by Alisa Joaquin
A personal account of the Tai Chi, Qi Gung, & Taoist Meditation Workshop held at the Omega Institute with David Carradine from October 6-8, 2000
Arnold then got us to stand up and we did a few exercises for energy circulation. There are three cleansing exercises. Arnold first showed us a standing posture called the Wu Qi (Wu Chi) posture. It is similar to a slight horse stance. Feet are about shoulder-width apart with the knees slightly bent. The trunk area is tilted as if sitting off the edge of a chair or bar stool. The chin is tucked back and the crown-point of the head is pressed up. The shoulders are relaxed with the back spread which allow the arms and hands to be slightly opened. Generally, you would close your eyes and gently place the tongue to the roof of the mouth, just behind the upper set of teeth, then gently close the sphincter muscle. Then what you would do next, using your inner vision, is feel within yourself. A big part of developing that energy is to first become aware of that energy, to feel it. It's a big challenge to transform yourself if you can't feel it, if you can't connect with it.
As you stand in this posture, the three anchor points, the spiritual center in the head, the emotional and mental center in the chest, and the physical center in the lower abdominal region, you would imagine that those three centers are in alignment. Mentally draw a line from the top of the head and allow it to connect down through the center of the chest and to the center of the abdomen and from there relax and feel. As you stand in posture, relax through the breath. As you inhale and exhale, imagine in your lower abdominal region a balloon; and as you breath in, you are filling up that balloon, not only feeling it from the front, but from the sides and the back. Inhale, filling up gently, and then exhale. Imagination reads the mind and the mind reads the flow of the chi. So the more you relax the more you can feel.
As we were doing this, Arnold directed us to feel from the top of our head, through our face and skull, through each cell going down through the center of our throat, down the vertebrae, down into the shoulders and down the arms. He told us to pay attention to what areas were not relaxed, that were tense or tight or if they just did not feel right. It was very important that we became aware of every cell in our body. He led us through this exercise to where we had to "feel" our way down to our feet, relaxing with each breath. He had us focus on every aspect of our bodies, relaxing downward, including deep within to our internal organs. He also had us reach down relaxing and feeling deep down through our feet , through the floor as if reaching deep within the earth. This exercise is not a quick one. It is meant to be done over a period of time where relaxing is very crucial. It can be done within a fifteen-minute period, but it should be done over a longer period each time stretching it to as much as several hours. This posture, Wu Qi (Wu Chi) when done over a period of several months, can help you to develop a deep awareness of the conceitedness of all things. It is usually drawn as an empty circle or a dashed circle, as if to allow air or energy to flow in and out without obstruction. Wu Qi is referred to as the creative emptiness, which is reflected in the philosophy of the empty teacup.
Arnold referred to Lao Tzu and a story about a master and a student. The student wants to learn from the master and the student is talking about all these great things that he knows and these great things that he wants to learn. The master is listening so finely and at the same time the master is pouring tea. He pours tea into the student's cup and he continues to pour and the tea keeps overflowing and the student says, "Master, can't you see that my teacup is overflowing?" and of course the master says, "You are just like this teacup. How could you take from my knowledge if you are too full. You have to be like this teacup, and empty yourself."
Arnold then stated that from Wu Qi (Wu Chi) comes from the great Tai Qi (Tai Chi), this Yin and Yang. This Wu Qi (Wu Chi) is the starting point from where all the practices come from.
After showing us the Wu Qi posture we did three Qi cleansing exercises. But before that, we did Pulling Down the Heavens. This centers and cools down the body in preparation. This is done by raising the arms above the head, bringing the palms downward and partially facing toward the face and centering that energy on each of the energy centers of the body. When you get to the abdomen, you then separate the hands, bringing them to your sides and as you raise the arms again outstretched, you turn the palms upward. You would do this about three or four times, breathing in when lifting the arms and breathing out when you bring them down. This can be done at the beginning and at the end of an exercise routine, usually it's done at the end as a cool down.
The first exercise that we did was called Counter Swing. The arms are raised shoulder height, but they are relaxed with the elbows and slightly bent. You inhale when the arms are raised and when they are lowered and you twist to the side, you exhale at that point. When you twist, you keep your feet planted forward and try to twist from the trunk of the body from around the center, not the hips or the knees. You swing the arms behind and in front, the palms of the hands open as if you are pushing something aside both front and back, releasing the energy as you swing and twist the body. This "action" has a "squeezing" effect on the organs releasing negative energy through the hands. Do not do this haphazardly. Try to control where you are swinging and still feeling where the energy is going. You might feel a sensation in the hands building. You might feel as if you are heating up. You can then do a Pulling Down the Heavens afterward to help in comparing the difference as to how your body feels afterward.
The second exercise that we did was called Dropping the Post. In this exercise, your feet are close together but not touching. Your body is relaxed and what you begin to do is bounce slightly on your feet. You do not have to raise your heels off the floor. You might notice as you are bouncing each time, it pushes out the breath. At one point for more cleansing, you will raise up on your toes, inhaling then allowing gravity to pull you down, you will drop back down on your heals, exhaling forcefully then bouncing again. You might do that exercise about three times. What this exercise does, is break up the energy in the internal organs to release it through the feet. You can then do a Pulling Down the Heavens at the end of this exercise.
As Arnold was doing these exercises, he told us about his flight coming in. He had taken the redeye and his flight in Chicago had been delayed several times (sounds familiar :-)) so when he finally did arrive at Omega, he did a few of these exercises. He said the whole point of doing these exercises is being light, not forcing. He said that part of this idea of being with the Tao is not going against your nature. It's just like water that always seeks to find the lowest position and simply flows. We also need to take that example of the water by learning how to release and not force things. This concept is referred to as Wu Wei or Non-Doing. Non-Doing is not doing nothing. He mentioned about his own Master, Master Nei (uncertain of the actual spelling on the name) coming over to this country in the 70's. His Master noticed that the only people practicing Tao were the hippies. He thought that was great, but he learned very quickly their concept of Taoism was very different from his. So, non-doing means doing only what is necessary. He stated that it might take a certain effort to do these things, but you only want to do what is necessary. A big part of the Tao is longevity and central to that concept of longevity is conservation of energy. It's not only the conservation of your physical energy, but also how you do things in your every-day life. There are many facets to that.
Arnold took a couple of questions and one person was uncertain as to the meaning of conservation of energy based on the Tao. Arnold explained it this way. "Everything is energy, but what we have to do because we're born into the yin and yang. Before you are born, you are in the Wu Qi state. And then what happens when you come into the world you come from what they call the pre-heaven to the post-heaven. And then what happens a whole other person comes into the world and then what happens is that now it's up to you to find the path back, a spiritual path that will take you back to the origin. So in order for you to do that, conservation is a very important part because what that does is that it allows you to gather the energy and integrate it so you can transform to go back to the origin. In otherwords what it is is that you become aware of the energy and once you become aware of the energy you learn tools for centering and balancing and utilizing that energy correctly in your daily life."
We went on to do the third exercise and this one Arnold helped us to visualize doing this by referring to the metaphor of a dog coming out of a swimming pool. If you can picture a dog shaking all over, that is what this one is similar to. They call this exercise the Trembling Horse. You start with the palms and you start shaking them and you let it go up the arms then down the body and out the feet. We did this several times. It felt really good. This particular one shakes up the tissues.
The first exercise dealt with squeezing and releasing, the second one dealt with a breaking up and bouncing which released the energy downward, and then the third exercise shakes the tisses and disperses the energy this way (referring outward). Each time we did the exercises we were paired with a partner to check to see if we were doing the exercises correctly.
Arnold mentioned there were other cleansing exercises from other schools, but what we did was just a sampling of three. The main thing he mentioned was that the exercises were for cleansing the body and that it was important to do that before energy gathering and then circulating. He then mentioned that if you practiced in this manner there would be more meaning brought to each of the movements.
We then put all three exercises together with the Wu Qi posture and the Pulling Down of the Heavens. As we did the exercises and ended with the Wu Qi posture, I found myself becoming more aware. I found myself emptying and feeling the energy flow through me. At the end of the exercise period, he had us slowly open our eyes and gently come out of the posture. We once again gathered into groups of three and we shared our experience. It was quite powerful. We must have stood in that position for at least five minutes perhaps ten. That was a short time compared to how long the monks would stand in that posture. The monks would stand in the Wu Qi poster for a long time, several hours. They would use that posture as a means to cultivate the energy flow as well as to strengthen the body.
The one thing that was different about these sessions was that music was added which really helped to get into each of the exercises and even into a meditative state. The one thing that I would have liked to know which I forgot to ask was where I might get a copy of the music that he used. I found it quite relaxing and meditative. Arnold, if you read this, could you email me and let me know. I really would like to know so I can acquire a copy of it on CD. I did recognize the music. It was the same music used in the Chi Gung video that David did, the video that also has a companion book.
Alisa Joaquin Copyright@2000.
This personal account cannot be reprinted or sold in any other form without strict
permission from the author. It is being distributed here solely for your enjoyment.
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