Excerpt:
At Real Taiji we gaze at one hand during circular Bagua forms. There are exceptions, but generally the hand is our focus. This seems like a fitting place for our gaze and intent, seeing as how Baguazhang translates to Eight Trigram Palms. Our palms are our weapons as well as an extension of our center.
Focusing our intent and gaze on our hands we direct our Qi to our palms. Our intent is realized through the palms....
or Ba Gua Yuan Yang Yue, as is written in Chinese characters at the top of this page. This is hard to translate correctly, that is to convey the meaning while trying to translate the characters into English words.
Most Internal Martial Arts use some form of standing practice as foundation training (and Taijiquan is no exception in this regard). These standing exercises are usually called Zhan Zhuang (pole standing); sometimes they are called 'standing Qigong'. I think it's fair to say that most students are baffled by them. They are supposed to be good for you but most students find them difficult to understand, boring and painful. Yet they are supposed to relax you and help you to 'accumulate Qi'.
In this article I shall try to outline my theory that should explain, from western perspective, why these exercises are so important both for Internal Martial Arts and Qigong, how this western view correlates with the traditional Qi view and give training advice on how to practice them. In writing this article I have drawn upon my experience from Taijiquan, Yiquan and information from medical postural rehabilitation research and sports science.
The medieval Chinese dynasties saw great advances in metallurgy. Some, like the ability to produce cast iron, were far ahead of such technology in the Europe. Others, like the mastery of efficient, large-scale steel production, enabled the Tang and Song dynasties to become major military powers in east Asia.
| The Epoch Times | Sep 09, 2007 |
