Taijiquan Is a Tool of Transition

Taijiquan has relevance as an important component during the stages of life, e.g. one’s educational evolution from elementary to post graduate studies. As an “integrative lifestyle wellness” system, learning its efficacy and enhancement to your professional and personal life is essential. It is even more so in the years of retirement as “transition” is the next phase that requires our understanding and preparation, just as we did for our careers. The difference is, being educated requires an accumulation of knowledge and skills, whereas transition requires gleaning and integrating the essence of acquired wisdom for guidance to know True Self.

Sayings like, “Abandon book learning. Do away with learning and grief will not be known. Embrace original simplicity. Reduce what you have, decrease what you want.” and “Every moment of our living involves both a living and a dying, thereby making the whole process of Life vibrant and productive,” support our clarity for later life unification.

Taiji offers a practical and enjoyable way to grow into knowing and being in the nature of one’s True Self. No longer encumbered by schedules, mission and vision statements, deadlines and goals, meetings and conferences, shareholders and dividends, you are free to direct your life’s energies to encouraging and experiencing contentment and well-being.

One way this happens is, the constant production of chemicals to support your dealings with worry, fear, and anxiety are greatly reduced. This gives a much-needed reprieve to your adrenal glands, which sit atop the kidneys, from constantly producing cortisol that can also produce many unwanted disharmonies within the body. With this reduction comes the opportunity for your various organic systems to operate naturally. Digestion, respiration, heart rate, brain facilitations, immune, neurological, and musculature systems have the chance to normalize and to reconstitute your inner wellness.

Beginning this process provides each person with the chance to understand the choices that optimize their ability to live a more vibrant and successful life. 

Real understanding comes from your participation with the practice. People usually think I am joking when I respond to their statement of “wanting to give taiji a try” with the comment “OK … do that for about five years, then let’s talk about what you’ve experienced.”

Taiji practice benefits are cumulative not metaphorically pharmaceutical quick, which makes starting young a necessary health requirement for society. To immerse yourself in the understanding of “transitioning” from one taiji movement to the next with total appreciation is to know Self fully.

The two words taiji aka t’ai chi have particular meaning which can only be known from the original imagery found in the characters 太極 which, in essence, are portraying that humans evolved from the source of creation with potential. How one uses the “qi” of heaven and earth (simply air, food and water, mind and matter, spirit and consciousness) with their potential determines the quality of their life. Using the concepts and practices of taiji daily, provides guidance for harmony in one’s life. These two characters depict that the physical movements one does are a part of your whole way of living. This makes 太極 a “lifestyle” of various ways and means that benefit every stage and facet of our life. As one master shares with students: “BE taiji in everything you do, even when you aren’t practicing.”

Nathan Spivey lives and teaches Taiji and Qigong on Maryland’s Eastern Shore. He began his journey with Grandmaster Mai Bochan aka Bow Sim Mark in 1977. Nathan has been teaching since 1983, and gives presentations and workshops about integrative wellness.