For beginning and advanced students, the task is to place and keep attention on the body's core. I repeat the word several times to indicate the mental discipline necessary to do the job. Attention, attention, attention, etc. Whether newbies or oldies, a student will still face the same task. Nevertheless, I have seen many give up, likely because of frustration with the process. It is very daunting to keep attention on the body, and it is as though attention itself has a mind of its own, not to be pinned to any one thing. This "attention," however, is not of the "go for the burn" mind on cruise control variety.
Here is some of what Master Stephen Hwa has to say: "For the beginner, the difficulty lies in the mental discipline in which all attention has to be concentrated on the core region."
This is primarily the case from my experience and what I hear and see from my students. There are a few other problems I would like to mention:
A student states they are experiencing soreness in the abdominal area from practicing. From what I can gather, this is from doing the silk reeling exercises. I advise you not to go after repetitions as it is a contest to see how many you can do. The object is to simply feel the stretch and energy flow, key words, "simply feel", not to engage in trying to strengthen the core like a sit up or crunch. The difference in the latter is one of building muscle for muscle sake, in the former it is to tune the nervous system so that it can move the extremeties from the core.
What happens when you do too many repetitions, an overload of silk reeling, for instance, is that you get a sore abdomen and a sore back. Since muscles do not exist in a vacuum and operate under the laws of science, you can overload your nervous system. This is called spiking the nervous system. We get high spikes and then drop back to lows. We are getting a sharp rise and an equally sharp decline of the nerve signals. It is a logical question, then, as to what the setpoint might be with such continuous highs and lows. Is the setpoint geared for continuous relaxation, or is it geared for continuing stress? Additionally, as we said, in classical tai chi, we look to maintain attention to the core. If we lose our attention, whether by inattention or stress to the nervous system, completing the Tai Chi form brings us to attention once again. Ideally, it is as though it is wired into the subconscious to facilitate this process.
When we practice Classical Tai Chi, we "tune-up" the nervous system. The highs and the low signals are smoothed out so that the signals remain even and evenly flowing. After all, the movements are even and evenly flowing, very rhythmical. The mind begins to relax more and more during form practice or silk reeling since the subconscious mind takes over the task of remembering what to do. So, ease back on the number of repetitions and instead learn to enjoy the sensations of stretch, warmth, and tingling at the areas that move during silk reeling. This is developing a feel for what we are doing, but we are also engaging the nervous system, just as we would engage any muscles. Over the years of doing Tai Chi, my nervous system has responded to the practice best. My muscles and metabolism have reacted, but the nervous system has learned and strengthened the most readily.
As I stated before, Classical Tai Chi is not a go for the "burn" as fast as you can system. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite, for the nervous system thrives when training is done at a low level of intensity. Look at what happens with the Square Form, for instance, with its deliberate pauses between movements. This contrasts with our almost built-in desire for power and more power by sweating, exerting, and straining. The nervous system also thrives on variety and not overload. Since we offer a variety of silk reeling exercises, the curriculum is ideal for providing such variety. In other words, there is plenty for you to use to tune up, say, doing 20 repetitions of 5 different silk reelings instead of 100. Advanced students can learn to use the individual postures of the form as silk reeling, thus increasing the variety once again. In "Uncovering the Treasure" by Stephen Hwa, Amazon, you can read more about tuning up the nervous system. Enjoy your "tune-up".
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