Do You Feel Empty?

The basic practice of Tai Chi is geared towards developing you into a complete human being, one who feels whole again. In this state of feeling whole, you are physically healthy with energy flowing freely through your body. You are equipped, and ready for the rigors in life. 

How many of us can truly say that we feel wholly connected to the universe, to be in the flow of it all? 

Instead, you may feel agitated, burned out, or sometimes unprepared in dealing with life’s circumstances.

In this fast-paced life, you constantly send energy upward to your head, to your shoulders, to your chest, to meet the resistances you encounter every day. And it can get tiring.  You continually muster the energy from within to push forward with force, to go against the resistance.  It seems to all work out at the end of each day, even though you’re running around like a chicken without its head.

Until one day, the body circuits reach a certain overloaded level. Your mind-body becomes unstable.  And you work hard to keep it together.

Things are not going your way.  Everything seems to be out of control, out of place, and out of order. You may not feel whole and quite possibly, you can become ill from it. 

When you constantly push yourself and send the energy from within up to your head, you become top-heavy, like an upside-down pyramid. It’s difficult to stand up straight.  Your body feels that it needs to work extra hard to keep up, to maintain balance. 

The body begins to break down piece by piece.  Because you’re stuck in your head all the time, in your shoulders, or in your chest. 

Up Or Down?

To avoid breaking down, you need to master the basic exercise for developing the downward current of energy. You see, everyday you push yourself hard to go up, and stay up.

Right now, your life is all about going up.  The upward energies in life may not be so apparent to you but they’re here and they control your life. They’re here to master you.

By contrast, the downward current of energy helps you to balance the body’s energy flows.  The downward energy flow helps you to root into the ground, into the earth.  When you master this, you’re on your way to becoming your own master.

But with all that’s going on in your busy life, your energy is going one way right now, and that’s up and out, leaving you feeling depleted, drained, and not whole. 

What is this basic exercise for developing the downward current of energies? 

Tai Chi is a basic awareness exercise that prepares you to feel like a complete human being again. Its main purpose is to bring conscious awareness of all the essential energy flows in your body. 

When you do Tai Chi, you also cleanse your body of any clogged energy inside of it. It releases the blocked energy inside to create external movements on the outside. How?

Here’s a quick two-step plan to get you started. 

1. Scan your body from top to bottom, from the top of the head to the tips of your toes. You can use your breath to help guide you down the structure of your body.
2. Learn to allow your energy to flow downward. This provides you with balance, and therefore stability. You must have the will to direct your energy downward.

The downward energy flow is part of the survival mechanism your body uses to sustain life.  It prepares you to handle the upward and other directional flows in life, to meet life’s challenges without harming or injuring your central nervous system. 

Here’s the thing: when you use your mind to scan your body from head to toe, you can then locate a place in your body where you may feel stuck, or your energy is blocked. 

You’re able to identify that place with a sensation of excessive muscular strength, tension, discomfort, or contraction. 

When you’re able to relax and sink your energy down, you can then melt this sensation away.  The energy block then dissolves until there is nothing left but a free flow of energy.

Tai Chi is extremely helpful for resolving any temporary or long-term emotional, mental, and physical stresses. Stress takes away happiness from your life.  Don’t let that happen to you.

Remember, you can do many things to relax. You can go to the beach, you can lie down on the couch. These are physical activities that you can seek out to help you to calm your mind and body. 

What sets Tai Chi apart from everything else, what makes Tai Chi so unique is its ability to undo the tension deep inside your body.  By practicing the sinking of energy downward through your body, you are connecting yourself to the earth. 

Relax and Sink – simultaneously.

First, get your body to physically let go by dissolving the tension and by releasing your muscles. 

Second, learn to sink your chi down your body.  This is a mental process. 

When you bend your knees, you are physically moving your body, but you are not sinking your energy downward. Sinking involves using your mind to lead the energy where you want it to go, into your feet while standing.  Then let it go through your feet and into the ground.

Make sure you understand the difference between relaxing and sinking. One is physical.  The other is mental.

The Simple Rollback Exercise (follow along with me in my video):

1. Bring your hands and arms to one side of your body. Start with the right-hand side. Then drop down your arms to your left side.
2. Come right back up on the left side of your body. Then go down across your body to the right side. When you do this exercise of going from one side to the next, you’re going to feel the weight sink into your foot. Then, you’re going to feel the weight sink down into the other foot as you cross your body and drop your arms down to the other side. 
3. Let’s do this a few times, energize the fingers down as if you’re inviting somebody to come in through the door.
4. Energize down into your right foot and feel the sinking sensation beneath your foot. 
5. As you drop your arms down, energize the fingers across your body towards your left foot, sinking down.
6. Energize the arms across your body, as you sink down into your right foot. 

So here we are… we’re going from right to left and then from left to right.

Some tips for you to follow:

Allow the relaxing feeling to flow down your structure into the floor, under your feet.  At the same time, allow your muscles to melt away. Your muscles must relax first in order to sink your energy. The melting sensation starts with you releasing any tension, any excessive force or strength that you may find in your movements. Just let it go. 

Don’t force it. Instead, use your breath and make your movements flow naturally as you breathe. 

Imagine your internal movements are like honey, working its way down the cup of tea. Feel the condensing sensation down your leg.  Then feel your chi condensing down the other leg. 

Continue to feed your body with this information so that your body can start to experience this melting sensation – the sinking of energy down into your feet.   Make this your daily practice wherever you go.

Once you have practiced this, then it’s time for you to release any blockages that are occurring in your body. You’re able to then receive the energy from the universe as you open your body, inviting it to come inside. You’re also able to accept anything that comes your way. 

Keep in mind: it’s not just relaxing, it’s also sinking your energy down your body.  This makes your body feel whole. It makes your body become one despite its many different parts. As you sink, you’re going to borrow the energy from the earth so you can then move along a clear path in your life. 

I’ll repeat this again because it is foundational for your practice. It’s not just about relaxing. It’s also about sinking your chi body with your mind. 

Sink the energy in your body to stabilize the core of your being before you bring your energy upward when you face the challenges in your life. 

What are some other details and mechanical ways for you to relax and sink your energy?

Stay tuned and follow me on YouTube for more relaxation tips on how to become a complete human being and feel whole again.