Yang Family Tai Chi Discussion Board

Greetings!
What is a Tai Chi body to you? If you think you do have one, then, how would you describe your body?

The homeostatic condition determines the health of the body. The body could be in poor, normal, good and super health. One who is in poor health always goes to the hospital. One who is in normal health will go visit a doctor once awhile. One who is in good health hardly go see a doctor. One who is in super health doesn't go see a doctor at all.

The one who is in super health condition may be considered to have a Tai Chi body. By practicing Tai Chi, the health condition can be improved from any condition of the body. The reason for that is because Tai Chi is a natural healing doctor inside the body. If Tai Chi was practiced properly and long enough, it will scan for diseases or damages in the body and start a major tuneup. All repairs will be kicked in by the self healing process of the body.

How is Tai Chi affecting the body? We can find the answer by compare data between modern science and ancients' notebook. It may be quite interesting in the next episode.

I'm in shape... "Pear" is a shape!

Bob Ashmore wrote:I'm in shape... "Pear" is a shape!

@ Bob That's great! Bob.

Greetings to all...
What constitute the health condition of the body? If we understand the modern physiology of the human body, then, we might be able to interpret and understand the ancient classic of Tai Chi.

It seems everything is aiming at hypoxia, the lack of oxygen, to determine the health of the body. It is trivial that if the body without oxygen will die; but let's think about what happen if a various amount of oxygen intake for different individuals?
Here are the possible conditions:
1. Zero level
2. Low level of oxygen
3. Medium level
4. High level

The first item has been addressed already. In fact, two third of the body is oxygen. If the amount of oxygen intake to the body is at the low level scale, then, the body is in poor health. If the level is in the medium range, then, the body is somewhat healthy. Finally, the body will be in good health if the maximum amount of oxygen was provided.

So, one might say what does oxygen has to do with the health of the body. Well, people only knew that the body gets energy from sugar but oxygen was never mentioned. Hence, the importance of oxygen had been neglected by everyone completely.

Let's leave a clue for the next post. The body needs energy to carry out all its functions; and the energy was obtained from sugar and oxygen.

This is the modern version of the story. Let's see if this coincide with the ancient Taoist classic!

Greetings again!
Let's look in the thoughts of the Taoists.

The ancient Chinese Taoists had a philosophy that life is precious and would like to preserve it as long as it can be. They had given some thoughts about how to preserve the human body. To begin with, the Taoists claimed that there three factors which affect the wellbeing of the body. These three factors are known as the three treasures of the body. The Taoists had categorized them as 精(jing), 氣(Chi) , 神(shen). Let's stay the original characters and keep their phonetics for the sake of discussion. Otherwise, their meanings will get lost in the translation. The definition of the three treasures had been bothering me for many decades. Even though, there were some talks about them; but it was nothing new. They were only the repeats of what the classic says. They were not good explanations. Finally, I have found some good explanations by some knowledge people from the internet search.

I would like to share it with all and using my own words to assure that my understanding is the way it was. The following are the modern interpretation of the three treasures:

精(jing) is the fundamental substance which compose the body.
氣(Chi) is the driving factor for all the vital activities of the body.
神(shen) is the supreme dominator which governs all the vital activities of the body.

These three factors are prenatal given by nature or birth from the parents. They can only function for a short time if there is no external support to sustain them. Hence, these three factors are to be maintained at all times, in order, for the body to be in longevity.

Greetings again!
Let's look in the thoughts of the Taoists.

The ancient Chinese Taoists had a philosophy that life is precious and would like to preserve it as long as it can be. They had given some thoughts about how to preserve the human body. To begin with, the Taoists claimed that there three factors which affect the wellbeing of the body. These three factors are known as the three treasures of the body. The Taoists had categorized them as 精(jing), 氣(Chi) , 神(shen). Let's stay the original characters and keep their phonetics for the sake of discussion. Otherwise, their meanings will get lost in the translation. The definition of the three treasures had been bothering me for many decades. Even though, there were some talks about them; but it was nothing new. They were only the repeats of what the classic says. They were not good explanations. Finally, I have found some good explanations by some knowledge people from the internet search.

I would like to share it with all and using my own words to assure that my understanding is the way it was. The following are the modern interpretation of the three treasures:

精(jing) is the fundamental substance which compose the body.
氣(Chi) is the driving factor for all the vital activities of the body.
神(shen) is the supreme dominator which governs all the vital activities of the body.

These three factors are prenatal given by nature or birth from the parents. The three factors are interacting with each other. One is depending on one another. The body cannot function without anyone of them. Unfortunately, they can only function for a short time if there is no external support to sustain them. Hence, these three factors are to be maintained at all times, in order, for the body to be in the state of homeostasis for longevity.

I've seen all kinds of bodies doing Tai Chi.
I've even seen a couple doing T'ai Chi Ch'uan, though that's rare nowadays.
But I have never seen a standard "Tai Chi body".
Do we have pictures of the "Tai Chi body"? If we could see it, that might help us to know what to shoot for.
Do we have to do Tai Chi Chuan for 15, 30, 45, or 90 minutes a day to achieve a Tai Chi body?
What is the best way to dress to show off our Tai Chi body? Loose? Tight? Something in between?
If my jing is stronger than my shen, will my chi compensate for that?
What is the land speed velocity of a fully laden swallow?

Bob Ashmore wrote:What is the land speed velocity of a fully laden swallow?

Sorry, I don't understand the question!

Hi. Bob
I love your questions; and I love to answer them to the best of my knowledge.
No one will ever see a Tai Chi body like weight lifting. A Tai Chi body is just like an ordinary one. One can tell who has a Tai Chi body is by the demonstration of one's Tai Chi ability. Another way is to observe the 神(shen) of a person. Shen manifest the appearance of the health condition of a person.

There is no time limit to do the practice of any set of movements. The slower the movement is better for the beginners. The body acquires the benefits by practicing diligently. One doesn't wear special clothes to show off. A professional practitioner does not display the Tai Chi ability lightly.

BTW We are jumping the gun a little bit here. One will know what 神(shen) is when the post is complete.

If my jing is stronger than my shen, will my chi compensate for that?

I haven't got to that part yet, but I will give a try here. Just for you! Bob

Here is the relationship between jing, chi and shen. Jing produces chi. Shen is the manifestation of the combination of jing and chi. In other words, if jing is strong, then chi is strong. The manifestation of shen is strong. If shen is strong, then the jing will remain strong and has a greater ability to produce more chi. In result, Chi become more than sufficient to perform both the internal and external tasks.

It requires external jing from nature to sustain the life of jing inside the body. The body has to be constantly moving to make the internal jing active. The external jing is the foods we eat and the air we breathe. The body movement is the performance of the Tai Chi Quan practice. Indeed, these criteria are the general requirement for a healthy Tai Chi body.

More details will be given in the following post for jing, chi and shen.

The "land speed..." is a Monty Python thing.
I was attempting to inject some humor about asking so many questions... guess it fell flat.
Also trying to inject some humor by asking questions about a "Tai Chi body" as if hearing about it from an infomercial. "You can get a beach body by working out for only 15 minutes a day!", that kind of thing.
I guess that fell just as flat.

Was serious though about not having the first clue what a "Tai Chi body" is though.
I have never heard of that before, didn't even know it was a thing.
Still not sure it is, honestly.
I have met with Tai Chi Chuan people who have what would be called nice looking physiques that could throw me to the middle of next week without batting an eye.
I have also met Tai Chi Chuan people who, like me, are pear shaped (serious there as well) that have had the same level of TCC skill, either high or low, as anyone else.
It goes all the way across the board on the body type vs. TCC skill ratios. I've met all kinds of both without seeing too much of a correlation between their body type and their skill level.
So I don't judge a book by its cover, I simply assume that the person I'm facing has superlative skill and act accordingly until it is demonstrated otherwise.
You can have vitality shooting out of your eyeballs and have zero level of TCC skill.
You can look like you died last week and have the highest level of TCC skill known to man.
Just looking at someones external appearance is not going to tell you very much about their level of skill.

As for jeng, chi, shen...
Yep, that's how it works.
Again, rhetorical question asked for the purpose of injecting humor.
This is tough room...

Hi, Bob
The injecting humor finally emerged.
There are lot of things are hidden in you. I don't know what you know or don't know. I would like to squeeze that out of you!

Anyway, a Tai Chi body is only a description in somebody's opinion. Anyone can define it and someone else can decide who has it. If one has one, then, how does one would like to describe it? That's what I am interested. The reason is that I would like to understand what I am up against and how far I want to go with the practice. One has taken it lightly, it doesn't cut for me.

Hi, Bob
The injecting humor finally emerged.
There are lot of things are hidden in you. I don't know what you know or don't know. I would like to squeeze that out of you!

Anyway, a Tai Chi body is only a description in somebody's opinion. Anyone can define it and someone else can decide who has it. If one has one, then, how does one would like to describe it? That's what I am interested. The reason is that I would like to understand what I am up against and how far I want to go with the practice. One who has taken it lightly, it doesn't cut it for me.

Bob Ashmore wrote:.....But I have never seen a standard "Tai Chi body".
Do we have pictures of the "Tai Chi body"? If we could see it, that might help us to know what to shoot for.
What is the best way to dress to show off our Tai Chi body? Loose? Tight? Something in between?

Hi, Bob
Your dream has come to a reality. You want your questions to be answered. See for yourself.

Ref: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-EP1L9aBvI

I knew I didn't have the ideal Tai Chi Body. None of those guys are pear shaped!

Greetings,

Sorry, I just picked myself up from the floor after a severe belly ache. Let me refer you to some notable Taiji bodies, Yang Cheng Fu, Fu Zhong Wen, Tung Ying Chieh, Zheng Man Ching, Chen Wei Ming, etc. All these legends have very different body shapes.
Seriously though, Taiji is an internal art and often the outward appearance has little to do with one's Taiji-ness. Also just referring to jing, qi and shen does not tell the full story. Qigong practitioners cultivate jing, qi and shen as well. So the question that you might want to ask is, what is different between Taiji and Qigong? I have given this some thought but would be interested in yours. Btw just saying that Taiji is martial and Qigong isn't is a little too trite.

Take care,
Frank

Sorry to hear that you have a severe belly ache. Thank you for your participation in the discussion . Your valuable input has given us many lead way to talk about Tai Chi, Qigong and Tai Chi Body. BTW This is only the beginning in exchanging ideas in a gross manner. We haven't got to the microscopic view of the subject matter yet!

Let's have a macroscopic view about what is given to us right now. There are ordinary people practice Tai Chi for martial arts. However, the Chinese Taoists practice Tai Chi are mainly for health reasons. Thus, to a Taoist, keeping the body in shape is a must. BTW Practice Tai Chi has better health benefits for the body than other martial arts. It is safe to say that a Tai Chi practitioner has, internal wise, a Tai Chi body. In the cultivation of the body, the jing, chi and shen have alot to do with it.

what is different between Taiji and Qigong?
Taiji and Qigong both are an internal art. Tai Chi is a form of Qigong but Qigong is not a form of Tai Chi. However, both have something in common involves with the slow movements and breathing. Tai Chi does sequential movements while Qigong does the movements randomly. Hence, both practitioners are involved in the cultivation jing, qi and shen as well. Most people just don't realize that Tai Chi is doing the samething as Qigong.

Actually, the philosophy of the Chinese Taoists when doing Tai Chi and Qigong are cultivating three things: cultivate the mind(調心), cultivate the breathing(調息) and cultivate the body(調身). Without realizing while that was going on, the jing, chi and shen are being taken care simultaneously by the internal functions of the body. It is too complicated to explain for now. It should be discussed precisely with more details in the near future.