Tuesday, August 1, 2023

Tuesday Practice

 

I'm caring for Echo this week while GG is away at the Cape with her friends. So I practiced on the deck.

It's a beautiful day, very pleasant weather for outside exercising.

I started with a full Warm Up - Special emphasis on #9 where I've been substituting the 8 Single Leg Standing Meditation Postures from Cheng T'ing Hwa Bagua Zhang. I also spent a good deal of time on the Song Gong exercise. I then did a bit more Standing Meditation before my Round (left side). I did my Round to a metronome set at 60bpm using two sounds. The main thing I was assesing is the amount of time I "stopped" without actually stopping but merely concluding each and every posture. On the 4 beat postures I conclude the 1st posture at the 1/2 beat of the 3rd beat and start the next posture on the 1. So I have effectively stopped for exactly 1/2 of 1 beat. So depending on how fast or slow you are going you will need to do the "Stop" (conclusion) for the appropriate amount of time. In other words you have to keep the non moving in time with the moving. 

After my Round I did another Standing Meditation session. T'ai Chi Ch'uan starts and stops with Wuji. At the end of every posture is a moment of stillness (Wuji).

                                                        Stillness is the master of unrest.



Yin/Yang - Separate when moving

Wuji - (Yin/Yang) Join together when not moving