exercise is designed to stimulate and not some other pathways that won’t be as beneficial.

If you go this route, then when you can do that easily, you try to relax and open your mind, especially your feeling awareness, and feel for the up AND the down or the right AND left simultaneously, allowing yourself to track more and more of “the whole”.

As you can do this better and better, you can relax even more and notice the whole and the parts equally simultaneously or more one or the other as you like.

Some people – like David, it sounds like – find it best to come at it the other way, starting with the whole and feeling back into the parts. Which side of the continuum (whole to parts, parts to whole) you begin with is up to you. Eventually you want to be able to do both in Dragon & Tiger.

Enjoy figuring out what works best for you,

Bill

[Author]

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