Laughing Really Is The Best Medicine

Monday, November 24, 2014

I love our Monday night Tai Chi class; not only are we the only two in the class and so get more advanced, individualized instruction than in the Tuesday class, but on Monday there are no classes before or after our class, so we can go a few minutes early to stretch, and our class always goes at least 10 minutes over the scheduled time. What I love and am grateful for is what we learn after class officially ends. We usually spend another 20 minutes visiting with Sifu, where he expounds on the nuances that make Tai Chi so fascinating – and how we can refine our practice to utilize it for healing, strength and even self-defense.

I should’ve been writing about our “classes-after-class” all along, but I haven’t, so I’ll start with tonight’s session. I’ve noticed an unbelievably tender spot on my arm in the last week or so, and I asked Sifu about it tonight. He ran his finger down the arm and stopped right at the tender spot. He has explained in the past that tender spots are energy blockages, and this spot is on the liver meridian. As we know, the liver filters all toxins, including the emotional variety. Hmmm, I’m a bit stressed and out of sorts just now, so a liver-related tender spot wouldn’t be surprising. Several Tai Chi pressure points that we do regularly really hurt, which Sifu says is to be expected for someone with fibro. Interesting that a fibro diagnosis is based heavily on the presence of specific tender points – and even more interesting that scientific studies show that Tai Chi is one of the best things for fibromyalgia treatment.

So what to do about this particular tender spot and energy blockage? Rub the hands together until they get warm – the warmth is good, but the purpose of rubbing hands together is to signal the brain to send energy to the palms, a major energy center. Then you rub one hand on the shoulder of the affected arm, then rub the elbow, then rub the arm between the shoulder and elbow. This initiates healing energy flow to break up the blockage. We’ll see how it works.

In the course of tonight's discussion, we learned that the healing properties of Tai Chi come from Qi Gongs, not from postures and forms. The movement of the Forms is interesting to do and to watch, but Forms are designed to build strength and to improve balance and flexibility, not to heal. Sifu said I should be doing Qi Gongs morning and night, and doing Points two or three times a day. He also said it’s important not to hold anger and frustration in, and showed us an exercise called something like “Shaking Body, Laughing Baby” where you bounce from your feet to shake and vibrate the body while making a loud laughing sound. I've known for some time that bouncing activates the lymph system to clear the body of toxins. So I came home and did a little searching about bouncing – sure enough, it’s known to have the physiological effect of releasing stress and tension. But it’s also known that yelling or laughing releases negative energy. According to Tai Chi philosophy, the sky is positive energy, the earth is negative energy, and people are neutral (or should be, unless – or until, it seems – they get out of whack). Sifu says that rather than holding anger and tension in, we should release it by yelling – not at another person, because heaven knows we don’t want to spread negative energy around – but at the earth, because earth can receive negative energy with no harmful effects. He said you can also yell at trees but not embrace them, because people with more experience in energy movement can sap the tree of its energy. I’m not sure what my neighbors will think, but they might find me more neighborly after I’ve done some therapeutic yelling (and shaking) in my back yard!

Oh, one last bonus tonight: a pressure point for insomnia! Laying on your side, lightly touch the Third Eye point (between the eyebrows) with a finger from the pillow-side hand. Visualize energy flowing to the point, and you should fall asleep shortly because it gently redirects the brain from racing thoughts to the point. We did it with Sifu, just for a few seconds, and I’ll be darned if I didn’t feel immediately relaxed. It’s beyond late, so I should go give it a try.

Brrrr ...

Sunday, Nov. 16, 2014

It got cold this week (mid-20s-at-night, mid-40s-during-the-day cold) and I'm thankful.
For:

• A house with heat
• Comfy beds with plenty of blankets
• Sweaters, socks, coats, gloves and ear warmers
• A fireplace
• A reliable car with heat
• Hot soup and other hearty winter foods
• Amazing Grass in chocolate-mint flavor that can be mixed with hot liquid for stand-in hot chocolate
• Frozen garden pests and pollen
• Good hair days that come with dry polar air. Seriously, this is something for which I'm truly grateful. Less-frequent washing, and just a little finger-fluffing takes my head from the shower to out-the-door with no frustrating blow dryer attempts to put some oomph in flat tresses. I LOVE THIS.

Cake-and-Bagua Walk

Sunday, Nov. 9, 2014

It's the time of year to be grateful, and not just in the sense of November and Thanksgiving: for shirtsleeve-cool, not-humid air, for sunrise late enough to actually see and enjoy (never have been an early-morning person!). This year I'm particularly appreciating the season, as I've been doing my morning Tai Chi on the back deck. At 7:30 or so, the sun isn't yet in my eyes but is a warm orange glow just above the fence line. One morning this week after a rain the night before, steam was rising eerily off the fence as the sun began to warm the air.

Look closely - see the steam?

I breathe in the cold morning air, which burns my nostrils, but beyond the cold, the experience is so much more invigorating outdoors than inside that I relish every day I can do this in the back yard. A few weeks ago it was too warm and muggy, and soon it will be too cold. Fall mornings are a treat worth waiting 10 months for; starting a Fall day with focused Tai Chi is a particular gift.

With daily practice, Tai Chi movements have become somewhat more natural, and thus our classes have advanced beyond choreography to focusing on energy movement. As we do the forms, we envision energy flowing out from hands or feet, and we do feel a difference in the hand and feet positions when we feel that energy. Theoretically, when energy blockages break up and energy flows as it should, healing occurs. At a class last week, Sifu said he was skipping Qigong that night because of the weather. That was a new one - but he quite often surprises us with nuances of the practice. He explained that Qigongs are intended to gather energy from the earth and get it moving in the body in an organized, health-giving way. When a storm is brewing or in progress, atmospheric energy is chaotic and can upset the body's energy if brought in through Qigong. Further, he said that early morning is the very best time to do Qigongs, when the day's energy is new and fresh. 

The next day, he taught us how to do Bagua, or Circle Walking - for those inclement-weather days when walking outside isn't practical. The basic pattern is to visualize a spot on the floor and walk in a circle around it; not as simple as walking in a circle, as it requires the outside foot to actually make an arc that keeps the pattern in a uniform circle. He taught us four hand positions, in each of which both hands are kept in a certain position on the inside of the circle as the feet walk. To begin, Sifu told us to take 20 steps in each direction, in each hand position. We tried it, and it's tougher than it looks - and oh yes, it does make you warm, if not hot!

More Gratitude for the week: I celebrated a birthday with people I love, both in-person and far away. Husby planned a full day, including a visit to the Kimbell art museum to see Impressionistic works on loan from the Musee d'Orsay in Paris, followed by lunch with Daughter and Grandson #1. They brought gifts and a hydrangea for the table; Grandson said he was thrilled I was turning 30. (I think one time this year he asked how old I was and I probably told him 29). Husby gave me a potted calla lily plant with amber flowers I had admired at Central Market last week and other thoughtful gifts. I received cards and calls from dear friends & sisters who remember my little day. Dinner with Husby, and then Son & family came over for paleo carrot cake, I gift I made for myself. 

Paleo carrot cake - wow, 10 eggs!

The cake itself tasted just like my old favorite recipe and had good texture for a flourless cake but was a little wet (Tres Leches carrot cake?). The mock-cream cheese icing (made with palm shortening, ghee, cashew butter for the cheesy flavor, and apple cider vinegar/lemon juice for the tang) was a pretty credible substitute, and I'm a cream-cheese icing lover!

But pretty, right?!? Especially on my mom's milk-glass cake stand.

 

Smile for today: I sat by Son, D-I-L and Grandson #2 in church today. At the end of the meeting, I said to Grandson, "Are you going to nursery now?!" He nodded, pacifier firmly in mouth. I stood up and reached for his hand, which he put in mine and we headed down the aisle. He has never wanted anything to do with me - pulls away if I get too close, certainly won't let me hold him, and only recently gave up screaming fits if left alone with me. So I looked down at him, thinking he must have thought he was holding his daddy's hand. Nope. He knew it was me, and we were walking to nursery together - and he was just fine with it. Finally!