The Taichi and Qigong Podcast

We receive from the past wonderful traditions, and the reason this happens is that folks dedicated huge resources to these practices, to make space for the, and to dedicate time. Time is exactly what we discuss today, the need to find it, the need to add a little to be of stress at the beginning, to be repaid tomorrow.

In the previous episodes we went through the Dan Tian, Center of Mass, joints arrangement, muscles/tendons/ligaments and elastic force expression. All of this can be produce by your internal practice. In this episode we see how Pushing Hands (Tui Shou) and Fajing developed in very peculiar practices of the Taijiquan tradition.

And remember, big guys will always have the lead when it comes to pushing or being pushed. Let them have it, and mind your own development.

In this third episode on the relationship between muscles, force and Internal Arts, we clarify the path that brings from Dantian through relaxation to Dantian through force, and we also clarify a bunch of other issues.

Following several requests about practicing with me, I have decided to launch a Taichi & Qigong Basics Zoom Course.

The idea is of 8 Zoom classes, 1h and 15 mns. each, when we will go trough standing practice, Yin/Yang Gong, Preparation to Qigong, Breathing Exercise, Taichi Basics. Registration available when class is missed.

We may also envisage a 2 day workshop in Miami or San Francisco Bay Area at the end of the course.

If you want to learn more, reach out at [email protected]

In this episode, second of three dedicated to the use of "force" in the internal arts, we discuss about how the center of mass is supposed to be settled inside the body, in the lower Dan Tian area, in order to generate elastic force by the process of transforming the way joints, tendons and ligaments are used. A process that is at the basis of Taichi, Qi Gong and Meditation.

Nobody has ever been able to approach any Chinese energetic art (say Taichi or Qigong) without encountering the concept of "Dan Tian" (丹田), or "Elixir Field". We will see how the Elixir was intended to give immortality (in lieu of the awakening in the buddhist theories), of the shape, size and location of the Dan Tian widely varies in different centuries or schools, and how it is related to the physical nature of Homo Sapiens.

When we think about Taichi, we usually link it to the Taichi Form: the slow, relaxed, continuous sequence of arcane movements. But at the end, what's the Taichi Form all about? Is it a form of therapy and self-healing? Is it a tool to develop a powerful martial prowess? None of the above, as we argue in this chat.

For groups and for singles, when it comes to religion or spirituality, the quest for power arises. It is unavoidable, generated by the ignorance-fear-frustration-anger-hate loop, a loop that cannot be broken, leading to the quest for power growing desperate. How to see it, how to avoid denial in dealing with it, and how finally leave it in background.

- Boredom: The feeling of being bored or uninterested in what you're doing is boredom. Everyone experiences boredom sometimes. The feeling that nothing catches your interest, that everything's dull and flat, sums up the state of boredom.

- Escapism: In psychology, escapism is when a person routinely uses an activity or behavior to escape life's realities. It is a way of distracting the mind.

LGBTQ+ issues has been heavily politicized, to the point that is not uncommon to find even internal arts teachers who claim some of this people to present deviations from a supposed given human nature. In this episode we dismiss such claims as non-sensical, and we on the contrary explain why, on a very practical ground, LGBTQ+ practitioners may find in their path to have a strength like many other practitioners never find in their whole life.