Staying Down in the Feet

I well recall Justin Stone repeating that we “focus on the soles of the feet” and him writing that “awareness is the root of T’ai Chi Chih.” These two teachings gave to me my practice. Nothing helped more in my practice and teaching — in circulating the Chi more strongly and in experiencing the flow of the Chi — than learning to keep my awareness in my feet while doing the movements.

In forward/back and side-to-side movements, we must always be down a bit lower than one’s natural standing height. But it is not a matter of merely bending one’s knees in order to be lower. And we must never be down so low so that the unweighted leg does not straighten fully. 

It is one thing to simply bend the knees to be down lower, but quite another to feel that one is dropping all of the body weight downward into the feet. I have discovered a useful phrase: surrender all of the bodyweight to the feet. When all of the weight is felt solidly resting on the feet (or on one foot), the body lets go and relaxes completely. One must really feel this. (Justin Stone has written in the photo text that the shoulders are always “relaxed and drooping.”)

It is one thing to tell the body to relax (which usually doesn’t work well), but quite another thing to feel the upper body relax as natural result of having literally given all of our weight (mentally and physically) to our feet. The first we can fake. The second we cannot. When the body relaxes, the joints and muscles become soft, and the Chi flows freely.

When I feel every weight shift by remaining aware of feeling the feet, the movements flow smoothly and joyously, the benefits become apparent with consistent practice, and I notice these in my life and in how I feel. Less stress. Less discomfort. More confidence. Less worry. More trust. Less lethargy. More energy. Better sleep. More joy.