Tai Chi Starter Kit for Grounding?

[TensorTympani]

Hi all,

I have encountered a bunch of times in the forum the suggestion to do Tai Chi as an active form of grounding. Also Yogani mentioned that he did this for a while for this reason. I don’t know much about Tai Chi yet, but a quick search suggested that there are various schools, and so I don’t really know where to best start.

I found in the forums this post by Yogani explaining the essential difference of the effects of AYP style asanas and Tai Chi:

Delicate Subject; require advice

Hi Karmamechanic: There is overlap in effects between asanas and tai chi, but there is a distinction. Tai chi is mostly grounding with some inner opening, while asanas are mostly inner opening with some grounding. This is why tai chi is good for helping to stabilize energy difficulties, and asanas are a good preparation for sitting practices, including spinal breathing pranayama and deep meditation. As for breathwork during asanas, it is not specifically recommended in AYP, due to the possibl…

My concern is that just with asanas, there might be a wide spectrum of Tai Chi exercises, with likely some types of Tai Chi exercises being more grounding than others.

So I would very much appreciate a “Tai Chi starter kit” (e.g. a list of Tai Chi exercise names) that are especially grounding, or maybe just a pointer to a good book or type of school that seems to be an easy starting point for exploring this type of grounding.

Thanks!

[Drystone (Tom)]

Hi, I always liked Damo Mitchell’s book on Qigong, which is arguably more grounding and easier to practice. T’ai chi has really long forms to remember which can make it difficult to learn without joining a club.

Check out the ‘yogalap’ app for qigong, it’s really good.

[sunyata]

Hi Tenor,

I second Tom’s recommendation of Damo Mitchell—I have a couple of his books and truly love them, along with his YouTube videos. Have you tried intuitive movement on the mat? I find this practice both deeply grounding and profoundly purifying.

This is how I practice: I close my eyes, drop into the body, connect with the breath, and attune to Shakti—Prana, the life force. From there, I simply allow the movement to arise. I experience it as both ecstatic and grounding at the same time.

Below is the link to one of the YouTube channels I follow. He blends Tai Chi and yoga in a way I absolutely love. Hope this is helpful.

Sunyata.

[TensorTympani]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for your suggestions! Do you have a particular book in mind? I noticed there are several books on “Nei Gong”, and nothing with Qigong in the title.

Is there anything in that yogalp app or the book you have in mind that you consider especially grounding?

Hi Sunyata,

Thanks for the description of how you approach it and sharing the youtube instructions!

I do feel a lot of energy and ecstasy during my regular AYP asana practice, and I know from self-pacing experiments that my asana practice does the opposite of grounding. Over the course of the last year I have explored a lot of grounding techniques none of which allowed me to ramp up my energy practices again. That’s why I would like to start exploring the Qigong or Tai Chi topic with something that is known by AYP practitioners to have a grounding effect, and then observe it that’s the case also for me.

I will give that youtube video a try!

[Drystone (Tom)]

I’m not going to say that qigong, t’ai chi, Taiji and nei gong are all the same…….because they are not! I just can’t remember the difference! But Nei Gong I think is predominantly to do with inner work, essentially alchemy/yoga. But it includes some qigong movements. Damo Mitchell is great, although one criticism I have of that school is that it seems to be quite ‘macho’, but that’s just my opinion. Damo has a kind of ‘comprehensive’ book which is worth getting Called ‘daoist nei gong’ .

As far as grounding is concerned, thinking about it I’m not sure grounding is the correct word. The qigong movements can help still the mind, but my experience is that qigong can be quite purifying. Maybe not what u need if your energy is too high. Might be better going for a walk or swim like Tristan advises .

Holding arms out straight infront of you, whilst in horse stance, focusing on your breath instead of the pain in your arms and legs certainly helps still the mind somehow

I suppose the qigong stuff is similar to a mix of pranayama and asana so is inherently energetically stimulating.

Definitely worth an investigation though

[TensorTympani]

Thanks for clarifying! I will check out his book on Nei Gong then . It’s definitely an interesting subject, manipulating energy for various goals. I’m currently interested mostly in Tai Chi or related methods as a form of grounding.

In lesson 69 Yogani lists some ways of grounding, including Tai Chi:

Taking long daily walks with a relaxed mind is one of the best therapies for smoothing out surging kundalini energies. Tai chi, practiced regularly, is very grounding also. Yoga asanas (postures), which we will get into in the next few lessons, can help. Physical exercise in general is good for grounding the energies. A heavier diet during periods of excessive kundalini energies can help ground them. Grounding activities do not do away with kundalini. Rather, they bring in the Shiva component that helps integrate the kundalini energy into our nervous system. Such activities are good to do in addition to spinal breathing, meditation and other advanced yoga practices.

So, if Tai Chi can be an effective way of grounding I would like to learn it. And my assumption was that it might possible for Yogani, or some other long-time AYP practitioner with experience in applying Tai Chi for grounding, to come up with a “Starter Kit” for Tai Chi that works for most AYP practitioners as an easy entry point, just like we have for Asanas.

[yogani]

Hi All,

Back in the 90s I was doing a lot of walking to ground surging kundalini energies, and felt I needed more intentional grounding. So my wife and I joined a “Tai Chi Chuan” style weekly class, with practice at home during the week in-between classes. It happened to be what was available close by, and was very effective for grounding our energies. It had the social element with like-minded souls as well. We did that for several years and it served the purpose.

The practice itself is a slow moving routine lasting about 10 minutes with energy grounded in the floor (or earth), literally, so very good for settling the energies. Technically it is a marital art, with advanced classes called “push hands,” which is practicing a slow moving routine with a partner. No actual martial contact involved.

There are multiple forms of Tai Chi, Qigong, etc. and any that can produce a grounding effect without over-stimulating the inner energies would be sufficient. And taking a class has the extra benefit of social contact, which can be grounding also.

So that was my experience with Tai Chi, and why it has been suggested as an intentional grounding practice in AYP. In our case it was a helpful thing to do for several years for stabilizing kundalini energies. There are folks who have been doing daily Tai Chi for decades, and they are very grounded.

Regarding asanas (yoga postures), these can be grounding also if taken in moderation. They also have the purpose of opening the subtle neurobiology. In AYP we use them as preparation for sitting practices, including spinal breathing pranayama, deep meditation, and samyama. If asanas have been used intensively as a stand alone practice for a long time, they can increase inner sensitivity to the point of instability. See a lesson on that here. So “all things in moderation” is the recommended approach.

Also, just keep walking, biking, swimming, gardening, having social contact, doing for others, etc. Whatever suits your preference. Any or all of these are good for grounding excess kundalini energies, and cultivating balance in life. The excesses will pass as inner purification and opening advance. Continuing with daily yoga practices and keeping active in everyday life will take us ever further into less suffering, ecstatic bliss, and living as stillness in action and outpouring of divine love.

All the best!

The guru is in you.

[Drystone (Tom)]

Hi Tensor,

You’ve inspired me to do a bit more qigong! Honestly the yogalap app is great for establishing a basic set of practices, I can’t recommend it enough.

If that’s what Yogani says grounding is then that’s cool. But like I said, I had noticed some energetic stimulation from doing qigong and t’ai chi, but I guess it’s down to how sensitive the practitioner is and how close they push towards overload in their daily practice. There are other practices which in theory are supposed to help with unstable energy which others who are experiencing overload report sometimes making a condition worse- SBP for instance.

Qigong is a great practice however, but like any additional practice could push one too far. This seems to be because the AYP style takes the practitioner close to the edge, so any additional practice can tip us over into overload. (Please forgive my perhaps excessive caution, Im just personally very cautious about overload, I’ve had some pretty bad experiences that I wouldn’t like to repeat! Or anyone else for that matter! )

The best thing about qigong (I think) is that you can practice it without a mat, or space to lie down. Which means that it is incredibly easy to practice anywhere! I love hanging out in remote spots in the forest , some of which are on steep hillsides where yoga asana isn’t really possible. Practicing bare foot is very grounding too, scrunching toes into the leaf mould and moss. I sometimes walk back to the car barefoot too for an extra bit of grounding, walking slow whilst focusing on surroundings, noticing thoughts and letting them fall away.

I may compile a starter kit in the future, but to be honest I’m no expert, just a dabbler, Yoga is my main thing. There will doubtless be someone on here that is better acquainted with tai chi or qigong here, and will be in a better position to suggest a starter kit.

Enjoy your practice!

[TensorTympani]

Hi Yogani,

Thank you for your detailed response. There is a Tai Chi Chuan school in the city I live in. So that’s a great starting point, and I will check out that school.

I’m a bit wary though for precisely the same reason that Tom talked about. I’m “at the edge” with my current AYP routine. And I would like to move that edge so that I can do more intense AYP practices again (for the added speed). And that’s why any new Tai Chi practice that I add to my daily routine should better have a net grounding effect, or else, I wouldn’t move the edge, but instead myself over it.

So, if you don’t mind, I would like to ask you a bit more about this line you wrote:

There are multiple forms of Tai Chi, Qigong, etc. and any that can produce a grounding effect without over-stimulating the inner energies would be sufficient.

Did the Tai Chi Chuan sequence you learned have grounding effect on you right away, or was it only the advanced practice you mentioned?

In the first case, I could just go to that school and start practicing without worrying. In the second case there is a possibility that a daily Tai Chi practice added to my routine could aggravate the energetic overload symptoms (moving me over the edge), rather than alleviating the symptoms (moving the edge). That’s not a huge risk, since I could just stop practice again. But it is a time and financial commitment, plus I like learning from writings…

You also wrote:

The practice itself is a slow moving routine lasting about 10 minutes with energy grounded in the floor (or earth), literally, so very good for settling the energies.

If it is the beginner’s practice that has this grounding effect (and not just the advanced practice you mentioned afterwards), could you describe this beginner’s practice, or parts of it? That is, if if you think it could be helpful for the average AYP practitioner. Of course, there is no need to call it Tai Chi. It would be just some easy grounding practices.

[yogani]

Hi TensorTympani,

The grounding effect can come from the very beginning of learning practice. A Tai Chi routine is very specific. Sorry, I am not qualified or able to offer instructions for that in writing.

The internet barely existed when I learned, and now there are online options for instruction. The group dynamic was an important part of our Tai Chi experience. Whether or not that can be conveyed online I do not know. We are having good success with sharing yoga practices online, including structured training courses and retreats, but I don’t know if the same can be accomplished online with Tai Chi. Several here have experience with that, and I defer to them. On the other hand, if you have a hands on class available nearby, you may want to check it out.

And keep walking. It’s one of the best grounding methods there is. You can do it anytime, anywhere.

The guru is in you.

[TensorTympani]

Thank you, Yogani. I will give it a go at my local Tai Chi school, and also keep walking. So far, the walking just didn’t seem to have any noticeable effect on “moving my edge”, meaning despite increasing my usual walking to a daily 30min vigorous walk each day for a few weeks, I was not able to increase practice time without aggravating my energy symptoms, nor did the tolerable energy symptoms of my current steady practice routine decrease when ramping up the walking. I consider this a success in self-pacing because I know my edge and I can stay on the safe side of it with a heavily reduced AYP routine that still produced noticeable progress over the last year. So the idea to explore grounding methods to speed things up again is just bhakti, and my situation is safe testbed scenario for exploring the effect of grounding methods. A heavier diet made my stomach grumpy, and I already do enough conventional exercise for its own sake. So Tai Chi was just one that I haven’t tried.

In the appendix of the Asanas, Mudras & Bandhas book you provide instructions for an easy work out for maintaining muscle strength. After having switched to those from whatever bodyweight exercises I was doing before, I was amazed to see how much more effective and efficient those are. That’s why the imaginary brand new AYP enlightenment series book on Self-pacing now also has an imaginary appendix with instructions on Tai Chi inspired grounding exercises.

The fact that you believe that you cannot put those Tai Chi routine instructions into writing makes me even more curious to try it out. I will also search the web for online courses, and should I stumble over a “Taichini” I will post it here.

[tamasaburo (Casey Schoenberger)]

Hi all,

I thought I’d share my experience as someone who came to AYP from Tai Chi/qigong (I credit my recognizing the value of AYP to having been taught a technique similar to spinal breathing by a qigong teacher).

As Yogani says, Tai Chi is actually a martial art originally, and the style I practice, Chen style, is still relatively “martial” in its emphasis, including both slow and fast movements, as well as an emphasis on a “coiling” coordination of the joints called “silk-reeling energy.” The most popular style of Tai Chi is called Yang style (and there are yet others, such as Wu), which is performed entirely slowly, with an emphasis on relaxation and groundedness. I have not practiced Yang or other styles much, but I can imagine it would be grounding for the reasons Yogani mentions. But, as Yogani mentions, it is probably better and easier to learn and practice it in a group setting, as is most common in Chinese communities, as the social aspect would probably enhance the grounding, and a coach can correct your posture, remind you to relax, etc.

Personally, I have not found much need to use martial arts for grounding because I find long walks are very grounding and sufficient for me, though my martial arts practice, including Chen Tai Chi, may be somewhat grounding as well. Chen Tai Chi, and probably to some extent, all forms of Tai Chi, also have the added benefit of becoming more interesting and, I think, beneficial/powerful as your inner awareness develops because the movements depend on subtle bodily awareness. It is a good form of exercise and even can function as a martial art depending on how you learn it but also probably not necessary for most who can take long walks (then again, there may be cases, like Yogani and his wife’s where it is better for a variety of reasons, perhaps including the social).

Neigong and qigong are really different terms for the same thing, though they vary quite a lot in terms of what is actually done. Some are more similar to Yoga asanas in emphasizing stretching, others are more like moving pranayama, in that the focus is on breath and energy. Although some forms, such as “standing like a post” (zhanzhuang) may be grounding, I think of qigong as primarily stimulating of energies in a manner similar to pranayama, so most versions of it are probably not the ideal choice if the goal is grounding.