Comments on: Training Like a Cat

By: wujimon

wujimon — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 00:06:10 +0000

Hi Scott. I agree with you. I believe I came to the wrong conclusion in my logic. You’re spot on with

“heighten the connection to the outside environment”

To me, this goes hand in hand with training like a cat. To appear relaxed and calm, yet able to react in an instant. This is the kind of thing I try to do in my own training.

I’ve just seen too many instances where I see folks and they look they are sleeping with eyes glazed over, not being in the slightest aware with what’s going on around them.

Thanks for the comment!

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 20:12:10 +0000

“If one’s goal is meditative, then I guess doing the form in a trance is not really that bad???”

I beg to differ. Many (but not all) forms of meditation are meant to heighten the connection to the “outside” environment, but ensuring it’s not done in a myopic way. For example, in shikantaza, one is merely sitting, with no intent, and yet fully aware of what’s going on both inside and out. It’s not a topic I’d really like to debate, and I realize that I’m taking a simplistic view, but just my 2 cents (it’s probably not exactly the way I say it is, but probably not exactly the other way either).

By: wujimon

wujimon — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 02:47:17 +0000

Hi Andy.
In Chen Xiaowang’s silk reeling method, he places heavy emphasis on the qi path and how it flows through the body via certain physical movements. Like what you noted, this requires a great deal of mental concentration to stay focused. This is a prime example of how taiji can train both the body and the mind!

By: Andy

Andy — Sun, 08 Oct 2006 12:40:42 +0000

By a funny co-incidence we had one of our occasional ‘guest instructors’ down for the session yesterday. His focus was on how to prevent Tai Chi becomming boring by focussing on different aspects. He talked us through the 8 energies, where they can be found in the first few movements, and how to apply them in combat situations. But his point was that unlike other exercise regimes, in Tai Chi you really can’t allow your concenttration to wander

By: Cindy

Cindy — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 13:02:57 +0000

That’s funny:-) A few years ago, I started practicing abdominal breathing. I fell into sleep every time I did it.

By: wujimon

wujimon — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 12:28:21 +0000

This reminds me of a comedy movie called “Drunken Tai Chi” aka Taiji Master with Donnie Yen. In it, the teacher tells him to just “Relax”, repeating the phrase over and over until all of a sudden Donnie collapses to the ground and takes a nap

By: Cindy

Cindy — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 17:10:18 +0000

Good thinking! Thanks for sharing the article. I agree with you that how to get trained depends on your goal (or motivation) of learning Taiji. In addition, I think training for relaxation and training for alertness should be achieved one step at a time. Only when you can fully relaxed and focused, then you can feel the total control of your intention, movements and breathing. You will feel your body and mind move as a whole.