Letters from Student Assignments

Feeling the Chi, by Nancy L.

Where and how I feel Chi seems to depend on the T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) movement I am doing and the length of time I’ve been doing the movements. It begins with something like electricity on the tops and bottoms of my fingers and at the end of my fingers during Rocking Motion. Though the Chi seems to get stronger as I go along, any fluttering is barely noticeable.

In Carry the Ball to the Side, Pulling in the Energy, Light at the Top/Light at the Temple, Joyous Breath, and Passing Clouds there’s an electrical feeling in my fingers. But in Around the Platter it’s as if my hands are skating across a smooth disc with Chi on the undersides of the fingers. In Base Drum and Daughter on the Mountaintop, there’s a magnetic feeling between my hands as I move them upward.

Now I know why Pulling Taffy was named as it was. Though, for me, most of the “Taffies” are fun, they don’t appear to produce any pulling sensations. Perpetual Motion does, though. It’s like sliding weak magnets over each other and pulling them apart. In Push Pull and Working the Pulley, there is a feeling of heat in my palms when I’m pushing outward.

I try to remember to keep my fingers closer together. The Chi seems to be stronger if my fingers aren’t too far apart. All in all, I don’t feel charged with energy after doing all the movements, but I do feel a “good” something like a mini runner’s high.

Thoughts about TCC, by Bryan F.

Most intriguing about my current T’ai Chi Chih (TCC) practice is my discovery that the movements are similar to one another. The exterior form is obviously different, but each promotes a sensation of “inner expansiveness.” Each begins in the tan t’ien.

If the body were a pond, it would be as if a stone dropped into the center. The ripples move out from the center towards the shore at an even pace, hitting the extremes at the same time. In the same way, TCC starts in the center of the body, and then radiates out moving the elbows with the knees, then the wrists with the ankles, and the hands with the feet, etc.

All of this movement happens naturally, and without effort, so long as I can properly shift my weight. This shifting of the weight cannot be rushed. It happens in its own time. If it is rushed, everything else is thrown out of sync. It does help to think in my feet, to remind myself how much space I really have between the forward and back or side-to-side extremes. This also keeps the energy channeling into the earth, making me feel something like a lightning rod. This keeps me from getting dizzy.

Why am I not supposed to close my eyes during a movement? Is it simply so I won’t lose my balance or is there a deeper reason? I do sometimes lose my balance with my eyes closed, but I also get a much greater sense of my interior landscape. Maki has mentioned on a number of occasions that she can feel me practicing TCC, even if she is in another room.

What I think is lacking the most in my practice (this goes for the entire set of 19 movements) is my inability to “let go” and completely extend. On Rocking Motion, there are times when my arms feel like chains connected to a swing. I can see how this sensation is supposed to carry over into all the other movements (specifically the “Taffies,” the two “Daughters,” and Passing Clouds). The sensation is usually more profound during Rocking Motion than it is during the more complicated moves. I want to know how to extend further.