Tai Chi: More Than Just a Physical Practice
The relaxed, slow, meditative movements of tai chi and qigong can allow us a chance to pause and listen to what our bodies and minds have to say.
Listening
Listening to others in partner exercises is an important skill in our tai chi classes and personal practice. Learning to listen to ourselves and our bodies is no less so. Science calls this ability to listen to our bodies Interoception (Link to BBC two-part series).
In essence, interoception tells us what's going on in our bodies. Feeling hungry, feeling tired, feeling the need to go to the loo, feeling pain like a stomach ache, these represent just some of the more familiar forms of interoception. Interoception can also tell us about our emotional state as well.
We can all no doubt recall the sensation of tensing up when we feel upset. Or if we feel down, we may cast our eyes down toward the ground and let our body slump.
Sometimes we have a 'gut instinct' when making an important decision. Sometimes we talk about feeling cut loose, or drifting, to indicate that we are not quite sure of what we're doing or where we're going. It can feel as if we have lost touch with the ground.
Why You Are Not Just Your Brain
So our language and our bodies, if we listen, can reveal something about our physical and emotional state. An exciting area of research that has come to the fore recently is called Embodiment Theory - we'll let you explore that more by yourselves.
In brief, embodiment theory says we use our own bodily experiences and processes to understand our own emotional experiences and the experiences of others. This idea resonates so much with tai chi and qigong practise and the tai chi principles we have explored before.
Most tai chi practise includes some forms of partner exercise. Although different schools and styles may have differing approaches and focuses they all tend to come under the umbrella term, Tuī Shŏu, or, Push Hands.
Tuī Shŏu is a two-person training exercise practiced in the Chinese martial arts, perhaps most popularly in Tai Chi Chuan schools. Two partners face each other, make contact with their arms, and begin to circle and step together ensuring they maintain contact with the other.
Ultimately push hands practise can develop into a very vigourous exercise, sparring with your partner to upset the others balance and test their ability to yield and redirect incoming force.
Practicing push hands develops sensitivity, coordination, timing, balance, and the ability to stick, adhere, and follow an opponents movements. It teaches how to yield to force and redirect it to one's advantage rather than resist force head-on.
Push hands trains reflexes, offense, defense, and awareness of an opponent's pressure and movements. It is an essential part of Tai Chi training and helps students apply Tai Chi principles in a dynamic interactive and fun exercise.
Push hands requires a relaxed focus.
The flowing movements and interplay with a partner make push hands an effective moving meditation as well, with each player developing a deep appreciate for not only their own interoceptive state but that of their partners too.
The sensitivity developed through practise with a partner ingrains the ability to feel minute changes in pressure and direction. This tunes our proprioception - our sense of body position and movement. It also builds the capacity to notice our breathing and muscular tension.
Effective push hand practise relies on sensing inner bodily cues to read one’s partner and react fluidly. Staying relaxed, mentally, emotionally and physically, while adherent and sensitive to a partner's movements requires a deep sensitivity to our interoceptive state.
Slow Movement Is Good For You
And what has all this got to do with your enjoyment of tai chi and qigong? Research suggests that the slow purposeful movement, so indicative of tai chi and qigong, can have a powerful restorative effect on our bodies and our emotional wellness.
You may like to check out this New Scientist article about the benefits of slow movement and how it can impact our well-being.
You may like to check out this blog article by Todd Hargrove, author, blogger, and podcaster over at Better Movement. In it, he explores the potential benefits and mechanisms of purposeful, slow practise for better movement.
The movements of tai chi and qigong require us to slow down deliberately. Over time, with a good teacher, we can find that slowing down our bodies appears to offer some potential benefits to our brains and our emotional well-being.
It would also seem that we don’t need to spend too much time engaged in this kind of purposeful practice to reap the benefits. Like so many things a little practise every day seems the easiest and best way to go.
This means just few minutes taken throughout the day in the form of a movement break, or snack, could prove a really practical and beneficial way to slow down, take pause, and find some much needed breathing space.
Enjoy.
If you have a friend, a family member, or a colleague you think might enjoy this article please do share it with them.
Tai Chi for Therapists
If you’re a rehabilitation professional you might like join our class leading course, Tai Chi for Therapists, where we explore ideas like these and more.
Our course is designed for all registered allied health professionals, clinicians, and other rehabilitation professionals who would like to learn how to implement evidence-based tai chi and qigong movements into their practice.
If you’re a physiotherapist, physical therapist, occupational therapist, occupational or physiotherapy assistant, or other allied health professional get in touch, we’re here to help.
Visit our course page to find out more.
All the best,
Phil & Helen
