Por Paula Faro |
“Smile and you will be ten years younger.
Add up more worries and you will have grey hair.”
Chinese Proverb
Tai Chi Chuan or Taiji Quan (太极拳) was born from a tradition, a culture, a historic process, a civilization that since its beginning has built its thought and habits cultivating the spirit of life preservation. From seeking the understanding of nature’s phenomena, its cycles, its relation between Man, Heaven and Earth the idea of balance is born; from there arise the Cbinese practices for health and longevity among which Taiji Quan is also a part of.
From its beginning, the Chinese civilization understands the idea of balance as being the primordial principle for the generation and the maintenance of life. For them, balance is Taiji, and Taiji is Yin Yang, that image that is well known by us all in which we see, inside a circle, a white part with a black dot and another black part with a white dot. Taiji is not a static concept. In order to have balance, there should be movement. In truth, in order to have balance there should be movement and rest. So, to be healthy, our body and our minds should be integrated and form a unity; this unity is Taiji.
From the Traditional Chinese Medicine up to Martial Arts, not forgetting calligraphy, poetry and painting, the Yin Yang movement is the basis of all these cultural expressions. It is through Yin Yang that the ancient Chinese culture explains the origin of all universal manifestations, including human beings, which are a direct expression of the macrocosm. Yin is the moon, the night, the earth, women, winter, the cold and the east. Yang is the sun, the day, heaven, men, the summer, the heat and the south. One of the classic Taiji Quan texts written by Wang Zong Yue says : “Taiji was born from Wuji, and it is the mother of Yin Yang.” Wuji is the previous stage to any manifestation, Taiji is the manifestation, Yin Yang is polarity, opposite and complementary energies present in all manifestation. In the great Lao Zi (老子) classic, the Dao de Jing (道德经) says: “The way (Dao) generates one (Taiji), one generates two (Yin Yang), two generates three, and three generates the ten thousand things…”. These are references that explain the origin of life, the cosmology that structures the thought and the vision Chinese have on how things manifest themselves.
Born as a martial art, Taiji Quan has it’s basic principle in Taiji(太极), a philosophical concept that has its origin in the Yi Jing(易经), the Book of Changes. Yi Jing dates from the time of emperor Fu Xi (5.500 BC), one of the three emperors that started the Chinese Civilization, and the first historic figure to which the Book of Changes is attributed.
The third character in Taiji Quan is Quan 拳: its meaning is fist, fight, boxing. Therefore, Taiji Quan was born as a philosophical martial art. In Taiji Quan, the practice of Tui Shou 推手(Push Hands) is one way of experimenting this principle that later expands in combat. Yin Yang can’t be separated, contact with the opponent has to be maintained, and action arises from what he does. If he moves, I move, if he advances, I withdraw, if he withdraws, I advance, like two polarities, and connected to each other we follow the interaction between ying yang, forming a Taiji.
A philosophical principle that permeates all Chinese life and that during a period in History was used as a fighting strategy for a Martial Art. The use of Taiji Quan as a martial art, as a method used for self-defense and combat loses its function in that society when firearms arrive in China. With this perspective in mind, Taiji Quan develops into being a body of knowledge directed to serve society in a different manner, which is to strengthen and preserve health and the spirit of human beings.
Throughout the history of Chinese thought, starting with Yi Jing易经, the Book of Changes, this theory develops and structures itself since its early ages more than 6000 years ago and is kept until today. Going through different historic periods with different philosophical influences – like Lao Zi’s, Kong Zi’s (Confucius) and Buddah’s – the three figures of the three philosophical movements who are part of Chinese thought – the practice of Taiji Quan and its use developed keeping these principles, its roots and origins, applying them to different objectives. Throughout all these thousands of years until today, Taiji Quan remains one of the most popular Chinese physical activities in China and in the world, having more than ten million practitioners and being one of the most efficient ways to preserve health.
A lot of research has been done to testify its benefits in terms of the point of view of western science. Today this approach is so important that in the Medical School of Harvard University, in the United States, there is a department to study and research the benefits brought by this art integrating eastern and western medicine.
The human body has the capacity of self-regulation. The habits of contemporary life, such as negative emotions, stress and unhealthy food make the process more difficult. In Taiji Quan your movements are soft, open, stretched, they seek for fluidity, continuity, lightness and calm in movement, harmonizing body and mind in a state that promotes self-balance, restoring our health. Body movements, when united to mental concentration and deep and soft abdominal breathing improve gas exchange and help in the elimination of body toxins, improving all our system. These are some of the benefits brought by the regular and consistent practice of Taiji Quan: it regulates cardiovascular, breathing, digestive, hormonal and excretory functions, it develops corporal conscience and motor coordination, it improves spacial orientation and balance, reducing the risk of falling, it increases flexibility and muscular strength, it reduces anxiety and physical and emotional stress, it releases stress, it makes it easy to keep a quiet mental state, generating emotional balance, it helps in the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and avoids the emergence of pain and muscular lesions, it develops concentration and attention, it prevents memory loss, it may be used together with the treatment of arthritis, osteoporosis, breast cancer, hypertension, heart illnesses, Parkinson disease, insomnia and strokes.
When we talk about Taiji Quan, we could speak more about its martial, philosophical, historic aspects, or the most common subject, that are the countless benefits that are brought throughout its practice (some already described).
Besides the principle of Taiji, Chinese also understand that all there is in the universe has its origin in a subtle manifestation, translated and known by us as energy. Because energy is a limited translation of the meaning of the concept of Qi 气 we will keep its original written form in pinyin. Qi is something that animates all there is: we have the Qi of heaven, the Qi of men and the Qi of earth. These are the three primordial powers – remember Yin Yang: heaven is Yang, the earth is Yin, men are Yang and women are Yin, but for the Chinese, independently of the masculine or feminine gender, human beings are considered the best product of heaven and earth. And it has the two polarities in itself, and because of this it is also a Taiji.
The maintenance of human life depends on these relations; inside and outside is the same. Life depends on the harmony between heaven and earth and the balance of yin and yang in your body. In harmony with the Qi of heaven and earth our role in between should be to help this harmonious relationship, keeping the balance among the three primordial powers and in ourselves. For our organism to be in balance it is necessary that the Qi in our body circulates harmoniously. Here we get to a complex aspect of the matter. There are countless factors that may cause unbalance. We are going to mention a simple aspect of this explanation without exhausting such a complex issue. There are external and internal reasons for the unbalance to occur.
Besides Qi, our organism is also composed of two other aspects: Shen, the psychic aspect, and the Jing, usually translated as our essence. Jing is the root of life, Qi is the vital energy, that which circulates in the channels that make up and structure our subtle body. This body of Qi is in part responsible for the harmony of all structures of our organism, including the maintenance of Jing, our root, and Shen, our psychic and emotional aspect.
As it is impossible for us to separate heaven, men and earth, it is also impossible to separate these three aspects in the physiology of our organism: jing, qi and shen. When there is something that causes unbalance in the circulation of Qi in these channels, all the system is compromised.
Traditional Chinese Medicine is composed of several techniques and tools that are conceived, at first, to maintain life. In other words, the science of self cultivation has, as a principle, to make men’s Qi circulate. In old times, this life maintenance principle was known as Yang Sheng (養生), which we can translate as to nurture, to take care, life, being born and vitality. Taking care of life by cultivating your health and well-being through the body’s nourishment; mind in harmony with nature and universal laws. Chinese Therapeutic Exercises, Diet, Herbs, Tuiná (Massage) and Acupuncture were born and got structured as parts of a knowledge that teaches us to preserve that which all humanity has as its most precious gift. Life is balance and harmony – if you know that, you should preserve it by the cultivation of daily healthy habits.
In our relationship with heaven we need to adapt to the climate, the seasons, the environment so as not to let climatic factors invade our body and interfere with the Qi circulation. Earth gives us food, so what we eat shoud be balanced, enough, and we should be careful with the quality of food that nourishes our organism. Between heaven and earth we live as part of a community that interacts all the time; to keep harmony among ourselves we shoud adjust emotions, look after our inner being and cultivate mind and spirit.
When there is an interruption in this process, due to several factors, and this unbalance may endanger life, tools and techniques of the Chinese Traditional Medicine are used to restore something that was lost. Among these techniques, each one has its place and function; according to traditional views they should not be separated because they relate among themselves and one endorses the other in accordance with the objective that should be reached to restore something that was lost. Among these techniques, the Therapeutic Exercises and Diet have a main role in health maintenance and preservation. Taiji Quan is also part of this category of Therapeutic Exercises as a practice that promotes and harmonizes the flow of Qi in thy human body.
Just like the history of China, the history of Chinese body practices is long and complex. The origin of Taiji Quan is attributed to a monk called Zhang Sanfeng. The time when he lived is not clear and is studied by researchers, but we could say that he probably lived between the Song and the Yuan Dynasties. Legend says he was a librarian at Shaolin Monastery, one of the most important references of the Chan Buddhism and Martial Arts in China. From the Shaolin Monastery, in the province of Henan, he went to Wudang Mountain, in Hebei province. This chain of mountains is considered one of the holiest places for Daoism. According to what is told, Zhang Sanfeng was on a meditation retreat when he observed a crane and a serpent fighting. He got inspired by the serpent’s movements to develop the postures that hundreds of years later would become Taiji Quan.
These postures, movements or shapes are based not only in the philosophical principles we talked about in the beginning of this text, but also in the thought that came through the history of China since its start and gave support to techniques and practices to the preservation of human life.
For the Chinese, there is no life without movement. Taiji Quan movements were designed, structured and elaborated in such a way that when we do them we can promote and harmonize the flow of Qi in our body, nurturing all the organism and harmonizing Yin Yang.
The mind has a fundamental role in this project. The vital breath (energy, Qi) follows our thinking. The mind is Yang and the body is Yin, Qi is Yang, and the blood is Yin. Therefore, the practice of Taiji Quan is an activity that promotes the integration of the body and mind. Without the mind, calm and conscious in the movement; the body, the Qi is scattered, Yin and Yang get separated, and there is dispersion. When Yin and Yang get apart life ceases.
Continuing what Wang Zong Ye said in the most famous classic in Taiji, we add: “… When in movement Taiji separates; in quietness Yin and Yang reunite and return to Wuji.” The art of cultivating quietness in movement has as one of its objectives to reunite Yin Yang; the quietness inside reflects a calm, peaceful and clear mind, which was not dispersed and moved by the emotions that obstruct the flow of Qi and consequently promote unbalance. Mind and body form a Taiji, an inside calmness that promotes the union of the two, yin yang, making it possible to return to what is a philosophical principal called Wuji.
Wuji 無極 is the unlimited. A concept composed of two words: Wu means nothing, the absence of, and Ji means the last frontier, the beam. In the comments Zhou Dunyi wrote about the Taiji Diagram, he explains the neo-confucionist cosmology, synthesizing the confucionist metaphysics of Yi Jing with aspects of Chinese Daoism and Buddhism. In the Taiji diagram (Taijitu 一 太极 圖) Wuji is represented as an empty circle in the centre of Yin Yang. In the center is the origin of manifestation. In the beginning, the emptiness fulfilled by the unlimited potential, that which originates Taiji and all other things. Taiji Quan is the way to return to this place without frontiers where all life may be generated. The practice of Taiji Quan feeds human life, connecting it with heaven and earth in an infinite circle of nurture that gives back life to life.
(This article was originally written in Brazilian Portuguese and it was translated into English by Monica Telles de Menezes.)
In this blog you can also find the portuguese version by the title “O Poder do Tai Chi Chuan”
*Paula Faro (杨雅馨) is a Certified Instructor and has been studying Yang Family Tai Chi Chuan at Yang Cheng Fu Tai Chi Chuan Center São Paulo since 2004. In 2012 she graduated in Traditional Chinese Medicine with Master Liu Chih Ming (Golden Needle Lineage). Since 2008 she dedicates full time to Yang Family Tai Chi giving classes, collaborating with YCF Tai Chi Chuan Center São Paulo in different tasks, and attending Master Yang Jun Seminars. She teaches Qi Gong and Ba Duan Jin courses, and also Yang Family Tai Chi (Hand Form, Push Hands, and Weapons). In 2015 she was accepted as Master Yang Jun disciple in Tayuan, Shanxi Province, China. She dedicates herself to the study of Tai Chi Chuan Philosophies, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chinese Language and Culture. www.aartedenutriravida.blogspot.com
