The vision and conception of the human body in Daoism is both symbolic and metaphorical - as a landscape with images of rivers, mountains, paths and dwellings and as a country with state officials, administrators and duties assigned throughout.
Getting to know and fully inhabit this landscape and develop sovereignty within our kingdom is a lifetime of meaningful study and practice.
Both Taiji Quan and Qigong offer the chance for this devotion...to slow down, focus, and listen closely to the breath, experience one's sense of gravity, becoming aware of subtle movement throughout the body. With diligence and compassion, we befriend tension and rigidity and gradually soften, letting go into the nature of yin and yang within and without.
While Qigong exercises may be integrated into Taiji Quan training, there is an important distinction between them: Taiji Quan is a martial art and always includes partner exercises such as push hands (or sensing hands) and other forms that teach how postures and principles are expressed in relationship with others.
Inheritance
Qigong comes from a long history of cultivation, purification, and longevity practices developed over the course of thousands of years in China, including the “nourishing life” arts (yang sheng 養生), some sects of Daoist internal alchemy (nei dan, 內丹術), and the teachings of dao yin (導引) - the precursor to what today we call Qigong.
To gain insight into the nature of these practices and their significance in the cultivation of health today, we can turn to the depth of the Chinese language - characters that are originally pictures, images and signs representing the most essential of life experience and phenomena. As we travel to the interior of a character, we discover the rich and complex meaning being represented that feels all at once familiar.
For example, when we look at the characters for Dao Yin we find dao (導 -movement along the path or way) with yin (引, a draw bow and string). Within this relationship, Dao Yin exercises invite the practitioner to develop the mental precision of an archer to guide, stretch, pull and release the flow of internal energy by means of specific movements and breathing.
Next, when we examine the Chinese characters for qi gong we find many parts that together create special meaning. First, the character for qi (氣) is a picture of rice underneath curling clouds suggesting vapors of nourishment. Within gong we see a picture of a carpenter’s square (often related to work and material production) combined with the image of a tendon - 功. If we apply the root meaning of gong over time through dedicated form practice, we can realize it as the steady, continuous and precise accumulation and improvement in balance, coordination, agility and replenishment of life force: the foundation of health and vitality!
While the linguistic and cultural roots of Qigong are Chinese, the ideographic language reveals that the nature of these practices is not limited to any particular continent. Rather, the qualities to both begin and develop - right concentration and effort, patience, unswerving dedication, and correct conduct - are found within many spiritual traditions and are essentially human. And given the shared language of non-verbal physical movement, anyone can learn regardless of mental or physical limitations. No special skill is required, simply a wholehearted curiosity and the willingness to try.
Taiji Quan practice of Black Moon Harbor for Daoist Studies emerges from the deeply rooted lineage of the Tung Family ~ bringing forward the wonder of this martial art practice for the benefit of future generations.
Qigong forms are influenced from practice with the Tung Family and shared from my training with Lindsey Wei of Wudang White Horse Internal Martial Arts and Healing.
Current Offerings
Friday mornings at Vergennes Movement Studio
179 Main Street, Vergennes
Taiji Quan and Meditation ~ Early Bird Practice
8:15 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Contact me for more information: 802-355-9306; breathingin23@gmail.com
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