How to Relax, Melt & Pour (Tai Chi Standing part 2)

In the last post I asked you to do some Tai Chi standing and see what you could discover about yourself.

The main points covered were Be here NOW, Quieting the Monkey Mind, feeling your body, listening and responding to what your body is telling you, relaxing more inside and out, adjusting your posture based on what your body is telling you and developing more complete body breathing.

And I thought all I did was write a little about Tai Chi Standing. Oh yeah, that’s right. Tai Chi Standing is what I wrote about.

Now that you have worked with the above a bit and perhaps made a little bit of Tai Chi Standing practice a part of your workout routine lets go a little deeper.

Warning
In this next section: Your body may feel heavy and relaxed and calm but, If you get light headed, feel faint or have some other unpleasant sensation other than simply calmness and relaxation and a better feeling / experience of your body then stop and consult a physician before practicing again.

Relax & Melt
Stand again and starting from the top of your head and working your way down to your feet Relax and Melt as if you are melting and pouring all of yourself down through your body.

Take your time and melt each part of yourself from the top down. It should really have the feel of pouring.

If you reach a part that does not want to melt then keep your mind in that section and tense then relax the section and move the section around like shrugging your shoulders and then letting them go. As you do this you may experience a variety of sensations including the feeling of tension or weight pouring down your body into the ground. When the tension seems to be gone continue to pour and become more and more relaxed.

You may feel heavier and heavier.

As you pour you may find that your feet feel like they are spreading or pushing into the floor. Let the feet spread wide and take up more surface space on the ground. Part of what you are doing is opening the Bubbling Well in the center of the bottom of the foot.

If you feel your legs and feet get very heavy then release the weight down into the ground by simply letting it go. Done properly this is good rooting practice. Our Internal Iron Body and The Root of Internal Power DVD’s have more on how to do this and you can actually see video of how to work out and some physical drills / explanations to help.

At this point Root, Sink, Relax, Let Go and Find SUNG. The deep true Tai Chi relaxation skill.

Feel the Energy
Now feel for the energy, the breath, your mind in your body and see where it is and relax and make it deeper and more profound.

Find the Monkey Mind Motion in the Stillness and make it quiet. Standing and pouring and relaxing are the key elements being worked on as well as learning how to pay attention to these things and begin to understand them.

Welcome to step one of training that will continue to grow in scope and depth for the rest of your life.

To be continued…

photo by kennymatic

Comments

  1. Drew Miller says

    Hello Sigung Clear, loving the instruction and attention to detail you are sharing. Wonderful indeed. I am praticing Relax, Melt & Pour in Wu Chi posture and I am experiencing some pretty noticable involuntary body/muscle twitches as I progress into this practice. Is this to be expected and what might this be? Hoping I am on the right path here.

    Thanks again for sharing and propagating this time honored martual tradition!

    Drew Miller
    San Diego, CA

    • This can be fairly common. Your body is used to holding specific shapes and tensions. These vary from person to person and are usually a result of whatever types of activities you spend most of the day doing.

      This habitual tension usually supports weak areas of the body that have atrophied due to lack of use. As you release this tension these areas will start having to work again. That’s a good thing because they will start getting stronger but they’ll get tired long before the areas of your body you’re used to working.

      You must take it slow!

      Build into the correct body shape slowly over time. and slowly keep increasing the amount of relaxation.

      Treat this the same way you would any other physical conditioning. Work it diligently but never push yourself too far.

  2. Brian scott says

    As usual your lectures are impeccable. I needed to hear the concept of continual pouring during the set. Addressing the mental, sensory feedback and structural issues ( all planes) really ties it together. Suspect that the continual pouring down through the legs will assist opening up the larger orbit to the earth after the microcosmic circulation.

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