Tuesday, Jan 6th, Beginners Class: Transcript of San Gee teaching Standing Chi Kung.
Topics: Generating energy;
Storing and using energy;
Heart trouble;
Emotions;
Your view of the world;
working in front of a computer;
Let's do some Standing; Energy Generating.
FIRST POSITION (Wu Chi): feel your balance with gravity
so that your weight is coming right thru the centre.
Eyes level and just looking forward;
hands open in front of your thighs.
Let your eyes be open and let the sight come in.
SECOND (LOWER) POSITION: bring your hands forward like you're holding a basket. Weight in back of heels, sit like you're going to sit down on a chair. If its painful, come up a little bit, you don't have to force yourself down. You can't stand like this using muscle: some well-built people have tried this and can't even stand for a minute without giving up! It'll burn the tension right out of your legs.
THIRD (UPPER) POSITION: This will also open up all in the upper body and neck. Feel the energy flowing between your fingertips, don't shock yourself! Keep relaxing inside. Let the energy flow inside. Let your breath come from the belly, not your chest. Later, we will work on the breathing.
FOURTH POSITION: Finally, two crane's bills over the kidneys to collect the energy. Press there and put your attention there. You might feel it get warm or feel the energy buzz there.
If you generate a lot of energy, you must use it. If it goes into the stomach, you want to eat; goes into your mouth, you want to talk; goes into the chest, heart trouble... It really does that.
When you generate energy, you have to learn to STORE it in your body. Standing is important because although our bodies are generating energy all the time, we generally are spending it as fast as we make it. With standing and sitting mediatations, you learn to start to gather your energy. You can't just gather it anywhere. If you gather it anywhere, it might make you sick, eg with high blood pressure, it's too much up [in your body]. The kidney is the part of your body which is collecting and gathering your energy from that area. So obviously don't store in the heart area. The thought itself might not be a problem, but the minute the energy goes to your chest!...
Your emotions are like energetic expressions. All the things you feel are like energetic expressions. It's never true that you are tired or anxious, you just project that and interpret it onto life. But you see that life is ALWAYS changing. We are just looking at the past and saying life is that way. Who knows what the future could be, it could be anything. Your energy state makes you look a certain way. The ideas you have are just a view. There's no strong feeling or reaction to it. If you then bring in the energy, then you've got trouble! Have you noticed that? When you let your energy go in certain places, you get the experience. If I give you an ice cream cone you might feel the energy [of our communication] and then feel like you have been assaulted! One day on the street I was just looking at someone as a girl came stomping down the stairs, looked at me, and shouted "HEY, WHAT'S YOUR PROBLEM?" It really shocked me as I had no sense of that at all. Her energy was already triggered by something. What she saw when she saw me.. her emotional state made her see me and react that way. There's no use fighting with circumstancces, it's already happened. What you can do is alter your reaction to it. You can say, "Hey, I dont have to go beserk about it." I almost cried when that incident happened as my emotional response was just crying as it was such an emotional hit. All I said was "Sorry, I didn't realise that there was anything wrong with smiling at someone." Immediately the energy shifted back to her and she started to look to see 'what about her?'.
So, generally, you've got to keep your energy down, not come up too much. But also, not to come up is trouble. Standing will help with that.
People meditate: sit. Not only will they not be able to medidiate, they will get more out of balance and NOT be able to meditate, as their energy is already up there!
In fact, the whole form is based on this Standing; based on balance, alignment, and optimal internal flow. Back is straight, and pull your sacrum down: it opens your spine, lets the energy pass. Neck straight, not 'chicken necking': helps open up the flow thru the torso and head. First position: weight in centre of foot. Keep feeling anywhere you are holding or tensing up your body and let it relax. When you first do this, almost everyone feels a BIG resistance - you think of everything in the world that you suddenly need to do. Also [conversly], there's a point of transformation where there's no time, no pain - your physical self disappears and you can stand there for hours. Like getting your 'second wind' while running - you jog so far, then suddenly it gets easier, effortless.
Second position is a lower position, a yin position, like sitting back in the form.
Third position, hands up to mouth level. Hands should be a distance where too far out is a strain, too close feels too close. There's no same position for everybody, the right position will feel right. You need to be in the position where your chi will circulate best.
When you are sitting you can do this too!
The other thing is the effect of electromagnetic fields. In Europe they've proved that electromagnetic interference cases leukemia in children. Chi Kung repolarises the cells in your body. Sitting in front of a compuuter monitor, this has been proven too. It repolarises your energy. Sit up, shake, and do a little chi kung to feel your energy solid again [after computer work]. So practice the best you can. You're more likely to do it right than wrong, and as long as you are making long, relaxed, open, flowing movements, it's okay. Anyway, you don't want to make Tai Chi another source of stress for yourself! You'll learn it's just natural to learn: relax, enjoy it!