We have had a very good question from one of our students, Nick who has just started attending the advanced class.

I believe they (Tai Chi and Qigong) must be different otherwise surely only Qigong would exist as it is apparently much simpler to perform.

Great question, which I will try to answer as simply as possible.

Tai Chi form and Qigong

Firstly I will answer from Hine Tai Chi schools stand point. We do not try and regulate the breathing whilst doing the Tai Chi form (some schools do). This is for two reasons;

1) The Tai Chi form has an optimum speed and should be completed between 12 minutes (at its fastest to 15 minutes (at its slowest). The reason is that if you do the Tai Chi form faster than 12 minutes you will not get the calming effect of the form. If you take longer than fifteen minutes you will become too sluggish and will not enjoy the stimulating effects of the solo form. This is the balance between the two extremes for good health. This then brings us to trying to regulate the breathing to fit in with the form. Some Tai Chi schools teach that you should breathe in when the hands move back towards the body and out when you hands move out and so on. However this can only be done for a limited time. When you first begin Tai Chi your lungs are quite inflexible, so can accommodate this breathing pattern, but after practising for a while the lungs become stronger and more flexible therefore slowing the breathing naturally. That being the case would require you to slow the Tai Chi form down and take you outside the 15 minutes optimum time. If you attempt to stay within that time limit with controlled breathing, your body will quickly “overheat” and be unbalanced. From a traditional Chinese medicine point this is not good as it will eventually lead to illness. Also my grandmaster Yang Shou Chung stated that it was not a good idea to regulate the breathing while doing the form.

2) We practise Qigong in addition to the Tai Chi form which is the traditional way. We do not need to regulate the breathing as we do it already in our Qigong. This allows us to let the Tai Chi form breathe as the body sees fit. Originally Tai Chi training consisted of five sections;

Tai Chi Solo form, Qigong, Pushing Hands, Tai Chi Weapons (Sword etc) and Tai Chi Combat. By practising all aspects ensured a completely balanced person. However the amount of time it takes to complete all aspects of the form in this way put many people off and the solo form started being taught on its own without Qigong or the other aspects.

We do understand that with our modern fast paced lives that we sometimes do not have the time to do everything. However I think that with a little thought and practise a state of balance and great good health can be attained ask your instructor how.

Li Ching Yuen

Was born 1678 in northern China and in his youth travelled throughout China with three famous herbalists, they travelled on foot and lived off of the land. Li learned many secrets of an extraordinary long and healthy life. He also regularly trained in 12 Precious Qigong and Bagua.

Li lived long enough to see180 descendants over eleven generations. General Yang Shen was very interested in meeting the legendary herbalist, this is what he wrote;

“He can walk very quickly in the mountains, even though he is almost 250 years old. He is seven feet tall. His complexion is ruddy, but he is completely bald. His fingernails are very long”.

It would be very easy to dismiss accounts of great age and still being energetic, but recent breakthroughs in health research could prove you wrong. Just three years ago the Nobel prize was a awarded for work on Telemeres and their effect on aging. Teleomeres are “tails” in DNA which, as cells replicate, lose a piece of their tail each time. When all of the tail is gone the cells can no longer divide. The good thing is that the tails can be repaired to a certain degree by a few substances. I will write another blog soon about these substances, one of which is a famous Chinese herb.

12 Precious Cloths Qigong

I began studying this form of Qigong when I was eighteen from my master Chang Cheong Kung, a fearsome teacher of the Chinese martial arts. He normally did not teach Qigong to his students, but I constantly pestered him until he relented. Each week he would patiently sit me down teach me the routine. Qigong fascinated me, at a time when very little was taught or known about in the west. There were many stories about the strange, powerful and mystical abilities circulating within the Chinese schools that I trained in. I wanted some of that, just to see how far I could raise my abilities with Qigong practise. The truth is that it is not just the Qigong, but how much focus and effort you put into all of your training, but I digress.

Near the end of my Qigong training my teacher sat me down and said, “You are curious about how the Qi (Chi) will manifest itself in your life? At first you will not notice it, but there will come a time when you will do something quite extraordinary and you will know it”.

Did it come? Yes it did. It was Chinese New Year and our school had been invited to give a demonstration at a large university. Many of our students were Chinese from all over South East Asia so the venue was packed, seven hundred people I seem to remember. My teacher could not attend so gave his three senior students the job running the show. We knew we would get a good reception as they were a very good crowd and were there just to enjoy the show.

One of my set pieces was to run along jump over four bowed people and break a board before I landed. It was something that I had done many times before, but this evening was a bit different. We did not have our master with us and the atmosphere was electric. Everything we had done had worked brilliantly and the audience were having a whale of a time and urging us on. I was, strangely, a bit more keyed up than normal as I took my run up, I did not want to spoil the night by going base over apex on top of our helpers, something that had not occurred to me before. I placed my foot down and leaped. I felt incredibly light and appeared to be much higher off of the ground than normal. Time seemed to move very slowly and I remember looking down feeling a long way up. I cleared the group I had just leapt over and snapped my kick through the board landing safely. Wow I enjoyed that, big round of applause from the audience.

I had enjoyed that experience a lot, but quickly forgot it and went about my everyday life. Or at least until the following week. One of the students was a photographer for the BBC and had been at the demo taking photographs. He showed me the picture of my jump; I was surprised when I looked at it. I was indeed very high off of the ground; I thought it had been an illusion, one of those tricks that your mind plays on you – but it hadn’t. I remembered my teacher voice saying “there will come a time when you will do something quite extraordinary and you will know it”.

Someday it will happen to you, it may not be doing a very high jump, but it will happen just the same. Qi takes on many guises, especially in the internal arts, but you will know it when it comes.

What other things did I notice from this Qigong practise? Healing very quickly, even with quite deep cuts or bruises and good health. This Qigong definitely enhances your chosen martial art.

If you would like to learn the 12 Precious Cloths Qigong we will be running the very first weekend seminar on 24/25 March or would like information on this routine http://taichi-europe.com/tai-chi/tai-chi-weekend-retreat/

If you enjoyed this article you can find more here http://taichi-europe.com/the-ultimate-energy-workout/

Researchers at Department of Medical Research, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Kaohsiung, Taiwan found that regular practise of Tai Chi helped improve T cell function involved with Diabetes. (T cells assist the white blood cells in immunologic processes)

12 Week Course in Tai Chi

In the study they investigated the effects of a 12-week course of Tai Chi exercise on T cell helpers. A control group of 30 pairs of patients with type 2 Diabetes was used in the study. Measurements were taken before and after the 12 week course.

RESULTS:

The Diabetes group had higher fasting glucose levels prior to the Tai Chi 12 week programme. At the end of the programme the same levels measured again and the changes were significantly lower. Diabetics have problems dealing with the amount of glucose circulating in their blood steam that cannot be absorbed into the cells. After the 12 week Tai Chi course the participants had significantly less glucose circulating that had to be dealt with.

What is Diabetes?

Diabetes is a chronic condition caused by too much glucose in the blood. It affects 2.8 million people in the UK. Experts believe that there are another million people who do not know that they have the condition. This disease can have adverse affects of the eyes, heart, kidney, nerves and feet.

What Causes Diabetes?

Under normal circumstances the amount of sugar in your bloodstream is controlled by Insulin secreted from the Pancreas. During digestion insulin removes the glucose from your bloodstream and into your cells to be broken down and turned into energy. However, for people with diabetes they cannot breakdown the glucose into energy. This inability to breakdown the glucose is either caused by too little insulin or it is not the right quality to successfully do the job intended. This is called insulin resistance.

http://www.diabetes.org.uk/

It’s a funny thing, you either love Christmas or hate it. At the moment I reckon it’s about 50 50, but the haters are growing every year. In days gone by, when people were less wealthy, it was special to have a couple of days break at Christmas. Yes, it was just a couple of days, not the two week marathon that many enjoy today. When you know that you only have two days to rest and relax you savour it.

I do not want to follow the media and talk about the true meaning of Christmas, that’s already been done to death. Let’s look at something a bit more practical, which is how to deal with it.

A nice cup of tea

After a long day hitting the shops in the mall you need a sit down to rest your feet and take a break. Unfortunately, I am not talking about the black tea we drink and love, but the green variety. Green tea contains quite high levels of a chemical called Theanine which has proven benefits for anxiety and high blood pressure. The Chinese use it for headaches and depression. In addition to Theanine, EGCG is a powerful anti-oxidant which inhibits the abnormal formation of blood clots. This is important in that they play a major part in heart conditions, which can be put under ever more pressure at stressful times like Christmas.

The French Paradox

The French, despite not liking us and consuming a rich diet of fat in their delicious food, have a lower incidence of heart disease than just about anyone else in the world. The answer lies in red wine, which contains a potent chemical called resveratrol, which helps nullify the harmful effects of the diet. However, researchers University of Kansas determined that EGCG was twice as powerful as resveratrol.

Helps your Gnashers too!

Yep while you are having your sit down and drinking your tea you’re benefiting your teeth too at the chemical in the tea strengthens your teeth.

Triggers the Long Life Gene

There are some researchers who have found that the chemicals in green tea can trigger dormant genes associated with long life, this is obviously at an early stage.

Green Tea Yuk!

This is often the reaction when you suggest drinking green tea, but if you add lemon it tastes delicious. I was not a great lover of green tea until lemon was added.

Qigong

Practise your Qigong. The deeper breathing associated with Qigong is associated with calm and relaxation and lowering your heart rate. Do not artificially slow your breathing as practising Qigong will do it naturally, without disturbing your breathing rate. Just five minutes will leave you calm and relaxed.

Tai Chi

The ultimate de stressor is Tai Chi, proven over and over for centuries. But, as we are still in the coffee shop in the mall it might be a little awkward doing Grasp the Birds Tail between the seats!

Have a great Christmas don’t eat too much. Of course you will, just joking.

John Hine

When you start your Tai Chi classes it’s easy to be able to judge for yourself how you are doing i.e. remembering the order of the moves, keeping your balance, getting your hands and feet to do what you want them too! As you progress on further into the Form it becomes more difficult for students to be able to do this. Your instructor will let you know and should also let you know the stages of development you will go through each week.

Students, naturally, start to compare themselves to other students, those in their group and those ahead of them and those behind. This is not an accurate gauge of how well you are doing as you cannot see yourself clearly and in an unbiased fashion. What you need is a training buddy. I get my students to pair up to practise certain moves at specific times in the Form. This allows them to all to practise the move first, to really relax into it and feel it, then they pair up and watch each other to see how this makes them feel in direct comparison to what they have just felt themselves. They see, in the other student, the things which are missing in their own Form plus, and this is the cleaver bit, they can see what they are doing right too.

Sometimes you can teach a student the same bit of the Form over and over and in different ways but, they will just not be able to understand. By buddying up they are able to actually ‘see’ what you are trying to point out, they seem more open to this. This is partly due to the fact that the person who is ‘teaching’ them is someone they have trained with for a while and be a witness to their progress. There is no hidden agenda, i.e. no judgement; they are only trying to help each other along.

So, next time you have a move or section in the Form which you are having problems with, go ask one of your colleagues how they do it, how does it feel to them, what is going through their minds while they perform the moves? In this way you will be able to communicate faster and at a deeper level which will make learning faster and have a much greater impact on your form.

Have a look at this piece of video on YouTube and then come back to this article J

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPNyK7XTy6o&feature=player_embedded

Did you giggle while you sympathised? Its great isn’t it? What went through my mind when I watched it was how differently those two little boys see the world compared to their Mum. They see snow inside the house and it’s not cold! They see the fun and enjoyment in t all. Their poor Mum just see the mess and hours of cleaning up and wondering if it will every all come out of the sofa.

Once you acknowledge that we all see every situation differently, and I don’t just mean big cultural differences between countries and regions here, it helps to open your mind to new possibilities, new ways of learning and solving problems and to the choices you have.

For example in UK we like to complain about the rain, in parts of Africa they pray for rain. It’s all about context and attitude. There is always a solution, or a way around a problem. Some problems don’t actually need to be solved, you can just find a way around them. Tai Chi teaches your mind to be more flexible. If you can’t perform a move one way, ask your instructor to take a look and explain it in another way. Try your training buddies too, get them to explain what they are doing, what goes through their minds, how does it feel when they do a move you find difficult.

I am impressed with the lady in the video for choosing not to just go mad and shout at her sons. I just hope she got down on the floor with them and enjoyed the moment before she had to started to clean up. Let’s be honest, you know you are going to have to clean up so you might as well enjoy yourself first right?

‘Slow and steady’ I said to myself, slow and steady, that’s the only way to deal with this and so it was. Eventually I arrived at the District and Circle line and positioned myself close enough to the platform edge to get on the train, but far enough away to prevent myself becoming a casualty of the crush. More hardy souls slid along the edge of the platform like tightrope walkers risking life and limb to gain a few seconds or a better place. Harassed workers mingled with bemused tourists, who had obviously not been warned about the rush hour. The whole platform heaved with people and pulsated like one large heart as trains arrived and left every few seconds, whisking people onwards and depositing new comers. Amid the chaos a friendly voice rang out over the tannoy.

“The next train will be the district line train to Wimbledon, have a nice day, a nice week and don’t let anyone stress you”. The voice in a friendly Caribbean accent echoed along the platform. I smiled, some people frowned (after all we are British, we don’t do unusually friendly). Others grinned nervously. And so it went on as trains ebbed and flowed from the station, the same message belted out to a slightly bemused audience. My smile got bigger as the announcements continued, both helpful and positive.

“The next train will be the Circle line train, have a nice day, a nice week and don’t let anyone stress you, keep it real”.

My train approached, I had to go and thank the announcer, I am compelled to thank anyone who has a positive message.

“Cool message “ I said with a huge grin on my face.

“Thank you my brother” and he shook my hand with a grin.

And so I went on my way to my meeting feeling just that bit happier from my new found friend.

So, if you happen to find yourself on the district and circle line during the rush hour and need a shot of positivity, just hope that Mr Cool is on duty and say a big thank you to him.

Have a great week

Kind regards

John Hine

We are back, fully rested, carrying back fond memories of Cyprus. We spent a week in Paphos, at the Avanti Hotel. The Avanti deserves the four stars given to it; it is a very nice hotel, with attentive staff and good rooms.  http://www.avantihotel.com/hotel/

Each morning we trained from 7 am until about 8.30, this was optional, but most of those attending did turn up and enjoyed it. We trained in a beautiful paved area surrounded by flowering bushes leading down to the pool area. The senior students not only did their own Tai Chi training, but also taught the less experienced members, including Tai Chi form, Qigong, Single Fan, Double Fan, Sword and Broadsword. Other members practised, their Shaolin Kung Fu, Xsingyi and Bagua.

For the rest of the day the members either went on tours to local sites, relaxed by the pool or walked into the town of Paphos. The evening training session started at 4pm and lasted to about 6pm. During that time Sifu and the senior students ran a master class on how to do the Tai Chi form at quite an advanced level. All of those attending enjoyed learning something that is usually only shown to senior students.

After the master class practise Sifu taught us 18 Tai Chi Qigong. These are 18 different forms of Qigong wrapped into one continuous routine. Many of the students found this Qigong very effective and experienced strong flows of Qi.

In the evenings everyone was left to their own devices, but most congregated in the bar to talk and enjoy their evenings. The whole group gelled very well and many new friendships were made.

One of the highlights was a visit to a famous monastery in the Troudos Mountains, which sat on top of a pine forest. The air was so pure and a pleasure to breathe and felt “soft” on our skins. It felt far away from the hustle and bustle we are so used to.

It was a real pleasure to sit in T shirt and shorts eat breakfast in the warm open air on the breakfast veranda each morning, surrounded by the hotel cats. There was even a ‘cat’s cafe’ as the Cypriot people are very fond of their moggies. We took over 2,000 photos between us all and some will be posed on the site and our facebook pages. Thank you to all who came with us and made it a trip to remember. I look forward to next years tour!

I am sure that you are aware that Tai Chi and the other internal arts rely heavily on Chi. Chi is the foundation of those systems. Chi does not just exist in human beings, but in all living organisms. Literally everything that exists posses Chi, from trees to oceans. We, however, will be dealing solely with the Chi that flows around our bodies.

Many of you may already be familiar with Acupuncture diagrams, with lines running up and down the body. These are called Ching Lo, in Chinese Medicine, or in English, Meridians. On these lines you will see dots which are the acupuncture points where the energy can be stimulated with massage, finger pressure, needles or heat. There are more than 600 points on the meridians where the energy can be adjusted by any of the methods above. Through these channels energy passes to every cell in the body. All of the organs are fed by these channels, so any interruption in the smooth flow of energy can cause ill health.

Along the channels runs the Chi energy, like a power supply line that comes into your home and powers everything electrical. That is at least what the Chinese medicine practioners believes. Few doubt that acupuncture works, but just how is open to debate. A myriad of alternative concepts have been suggested in the past, many are more in line with western medicine. Most of those alternative western theories have disappeared over time.

So, we are left with the Chinese meridian concept which, although not perfect, does appear to come close to explaining what goes on inside the body.

At the beginning of conception both parents contribute genetic material, which eventually became your body and which was maintained by your mother’s energy. The genetic material in Chinese medicine is Jing, or Ancestral Chi. If your parents were strong and healthy the chances are that you will be too. If, on the other hand, one, or both, of your parents were weak at your conception then you may not be as healthy as you would like. Not all is lost though, because with the correct training in Tai Chi, Qigong and a good diet you can, over time, change your health.

In addition to doing regular Tai Chi and Qigong you should try to avoid the following;

Avoid stress as this damages your Chi.

Get a good night’s sleep, which from traditional Chinese medicine is eight hours.

Do not sleep too much as this will cause you problems.

Do not work excessive hours as this damages your Chi.

These are all obvious recommendations, but how many of us actually take much notice of them. In addition twenty minutes of meditation has been proven to be very good for health.

Energy flows up and down these meridians. When you perform your Tai Chi form it flows up your back and over your head, down your face and chest, down the front of your legs, under your feet and back up the back of your legs to begin again. It also flows down the Yin meridian on the inside of your arms and back up the Yang meridians on the outside of your arms. Sometimes you will feel tingling, heat or cold, lightness or heaviness in your hands and arms as you go through your exercises. The more you do the stronger the energy becomes and the more sensitive you become to feeling it.

Until next time, keep healthy,

John Hine

Question is though, were does this start and complete abdication of personal responsibility begin? Is it excuse not to help out with the washing up or talk to anyone, to stay in bed till lunch time and then just grunt a reply to questions? We all have to do things in life we don’t want to, like washing up, emptying the bins, etc, as an adult you just get on with it and don’t think about it too much.

As an adult you really enjoy your free time and make the most of it. How often do you hear an adult say ‘I’m bored!’? I suppose the lesson here is understanding what might be going on in your teenagers brain, but not letting them take advantage of you or the situation.

Keeping calm, looking at the bigger picture and not rushing into an answer during any confrontation is not easy, it takes practise, lots of practise. One of the things Tai Chi has taught me is how to be detached, when I need to be, in these situations. It doesn’t always work but, it has saved me from a lot of emotional blackmail!

Have a peaceful weekend, See Jay

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2045375/Go-easy-stroppy-teen-brains-dont-work-properly-adolescence.html