T’ai chi is an ancient martial art and a powerful “moving meditation” with many physical, mental and spiritual benefits. There are so many ways to tune in to those benefits. Two of my favorites are an attitude of joy and lightheartedness, and a sense of humor.
A light heart, written on the human face, is part of the movement called “Playing the Lute.” It occurs several times in part I, so you will encounter it early in your study and have lots of time to fine-tune the nuances. Part I is sometimes described as a re-enactment of our childhood years—an awakening to the wonders and an invitation to a lighthearted dance. As the heart is light, so is the foot…and if you’re comfortably on your weight-bearing leg, the opposite heel touches down lightly, without weight, like a butterfly landing. Let the joy of that travel to your face! The lips turn up slightly, indicating a smile. Notice how that brings lightness and uplift to the heart, the face, even the top of your head. As the arms and hands form the position of playing the lute, they can be light and joyful also.
This sets up your transition to the next movement, either Open the Bird’s Wing or Brush Knee and Push, depending on where you are in the sequence. Gentle but complete grounding on the weight-bearing leg allows for the next sequence to be one of power, strength and joy. It all starts with a light touch and a sense of upwardness…heart, face, hands and the empty, resting leg.
Lightness, joy and laughter can work together…and they can also create a pathway for the body to learn challenging movements with less trepidation and holding. The simple act of laughing is relaxing, so I welcome it in my classes.
When teaching t’ai chi, especially to a larger group, my body is one of the instruction tools. Occasionally, physical comedy comes into play, especially when the concept to be learned is not so easy to explain in words. Take for example the concept of relaxing. Easy to say, hard to do! When standing in a relaxed way, the posture is still upright but not held. When I explain this to a group of students, I sometimes use a goofy analogy that gets the point across while getting a laugh. Remember those little toys that are made up of small, hollow wood tubes, joined together by a stretched string to form a stick figure, then with that stretched string connected to a round disc of wood at the base? You hold it in your hand and push up the little round disc, releasing the tension in the string so that the stick figure collapses. Let go of the disc and the figure springs back to attention. They’re often cowboys on horseback or other action figures. Visualizing that movement helps people understand the goal: finding and staying in a middle ground between too much tension and too much softness. First I create the visual, demonstrating the collapsing part by going limp and slouchy, then I see some nods and smiles. Then I tell the group to visualize resting their hand on the disc…right in the moment before pressing up, but not pressing hard enough to cause the figure to collapse. This visualization, for me, shows the idea of the mind setting the intent for relaxing without collapsing, and also shows how nuanced that little moment can be.
I find that a touch of silliness, an unexpected metaphor, or a visualization that brings happy memories, can all nurture the learning process. Sometimes the body can take a different route to accomplish a movement…one that you hadn’t been thought of before. Lightheartedness and laughter can be a great pathway.
