Grounding With Joyous Breath

This year’s annual teacher conference was themed, Grounded in Growth. Many are familiar with the Chinese saying about a bamboo which does not grow much for several years and then suddenly sprouts up as much as 80 feet or more. The story infers that during those seemingly dormant years, much growth has been taking place below in the roots.

I had a similar awareness when a co-worker asked if I knew anything about my last name. She said “pien” was a Polish word, referring to the part of the tree where the trunk meets the roots. I gave this a lot of thought (it was over twenty years ago, before I studied T’ai Chi Chih), and it made me much more aware of my rootedness in the earth upon which I walk.

One of Justin Stone’s most noted TCC teachings is to keep our awareness in the soles of the feet, referring to the hsueh, or spot on the bottom of the foot known to the Chinese as the “bubbling spring.” This focus is one of the six principles of how to move.

In my years of teaching and doing TCC, one can experience this awareness in many different ways, i.e. feeling where the weight is on either foot or both feet, feeling sensations in the bottom of the foot, visualizing energy at the bottom of the foot, connecting to the earth through the soles of the feet, breathing through the soles of the feet, and so on.

One of the most valuable teachers of this focus has been the movement, Joyous Breath. (One might note that in earlier editions of the TCC Photo Text, this movement was introduced before any other. And in “Notes on Movements Just Learned” and “Teaching Tips,” Justin writes that, “some like doing it at the beginning of the practice”…”there is nothing wrong with that.” I am one of those some.)

I often teach Joyous Breath early in my classes, even in the first class. We are instructed to push the air down into the ground.We do the movement with vigor. (Justin sometimes even used the word force.) I find it is very powerful for students to feel their feet accepting the body weight each time the knees bend and the body sinks downward. I have also found it helpful to point out how the lower abdomen (tan t’ien) contracts or pulls inward on the way down, and then releases or expands on the way up as we inhale.

An old Eastern saying goes that “the ones who keeps their concentration in the soles of the feet throughout the day will heal a thousand ills.” I encourage my students to do Joyous Breath at various times throughout their day, not only within their formal practice time of TCC. The grounding experience and awareness of where the feet meet the earth can be invaluable to the practice and to one’s health and wellbeing. My students have frequently reported benefits such as relief of vertigo/motion sickness, better balance, relief from undue anxiety, increased energy, better sleep and improved regularity. Thank you, Justin.

xxxx