A Way To Attain Inner Satisfaction And Live In Harmony
Wouldn’t it be wonderful to tune out your surroundings and have access to your full capabilities at any time, in any place, despite any, and every difficulty? 

Think of what you would be able to accomplish and think how much happier you would be when you can do everything well. 

You’d be able to think well, work well, not just work well on your projects, but work well with other people, and ultimately be at a healthier place mentally.

Where there’s no emotion that could disturb you… There’s no threat that can interrupt your way of life. 

The present moment would be yours for living.

This is what happens when you’re in a state of stillness.

But normally you’re so occupied with keeping your attention on the external events of your life, that you don’t really consider the value of the more subtle internal events of your life. 

The internal events make you more alive in awareness.  By contrast, the external events are your preoccupation, and they give you mental, emotional, and physical tension in your body.

They numb your senses.  You become fixated on your thoughts.  Your thoughts go into a loop.  You become distracted by panicking over your surroundings, keeping you from entering your mind into a state of emptiness and stillness.

With Tai Chi meditation, you can be in a state of stillness.  You can stay in a more clear and relaxed inner location of your mind. 

When you learn Tai Chi, you begin to feel what’s happening inside your body to sharpen the conscious awareness. This is called proprioception. It’s a fancy word for actually being awake or aware of the positions and movements in your body.

Proprioception paves the way and prepares you for meditation. 

Tai Chi is meditation in motion. You’re going to use motion to become still. As you go deeper into your practice, you become aware of your awareness. This is the process of observation. Your mind observes what’s happening without judgment.

Your mind lets the contents of the event come and go without your influencing them.  And without you being influenced by these thoughts, which is so important to Tai Chi practice.

You can reach that state.  Quiet the mind, engage with your body and be in a state of stillness for some period of time.

How can you achieve this ability? Let’s do a quick physical movement exercise. Follow along with the video:

1. Begin by placing your feet, shoulder-width apart, so that everything is lining up with your shoulders, hips and legs. Next, you’re going to let go, and feel the soles of your feet. You’re going to relax your entire body from top to bottom. Relax your pelvis and tuck it forward. Your tailbone faces down. You’re going to keep your back straight and your neck straight. 

2. You’re going to feel that you are being suspended from the crown of your head. Your entire body is just hanging straight down in perfect alignment. You’re going to keep your head slightly lifted at the same time. Allow your shoulders to be heavy. Keep your armpits slightly open in order to avoid blocking the energy flow from happening in your body. Slightly open up your armpits.

3. Focus your mind on relaxing your whole body. Relax your shoulders. Relax your elbows, your wrists, your hands, and your fingers. Your palms are facing backward. Your arms are right by your side.  You’ve just exhaled.

4. Now encourage your mind to travel inside of your body. So breathe in slowly through your nose and bring your breath down to your throat.

5. Then with your next breath, bring it down to your solar plexus.

6. Then, with the next breath, go down to your belly.

7. Finally, bring your concentration and your awareness down to your lower dantien, at the base of your pelvic floor.

8. Slowly, raise your wrists upward. When your hands reach shoulder height, you’re going to straighten your wrists and extend the fingers out, projecting your fingers out into space. One important thing to note is don’t fully extend your arm. Don’t fully straighten your elbows because doing so will block the energy flow from happening inside your body.

9. You’re going to exhale. Relax and bring your arms back down, drop your elbows, relax your wrist.  Your palms are facing downward. Let go. Feel your tailbone pointing straight down to the floor.

10. Energize your fingers up. Show your palms.

11. Relax back down, exhale and return to your original position.

12. The next step is to repeat this four-part motion ( Steps 8-11) and move slowly. Don’t become distracted. Inhale and exhale. Feel your breath move up and down your body. Find the right speed. This is very important.  With the right speed, you can continuously be aware of your body alignments and movements without spacing out and without losing the flow of your awareness. Move slow. Relax every part of your body. When you do this, keep your attention fully in your lower dantien.  Your attention is going to be continuous without becoming fixated or distracted by your external circumstances. Do this four-part motion for five minutes without stopping.

Over time, your relaxed concentration will grow significantly.

Inhale, then exhale.  Relax and sink back down into your feet. When you do these motions, you may sense some tension or tightness in your body. You may feel discomfort or something that’s bothering you in your mind.

What do you do when you feel tense and tight?

Well stay tuned because this is only the beginning. In future blog posts, we’ll discuss how to release your tension in your body. 

But for now you’re thinking: What if you are aware of awareness itself? And what if you can access your consciousness and your consciousness is distinct from the motion of your mind (where your mind is typically going from one thought to the next… to the next)?

You’re so preoccupied with many external matters that you may miss out on what really matters – the singular thought and attention inside your body, from your heart, from your mind, and from your body.  

In general, consciousness is a state of being aware of both your external and internal circumstances.  So keep that in mind.

If you want to learn more about Tai Chi, I have a special introductory offer – 30 Days of Unlimited Tai Chi Online Classes for $30. Check it out, here’s the link.