ShinNa Tai-Chi Blog

[Path to Mastery 2/26/10 – Wk24 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Freedom comes from within. Within Free Hand (The un-structured part of the system) we have free movement and free conditioning.  Before we can discuss free movement and conditioning, we have to discuss the nature of freedom.    Freedom is a perception.  I once heard Wayne Dyer tell this story of a man who was in prison.  He had programmed this satellite and he was the only programmer who knew how to operate it.  This satellite was too important for the government and thus they imprisoned him so nobody else could get in contact with him.  Now something had gone wrong with the satellite and they wanted his help.  But he wouldn’t respond to the people who were talking to him.  So, one of the agents told him, “If you cooperate with us, we can give you your freedom”.  The programmer answered, “You mean you can give me my liberty.  I ha...

[Path to Mastery 2/24/10 – Wk24 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Now so far, we have been covering the structured part of the system.  Starting today, we will be covering the part of our system that is unstructured.  Today, I will give you an overview of the unstructured training. One can argue that the unstructured free hand part of the system is the purest part of the system.  Tai-Chi is formless at its essence.  True Tai-Chi is a state of absolute harmony and uninhibited flow.  It is where things are absolutely natural.   However, there is one catch.  In order to be free, one has to have discipline.  Let me illustrate with an example that I heard Steven Covey once use.  In order for you to have complete freedom at the piano, you must have put in endless hours of discipline before you can have the freedom of a master pianist.   Going through the Tai-Chi system teaches you what it means to be nat...

Tai-Chi and Healing [Path to Mastery 2/24/10 – Wk24 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Tai-Chi is not only a great exercise, martial art, and meditation, but also a great healing art.  Tai-Chi is both a self-healing and healing others art.   So many people with different kinds of ailment get better from doing Tai-Chi.  I just went on the internet to pull some references and there is tons of it out there.  Here is one quote that covered a wide range:   “The Harvard publication included the latest research on how tai chi could benefit patients with arthritis, breast cancer, heart disease, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, stroke, even sleep problems and low bone density. "This is big," Douglas said. -- Orlando Sentinel, August 17, 2009 http://www.orlandosentinel.com/health/orl-self-health-tai-chi-081709aug17,0,4151868.story I’d say that covers quite the range, but just so you know, the list is quite a bit longer. ...

Aren’t weapons cool? [Path to Mastery 2/23/10 – Wk24 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Continuing our Tai-Chi Journey: Tai-Chi Weapons In the Tai-Chi weapon system the weapon is not treated as a tool that is separate from oneself.  One is supposed to learn how to be one with the weapon.   Weapons typically is an exciting topic for a lot of people.  There is something fascinating about weapons.  We all understand instinctively that it is not easy to move a foreign object around like some of these experts do in movies.  When we see people swirling swords around with effortless ease and elegance as if it is alive it captures our awe. Training with weapons is a natural progression from training without weapons because Tai-Chi is about relaxing further and further until one can harmonize with its environment to achieve oneness with all that is around.  So in order to deepen one’s sense of relaxation and in order to understand how to merge with foreign ...

Universal Effect [Path to Mastery 2/22/10 – Wk24 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World One of the great things about Tai-chi is that as your Tai-Chi improves it has a direct reflection of growth in the rest of your life. Last Saturday, Alexis, one my students said “Tai-Chi is about using form to connect with what’s beyond form”.  I thought that was beautifully expressed.   I experience this in every single class of mine with someone coming up and telling me how Tai-Chi is transforming their life and having an effect on it.  For instance, on the same Saturday in an earlier class (I chose this example since this seemed like a serendipitous days), Claudia said that the practice of extending from your shoulders really helped her with her singing.  The practice of extending from your shoulders is imagining that a line of energy is extending form the bulging tip of your shoulder muscle between your neck and your shoulder tip.  This location on the shoulde...

True Mastery? [Path to Mastery 2/19/10 – Wk23 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World So now that we have covered some of these concepts, you are probably thinking how deep do you need to understand these philosophies in order to master Tai-Chi? When I asked my teacher Gabriel about this he threw in a curve ball to this whole question.  He said that it was all a bunch of phooey.  That’s right.  That is the official nomenclature for non-sense.   He explained that when he was learning there was no such thing, and that over time, people started just adding a whole bunch of superficial knowledge that distracted you from the real knowledge.   Now, I have heard, read and talked to a lot of people who agree with this and disagree with this.  After years of practicing, however, I agree with my teacher.  Can real knowledge come from concept or do you need to experience it? Can you get benefits without letting your mind and body improve in a real...

Ancient Asian Science [Path to Mastery 2/18/10 – Wk23 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World Taoism is the oriental equivalent of Western Science. Taoism is often considered a religion. There is a religious element to Taoism. But Taoism at its purest is the study and observation of the laws of nature in order to achieve harmony and oneness with it. If Western science is based on analysis, the breaking down of things into smaller parts in order to understand the make up of things, Taoism observes the similarities between things and how they came together. For instance, in medicine, the west observed how to get rid of a physical symptom. The disease is seen as a foreign invasion on the body as a separate entity. The absence of the disease would mean health. In the east, the presence of a disease was seen as an indication that the body and mind was out of balance. One observed how to bring the body back to balance and when the body is in balance the symptoms would disa...

Understanding Self through Tai-Chi [Path to Mastery 2/17/10 – Wk23 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World Tai-Chi is a great tool for self understanding.  Practicing Tai-Chi is exploring how your mind and body is interwoven in ways you haven’t before. When you practice Tai-Chi, you get to know a part of you that was hidden but that you have been looking for all your life:  The power and potential that your body and mind are really capable of.  This is because Tai-Chi is a small universe contained in one art-form.  As you learn Chi-Gong (Energy Cultivation), you learn about energy, the power that is not seen but operates all of life.  As you learn the form, you learn about your anatomical body, what it means to let go and feel freedom within yourself.  As you learn how to fight, you learn how to interact with others without compromising yourself.  Practicing Tai-Chi allows you to experience life in its full richness so that this experience...

Tai-Chi and Purpose of Life [Path to Mastery 2/16/10 – Wk23 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World Why do I want to teach Tai-Chi to others?   I have been asking this question often lately.  The reason I started teaching Tai-Chi is so that people can find their purpose in life.  You are probably thinking, “Practice Tai-Chi to find purpose in life?  What do those have to do with each other???”      The reason is because of Tai-Chi’s incredible transformational power.  Practicing Tai-Chi has transformed my life in incredible ways.  To mention a few, before I started practicing Tai-chi, I had no endurance.  I was in other martial arts before, and when I would spar, I would get tired within 2 or 3 minutes.  Now I can spar for over 2 hours and still not be tired.  But I don’t do any kind of endurance exercise.  I used to have problems with balance.  Now I can squat on one leg all the way down and all t...

Open Body, Open Mind [Path to Mastery 2/15/10 – Wk23 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World As the body opens, it opens the mind to information. Practicing standing meditation is an incredible experience.  As I train it in the mornings, I find its effects amazing. The one thing that always occurs to me again is how my mind opens up to new information as my body opens up and the energy starts to flow.  When I start doing standing meditation I feel my body opening up and the energy starting to flow.  By the time my body feels open and flowing with warm Chi, my mood is enhanced and I feel on top of the world, my mind is clear and I my mind becomes very creative.  Everything becomes obvious, and things that were hidden before all of a sudden are in plain sight. It is interesting to witness the secrets of the Tai-Chi classics and Tao-Te-Cheng unfold in your mind and when you start feeling all those descriptions.  This made me realize that all the secr...

Go, go, gadget, pelvis! [Path to Mastery 2/12/10 – Wk22 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World Structurally speaking, your pelvis is the most important part of the body you can train. Picture this. Imagine that each one of your vertebra is a plate, and they are stacked on top of each other, and the pelvis is a big bowl on which all the plates are stacked on. Now imagine that there is masking tape on 4 side of the plates to hold them together. Got the picture? Now, imagine that you tilt the bowl. However you tilt the bowl will strain the masking tape. This visual example is not that far off from your actual skeletal structure. Your pelvis is like a big bowl, and your entire spinal cord sits on your pelvis. How you hold your pelvis and move it affects your entire structure. Your pelvis also mediates the movements between your legs and your upper body. This is the reason the Tai-Chi classics say, “Power is generated from the legs, controlled by the waist and expressed throu...

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Part 2 [Path to Mastery 2/11/10 – Wk22 D4 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Continued Here is an example of an application of Tai-Chi. Yin Yang symbol has a small yin and a yang.  For anything to succeed one need discipline.  Discipline is best achieved through a regular training.  For most people when they first start training, they often quite because it is hard for them to either remember to practice due to their old habits or because they find it hard to fit it into their new schedule. Some people have a natural gift of planning and discipline or were fortunate enough to have had that skill instilled in them at some point in their life.  But for those of us that are not as fortunate, you can use the Tai-Chi concept to tip the balance. You have seen the Ying-Yang symbol.  There is a little bit of Yin, in the Yang, and a little bit of Yang in the Yin.  Theses small Yin grow i...

Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes Part 1 [Path to Mastery 2/10/10 – Wk22 D3 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World: Tai-Chi, Opposite Extremes The philosophy that guides Tai-Chi is for the practitioner to consciously consider both sides of the extreme in order to find balance. The etimology of Tai-Chi demonstrates this. Tai-Chi literally means Opposite Extremes. Tai means great or grand. Chi means extremes or opposite ends. In short, it means Great Opposites, or Opposite Extremes. 2 simple analogies will illustrate why this concept is so powerful. First, imagine you are about to walk a tight rope. You are given the choice to walk across the rope with either a short stick to help you with the balance, or a long one. Which would you choose? The answer is the long one. The longer the pole, the less you have to work on your balance because the weight on either side keeps you centered. In the same manner, a Tai-Chi practitioner will consider opposite extremes of a situation to ...

The Joy of Practicing [Path to Mastery 2/9/10 – Wk22 D2 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World: The joy of practicing is that you always see something new. For instance, today, I discovered how to relax the front of my Kwa (the front of your hips) and my pelvic floor more effectively. This resulted in my Dan-Tien being engaged, and it filling up with more energy. Now with less effort and more effectively than before, I feel my body like a hot air balloon, with the hot air expanding and opening my body as the energy circulates through my body. It’s snowing today and I felt warm outside. Funny how little things make a difference. Gabriel (My Tai-Chi teacher) used to say, “I am still improving” even after 60 years of practice. The last time I heard it was about a month and half before his passing. I used to think he was just saying that to motivate us to study hard. Now, I am realizing that wasn’t the case. There is so much depth to the concept of Tai-Chi, that the more you...

 Moving Bones [Path to Mastery 2/8/10 – Wk22 D1 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World: Moving Bones Do you want to feel loose, relaxed and the pleasure of your body flowing? Feel your bones and move your bones in a way so you feel your joints are floating on top of each other. The feeling of your body is a product of your energy flowing through your body. So, how do you get the energy to flow through your body? Muscles! For any movement to occur energy needs to flow through your muscles. This is an of course. It is so fundamental that when you read this sentence you may have felt “what else?” So, why focus on the bones when muscles are the issue? It comes down to what the purposes of your muscles are. Muscles are there to move your skeletal structure. So you reverse the process. You move your bones in order to relax the muscles. Of course you can’t move your bones without muscles, so if you focus on moving your bones, then the attached muscles around the joint...

Dan-Tien, The Furnace of Power! [Path to Mastery 2/5/10 – Wk21 D5 (Str 9.12.09)(Ph2 11.15.09)] Sang’s World: 2/5/10 Dan-Tien, the furnace of power. Dan-Tien breathing is the mother of all internal energy power. All Asian martial arts consider this the greatest secret and the greatest source of power if mastered. I guess it would be a good idea to explain what the Dan-Tien is. Dan-Tien is your lower abdominal area and the center of it is three finger widths below your belly button. Picture a furnace with a bellow in front of it. Breathing is the bellow of course and your Dan-Tien is the furnace. When you breathe correctly, you will feel warmth being drawn into your lower abdominal area as if your lower abdomen is a furnace with a bellow feeding the flame. When the heat and the pressure accumulate it spreads through the rest of the body. This overflowing of energy from the Dan-Tien starts opening up all the energy path ways in your body. It feels akin to water spreading through your ...