#postural integration

I think anyone would be interested in finding a genuine healthful way to live in your body,  to cultivate balance and strength, an uncommon strength guided by a mind that is relaxed and yet at the same moment sharply focused. An inner strength that can develop and grow as you get older. It's never too late to counter the brain washing that encourages energy depletion and promotes strain and injury, known as the FITNESS industry and the continued technological abstraction of your existence. There is substantial damage to a person implicit in egocentric and egotistically driven exercise that is encouraged by organizations and individuals ready to exploit anxieties and adding to any negative self thinking. So it seems to me that whatever exercise you may want to undertake it must stabilize your mind as well as your body. It may be inexpedient to exercise and then work on your mind separately, such fragmenting of ourselves is happening all the time and what is really helpful is when we begin to integrate our bodies in daily activity. Daily activity is exercise. I walk as quickly as I can up the escalators at Tottenham Court Rd tube station to find out if my body alignments and diaphragmatic breathing hold up. This is much better for you than a stationary bike, cheaper than a gym membership and gets you to where you have to go and is time efficient.  You have to be creative and in the moment in your body to appreciate how to see that you are already exercising when you get up and move. Some unique approaches were developed in China over hundreds of years which combined both movement and mindfulness. Some talented individuals and their exercise ideas became famous at the turn of the 20th Century and arose from relative obscurity due to patronage of the aristocracy as happened with original Tai Chi Chuan.

A mindful exercise that works on all of you simultaneously to create an internal stimulation and an awakening of your nervous system that leaves one calm and strong is what has come down to those this willing to explore the potential of the arts. This brings me to this idea that YOU are exercise, you are the instant creator of function. It is your ability to squat, lift, turn, throw, pull, twist and rotate that defines you, not a style, method. Discover, regain and retain your natural range of motion. Moving for the sheer pleasure of accessing deeper layers of the body and harvesting greater levels of energy. How you do this is up to you. Feeling good wins hands down when compared to the illusory images that are portrayed as desirable. Why feed your ego image as it will  develop an addiction to looking good, this torments the mind and poisons our tissue and organs. Overall health issues are inextricably bound to the life of the body. The body is your support for consciousness. Mindfulness warriors be careful not to ignore the body by trying to escape to an idea that all your issues will be solved whilst you are relaxing. Tensions will come into sharp relief when you meditate, that is the point obstacles will return for you to observe that the  shape and texture of tension will shift and though familiar they will dissolve away gradually over time. This is basic awareness

 Let’s be really clear having a strong muscle depends on your structure ( posture and the health of your connective tissue, that is fascia, ligaments and tendons and myo-fascia ) balanced range of motion,  organ function, oxygenation, good food, rest and whole body natural movement. Isolation of muscles are dumb, plain stupid and are a plague to health. You can look all you want and be very weak internally.

Its very simple muscles work optimally when they are all working in harmony. So if your posture is internally compromised ( restricted ) then the major muscles groups we obsess about at the gym are going to become weaker not stronger. 

Do you practice TC or TCC, do you know there is a vast gulf between the two.

If we can suspend all projections and cultural fantasies and misunderstandings about what Tai Chi is, what are left with is the question DOES IT WORK. ( of course we need to define what I mean by work ) It builds athletic potential, increases systemic functionality and sensitivity, self defense capability, intention, focus and at its best calms the mind and strengthens ones mind and emotions to deal with the hardships of life and opens us up to change.

Tai Chi Chuan is merely a heading for movement principles wrapped up in a cultural packaging, archaic and medieval at times this can often can mislead the public. Obsessing about energy/ forces can lead to naval gazing of the worst kind and the flip side to this is treating Tai Chi like Karate, which misses the point.

You work on these principles to enhance your personal strength, balance and awareness. The closest art in the west to the flow principle of Tai Chi Chuan are some forms of dance and here lies the problem in trying to understand how on earth it could be a martial system.

Tai chi has the potential to be sophisticated method of martial art and it has the potential to heal joints and increase circulation, improve posture and breathing. But many other methods can help you achieve this.  Unless you practice Tai Chi as a martial art and approach it from that perspective, then frankly that art is lost  and you may as well use some other system to stay healthy.  Unless you engage the application side, ( this does not translate into violence ) then it is not TCC it is TC

The real health benefits of Tai Chi Chuan arise out of dynamic aspects of the art cojoined with flow and relaxation. Combining these two is a form of alchemy and strength training relating to the viscera and energy, thus leaving aside the ideas of alchemy in Taoist meditation practice. The body itself is our potential window or access to realiztaion in a spiritual sense, but It must be clear however that Tai Chi is not a spiritual practice and anyone who says that are deluding themselves and the students.

For a small amount of time investment and the motivation you can reveal to oneself the latent energies inherent in your form.

I have held a long term conviction that the mindful application of awareness that utilizes an intelligent movement system, can elevate ones consciousness, in part setting one free from self limiting ideas and concepts.

( By the way I am not saying that Qi Gong or Taoist Internal Arts are spiritual practices in and of themselves, that would be a ludicrous misrepresentation. )  

This loosening of ones habitual sense of self really begins at the bio - mechanical, tissue, nerve and organ level.

Progressively refining ones nerves ( via experiencing and feeling your tension, and distinguishing healthy soft tissue tone from rigid tone ) and gradually refining ones posture will directly have an effect on the vital/ animating forces of your body. These energies when aligned can positively enhance your mind and consciousness.  In time one can get a sense of the central channel ( not to be confused with the Ren Mai and Du Mai Meridians of Chinese medicine) of energy at the core of your being.

By reinforcing your physical alignments, a commensurate experience of calming in the central channel produces both emotional and mental peace. At this point the boundaries of mind and body start to become ever more diffuse and mental/ emotional attachments to the physical body can be recognized as pointless. In other words the ego clinging can potentially be dropped or at least shrunk.

Physical and material obsessions are the bedrock of our media and consumer led society. To get some freedom from such continuous conditioning you can work directly with the body.  Cultivating a physically calm state can often be a more effective route initially than just meditation practice alone. ( There are 2 types of calmness to cultivate, physical and mental ) one aspect of Qi Gong practice is releasing and stripping away non essential postural deficiencies leading to heightened awareness of our internal landscape. Is it any wonder then, that a rampant disregard of our internal world is mirrored by rapacious butchering of the external one. Just a thought.

In summary, physical calmness can be achieved through short sessions of practice. All one needs is a little motivation. Practice can then become a habit that can be integrated into ordinary activity.

Everyday life is exercise but no one let you know !!