Wednesday, March 23, 2022

Did you know of "Small Circle" before this?


 Dr. Stephen Hwa is the 2nd generation disciple of the legendary Tai Chi Master Wu Chien Chuan, founder of Wu Style Tai Chi. Master Hwa was fortunate to be taught the advanced “Small Circle, or Small Frame Tai Chi Form” where every movement originates from the core of the body. Because of the depth and subtlety of learning this art in addition to the early Master’s desire to pass on this art to only a few selected students, few Tai Chi practitioners now know about these exercises. Yet, the ultimate objective of learning Tai Chi is to learn the totally internal Small Frame, while other large frame exercises practiced by most Tai Chi practitioners today are simply preparatory in nature. During his forty years of practicing and teaching this art, Hwa has been able to utilize his advanced scientific training (PhD in Engineering) to deconstruct the art to come up with new teaching methods to break through obstacles in learning, so more people can learn these advanced movements quickly. He has written a book, Uncovering the Treasure: Classical Tai Chi’s Path to Internal Energy & Health, and created several online courses about Classical Tai Chi. For more information please visit classicaltaichi.com and Classical Tai Chi at Teachable.com.

 I see the good work and comments of many students on Teachable.com. First, this blog is assisted by Grammarly. I have been using the Ukrainian American, founded in Ukraine, "Grammarly," for some time, and it is a -headquartered cross-platform cloud-based typing assistant. Now let me reiterate, "...in addition to early Master's desire to pass on this (small circle, small frame) art to only a few selected students, few Tai Chi practitioners now know about these exercises..".Master Hwa started lessons in 1974 in the small circle. I started classes in 1976 in what can be best described IMO as a "Mustang" amalgam of several martial arts Styles called Taoist Tai Chi, then Yang Style both in Toronto and Buffalo, then Wu's Style in Toronto. I did not know about "small circle" in all those years. I never even imagined it, and I doubt that some teachers did either. 2003 and starting in this was a revelation.

Friday, March 11, 2022

Sir Isaac Newton cannot be wrong!

 Hi.Jim,  Thank you for the "Learning the Internal Dynamics of Tai Chi" article by Eva Koepsell. I am just seeing this email now. I did learn of a group that meets locally twice a week. But I am way out of practice will try some YouTube videos in the meantime. Thank you very much for your help/interest. Truly delightful.



Take the "internal" test (Fajin video link)

Hi John, Good thinking! John, I challenge anyone who reads this blog post to try what Master Hwa does in the video. Along with the lengthy email I just sent I also want to say that you should try what he is doing in the Fajin video link here for yourself. Do it exactly as he is doing it, straight up, leaning, big stance, little stance. Then when you do it with a tiny stance, as straight up as possible, and your body does not make your feet move as you "fajin" push, then you are doing internal. Students can get "internal," moving from inside out from the core if they work at it. But raising the hands, the arms, moving the legs with external movement from shoulders, knees, hips as "Form" is "wishful thinking" and does not get it...believe me, I tried. I welcome your thoughts and comments on that.

I learned Tai Chi in 1976 that was not Tai Chi, but it was good exercise. I will explain that problem. As the excellent "...learning the internal dynamics..." article says, in so many words, not all Tai Chi is Tai Chi. Then I studied from a video I bought from "Inside Kung fu" magazine and learned the entire 108 Form from the video of Wu Kwong Yu Eddie Wu. I showed what I learned to him, he said, "very smooth, I'm impressed," and I started going to Toronto for ten years. That style stresses "turning from the hip, " a major joint in the body. But boy, did I learn an incredible amount about martial applications. There were very good fighting and fighters there; my black belt in Tae Kwon Do did not stand a chance in sparring. I gave up "getting my kicks" for Wu's Style Tai Chi. I ended up teaching "Defensive Tactics", other duties as assigned, while I worked for Homeland Security. However, I still wanted Internal.

I will continue to help you as much as possible since you are mindful of the videos. "Tai Chi is mindfulness". Classical Wu Style Tai Chi moves from the core. If the move comes from the "inside out" of the core, it is an internal move; if not, then it is external. My 90-year-old"er" teacher told me that. Then he did a workshop for the only 4 of us teachers in Buffalo, WNY: and told me, "not everyone who starts Tai Chi wants to be a proficient practitioner." In other words, they "think" they want the smooth, flowing movements, must be so easy, right? But then realize early on: Who wants all of that "left hand, now right hand, no ...the right hand" stuff for 100 years? Like all of us, I would add that they have passing clouds of thought called "wishful thinking." The funny thing about "wishful thinking" in our consumption-driven culture is we are quite often not mindful. Most often, we are mindless, and we do not know that we are.

Unfortunately, as I experienced with "Tai Chi for exercise that is not Tai Chi," not everyone who teaches Tai Chi wants to be a proficient teacher. Like all of us, they are subject to the same wishful thinking and mindlessness of us all. And also the mindlessness of the very students they want to teach. The funny thing about mindfulness is that those who have it know that they aren't very good at it in their hearts and minds. It is most definitely including yours truly, who is quite often mindless. Those who do not have it think they are good at it, aka Dunning Kruger Effect. And by golly, it is the same at everything from Curling to Tai Chi to Astrophysics.

I also count as a friend Stephen Hwa (Hua Jiping), who coined the phrase "ordinary force." So before looking at other Youtube videos, I would like you to take a look at the Youtube video Fajin part 1Take the "internal" test

Please take a hard look at the video from 2:30 on, through hearing the term "ordinary force". I used ordinary force in my "Tai Chi for exercise" for approximately 30 years until my study began in Classical Tai Chi in 2003. I rediscover each year since my "introduction" in 1976 that I was doing Tai Chi that used "ordinary force". I would safely say if a Tai Chi teacher can exactly duplicate what Stephen Hwa is doing in their 70s. And they do it with tiny steps, perfectly upright stance, movement from one inch only, against someone bigger and very rooted at 4:14 of the video then they are doing Tai Chi as the Internal Martial Art that it truly is. Otherwise, to quote my teacher, "are doing good exercise, but what they are doing is not Tai Chi". Tai Chi movement has to come from the abdomen and back, aka the body core, and that video is the "Acid Test ." Hope this helps.

Monday, March 7, 2022

Tai Chi is better than walking for improving balance!

Tai Chi is better (link to NPR) (broadcast)

Youtube Classical Tai Chi walking


In order to really reduce your risk for falls, you've got to do something specific to balance.Classical Tai Chi teaches you to do stepping moves to the front, to the side; you move your arms out, you reach, you bend. And basically, that increases the size of your postural stability so that you can catch yourself and not have a fall. You can be a little bit off-kilter and right yourself.  As an added bonus, Classical Tai Chi trains your movement from the body core in a matter that is superb in its dexterity. The video explains more ... 

Walking is called "controlled falling" for a reason. Essentially when you step you catch yourself by thrusting out a foot. Just walking does not reduce your risk of falling.Walking is kind of just keeping you in one plane moving forward, and it's not doing any kind of postural training. 

As we age, the risk of falling increases and becomes increasingly perilous. A fall can be a real health setback for a frail, elderly person. And, more older adults are dying from falls today than 20 years ago. A recent study showed that more than 25,000 U.S. adults age 75 or above died from a fall in 2016, up from more than 8,600 deaths in 2000, and the rate of fatal falls for this age group roughly doubled.

But the risk of falling can be minimized, says Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom, professor and chief of geriatrics at Oregon Health & Science University. "A lot of older adults and a lot of physicians think that falling is inevitable as you age, but in reality, it's not."

NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro and Luisa Torres spoke to Eckstrom about the most common causes of falling among seniors and the best ways to prevent them.

This interview combines two separate conversations with Eckstrom and has been edited for clarity and length.

Are seniors falling more than they used to? Or are there more seniors? Does something else explain this increase?

I think it might be a little bit of both. There are so many more seniors, and there's probably better reporting than there used to be. There's more awareness about falls as older adults and doctors are starting to think about it a little bit more. I think our older adults are starting to [be more active], and that also is going to put you at risk for falling. I always tell people to please not be sedentary to prevent falls. That's the worst thing you can do. You've got to be out and active, but being out and doing things does allow you to put yourself in a position where you could fall.

Also, I think one of the biggest problems for falls is that so many older adults are on risky medications. Those sleeping pills, pain pills, a lot of the drugs that older adults have been prescribed for years and years have markedly increased the risk for falling. And if we could get everybody off of those pills, it would be so helpful.

How do pain pills increase the risk of falls?

Pain pills have similar side effects [compared to] sleeping pills. They can make you dizzy. They can make you confused. They can make you lethargic. They can cause you to not be as sharp so that you're not paying attention to curbs or uneven sidewalks.

Are there any other drugs that seniors should be aware of?

Yeah, absolutely. There are a lot of drugs that fall into a class called anticholinergics. It's the class that has cold medications in it, like Sudafed PE, [and] drugs to help control bladder problems, like Detrol. All of those drugs are in that very dangerous anticholinergic class, [which] increases your risk for falling.

The other thing that a lot of older people take is blood pressure pills. Managing blood pressure is a little tricky [because] you don't want your blood pressure to be too high because that increases your risk for heart attacks and strokes. But if you take too many blood pressure pills, it makes your blood pressure too low, and you get dizzy and you fall.

A study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that physicians routinely failed to perform basic interventions to help prevent falls. Why do you think that is, and how could doctors help?

Most primary care doctors have no more than 15 minutes with a patient, and they're managing their diabetes, congestive heart failure, their asthma — all of those other medical conditions. And [they] don't recognize the importance of fall prevention in that milieu. It takes a lot of work to help older adult reduce their risk of falling. You've got to talk about the glasses; you've got to make sure they're wearing the right shoes; you've got to make sure they're using a gait aid [like a cane or a walker] if they need one — and all of those things take time.

The CDC has also done a beautiful job of putting together a fall prevention package in an initiative called STEADI (Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries). You can go to their website and find all sorts of useful information to help both clinical teams, older adults and families to reduce risk for falling.

Can you remind us why falling is so dangerous for older adults?

About a third of older adults who fall actually have some form of injury, and a lot of those are hip fractures and head injuries. And those can be fatal, of course. A vitally important thing is fear of falling, and many older adults who fall curtail their activities because they're afraid they're going to fall again. And, again, that's kind of the worst thing you can do because now you're losing mobility, you're getting weaker and you're not moving around as much.

What are some of the interventions you've used that can help seniors?

You can do so many things. First of all, I tell everybody you've got to do some balance training. Tai chi is probably the best exercise to prevent falls, but whatever works for you. And interestingly, just walking does not reduce your risk of falling. So a lot of doctors will say, "Just get out and walk 20 minutes every day, and that'll keep you safe. That'll help you stay healthy." Walking is great for your heart; it's great for your brain; it's great for lots of it. But in order to really reduce your risk for falls, you've got to do something specific to balance.

What makes tai chi a good exercise to prevent falls? And why isn't walking a good alternative?

Walking is kind of just keeping you in one plane moving forward, and it's not doing any kind of postural training. What tai chi does is it gives you an increased area of postural stability, [which is] kind of your being able to remain upright in space. When you do tai chi, you do stepping moves to the front, to the side; you move your arms out, you reach, you bend. And basically, that increases the size of your postural stability so that you can catch yourself and not have a fall. You can be a little bit off-kilter and right yourself.

Do you have any more advice on how seniors can prevent falls?

For most people, it's not just one bad thing. It's not just your balance, or it's not just your vision, or it's not just one pill that you're taking. If somebody wants to reduce their risk of falls, they should really think about all of the various ways: making sure you're wearing the right shoes, using a walker if you need it, getting off those risky medications. It's really important to tend to all of those little details to really get your fall risk as low as possible. I encourage people to just work on that really, really hard. It's worth the trouble.

Francesca Paris and Ed McNulty produced and edited this story for broadcast.

CorrectionJuly 15, 2019

A previous Web version of this story stated that Sudafed is an anticholinergic. It is not, but the more commonly available Sudafed PE is.

Tuesday, March 1, 2022

Being good at mindlessness!

 After finishing the lessons...thunder, lightning...a real "jolt"...a "shock"... but upon further reflection...realizing one's mindlessness is a beginning...





51. Chên / The Arousing (Shock, Thunder)I Ching

 SHOCK brings success.
 Shock comes-oh, oh!
 Laughing words -ha, ha!
 The shock terrifies for a hundred miles,
 And he does not let fall the sacrificial spoon and chalice.



As a human, I have spent my share of anger.  As a Tai Chi instructor, I have also seen my fair share of anger “coming and going” as the saying goes.  There is a baseball adage wherein one figuratively acts as “pitcher” and “catcher” at the same time, thus my own saying “As a teacher, I see anger coming and going”.  My student and fellow teacher Mike F. tells me that as a professional musician he swims in a sea of perpetual criticism.  Such criticism he says comes from his fellow musicians as well as orchestra leaders and conductors.  Yet, he states that he does not lash out at the conductor or his colleagues.

I recall an incident in 2004 which happened right after meeting my present teacher, Master Stephen Hwa. I was in the throes of patting myself on the back because I had learned the Classical Tai Chi form with quite a bit of ease.  What I failed to perceive is “that I was moving a certain way, but in fact, I was not moving that way” at all. After all, I thought,   I had finished the lessons from the Classical Tai Chi video series. Master Hwa wrote that when he observed me trying to internalize my movement away from the arm and shoulder, my movements initiated from the chest area.  He stated that I would scrunch my chest to start an upper-body movement. 

I recall being admonished quite vehemently by him on this “scrunching”.  The critique came during one of my private classes with him at a local park in Rochester, NY in the Summer of 2004.  I admit to being surprised by the vehemence of his correction but did not feel angry. 

In October of 2004, I recall reading the Classical Tai Chi Forum 10 which was called: “After Finishing the Lessons, A Beginning”.   There I came across a complete written account of the critique.  First I read “You need to remember, sometimes the appearance of reality is actually an illusion”.  This was followed by an admonition to use “ a fresh eye to review the lesson video which can uncover any misinterpretation of movements”.   Then I read a synopsis of my meeting with Master Hwa and my “scrunching” when I thought I was moving correctly.

Where I did not feel “angry” upon receiving admonition in person, I did feel angry when reading the admonition in writing.  My thought was: “How could my teacher put my mistake in writing for all the world to see”?  I initially felt sullen and angry because I felt my teacher was being condescending and insulting and I felt shocked by what I read.  After all, I thought (even though he did not use my name but simply said “one student”) who else could it be but for me, me, me.  Insert the melody and additional lyrics for:  "You are so vain, you probably think this song is about you" here.

After stewing on this for some time, I began to reflect more calmly.  During the “hottest” moments of that incident, however, I refrained from making any angry retorts to my teacher.  As I “cooled” down, however, I began to realize that I had been mindless, proud, and arrogant thus thinking more highly of myself than I ought to.  Upon further reflection, my initial angry thought was “I have studied Tai Chi before this for a long time, I am a good student, how can he say this to me”?.   After further consideration, however, I realized that it was I who had contacted Master Hwa and asked him to teach me, not the other way around.  If I wanted him to teach me why was I not being humble and gracious about what he had said or written about “me”? After further reflection, I realized that he had provided a great talking point and lesson for a hundred other students who could benefit from my mistake. 

I realized I was being “Egotistical” and mindless over the egotism and perhaps one might well ask what is egotism,  what does it have to do with learning Tai Chi or you for that matter?

Here is a "story" that may help:

“The Prime Minister of the Tang Dynasty was a national hero for his success as both a statesman and military leader. But despite his fame, power, and wealth, he considered himself a humble and devout Buddhist.

Often he visited his favorite Zen master to study under him, and they  seemed to get along very well. The fact that he was Prime Minister apparently had no effect on their relationship, which seemed to be simply one of a revered master and respectful student.

One day, during his usual visit, the Prime Minister asked the master, “Your Reverence, what is egotism according to Buddhism?” The master's face turned red, and in a very condescending and insulting tone of voice, he shot back, “What kind of stupid question is that!?”

This unexpected response so shocked the Prime Minister that he became sullen and angry. The Zen master then smiled and said, “This, Your Excellency, is egotism.”

Author Unknown

THE IMAGE


 Thunder repeated: the image of SHOCK.
 Thus in fear and trembling
 The superior man sets his life in order
 And examines himself.