Cradle Style Qigong

“I like to describe sitting as enjoying doing nothing. Primarily, sitting is to enjoy the pleasure of sitting, being fully alive and in touch with the wonders of our working bodies, the cool air, the sounds of people and birds, and the changing colors of the sky.”
~Thich Nhat Hahn

I feel as if I spend a lot of time doing nothing, and I assume that because I spend a lot of time doing it, I must surely enjoy it. Perhaps however, it is merely that I enjoy not doing some thing that I do not enjoy. Perhaps it is not the doing of nothing but the not doing of specific things…. I don’t know how to make that less confusing… sorry.

I think what I spend a lot of time doing is distracting myself, which is not the same thing as Sifu Thich describes as “doing nothing”. I fact, it is a far-flung opposite. Zoning out in front of some ‘flix is not a very active activity – I am not doing much. But neither am I essentially connected to my body and its posture, nor the environment in which I am being. There is, it seems, a very focused way of “doing nothing” and a very distracted way of it.

In my beginners class I remember to teach the following: “If you are doing tai chi and thinking about your todo list, or things to put on your grocery list or who is currently on your shit list, then you are not doing tai chi.” Tai chi should not be done in front of a flashing or scrolling screen – that is fine for treadmill work (although maybe even the treadmill should be performed more mindfully?)

I think perhaps the magic happens when you begin to truly enjoy doing tai chi and nothing else – when you are able to enter into a flow state – mind and body. You are not divided internally or externally, but aware of the wonder as it is happening.

When I start a new beginners class, the first lesson is “How To Stand”. I imagine some feel they know quite well how to stand, and I am sure some do. Many do not. That is, they do not know how to stand without tension, relaxing all the muscles which are not needed to remain standing. They do not know when their bodies are most aligned with gravity and when they fight against it – overtaxing their knees and hips and backs and shoulders and neck.

Our minds are often elsewhere and do not know how well or how poorly the body is sustaining its relationship with gravity. As gravity is ever-present, we grow to ignore its demands on our physical being. We form habits of standing shifted, and the abnormal (dare I say… aggressive) stance against gravity becomes a habit and begins to feel normal. Fighting gravity makes us weak. It takes training and practice to re-align our bodies so that gravity will give us strength instead of weakening us.

Tai chi and qigong practices usually include some Wuji training. In Cradle Style, we refer to it as the “Center Stance” because it is an opportunity to locate and feel your center – that place where gravity is friend rather than foe. It is not a fighting stance like “Bow Stance” and it is not a strengthening stance like “Horse Stance”. It is a place to begin. From Center Stance movement is released.

The concept of Wuji differs somewhat from the idea of centering. It originates from Taoist philosophy. If you consider the Yin/Yang symbol (in Chinese thought, it is the Taiji symbol) you can see the black and the white circling around each other in a dance. The black is not fully black and the white not fully white. They are in relationship to one another and yet not fully distinct from each other. Now imagine the circle which contains this magnificent flow of elements… that surrounding circle is the “Wuji”. It is the unmoving thing which provides the space for movement. It is the void which allows itself to be filled. It is the place of beginning.

The Wuji Stance is simple enough. Stand with feet hip-distance apart. By hip-distance, I do not mean look at your hips and estimate their width – I mean allow your hips to physically determine the distance. To perform this, unlock your knees and sink slightly into a comfortable mini-squat. Then shift all of your weight onto one leg, making the other completely empty. Lightly touch the heel of the empty leg to the ground as far out in front of you without shifting any weight. Keeping the empty leg empty, swing it out and around until parallel with your full leg. Where the foot of the empty leg fully connects with the ground yet as far away from the full leg as possible is the measure of the distance your hips will allow.

If this presents any physical pain whatsoever, shorten the distance to less than hip-width. There is no benefit to pain in tai chi – but there is benefit to knowing where pain resides – but that I shall save for another time.

Your feet should be in full contact with the ground. Think of the bottom of your foot as a tripod of sorts – one point of contact in your heel and two points of contact in the ball and the outside ball of your foot. It is not necessary initially to feel your weight equally distributed over these three points – but you should feel they are all in solid contact with the ground. There is much to discuss about the feet and the ground they stand upon, but for now the most important thing to train and practice is awareness of the feeling between them.

Take a moment where you are, feet pointing forward, distanced by your hips, knees unlocked and just slightly bent. Try to sense gravity here. Do you feel it pulling you forward? Backwards? Do you have one shoulder raised higher than the other? or is your head heavier than it needs to be? With just a solid placement of the feet, knees and hips and the goal of feeling aligned with gravity, you should be able, if slowly, to intuit the rest of the Wuji stance.

Some teachers will teach about “tucking the tailbone” or “dropping the tail”. I’ve heard the example of imagining your pelvis as a bowl filled with precious liquid. The one I like most is to imagine sitting on a slight window ledge. For many, these teachings may work perfectly but for others, they may have such a different normal that such advice creates tension rather than releases it – and to be clear – the Center Stance must release tension to be helpful. Try experimenting with the hips instead – shift them forward and back, slowly, avoiding any tightness or pain. Try to feel where your body has the most strength while relaxed.

Hey You!

As an assigned exercise, spend a few minutes today, either sitting or standing. Try to focus your mind on releasing tension in your body as much as you can without falling over. “Explore gravity!” as I like to say in class.

Thich Nhat Hanh opens his book How to Sit with this simple line. It requires an entire page yet is written in normal font size. I imagine he wants me to spend some time here before turning the page, and so I will.

Do I understand what Thich is saying to me? I believe so, yes. I am not certain I am at all practiced in actually following the guidance, but I do understand it. I know am I not alone in my struggle to overcome distraction-based living. It seems I am never doing just one thing at a time – at least for longer than a few seconds. My eyes and my mind bounce from one thing to another all throughout my conscious days.

Do I fundamentally agree with the guidance Thich gives here? Yes, wholeheartedly… Early on in my career in software support, I bought into the supposed value of multi-tasking – and my job for the last 20+ years has been to be available to jump into whatever the current trouble is and find a way out of it. I regularly have 3-5+ chat conversations going on at the same time for different problem scenarios… it is becoming more difficult the keep up the longer I try to keep this going.

“Multi-tasking is merely practicing distraction. Distraction is bad for your brain… practice focus instead.” ~Someone Once Said

So as I begin this new study project – I appreciate that Thich has called me to first stop doing all the other things. To shut down the distractions and all the notifications and all the noises and all the enchantments to somewhere besides where I am.

When I begin my taiji practice this morning, I shall take a moments pause to ensure I have truly stopped the other things I was doing. Far too often, my form practice is not done well. Sure it may look the same as any other day, but my mind was elsewhere – doing other things, getting ready for work, getting ready for the weekend, or some other task. Tai chi is not something one can do mindlessly – it must be the one thing I am doing else the mind-body benefits of my practice are lost.

Thank you for your attention today. I hope to earn your appreciation.

In their words
The first book in the Mindfulness Essentials Series by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh, How to Sit offers clear, simple directions and inspiration for anyone wanting to explore mindfulness meditation. In short, single-paragraph chapters, Nhat Hanh shares detailed instructions, guided breathing exercises and visualizations, as well as his own personal stories and insights. This pocket-sized book is perfect for those brand new to sitting meditation as well as for those looking to deepen their spiritual practice.

In my words
I’ve been wanting to pick up this series for some time now. We do not do much sitting, per se, in tai chi and qigong, Although the forms can be modified for a chair position, the ideal is typically a standing practice. And so I shall reverse the approach – as I read Thich talk about How to Sit, I shall modify for How to Stand. In theory there is much to learn either way.

The goal of all of these “Currently Reading” series is to approach the authors words with mind of a taiji student – a true beginner who is able to learn from anyone willing to teach. I expect to focus on books about tai chi and qigong but as these practices are essentially a mindfulness in motion – I think I have much to learn from other sorts of teachers, from meditation and yoga to physical therapists and body-workers. I do not have a well-laid study plan at this point – I expect one will form as read and study and reflect. I hope you will join me along the way.

I also hope to earn your appreciation.