Chinese Medicine and Rudolf Steiner

Warning: Traditional Chinese Medicine and Antroposophical Medicine(based on Rudolf steiner's indications) is a knowledge of observation. Diagnosis made in these disciplines are made on the basis of individual assessment. It is not a mandate and this article does not replace consultation by a health practitioner


We certainly have experienced something blocking our energy in our body. It may happen during Tai Chi form, standing meditation(zhan zhuang)and many of our daily activities.A very rough summary of possible causes of energy blockage through a viewpoint of Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM). We need to acknowledge that TCM is a knowledge of observation.

Nowadays, many aspects such as acupuncture have become accepted by science through a rationale of electrophysiology. Sports science start to recognize the effect of low stances(quadriceps workout) to increase the heart rate, weight shifting exercises to prevent falls in the elderly or smooth forward and backward movements to relieve pain in osteoarthritis.

There are a few problems which may cause blockage of energy(qi) in our meridians:

Emotion
Unbalanced emotions, especially when it is suppressed by denial, is the biggest cause of blockages in the body.Over-excitement and excessive enthusiasm will effect the energy in the heart system. When a person is over-excited, the energy will burn the heart first. It travels to the head but the distance between head and liver is very short. Exactly like an overfilled balloon, this may result in some sort of energy explosion

Anger and anxiety will effect the liver system. Too much angry energy is collected in the liver. The German culture for instance has one saying:" The stress enters the liver". It is very interesting how many different cultures like Chinese or German are consistent with modern findings. Angry people very often have higher values in their liver parameters.

Our ancient wisdom advices us to stay calm all the time to keep the Yin and Yang in good balance. Tai Chi Chuan is a good opportunity to keep our body moving from the center and stay mentally balanced.


Food(nutrition)
Part of our qi(life energy) intake is through food. When we do not eat healthy, it affects our balance. Too much spicy affects the liver, too much acid the stomach, too much sweet especially refined sugars affect cardiovascular health. Food needs to be adjusted to somebody's individual condition. It is good to eat locally produced food because the body and nature become one


Changes of weather and season
In sub-tropical countries like Australia or the Mediterranean countries, there are much less complaints about weather sensitivity. The latter is taken very seriously in the middle European countries and parts of the United States. The weather change is so sudden, that some people are unable to make proper adjustments. I have seen severe changes in students who just arrived to Europe from a warmer country

In general, TCM states that:
The spring time induces liver energy imbalance
As summer comes, the heart system may be disbalanced
As the autumn comes, many people get lung problems.(asthma)
As winter comes, the kidney energy can be affected

I found it very interesting that the teaching of TCM is very consistent with anthroposophical medicine(based on indications by Rudolf Steiner). While Rudolf Steiner suggested curative eurhtyhmy, Tai Chi Chuan or qi gong helps us to adjust better to weather changes. Since I am practicing Tai Chi Chuan on a regular basis, I hardly have any problems with jet lag. I can overcome time zones as though nothing has ever intruded into my life


Environment
Pollution or lack of hygiene will result in many different types of medical conditions. However, a person with a healthy mind and strong immune system will not be too much affected by unfavourable conditions. There is the teaching of Feng Shui where the energy of the house will affect your energy. But when your energy is strong, then you will affect your house and environment. We can feel it ourselves: a person with strong qi will make us feel comfortable and safe. As I met Grandmaster Chenxiaowang and later his son YIngjun, I did have the feeling that their qi is transferred to me.


Wrong medication
A lot of pharmaceuticals have severe side effects. Although prescription of these drugs is sometimes life-saving in agressive conditions, unnecessary medication should be avoided. Despite very successful studies in blood pressure lowering drugs, the practicing physician needs to assess individual possibilities in each patient.


Injury
Any type of injury blocks the qi like cuts, sprained ankles, torn muscles, broken arms and even just a pulled muscle. A person with strong qi and immune system has faster wound healing properties and may recover from surgery much quicker.

Elective surgery such as cosmetic or Lasik surgery should be reflected carefully. One should try the best possible conservative methods like sports or nutrition for a better figure or contact lenses for refractive errors(bad vision).

Which type of exercise or martial art will help regulating qi(energy) in the meridians?
Tai Chi Chuan, qi gong, many martial arts such as pencak silat or curative eurhythmy(a non-martial body/mind exercise) all have the same effect. They regulate and balance the energy flow in the meridians. Most of my students and friends experienced some "opening" of the important energy gates like laogong(in the middle of the hand palm), baihui(in the middle of the head)or dazhui(7th cervix).

Why do we sometimes experience physical and emotional pain after practising?
During deep meditation in zhan zhuang(standing meditation) or even form practice, many people are confronted with the depth of their emotional and physical imbalances.Tai Chi chuan may become some sort of psychotherapy when the surpressed emotions rise to the surface. Even physical pain can occur due to adjustment of the body. This happens very often after acupuncture treatment.

I remember my first lesson when my teacher deliberately did not correct me. The next day I had lower back pain. He smiled and said that he wanted me to have back pain, so I could feel the difference between correct and wrong posture. One of my students currently experienced some sort of left blockage despite being relaxed. Corrections by many good teachers were not really successful until he increased his zhan zhuang practice from 1/2 to 1 hour.

As we grow older, our motor or muscle memory will adjust to the bad posture and erroneously perceive it as correct. Tai Chi Chuan taught by a good teacher is an excellent way to bring us back to our natural alignment we had as we were still a baby.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is not rooted in the teaching of physical organs as we know in present science. It is more or less a wholistic organ system. However, it is assumed that the physicians in those days were able to develop understanding of inner organ anatomy by treating severely injured patients with open wounds.

How I motivate myself to practise

It is said that when you have reached a certain level, you cannot stop practising, you do not need to overcome yourself to practise and nothing will distract you. The latter and the first holds true when it comes to my own practise. After years of practise, I am able to find a little spot in my mind where I can practise without being taken away from what I intend to do. NO matter whether it is at a noisy spot, tranquil beach, my lounge or even the Sydney Ferries, I can practise with a mind as clear as crystal.

Once I start practising, I develop a heavy warm sensation with at the same time a certain lightness to move and an attitude of a winning warrior. The release of the endorphine hormones certainly adds to this type of "addiction". My sometimes initial fatigueness, stress and headache is cured after just practising the form for half an hour. Many other medical conditions like positional vertigo(BPPV), a degenerative illness of the inner ear or high blood pressure have been cured within a time that doctors would not expect.

The other day I had a sudden sharp neckpain and really needed to force myself to practise. The standing meditation and reeling silk was bearable but I felt too sick and exhausted for the more challenging laojia yilu form. After telling myself over and over that practice was fun BUT necessary, I started my first round of laojia yilu. The second round felt a lot better and I began to feel an invisible warm substance crawling through my body. It felt like a little internal doctor and the pain was relieved without any pain killers. The same experience happened with minor stomach cramps, colds, muscle pain etc. Apart from this, I felt the feeling of being "high" as a sign that I have released the happy-maker hormone endorphine.

Yes, in the winter time I am less active which is normal due to less melatonin produced by the body. When I am too busy it comes to mind again:" Well, today I don't practise. Maybe tomorrow will do." On such days I really have to force myself to practise. Of course my teacher will tell me to practise but he is not always there.So in this case I need to find my own ways to motivate myself to practise.


Strategies how to keep yourself motivated:

1. Imagine how good you feel afterwards. But this is not enough. For my part, I need to visualize and memorize the feeling that I described above. This is a certain feeling of being powerful, some sort of a healing physical warmth that makes you feel like a human radiator despite cold winter. The form feels light like a cat and rooted like a tree at the same time. I feel like Halle Berry in Catwoman or Charlie's Angels defeating Demi Moore. There are times that I feel like villainess Demi Morre.

2. Thinking back of the victory of a warrior who just came back from the battlefield

3. A more practical way: Try to set a goal like teaching, a Tai Chi coach exam, a competition or demonstration at work. Even a little demo at a party would be a reasonable aim to work on. Write to a forum about your unique Tai Chi experience or start a blog.

These are just a few ideas when I feel the need to give myself a push. Practising in the mind like meditating, daydreaming and posture training while I am at the computer or on the plane have helped me to a great deal. Research has shown that those who need to complete a certain task would perform to a much higher degree when they have rehearsed everything the night before in their mindsI

The inner and outer harmonies

I just remember I had a bad teacher in the early days of my Tai Chi journey or should I say unsuitable? He virtually showered me with all sorts of "sophisticated" language aka bafflegab which I did not understand. My only thoughts were:" Shut up. Better tell me your own experience."

Apart from Yang Cheng Fu's standardized principles, the outer harmonies(wai san he) and inner harmonies(nei san he) are principles we deal with as we have left the so-called external stage of our Tai Chi. Not that the outer harmonies are external, but the inner harmonies are simply more internal than the "external" ones. The understanding is different and according to my teacher, I am now beginning to understand what was being talked about.

Many books have summed up these harmonies and for a better understanding I will list it again:

Wai san He or outer harmonies:
1.Shoulder and hips
2. elbow and knee
3.Hand and feet

I will try to reflect what I have experienced during my practice:
During zhan zhuang practice, we perceive the three outer harmonies as a connection.

a.Shoulders and hips connecting with each other
I found out that whenever shoulder and hips are mentioned, it also includes the areas surrounding these joints such as chest or lower back. For some time, I had difficulties sinking my coccyx(tailbone) but as soon as I sank and opened my shoulders and chest, the qi automatically sank into the tailbone. When I expand my mingmen(acupuncture point at the tailbone area, located in the middle between the buttocks), my chest and shoulders automatically opened up and softened down

b. Elbow and kneesDuring any move in the form, I felt that the elbow and knees are bent of course. But as soon as my knee moves, the elbow moves as though it is connected by an invisible thread in the body.

c. Hand and feet
This is easier to understand, because when my striking hand arrives at the end of a move, the foot which follows the other stepping foot automatically arrives. When the following foot is dragging without control, it means that the harmony is broken

The inner harmonies or nei san he
1. Heart(xin) and mind(yi, intention)
2. qi(force) and li(outer physical strength)
3. Muscles and bones

Heart and mind
I found the first harmony most difficult to understand. In the traditional sense, the heart is a harmony of feeling and understanding. It is neither the romantic heart nor the blood pump. The yi is something like the driving force or the implied mind.

When I have the intention of a warrior and the love for what I am doing, I feel myself acting stronger with less effort. It is as though my soul,mind and body is growing into one whole entity during proper form practice. There is no sense of being torn apart between ethics, kindness and martial intent when our heart is forged with the will to overcome illness or martial intent. IN fact this is what makes a plain street fighter or mixed martial artist very powerful because his mind consists of one harmonious entity: The intention to attack without having anything like self-doubt to inhibit his plans..... ...

Qi(force) and li(external physical strength)
Everybody can feel his qi without having practiced any Tai Chi. Beginners are able to feel their qi from day one, but this is not to be mistaken with conscious control of qi flow to any part of the body. After some years of Tai Chi practice and good instruction, I began to consciously direct my qi through the meridians and acupuncture points. For instance I know exactly when the qi has reached my bahui(point in the middle of the head) and flows to the fingers before flowing back to the dantien. My body has developed stronger muscles through standing meditation, bare-hand form and weapons form. Recently I tried on a dress and was surprised that the sleeves did not fit anymore. The sales assistant had a scale in the shop and my weight did not change at all. She said:" I don't see any fat, you are made of muscles."

My peers clearly recognized an increase in my deltoid or shoulder muscles. My biceps and leg muscles have always been visibly strongwith a reasonable volume. The more focused I am during my form, the stronger for instance my punch is. There was a colleague near me who could definitely feel and hear my punch. My legs were rooted, shifting weight of the legs very pronounced, my posture was upright and the arm very light, only serving as a lead for the power to escape from the fist. My slap kicks induced a strong patting sound after it was powered by a forward shift of the dantien. Moreover, I began to effortlessly turn around the heavy weapons by just using whole-body reeling silk movements which were controlled by the dantien.

Muscles and bones.
The use of my intention obviously have strengthened my deep muscle layer. My posture and balance has significantly improved. During push hands, now I begin to make use of the structure I learnt in the form. It is really as though my muscles and bones are just one huge internal body.

Tai Chi Chuan needs a whole life and three afterlifes to learn and that will not be enough. But I think that I have reached a stage where Tai Chi is more than just a sport.

The Tai Chi properties or directions

The principles seem so easy to understand, especially when it is listed and standardized the way Yang Cheng fu did. However, the understanding of principles, directions and guidelines are different in different people which needs a lifetime to understand. I am still going my journey by practising and asking curious questions to experienced teachers.

1. JIng or mental serenity.
It is a description of the mind being cleansed from the everyday problems. Some people use visualisation or guided imagery of a tranquil forest, beautiful beach, pleasant previous experience etc.

2. Song or falsely translated as relaxation
In my previous article, I already explained that when we hear the word relax, we think of a mindless couch potato. There is nothing more erroneous than this. On the contrary, we do need a certain tension of the postural muscles to maintain our good posture. Without this tension, we probably would only be a heap of jelly pudding.

The best way would be to start imagining the spine vertebraes stretching, loosening and separating from each other, our whole body becomes taller and upright as though suspended by a string from above.Imagine our shoulder, elbow, hip, knee and all the rest of our smaller joints stretch, loosening and finally separating from each other. We imagine our body is as strong but soft like a young tree. My teacher Chen YIngjun always pulled a stem from a young tree to demonstrate the Tai Chi body

Chen or sinking, pronounced chuen
This has been one subject that all my teachers extensively modulated during zhan zhuang or standing meditation as well as posture holding. Guided imagery of the qi really sinking while we are song(pronounced sung) have been of utmost significance

Huo or flexibility and agility
We do need a flexible and fast body. Without the jing there will be no song, without song there will be no chen, without anything above of course there will be no flexilibility and agility.

Yang Cheng Fu has standardized the 10 essential principles and I will add the three inner and outer harmonies. With a good teacher and diligent practice, you will develop understanding of these teachings as you proceed........