What is ‘Hollowing the Chest’ in Tai Chi & Qigong?
Connecting movements in tai chi & qigong.
Sitting back.
Moving your energy.
Try jumping! This is easily tested: Try jumping off the floor, but before doing so, hunch your shoulders firmly up by your ears and leave them there whilst jumping. You can still do the jump, but it’s not nearly so effective. Then try doing the same but relax your shoulders. We do this every time we walk: When placing a foot ahead of us to walk and moving the weight on to it, the pelvis sinks into the advancing foot followed by the shoulders and head. As we push off the toes to take the next step, we are, in a microcosmic way, jumping; the crown rises followed by the shoulders and hips, etc. In a way, the body is ‘bouncing’ along.
The principle. Whether you are sitting back on to your rear foot prior to moving your weight on to your front foot (as in a bow stance), or jumping off the floor, the principle of movement is the same. When you are about to step or jump, you are loading up one leg in order to move forward, or loading up both legs in order to jump off the floor. The last thing to release in the sinking process is the upper body.
To summarise…
Connecting movements. The result of putting this into practise is that movements of the body are smoothly connected – I’m not referring to the movements of the limbs here, although they are undoubtedly affected when you put this into practise. Without it, you are mainly using leg muscle to push yourself forwards and backwards. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ James Drewe teaches Taijiquan and qigong in both London and in Kent. Details of weekly classes can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Taijiquan one Saturday a month.
CONTACT: http://www.taiji.co.uk http://www.qigonghealth.co.uk Email: taijiandqigong@gmail.com Phone: 07836-710281 or 020-8883 3308 _______________________________________________________________________________________________
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