Nasser: September 2007 Archives
Our school will be demonstrating Taiji during the Moon Festival in Cupertino. The demo is a combination of two groups doing the 24 steps and the first section of the old Chen Style First Road. Master Li has designed the demo with a certain music in a way that 24 starts first and Chen comes in a few steps later, but they both end at the same time so the closing looks really nice.
The demo will take place on Saturday and probably Sunday. I will post pictures afterwards!
The demo will take place on Saturday and probably Sunday. I will post pictures afterwards!
Tonight we did the same horizontal spiral movement again. This time, Master Li asked us to - slowly and gradually - make the spirals smaller and smaller. As we did that, we also started shrinking, bring the hands in, and putting the hands on the lower stomach. As we were doing this he asked us to imagine the energy flowing in that spiral going into hands, or in other words making the hands part of the circle.
Then, again, slowly, make the circles smaller and smaller, to the point that there is almost no spiral movement. Here's the final step: You get to a point that the spiral movement is only in your mind. Now your mind is circulating the energy. This is huge - I can see that if one keeps practicing, he or she can get to the point of being able to think of circulating energy and make it happen. Awesome.
This was an eye opening exercise.
Then, again, slowly, make the circles smaller and smaller, to the point that there is almost no spiral movement. Here's the final step: You get to a point that the spiral movement is only in your mind. Now your mind is circulating the energy. This is huge - I can see that if one keeps practicing, he or she can get to the point of being able to think of circulating energy and make it happen. Awesome.
This was an eye opening exercise.
This week as a part of our initial silk reeling exercises Master Li made us try a new type of spiral movement. Most of the spiral movements up to this point were horizontal, basically variations of rubbing the stomach or could hands.
This one was different: You take the standing meditation position, hands in front and round in an arch, and then you start moving your weight - in a delicate and subtle manner - from one side to the other. Then you start turning this into round moves of the waist. Think of doing the hula hoop, but in very small circles so that the only part of the body moving is the waist, and only in a very small circle. Concentrating on this move and meditating with it was very interesting.
This one was different: You take the standing meditation position, hands in front and round in an arch, and then you start moving your weight - in a delicate and subtle manner - from one side to the other. Then you start turning this into round moves of the waist. Think of doing the hula hoop, but in very small circles so that the only part of the body moving is the waist, and only in a very small circle. Concentrating on this move and meditating with it was very interesting.
This is so cute! I ran across this video while searching for school stuff - I should ask master Li who the girl is. She must be a very good student - it's hard to find kids who actually "listen" at that age - and I particularly love the way she hits the fist and leg so seriously :-)
Update: I asked Master Li - this is his daughter, taking a Taiji class for the first time!
Update: I asked Master Li - this is his daughter, taking a Taiji class for the first time!
