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........

Dealing with ( excessive) tension in Tai Chi

This article is not based on clinical trials but rather personal experience as well as reports from patients and students.

The word "relax" in Tai Chi class very often causes the wrong perception. When the students hear the word "relax", their body becomes toneless like a wet noodle. "Relaxation" has some negative taste like total lack of awareness. In Tai Chi or any other type of martial arts, focus without overconcentration is most important. The Chinese word is"song", but students are confused enough with the teachings, so we better don't torture them with Chinese words.

One of my colleagues, Tai Chi and karate master Steve Rowe, suggested the phrase:" Get rid of excessive tension". I like that. We do need a certain tension or tone to maintain our posture and balance, otherwise our body will be just a heap of soft pudding on the ground.

How can we apply our practice in our social and work environment?

Life can be very stressful in a fast-paced world. Many people come to a Tai Chi class hoping they could reduce their stress and tension. But first we need to look for the reasons as to why we are tense. It is genetically determined that one person is more tense and thus more prone to stress than the other.

Basicly there are two types of personalities:

1. The A-type of person, primarily determined by the sympathetic nervous system with a high adrenaline activity. These people are more agressive and the negative forms tend to lead to uncontrolled anger and tension. The positive traits of these people are ambitious approach of everything they do and a tendency to perfectionism

2. The B-type of person is more determined by the parasympathetic system and lower adrenaline activity. These people are more laid-back and not easily provoked

A-type people are mostly very professional and have reached high achievements in their lives. Tai Chi Chuan has a high impact on both the sympathetic and para-sympathetic system. An easy-to-understand explanation would be the relaxing components of the slow, flowing movements and the deep abdominal breathing enhances the para-sympathetic system. The more active parts like kicks, punches and fa jing(explosive whole-body force exertion) supports the sympathetic system

Let us look at the slow movements as the relaxing yin components and the active fa jing(force exertion)parts as the yang . This means that there would always be the yin within the yang and vice versa. Tension within relaxation, relaxation within tension is one method which is also practised in the Jacobsen relaxation techniques.

There are two different types of stress:

1.Positive stress or Eu-stress. One example is the type of stress we experience on completing a difficult task. When we master this task, we experience an immediate reward which makes us feel that the stress was worth going through. Eu-stress may become necessary for us to meet the challenges in life.
2.Negative stress or dis-stress. Stress which is destructive like abuse by family members or job with high effort and low reward.


Which group of people is more likely to experience negative stress or dis-stress ?

1. When an A-type of person works in a stressful environment with virtually very unhealthy, small and one-sided movements, tension is hard to control. Dentists and those who work with the computer have an unreasonably high exposure to this type of movements.

2. People who have been traumatized in their childhood and low stress-tolerance

3. Those with low stress tolerance who are experiencing loss of loved ones or constant abuse


Which home remedies may possibly help?

Good Tai Chi chuan needs a relaxed mind and body to execute the forms correctly and develop martial skills. Many students who live and work in an unfavourable environment are tense before they come to class.

Massage treatment and full bath with essential etheric oils are so-called passive stress management interventions. During these treatments, one can practise mental clarity in a light meditative mental state. It is a good opportunity to cleanse the thoughts from everyday problems and focus on breathing or how pleasant the experience is. Remember this positive experience and the feeling you get afterwards. Continue to remember it and transfer to physical TAi Chi practice later on.


Additional practice outside direct Tai Chi practice:

As my teacher Chenxiaowang put in his numerous seminars:" Tai Chi is abstract and not concrete. One should not fully concentrate because it will cause tension and too much obsession on just one aspect. The mind should therefore consist of one part considering the form, the other part should be free and enjoying the practice." Practising this type of mindset in the bathtub, at the doctor's surgery, in the plane and bus or even in front of the computer will support direct Tai Chi practise

The mind is the general who works out a strategy and gives orders, the body is the army who carries them out.When the mind is tense the body will be tense up. However, when the body is tense due to movements against natural physiology, the mind will receive it back. Exactly like a bad general who is the head of a good army or a good general whose orders are not understood by an incapable army.

Zhan zhuang or standing meditation, posture holding, reeling silk qi gong, sitting meditation in the plane, train, at the computer or when sitting in a doctor's surgery are very good means to achieve mental clarity. Brisk and nordic walking is considered to be the best sport to train posture, balance and internal connectivity. Chen Yingjun recommends walking to most of his students.

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.

Singing technique with Nadia

Yesterday our choir had an extraordinary lesson with Nadia. She was a radiant personality; as she walked into the room it was as though we were embedded in her qi. She had no previous experience with Tai Chi. I know that many physical exercises in singing have to do with breathing and the movements resemble Tai Chi to a great deal.

She started off with theory and the first three odds of singing:

1. Posture
Imagine our head is straight and suspended by a string from above. Our shoulders sunken and in singing they simply do not exist. Back straight and torso prolonged, the hips slightly bent and relaxed, the tail bone low and not protruding too much. Our voice clearly became better as soon as we were more aware of our posture

2. Breathing
A short explanation of breathing physiology, how the abdominal muscles were organized and utilized. The shape and role of the diaphragm during exhalation. Singing is factually a procedure of exhalation. In short, singing is not carried out by the throat but by the abdomen.

3. Using the whole body. The bones are the resonance body for the sound, low tones are produced by the chest bones, higher tones(head voice) by the facial bones

Our posture and stance needs to be heroic, nearly arrogant. When I sing or practice Tai Chi, I now imagine being the hero Radames in the opera Aida. In the older days the scholars and the singers played a core role in social hierarchy. the people who were being listened to. Speaking should be rhythmic, clear and slow, the tone of the voice low, dark and calm.

The singers I know have extraordinary levels of qi. "Singing is positive energy, you need to be in high spirits and keep your mind clear from disturbing thoughts." said Nadia

Tai Chi would be an excellent complement for choirs and opera singers because they have so many aspects in common.

Relationship with a Tai Chi teacher

Why do you do Tai CHi? Why do I do Tai Chi? Some people do Tai Chi because they have seen Kung fu movies, some are looking for a better life, many do it to destress, to teach themselves to become more patient, to develop more body/mind awareness and a great deal for health and therapeutic reasons.

Some people are not prepared to do long standing meditation, a seemingly arduous effort with no immediate gratification. It does have a significant reward on the long run, such as a better natural posture, mental quietness, the type of relaxation which has more to do with stretching and loosening than a spaghetti type of relaxation(song), clear strengthening of the postural and leg muscles.

High push hands skills is a result of regular standing practice. One needs to stand as long as h/she is able to and just 1 minute will be enough for the start. This is the way to really listen into oneself, the body, the breathing, sensation of left and right, the right posture, in fact something with an extremely high reward.

I have practiced several martial arts and they all have high health benefits. As Tai Chi became more and more well-known in the western world as a health exercise I thought that practicing this art for both martial arts and health would be the real supreme ultimate. My encounters with Grandmaster Yang Zhenduo and later my shi gong(Grandfather-teacher) Grandmaster Chenxiaowang was the fulfilment of my dream. Dr. Paul Lam has shown me a way to combine my medical skills with Tai Chi Chuan, another refreshing flavour in my path towards the ultimate balance.

All my teachers have been excellent as both teachers as well as martial artists. But what will be the case when somebody is unable to get hold of a suitable teacher in his/er area? Should this person put up with a seemingly skilled person but very poor people/s skills? Are we all not just vulnerable people with some insecurities, ordinary sinners with all needs for love and reward? If we are made to feel incompetent by a teacher, justified or not, will we develop into incompetent learners?

Push hands skills like reaching out where the "insults" come from(of course we know this), absorb them, redirect and transfer it into obtaining skills sound wonderful in theory. But.....exactly like push hands skills need a solid structure through formwork, mental push hands need a solid structure through constant efforts.

I heard comments like you emulate more to the person you like to be through long-term practice. A teacher who communicates downward does not make it possible unless you are a member of one of the Chen or Yang family. Well....I wanted to be as good as Grandmaster Chenxiaowang or at least like his son YIngjun or my teacher Jan Silberstorff. When I practice I imagine to be one of them and I really try to practice in such a way that I externally resemble one of them.

The Toastmasters'(a group of amateur public speakers) have a golden rule:PIP(Praise, Improvement, Praise). It is of utmost importance to receive praise for the efforts and the path towards better health and Tai Chi Chuan. The journey towards the goal is as important as the goal itself. A good teacher needs the right attitude and communication skills, to balance between praise and improvement.