Do you notice when it rains people become
chaotic? On roads, other drivers act insanely - overtaking absurdly, cutting
you off, people out at the shops are on edge.
Why is that? People seem to be panicked
because their vision is blocked or blurred. For most people, it's only when their glasses fog up or they've had an eye injury or procedure done that they feel uncomfortable, out of focus There is another type of vision - peripheral vision. That’s what we use in tai
chi. With tai chi you must always move with your chin
up, head straight, eyes looking ahead. This keeps your spine and head aligned and locks
your gaze on what’s approaching in front of you as well as where you are going to move
next. In martial arts, this is also a way of watching your opponent to anticipate their
next move.
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| Don't panic, look at the horizon while being aware of your what's happening around you |
"Looking ahead" is also a useful practice for everyday life. It’s not that I am expecting someone is going to attack me at any moment, but I am more mindful of the space I am moving into. Also, as I step I know, or rather my mind knows, where my foot is stepping rather than not thinking and basically plodding along. When I do tai chi, my body is more aware of each limb, foot and hand so it becomes part of my movement in daily life. Older friends (in their seventies) have said, there are times when they've thought they were going to have a bad fall but to their surprise they've caught themselves and come out of it unscathed. They've attributed that to doing tai chi regularly.
To be honest, I did have a tumble a couple of years ago. I wasn't concentrating when checking the letterbox and was standing at an odd angle. My house is built on a slope so, you guessed it, I turned quickly without thinking and went head over heels. To my surprise, I didn't tense up in fear but relaxed and fell softly onto my bottom. I sat there not quite sure how that happened. I think my body automatically adjusted itself as I didn't have time to calculate what was going on and I'm not a gymnast. I think when you do tai chi your body and senses become sensitised to variations in balance so it's like a personal protection system.
Looking ahead: head and spine in alignment
Moving with awareness, moving with balance is ingrained when you do tai chi. It is so automatic you don’t even know this awareness is there. Amazingly, I once saw a tai chi master from Wudang Mountain do a tai chi demonstration with his eyes closed the entire time (guessing maybe 15 - 20 minutes). Moving and weaving around the room, calm and sightless was so incredible. It made me acknowledge seeing in a completely different way.
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| Be aware of the direction you are going and stay straight. (Master Chen Shiyu and students.) |
So keep your eyes on the horizon and keep practising.
