Everything in life changes, moment to moment , from birth to death. Mountains rise and fall, a seed becomes a tree, a wave gathers and breaks, nothing is truly static.
This is expressed in the idea of the energies of yin and yang, opposites balancing each other to create harmony. So, day and night, sound and silence, speaking and listening, giving and receiving, releasing and holding are examples of this. Yin qualities are usually seen as quiet, still, soft ,nurturing, yang qualities as active, giving, hard and outgoing.
This is expressed in the idea of the energies of yin and yang, opposites balancing each other to create harmony. So, day and night, sound and silence, speaking and listening, giving and receiving, releasing and holding are examples of this. Yin qualities are usually seen as quiet, still, soft ,nurturing, yang qualities as active, giving, hard and outgoing.
In excess, yin energy can become stagnant, trapped,unable to act. Yang in excess can become hectic,forceful, overbearing.
Conversation is a good everyday way of seeing the interaction between them. We have all experienced the kind of exchange in which two people are so intent on what they want to say that neither listens to the other.
Their words clash, their voices become louder as they try to out talk each other and even if a quarrel does not ensue, they have not learned anything of the other’s point of view. This is force against force, the antithesis of Tai Chi. If, on the other hand, each speaker is willing to listen openly and quietly to the other, giving time for each to express themselves, then even if they do not completely agree, they will have grown in understanding and respect.
Conversation is a good everyday way of seeing the interaction between them. We have all experienced the kind of exchange in which two people are so intent on what they want to say that neither listens to the other.
Their words clash, their voices become louder as they try to out talk each other and even if a quarrel does not ensue, they have not learned anything of the other’s point of view. This is force against force, the antithesis of Tai Chi. If, on the other hand, each speaker is willing to listen openly and quietly to the other, giving time for each to express themselves, then even if they do not completely agree, they will have grown in understanding and respect.
Listening and speaking, yin and yang, each given their place. The exercises of Tai Chi are designed to embody the interaction of yin and yang, creating a flow from one posture to another from a central place of balance, filling and emptying, opening and closing, moving energy through all the channels in the body.
The exercises require focus and awareness, and this stills the busy mind and, with practice, brings us central equilibrium, a place of peaceful balance.
The partner exercises follow the same path, enabling contact with others to come from groundedness and resilience, rather than from defensiveness and resistance.
The exercises require focus and awareness, and this stills the busy mind and, with practice, brings us central equilibrium, a place of peaceful balance.
The partner exercises follow the same path, enabling contact with others to come from groundedness and resilience, rather than from defensiveness and resistance.