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Hello, I have a question about this first part of the first movement of both tai chi and Gods (i.e. the arms coming up) which, I think I have gathered, are the same.
I have been experimenting with both the 2 and 4 part versions concerning the bending/stretching. But in both cases I find that I can only lift my arms a small amount before contacting gross tensions and mis-alignments of the spine.
Is it valid to start the movement and stop when I contact these tensions, and hold into them as a standing practice? It seems to work quite well, but maybe it is better to keep the whole flowing movement and contact and release tensions whilst constantly moving.
Does that make any sense?
Sorry, I forgot to ask if it is valid then to do the whole movement but with the arms only raised slightly – I generally get to about the mid riff level before wanting to go back again.
I have been thinking about this movement, and the shape of the circular action:
Is it true to say that in the 2-part movement of Gods, that the shape the hands make is more like the vertical circle in circling hands? In other words making the shape of a whole circle in the same direction.
And conversely in the 4-part movement, the hands go up describing one half of a circle in one direction, and then reverse direction in the second 2 parts?
hi Guy,
Concerning Mvt 1 of Gods and Opening of Taichi, they are different : the second part of the movement 1 is done with wrists bending back and the fingers pointing back to the point above the head, whereas Opening is done with palms facing down the whole time. Check out the beginner section Chi Gung video of November to see Bruce explicitly show these differences.
Concerning tensions, in the intermediate Chi Gung Section, I think I remember Bruce saying it’s better to slow down but still to keep moving while breathing very softly, unless you have reached a landmark point in the movement. In that case, he shows the procedure for using the breath to improve chi flow through the blockages. Check out the videos.
Hope this helps,
Erwan
Thank you Erwan, that was very helpful, and thank you for replying.
I had noticed the difference in hand positions between the two, but was wondering about the difference between the 2-part and 4-part versions of both movements.
In the 4-part version the initial movement involves closing/bending as the arms come up, before opening/stretching as the hands go forward.
It follows that the circular motion or circular arc is different: a complete vertical circle in the same direction in the 2-part, but in the 4-part half of vertical circle in one direction before a reversal of direction for the next 2 parts. Is that right? I only ask because it doesn’t feel quite right (in terms of circular motion) doing the 1st part of the 4-part motion.
This is quite possibly beyond me though. I haven’t even mastered the most basic of the most basic standing postures. I haven’t achieved fully sinking and fully re-aligning the spine and joints, and can’t even relax my hands to the sides of my legs, so what hope of doing moving practices I suppose. Oh well, thanks anyway…
Hello Guy – luck in your discoveries and training… (there is such a daunting depth, for me- as my practice just seems to release and make obvious more tension… eventually I hope to see the other-side
I think the way to match your observation of the 2&4 parts, in my exper, they are the same circle of the “frame” (ie the arms-wrist to torso-spine)..
call that dynamic “unfolding” (as lifts peng&ji, whether 2 or 4) -ie shoulder angle increases [distinct from Opening-Closing, and both unfolding and Open-or-Close is distinct from Bend-Stretch… as principles, not to confuse or mush them, but in training often they are done at once in “a” coordination).
Then the other dynamic “folding (as absorbs in&to the ground- lu&an, again whether 2 or 4)….thus the trick (at first conceptually, later experienced in practice, before hold one’s self up to doing it)- the trick seems to be to see Open (Kai) and/or Stretch- along with, but distinct from, the motion starting hands near belt-line, reaching-outward as rise up until roughly shoulder level, then both 2 & 4 arc inward
– (try both and see if you can make the circle, the temptation to make it a move that slides up a ramp and then slides backwards down the same ramp.. (glass ceiling, if that makes sense), that can show up in many moves, in particular the Egates CloudHands….. feel-watch-drive the move from your shoulder-blades, that might help the circular (watch your elbow-pts, they should have a circular patth, not a “geometric circle” necessarily, but if seen alone they have that ring-shape?) luck
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