06.23.08
Chen style practical method, silk reeling, and meridians
Chen Style Practical Method, Silk Reeling, and Meridians
—understanding the health benefits of practicing Tai Chi
Recently, I came across Dr. Andrew Weil’s comments about Tai Chi, which appeared in his Good Morning E-mail Newsletter on July 9, 2003. He stated “Tai Chi is a great form of exercise, especially for those with osteoarthritis. It can help you build your leg muscles, strengthen your posture, and improve your balance, flexibility, and mobility. It also can teach you to relax and focus, even while executing the moves, is a way to harmonize the coordination, and can reduce the risk of falls common with the elderly.” I was really impressed and appreciated his inside knowledge and advocacy of Tai Chi practice. His words are encouraging to people who may try Tai Chi for any health reasons. True, Tai Chi has been used in China for hundreds of years for internal martial art and fitness training. It’s a unique blend of martial and healing art. The foundation of Tai Chi as a healing art is rooted in traditional Chinese medicine.
According to traditional Chinese medicine, healing can be defined as bringing the yin and yang energy into balance. In further detail, healing involves restoring energy flow in all meridians. If you easily catch cold, your lung meridian is weak; the energy flow in your lung meridian somehow impeded. By regularly practicing Tai Chi, you can strengthen the lung meridian, and you won’t get colds easily. There are total 12 main meridians that form a comprehensive network covering all over the body. It’s not an easy task to keep the energy flow unimpeded in all meridians. Any blockage of energy flow will cause health problems. Tai Chi is a great form of exercise to keep all meridian energy flow.
“Silk Reeling” is a characteristic form of movement in Tai Chi. It is named from the practice of pulling silk strings from their cocoons in spinning motion. In our Tai Chi practice, we can understand that “silk reeling” is twisting and elongating/extending. Let me use rotating forearm as an example to explain how “silk reeling” is achieved. Extend your right arm forward in supine position (palm facing up, elbow points down). Now, keep your elbow down, pronate your palm (turn your palm facing down), your forearm is now twisted. Meanwhile, point your fingers forward, as if the forearm is extended. The sensation you get is the result of “silk reeling” of the forearm. The twisting motion of the forearm actually elongates the muscles, which activates the energy flow in all 6 meridians in your arm. They are lung meridian, heart meridian, pericardium meridian, large intestine meridian, small intestine meridian, and triple heat meridian. When we do Tai Chi correctly, the whole body is doing “silk reeling”. Other 6 meridians in and out of legs and upper body are stomach meridian, spleen meridian, gall bladder meridian, urinary bladder meridian, liver meridian, and kidney meridian. “Silk reeling” differs Tai Chi from any other forms of exercise.
There are different styles of Tai Chi practiced by different groups of people. My favorite is Chen style practical method, which emphasize the precision of each movement, with the sensation of “silk reeling” all along the body. Keep this in mind, you can check if you are doing right. Chen style practical method is the one that keeps the “silk reeling” in every form. It requires the “silk reeling” shown and felt when you are practicing the form. Most important, you know how to achieve the “silk reeling” by the correct method, a combination of physical movement and mindfulness. Thus, practicing becomes more meaningful. Suddenly, you feel you’re energized, because your liver, spleen, and gall bladder meridians are no longer stagnant. You feel your body becomes lighter, because your urinary bladder and kidney meridians are open, and toxins accumulated in your body are eliminated. You don’t remember when was the last time you got sick. Gradually, your overall health has been improved.
