A Day in the Life of a Tai Chi & Qi Gong Teacher

The following is a snapshot of my daily routine as a Tai Chi facilitator with over twelve years’ experience teaching and thirty-five years as a practitioner.

 

I usually get up at 6.30am (or 6am if I am teaching at 7am) and drink two cups of hot filtered spring water (from a nearby spring, boiled first), sometimes with a small piece of crushed ginger.

 

This is followed by an hour and a half to two hours Taiji (AKA Tai Chi) and/or Qi Gong training. In our school, technically, we call this DaoYinShu and XingQiShu: Leading and reaching and “moving the energy” as these are more accurate ancient phrases to describe our training.

 

Occasionally I need to do some remedial healing work, “rest and recuperate.” Today was one of those days due to a stomach issue I have (acid reflux and soreness) which I attribute to response to dealing with some recent illness with my mother. I had been doing more frequent stomach meridian qi gong and doing any other qi gong and Tai Chi was settling and easing it a lot, but I hadn’t completely shifted it. Stomach in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is associated with the Earth element and “mother,” certainly I had been a bit concerned for my mother as she had taken a little turn. The worry associated with this could cause stress on the stomach area. Also, if you never had enough love from your mum this may cause sugar craving – wishing to have the sweetness of love in the mother region, or earth vibration. Earth represents nourishing, receptivity and “holding grounded space.”

 

The fist thing I did was set new goals for gradually testing a more alkaline diet. Then letting go of my concern for Mum’s problems creating a feeling that they will resolve when its right and rest assured, I am doing what I can, and let of trying…

 

I had my hot water as usual but instead of training attended to the Qi blockage in the stomach/spleen area. Due to the emotional type of issue, I had and physical symptom I pressed acu-pressure point Pericardium6 on my forearm, pressing hard into the pressure point I felt a lot of pain and almost stinging there, often a symptom of a blockage. Breathing deeply, I felt the tension release in the region of soreness around my stomach and left ribs ease. I felt an immense relief of tension and the pain completely went away. My mind cleared into a simply blissful void space, and I relaxed deeply. What I have found is the more Taiji and Qi Gong I do the easier it is to ease aches and pains and emotional issues with either the training itself or remedial acu-pressure massage between or instead of training sessions. Meditation can also help – deep inquiry into an issue to get to the source and re-solve it by letting go with various practices or replacing it with positive affirmations or tuning into the heart vibe and transcending it there.

 

I then went onto to press acu-pressure point Spleen4 on the instep of my feet. Again, I could feel the whole meridian cleansing out including a slight strain I had in the groin which is also near the stomach and liver (reminder to self to cleanse and energise liver meridian, in TCM liver governs digestion). I could feel the Qi flow through the areas easing the tension and I breathed deeply while pressing the acu-pressure point. The soreness had completely gone from the stomach area, and I felt completely relaxed and at ease.

 

I then did some meditation, looking at one point on a mandala with the aim to sense the unity between outside and inside, feeling my consciousness merge with the exterior and occasionally closing my eyes to merge the image I see on my minds eye of the mandala frame – the reflection of light on my mind’s eye.

 

Realising after this that I had a bit of a blockage in the eye area (probably due to smart phone over-use) I pressed the bladder acu-pressure point in the corner of the eyebrow which released the tension, and I had a twenty-minute-deep snooze before getting up having a shower and eating breakfast.

 

While my breakfast is digesting, I would go on the computer for a bit, reply to any emails and/or draft an article, such as this one 😊.

 

During the course of the day, I would usually continue on the computer in and around private one-to-one sessions or a corporate client class.

 

After lunch I would rest, occasionally a bit later, do half-hour to an hour Kung Fu outdoors and then a bit of Taiji in the evening even sometimes if I were teaching a Qi Gong or Taiji class. I also integrate the way we move in Tai Chi into my day, turning my feet in the direction I am moving, rising, and sinking to do or get things and busting out a few moves/stretches between classes or computer work. When I remember I do Taiji walking, relaxing the body, chin in, flexing the spine to flick the hips to flex each leg at a time, its very relaxing and can ease tension in the hips caused by sitting on chairs.

One thing that amazes me about practicing Qi Gong and acupressure massage is that, actually, I was quite sceptical about “meridians” – the channels that “Qi” or life force flow through. Even though, as a long-term meditator, I can feel the “vibe” of people and places until I started training and practicing Taiji, and Qi Gong I never felt so clearly the Qi flowing through my body.

 

Qi Gong and remedial acu-pressure is a wonderful way to keep healthy and relaxed. I believe this is because emotional issues and stress usually manifest energetically in the body and mind first and then manifest physically with symptoms as the surrounding tissues begin to get effected.

 

In principle the idea is to clear any issues before they manifest physically. With daily routines and challenges sometimes, a niggle starts before we notice it – and being aware of the body, mind and spirit and any issues that arise is more than 50% there on the journey to healing.

 

This is one thing long term practice can do – improve your sensitivity to causes and effects so that you can prevent them wherever possible and acu-pressure massage is a wonderful way to relieve tension, increase blood and Qi flow and release emotional stresses of daily life in this dimension…

 

Do check out our Brighton Qi Gong class by clicking here.