Author’s Note: This post describes a secular (i.e. non-religious) form of meditation. I am not trying to promote (or disparage) any religion. This post describes a simple and effective way to improve one’s Tai Chi Chuan or other martial art.
Did you know that meditation is the quickest way to improve your Tai Chi Chuan form? It is. Really. Why would that be? For several reasons that we will explore in this post. As explained in an earlier post (see What is Tai Chi Chuan? January 24, 2016), Tai Chi Chuan is really all about balance. Meditation helps improve your balance; especially if you practice certain methods of meditation. It also helps to clear and calm the mind while relaxing the body. It lets you become aware of sensations, feelings, thoughts, assumptions, etc. Most importantly for Tai Chi Chuan, meditation lets you cultivate and become aware of your natural internal energy. Let’s explore these points further.
Natural Meditation
Start out seated in a chair. Become comfortable with the chair. Relax but don’t slouch. Sit near the edge of the chair, so that your back is not supported by the back of the chair. After a few minutes of seated meditation, you may feel like standing. Feel free to do so. The ideal way to stand is in “Wuji” position. To stand this way, simply have your feet parallel at about hip width or shoulder width apart. Align your body so that it is balanced. Let your arms hang naturally at your sides. The weight should be evenly distributed over both feet, not on either the heels or toes. When this becomes uncomfortable and you cannot relax into it, sit back down. If you become uncomfortable while seated, then slide back in the chair to support your back, but start without back support. If you cannot become comfortable whether seated or standing, then its time to end the meditation session. Whether seated or standing practice the three harmonies as explained below.
Harmonize your body. This simply means; make yourself comfortable and relaxed. If you need to adjust an area of the body or shift your weight, go ahead. If something itches then scratch it.
Harmonize your breath. Pay attention to your breathing but don’t try to do anything special with your breathing, just observe how you breathe. Is your breath long or short, continuous or broken, deep or shallow etc? There are many things to observe about your breathing but only you can really understand “how you breathe”.
Harmonize your mind. This is usually the most difficult to achieve. Learning how to make your mind comfortable is hard work (but very rewarding). Your “inner voice” is a constant stream of thought that rarely stops of its own volition. As things pop into your head, gently remind yourself that you can’t do anything about it right now and let it go. Don’t beat yourself up, everyone has this problem at first. It gets better with time and practice. One trick is to count each breath – most people find it easiest to count the exhalations. For example, inhale – one (that is the exhale), inhale – two, inhale – three…. If you lose track of the count, start over at one.
Meditation improves your balance by letting you experiment with it in such a way that, over time, your balance improves tremendously. One of the best practices for this is standing meditation in combination with seated meditation using a method described as Natural Meditation – see the box to the right. Both seated and standing meditations will allow you to cultivate your internal energy. By that, I mean that over time, you will gradually start to feel the energy (Chi or Qi in Chinese) flow in your body. The sensation or awareness of your Chi may be fleeting at first. With time, it will occur more often and be more noticeable.
Standing Meditation
While seated meditation also helps to improve your balance, standing meditation does so much more quickly. I recommend standing in “Wuji” position. (Wuji means grand nothingness in Chinese.) To stand in wuji position, simply have your feet parallel at about hip width or shoulder width apart. Align your body so that it is balanced. Let your arms hang naturally at your sides. Distribute your weight evenly over both feet, not primarily on either the heels or toes. Relax your body as much as possible (without falling down). You want to feel comfortable and relaxed while meditating. If you become uncomfortable, and can’t become comfortable by relaxing, or making slight adjustments to your body, sit down. Once you are relaxed and comfortable again, stand up in wuji position again.
Lying Meditation
Meditation can also be performed while lying down. Lying down? Yes, you are most relaxed while lying down and you do not need to use any muscles to support yourself. You can literally relax every muscle in your body. Won’t you fall asleep? Well, if you are like me, you very well may. However, if you pay attention to your muscles and how they feel when relaxed, you can try to emulate that feeling when meditating while seated or standing. You won’t be able to relax as completely as when lying down, but maybe you can get closer to that state. Closer than you would have otherwise. And, if you do fall asleep, you must have needed it.
The Present Moment
The goal of natural meditation is to be in the present moment. Disruptions, such as hearing a dog bark, or the hum of a fluorescent light, are inevitable. Do not let disruptions upset you. That disruption is part of your present moment. However, thinking about the future or the past is not the present moment. If this happens, work to harmonize your mind. Staying in the present moment will eventually calm your mind, not only while meditating, but throughout your day. Relaxing your body has health benefits as it gives your body a period of rest and reduced stress, which is when your body heals itself most efficiently.
How often and how long should you meditate? There is no one answer that fits everyone. First, find a time of day that works well for you. This may be first thing in the morning, just before bed, or over your lunch break. I recommend starting slowly at first – start with 5 – 10 minutes per session and only one or possibly two sessions per day. Gradually, you will find that it becomes easier and more pleasurable, and you will want to increase the amount of time spent meditating. You can meditate more often, extend the time of each session, or both. If your goal is to improve your Tai Chi Chuan, I recommend that you meditate at least 20 minutes per day, preferably for 30 minutes or more.
Good luck and let me know how it goes. Any feedback on this post would be great also!