How to Develop A Good Sitting Posture.

Holding postures is an indispensable practice for a Tai Ji student. Holding postures should make up a big percentage of one's daily practice, but if not possible for some reason - a little is good too. Sometimes little goes a long way, mainly because you concentrate your efforts in a shorter period of time, thus greater intensity, and perhaps the result will be greater too!

Holding postures has far-reaching consequences in the life of a student of Tai Ji Quan. A quote from the Tai Chi Classics comes to mind, "Stand like a mountain, move like a great river". This is something to think about deeply. "Stand like a mountain" is a static aspect of the posture, and "move like a great river" is a dynamic one. However, just like the Tai Ji sign, the yin and the yang are intertwined more like two vines, uniting in an embrace and they have each other's hearts at the center. So when you stand there, you don't want to be rigidified, you want to remember that you are a live body, for which it is normal to experience all kinds of sensations. Even rock, on a deeper level has a life in him, what to say about a mountain, that has been there for perhaps a million of years, much longer than any live on this planet can endure? No wonder mountains have been and are venerated as grandfather and grandmother figures. So we stand there but remember the magnificence of life, who is the mountain. Deeply and powerfully rooted, impossible to be moved by anything that exists.

Another aspect is to "move like a great river". A great river flowing, say down the mountain can pick up a tremendous speed and power, crushing everything on its way, even making wholes and tunnels in the sheer rock over a period of time. This is where the dynamic aspect comes from. The river spoken about here in terms of "Standing" is the river of chi, the flow of it from the ground to the body, around it, and back to the ground (the Macrocosmic Orbit). The river flows as we stand, moving us gently, washing away all the tensions, and feeling us up with life, vitality and vibrancy. The chi has a capacity to pierce anything hard, just think about the quality of sound, the sound chi, we are capable of hearing things far far away if the terrain allows, despite the fact that we may not be able reach that place with our own voice, but that may be an argument.
Whatever posture we choose to hold, the flow of chi from the ground and through the body will be very specific and standing there, we learn tremendous amount of information about our body.


However, we may also learn that when we are sitting down. The key is of course, grounding, which begins from lowering of your center of gravity and sinking the chi there, in other words experiencing "sung", relaxing. But without the perfectly straight back that is "plumb line erect", and feet flat on the ground it is impossible to experience the necessary effect of grounding. Because the head top is not suspended, and the whole structure so to speak is wavering about, which we want to avoid. This is very important for many reasons, one because many people spend majority of their work day sitting down by the monitors and they down realize how screwed up their postures are. Even those who attempt to exercise by their chairs and counteract the detrimental effect of constant sitting down basically will probably fail in the long run, if they don't at least attempt to sit therewith a straight back, have the head top suspended, feet flat on the ground, as well as the chi sunk. This takes time, and perseverance.
Here I will give a few simple instructions on how to develop a straight back while sitting in the chair. 1) I think it is better to have a harder chair than the softer one, where your precious behind will be completely sunk. Although the harder type of chair is less comfortable, it will give you an impetus to not lean in any direction and think about your posture.


2) You will find it impossible at first to keep a straight back for a certain period of time, so you have to do it gradually. Think about your tailbone and the lower back - how are they feeling most comfortable and in what position. Play around a little until you find a good stable inner chair.


3) Suspended head top is absolutely necessary to complete the whole structure, and I find it to be a continuous challenge to keep it "suspended". Yes, the lowering of the chin does help, but it is also important to think of the very top of the head, the ni-wan and sort of feel like it is pointing upwards.


4) The back should be looked upon as stacking up of the bricks, like Lego, for kids. Of course, there will be some movement and wavering and that's fine, please try to avoid rigid postures.


5) The big difference between holding postures sitting and standing is that there is no way to have a "hanging" tail bone, because it has to be in a stable configuration. Throughout the process the hands  will robably  be doing some sort of work, and you should allow them to do that while trying to retain the posture that you are developing.


6) The chest is not out, but not in. Relax the chest muscles and allow for the chi to sink to the dan tien. This is a crucial point, because sinking is not only in the front (the chi hai), but also in the back (the ming men), which is harder.


7) Relax the center of the back.


With these points you will find it easy to begin developing the straight back, of which the benefits are many - developing and cultivating the chi, preserving and developing good stable health, as the spine is the axle of the body. Good luck with the wishes of great good health,


Iggy.

The Microcosmic Orbit

The Microcosmic Orbit is a kind of an ornate name for a Daoist practice that comprises of circulating of attention, energy etc. around the two channels that connect at the upper palate of the mouth just behind the teeth via tongue. Touching of the tongue at the upper palate closes the Orbit, and creates a seemless circuit so to speak.


The two channels that make up the Orbit are the front channel which includes, the perineum, the top of the pelvic bone, the chi hai, solar plexus, point of the heart, point of the throat, point right under the nose, pineal gland, upper forehead, and the very top of the head. The back channel is made up of the sacrum, the kidney point, the adrenaline point, the point in the middle of the back, the base of the skull, and finally the top of the head.


The energy in a healthy body circulates from bottom to up the front channel, and then, over the top of the head down the spine. However, the Daoist practice goes a step further and recommends reversing that pattern...Why? Because it becomes evident that in order to survive the ordeals of life, one needs extra energy, which is the major precept of the Daoist view in general. "We are given", it is believed "a limited amount of it upon our hour of birth, and it gradually disperses throughout our lifetime. We are encouraged to collect this energy back and thus revert to our "original state", that of a child, of a Buddha". And why not? Perfectly functional, happy, and care free. In order to accomplish this seemingly uneasy task the Daoist adepts would go out into the rugged terrain and seclude themselves, not unlike Naïve American tribesmen, hoping and sure to receive guidance from the invisible world, patron forces, and connect with their innermost essence. Then they would be back and all would be in awe of their newly developed abilities, their stout health and would look for them to advise in the matters of life and death, as well as progeny and basic well being, money and success etc.


One of the major sources of postnatal energy in our body is eating, so it matters what we eat. However, it is good to keep in mind that food doesn't really cause a permanent change in the body unless any particular diet is adhered to for a long time. So we have to look to food for sustenance, aesthetic pleasure as well as remember that its essence will come back to us as our basic energy, our basic chi. The other kind of postnatal energy is sexual, or the jin. Since it is a very complicated topic I will leave it for the experts. But I look at it as a process of pickling! Yes, you heard me right! It is just like pickling tomatoes, cucumbers, or any other of your favorite vegetables. You pickle them in the summer so you would have them in the colder month. So save yourself in the summer of your life, so it could keep you warm later. Sexual energy is cultivated in the Tai Chi practice, as well as the Orbit and other meditations peculiar to the Daoist tradition. Cultivation means nurturing like you would nurture a baby or a plant. In that sense Daoist view is very self-centered: we are urged to love ourselves truly and deeply, if we do, then we will be capable of exerting that strength of love with all its potency on the others
.


So back to the Microcosmic Orbit. We attempt to open these points, and try to reverse the flow of energy through the back. It is a lifetime of practice, but from my point of view, once you get a knack for what is really happening through practice, it doesn't seem that esoteric, but rather natural. It has become more natural for me to be more relaxed and more at ease, but I also feel that due to the increased sensitivity I feel that various parameters of life are stronger too. Like dreams, or side effects of interacting with other people.


What we circulate is attention, but we plug other energies into it. For example we could circulate the spinach energy, if we knew exactly what we are getting when we eat spinach -  I hope that's clear. The Daoists circulate the sexual energy since they know exactly what it feels like, and it is the most potent and intense one; one aims to gain control over it, and uses it to prolong life. But like anywhere else, balance is the key.


The Microcosmic Orbit is a practice of awareness, and it is a nature of awareness expand. We are a microcosm incased in this body. Somehow the record of that immense power exists within our very own cell structure - its very own existence in fact, as well as the infinitely complex interactions between various systems within the body. It is a sight to behold, but how do we understand and gain control over what is happening in our bodies? One such practice could be understood as a way to look deeper into the workings of the body. The points as you have probably guessed are not really points, they are more akin to charkras in the yoga system.( It helps to study the charkras and the lore surrounding them. i.s.)

In other words they are stopovers on the way to somewhere, and they are complete plains of awareness in and of themselves. For example bringing your attention to the "point of adrenalines", which is right above the "point of the kidneys"  may increase the work of the gland. Concentration is a profound thing, since we are always concentrating on something - all our lives in fact are a product of us concentrating on the objects which are very important to us. We never question their importance, but we should.