There’s this concept in chi that energy has to flow, and several people have come forward both in comments and in private messages to express concern that I’m not letting chi flow enough. That I could get stoppered up in some fashion: not just digestively but energetically. Their recommendations have been diverse, but mostly it amounts to keeping the breath in motion and not holding any posture too long, if at all.
The suggestions have actually been quite helpful, folks! A few things came unstuck yesterday, energetically speaking, and the result has been that I feel much better. Some of these “unstickinesses” have been connected to career, others to abdominal/gut health, and others to finances. Nice.
Today’s form was pretty easy. The tension around my knees has eased up, I think from backing off on horse stance. There’s a new strength in and around my tan Tien, the energy center that roughly corresponds to the navel.
A heads’-up to regular readers: while there will be a post tomorrow, the next few days after that will be complicated, and it’s not clear that I’ll be able to write regular entries. I’ll post as I’m able, and bring you news as wifi is available. No promises, though.
[…] and to treat the time one spends getting healthy and staying healthy as your own time. Back in year two on day 29, it was about unsticking […]
Oh, Andrew, aren’t you glad you kept writing after Day 365? It’s amazing how these “bad” habits creep in. I think it’s very interesting when you write that you’ve tried doing the form really slowly, or on a different surface or wearing different clothes, and I (and my instructor) believe that it’s enlightening to do that. But we must beware that we have deviated in order to better understand what is CORRECT, not to morph into we were doing it wrong. She’s reading a book on the physics of T’ai Chi right now Robert Chuckrow, Ph.D., entitled “T’ai Chi Dynamics.” Interesting and esoteric stuff.