Category Archive

Over the past couple of days, I have had to stop practicing due to experiencing sharp knee pains. Now, this is not a new thing as I have always had knee pains, which I attributed to my high flying, low stance training Wushu days. However, the only major difference in my training is that I have been focusing on Chen Taiji instead of Yang Taiji…

Over time, I became a bit leery about Chen Taiji due to the high emphasis on side-to-side motions within the form and stances. In fact, the signature Chen stances (lazy tie coat, single whip) are all side shifting stances. While at first, this may seem like no big deal, but IMO, my knees feel MUCH better if I do forward-back motions instead of side-to-side motions. Perhaps this is a sign of fate, eh?

Based on the picture of knee anatomy, a majority of my knee pains feel like they are coming from the medial and lateral meniscus. In an article called, “Runner’s World: My Knees Ache” I could have Patellofemoral pain.

[A] Patellofemoral pain can be caused by alignment problems, damage to kneecap cartilage, overpronation, or muscle/tendon weakness or tightness. … Strength training, wearing a knee brace, taping your arches or wearing an orthotic, and replacing worn shoes or wearing motion-control shoes can help.

I used to wear those Polyurethane knee braces but then took those off. I have been trying to pay careful attention to the alignment of my knees, especially the knee to toe alignment.  I have switches shoes and now wear indoor soccer shoes with high arch support for training (though doesn’t help when I train indoors, which is most of the time). 

However, one thing I notice is that I feel the pain pretty sharply during side-to-side motions (as stated above) and during transitional movements within Chen, especially during the transitions that include the foot stepping out sideways. 

I found a passage that talks about “Q Angle“:

Q Angle. Although some investigators believe that a “large” Q angle (Figure 3) is a predisposing factor for Patellofemoral pain, … “normal” Q angles vary from 10 to 22 degrees …

– Source: Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome: A Review and Guidelines for Treatment

Does this mean the knee should not move more than 22 degrees sideways? Perhaps my hips and butt muscles aren’t strong enough leading to insufficient support during knee tracking?  Alternatively, I have often heard that if your hips are not loose and flexible enough, then your knees may hurt and to raise your stance until you attain a certain amount of flexibility and softness in your hips/kua. In my own practice, I have raised my stance to the point that I bend my knees maybe 15 degrees (very high stance compared to the chen 90 degree parallel thigh goal…) and I still encounter the issue.

Anyhoo, I think my solution will be to cut back on Chen Taiji and start doing some stretching and strengthening exercises shown on the FamilyDoctor.Org website.  Oh well…

Last week, I decided I would slowly phase out coffee from my diet. Back in college, I was a coffee junkie. After graduation, I rarely drank coffee and would sometimes partake once every couple of weeks as a social team outing.  After the birth of my son, coffee has kicked in full force due to constant lack of sleep. Now that my son is three, I have decided to cut back on the coffee.

I was going to do the cold turkey thing last week but decided against it when I began feeling drowsy during my 50 minute commute to work in the morning.  So I caved and bought a small coffee with some donuts to boot.. yumm The following weekend, I picked up a small can of coffee to tie me over.

This week, I have cut down to prepping about 3 cups of coffee every other day for my morning commute. I used to do 4 cups of coffee (completely fill my coffee mug). So far, so good. Not too many headaches and with the weekend approaching, this will mean 2 more days without coffee.

My goal next week is to cut down to 2 cups of coffee every other day, followed by 1 cup of coffee every other day the following week. This means by New Year’s, I should be coffee free. Yeah!

After reading Zen Habits: 5 Powerful Reasons to Drive Slower, I was reminded of a time after my Sat morning zhan zhuang, taiji and tea session. Both myself and another follow taiji enthusiast left the parking lot at roughly the same time, but I came out slightly ahead. I was driving my normal 10-15 mph above speed limit and making good time until I hit a red light. As I looked in the rear view mirror, I saw him behind me smiling. When the light hit green, I sped up switched lanes and passed a couple of cars. He was way behind me. A couple of road lights later, he pulls up beside me and waves to me.

The worst part is I know he does not speed. He drives the speed limit and instead of stopping abruptly, he tries to coast to stop. Ever since this time, I’ve reevaluated my need to drive fast. Now, at most, I drive 5 mph above speed limit. In addition, I don’t worry about people passing me or cutting me off. I let other drivers in.  This drives my wife nuts! She calls me ‘old man driving’, but I tell her this is the way I drive. I am noticeably much calmer and relaxed amongst all the crazy road-raged drivers.

This got me thinking about taiji. How many times during the form is our mind already on the next move? I remember some of my first form corrections were to ‘finish the move’. I didn’t quite understand this initially, but basically I was mentally moving on to the next move before the completion of my current move. From his perspective, I did not complete the intention of my form.

From a chen perspective, form postures tend incorporate the following mental intention: qi at dantien, qi at back, qi at shoulder, qi at elbow, qi at hand, qi at waist, qi at dantien. Often times, I would get to the ‘qi at hand’ and move onto the next move.  This resulted in a slight break of the silken thread, if you know what I mean.

So, how do you drive? Do you feel your driving style has any relation to your taiji?

My wife was kind enough to surprise me with an evening at the Spa. I was a bit hesitant, but seeing how happy she was in wanting to share the spa experience with me, I couldn’t turn it down. I arrived at the spa after dinner and signed in for my appointment.

The evening began with a 1-hr facial that included a hand and foot massage. The room was dimly lit colored painted in warm neutral tones.  New-agey opera-like music filled the ambience alongside the flicker of candle lights. This was my first time getting a facial and I was pleasantly surprised by how relaxing and soothing it was. No too much chatting from my end as I wanted to just enjoy the experience. Numerous facial creams and exfoliating agents were applied while I relaxed under a steam bath.

After the facial, I drank a bit of water before heading over to my 1-hr massage. I inquired about the type of massage I would be receiving.  The therapist told me she’s a clinical massage therapist and the type of massage would greatly depend on my body and where she felt tension. I described to her my endless hrs at a computer desk, so she began with the neck, shoulder and forearms.

A couple of times during the massage, she would inquire if I felt tender in certain areas. I said no, and she noted I was really tight and perhaps my body was no longer receiving pain signals in the area. She used various part of her hand, fingers, elbows and arms to perform the massage. It was rather enlightening as I realized how much tension I carried with me throughout the day. The muscles between my shoulders and back were extremely tight as well as my calves!

At the end of the evening, I left the spa very relaxed and calm. Walking to my car, I realized how much further I have to go in terms of relaxation in my taiji.