Guided imagery and Catwoman
Too much guided imagery will cause tension, a well-taught point in Tai Chi Chuan. Some people tense up after too extensive guided imagery in Sun Style open/close hands. Although I have now stopped teaching Tai Chi for Arthritis and Sun style,I remember teaching many advanced aged people with minimal experience in Tai CHi and general exercise.
Some guided imagery was provided but I gave several short reminders to keep posture and alignment, to stay relaxed and focused. I deliberately did not give too much guided imagery on energy during open/close hands. Some hints on a magnetic force keeping their hands from closing and opening was the only visualization aid I gave. The students had no problems at all and quite a few of the inexperienced Tai Chi practitioners reported energy between the two hands.
It must have been a very bad day during a form correction with my teacher Chen Yingjun. I was tired and apparently did not step light enough. The brushing and dragging kind of stepping in Chen style is very likely to encourage heaviness in the stepping leg if someone is not focused enough.
Chen YIngjun was quite disappointed as I still made the mistakes of double-weightedness, something I should not make after close-corner training with a member of the Chen family. He showed me a few movements and I copied them.The improvement I made was so drastic that I became worried that it would not last for a long time How was it possible to change so dramatically; it was like two different people performing? Chen Yingjun was flabbergasted at the changes I was able to make with just minimal instruction.
But what happened on the day before I copied Chen Yingjun? I love to watch the DVD movie "Catwoman" featuring Halle Berry. However, this time I had more time to watch the actual making of the movie in detail. Halle Berry performed most of the stunts herself and spent hours of studying and copying cat movements.
She has been watching many different documentaries of cats moving and fighting their peers before training with the action choreographer. It was an inspirational discovery for me. It was like a movie passing through my inner eyes as I saw my two Siamese cats playing together or stalking around a mouse before finally jumping to catch it.
Stepping needs to be light, said Chen Yingjun. But was Tai Chi Chuan(Taijiquan)not created after the masters observed animal movements for hours and years? How does a cat move and how does it step? I have never seen a cat stepping heavily like an elephant.
Catwoman's memory was resting in the back of my mind and I subconsciously imbibed it. In the next lesson, the other students in YIngjun's class observed my body to become more aligned, the shoulders, arms, hands were better linked together as I moved. Grandmaster Chenxiaowang's words was like a tape being played to my inner ear: 50 % of the thoughts focus on imagery and the other 50% free and enjoy.
This was a breaking experience for me and I continued observing cat and tiger moves in the zoo. Halle Berry was a capoeira practitioner and she imagined cats would fight very similar to this; rolling on the ground, winding and unwinding. But how would the next Catwoman move when she practiced Tai Chi Chuan? Let us see into the future when the next generation Catwoman would be a Tai Chi practitioner.
Some guided imagery was provided but I gave several short reminders to keep posture and alignment, to stay relaxed and focused. I deliberately did not give too much guided imagery on energy during open/close hands. Some hints on a magnetic force keeping their hands from closing and opening was the only visualization aid I gave. The students had no problems at all and quite a few of the inexperienced Tai Chi practitioners reported energy between the two hands.
It must have been a very bad day during a form correction with my teacher Chen Yingjun. I was tired and apparently did not step light enough. The brushing and dragging kind of stepping in Chen style is very likely to encourage heaviness in the stepping leg if someone is not focused enough.
Chen YIngjun was quite disappointed as I still made the mistakes of double-weightedness, something I should not make after close-corner training with a member of the Chen family. He showed me a few movements and I copied them.The improvement I made was so drastic that I became worried that it would not last for a long time How was it possible to change so dramatically; it was like two different people performing? Chen Yingjun was flabbergasted at the changes I was able to make with just minimal instruction.
But what happened on the day before I copied Chen Yingjun? I love to watch the DVD movie "Catwoman" featuring Halle Berry. However, this time I had more time to watch the actual making of the movie in detail. Halle Berry performed most of the stunts herself and spent hours of studying and copying cat movements.
She has been watching many different documentaries of cats moving and fighting their peers before training with the action choreographer. It was an inspirational discovery for me. It was like a movie passing through my inner eyes as I saw my two Siamese cats playing together or stalking around a mouse before finally jumping to catch it.
Stepping needs to be light, said Chen Yingjun. But was Tai Chi Chuan(Taijiquan)not created after the masters observed animal movements for hours and years? How does a cat move and how does it step? I have never seen a cat stepping heavily like an elephant.
Catwoman's memory was resting in the back of my mind and I subconsciously imbibed it. In the next lesson, the other students in YIngjun's class observed my body to become more aligned, the shoulders, arms, hands were better linked together as I moved. Grandmaster Chenxiaowang's words was like a tape being played to my inner ear: 50 % of the thoughts focus on imagery and the other 50% free and enjoy.
This was a breaking experience for me and I continued observing cat and tiger moves in the zoo. Halle Berry was a capoeira practitioner and she imagined cats would fight very similar to this; rolling on the ground, winding and unwinding. But how would the next Catwoman move when she practiced Tai Chi Chuan? Let us see into the future when the next generation Catwoman would be a Tai Chi practitioner.
Labels: balance, Chen YIngjun, Chenxiaowang, stepping, Tai CHi
posted by Travel and Tai Chi stories @ 8:42 PM
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