I sometimes tell students “the ground loves you.” By imagining that to be the case, the body instinctively prolongs the contact with each foot on the surface below it. It’s as if there is a caring relationship between each footstep and the ground beneath. That prolonged and thorough contact helps to foster the attribute called proprioception. Here’s how that is defined in Wikipedia:
“Proprioception, also referred to as kinaesthesia (or kinesthesia), is the sense of self-movement and body position. It is sometimes described as the “sixth sense.”
Proprioception is mediated by proprioceptors, mechanosensory neurons located within muscles, tendons, and joints. There are multiple types of proprioceptors which are activated during distinct behaviors and encode distinct types of information: limb velocity and movement, load on a limb, and limb limits.
The central nervious system integrates proprioception and other sensory systems, such as vision and the vestibular system, to create an overall representation of body position, movement, and acceleration.”
That last sentence is very important. The central nervous system integrates three sensory systems—vision, vestibular (balance) and proprioception (movement awareness). Thus, the practice of t’ai chi taps into the body’s own systems to allow for greater potential! Science, skill, art and joy all come together.
This is why, when teaching t’ai chi, I place a great deal of emphasis on the foot and its proper positioning. It is constantly giving us information about where we are in space…if we let it. By spending just a little extra time on each footstep, we can also fine-tune our awareness of the “invisible plumb line” running through the center of the body, starting above the head, passing through the dan tien, or energy center, down the unobstructed channel of each leg, into the feet, and from there, into the ground.
In stillness, for example in the movement Carry Tiger to the Mountain, there are quite a few points of contact with the grounding energy. Both feet, the invisible plumb line, and even the fingertips of both hands, are establishing a neurological and energy connection. Rest a little longer in that space as well; that’s where the ground loves you, and the sky above.
To that end, here is the Navajo/Diné traditional prayer called “The Beauty Way” English and in Diné.
In beauty I walk
With beauty before me I walk
With beauty behind me I walk
With beauty above me I walk
With beauty around me I walk
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
It has become beauty again
Hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shitsijí’ hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shikéédéé hózhóogo naasháa doo
Shideigi hózhóogo naasháa doo
T’áá altso shinaagóó hózhóogo naasháa doo
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
Hózhó náhásdlíí’
