What is Taichi Light: Part 7

Movement Sixteen: The Flywheel

The Transition: At the end of the last movement, remain crouching, bend down from your waist. Put your arms hanging in front of you.

The Movement: Turn your torso to the left, begin to inhale, stand up, raise your arms up follow by your torso until they reach the 12 O’clock position. Begin to exhale, turn your torso to the right, keep your arms parallel and move them in parallel clockwise in front of you, stretching them as much as you can, until they are back in the six o’clock position. As you make the circle, leave your waist loose so that your torso would turn left and right in natural harmony with your arms’ movement. This is one movement cycle. Do three cycles clockwise, followed by three cycles counterclockwise.

The Breathing: Inhale when your arms are moving upward; exhale when they are moving downward.

The Imagery: Imagine you were just a little kid, loitering in the backyard with nothing much to do but trying to do something anyway.


Movement Seventeen: Playing with the Ball

The Movement: Stand straight with your feet about a foot apart and your arms hanging on your sides. Begin to inhale. Concurrently raise your right hand (with palm facing down) and your left knee in front of you, and make your right leg stand on its toes. Lower your right hand and your left leg and assume a crouching position. Begin to exhale, raise your left hand and right leg and do the same movement. This is one movement cycle. Do this six times.

The Breathing: Inhale when raising right hand and left leg; exhale when raising left hand and right leg.

The Imagery: Imagine you were a little kid playing with the ball.

Remark: When rising up, the upward momentum of the knee helps the body rise up. Practice will allow you to gain good balance and to make the movement not jerky but graceful.


Movement Eighteen: Calming Down

The Movement: Assume a crouching position (torso straight up not leaning forward) with arms hanging in front and with palms facing up and fingertips of both hands touching slightly. Begin to inhale very slowly and move your hands up your front (fingers touching) until they reach the eye level. Then turn your palms facing down, begin to exhale and, while your hands slowly go down your front, lower your body to the crouching position with your hands by your thighs. This is one movement cycle. Do this six times.

The Breathing: Inhale when hands moving up; exhale when hands moving down.

The Imagery: At this time, you should be mentally peaceful and emotionally calm, without no grudge against anybody nor remorse for any bad deed. This is a good place to start your day (or sleep).

Remark: As you raise your hands, imagine your body is being filled with clean, life nourishing air as your hands move up. Feel that air “filling up” your abdomen before it reaches your chest.


A Closing Meditation

After you have finished the 18 movements and before you leave this peaceful state of mind, remain standing and relax your whole body, close your eyes and do a few deep breathing in a meditation pose. Use this minute to capture the feeling that you have your feet firmly in the ground and are ready to start your day with the utmost self confidence. If you are doing the exercise at night, feel the freedom from all the worries and problems of the day.

So here you have a description of the entire Body-Mind Exercise, or Taichi Light. A DVD presenting the entire exercise plus a talk about the key points in learning and practicing this exercise is available at www.taichilight.com.