Why are the qigong movements often so slow?

Often when people see or begin practicing tai chi qigong in my classes, they silently wonder or ask "why are the movement so slow?".
And why just stand for more than a few minutes?
How can that be useful for anything?

And sometimes when practicing people may feel frustrated, bored or awkward. Maybe even assuming it is the practice itself causing those feelings, rather than the result of the attitudes and beliefs about them one subconsciously or consciously chooses.

Many exercise & movement arts involve fast or acrobatic movements. Such as dance, spin, acrobatic yoga postures, many martial arts, running, etc.. And some people practice faster versions of qigong & tai chi.

These are of course beneficial in their own ways. I've also enjoyed taking various dance and yoga classes through the years. And I find them to be enriching, and complimentary to my core zhan zhuang and tai chi qigong practice.

While some people view the art, lifestyle or certain ways or traditions they practice, feel more comfortable with or prefer as the best or only "real" way, I feel there are many equally valid, enjoyable and enriching arts and ways of creating & finding appreciation, meaning & benefits.

There need not be an either - or, dogmatic attitude which looks down on or disrespects other practices & options in life. In fact doing so is generally an expression of short sighted lack of appreciative awareness. Often deepened by confirmation biased attitudes and interpretations.

And what we appreciate and prefer at some nows in life, can and often does shift and expand as we open our minds to new layers of understanding. Sometimes in totally new ways. And sometimes returning to arts & other experiences with renewed layers of appreciation.


While different people practice and teach qigong in diverse ways and pace, I find generally relaxing into a fairly slow flow of movement to be especially enriching in many ways.

Additional to the stillness of zhan zhuang standing meditation, moving slowly in tai chi qigong nourishes a calming of our nervous system.
Helping shift from a sympathetic fight or flight mode of being, into a calmer parasympathetic quality.
This supports our well-being in many ways. Including helping regain some inner balance from the effects of common stressors experienced in our lives.

Slow movement also allows us more relative time - space to more fully, sensitively relax into feeling multidimensional aspects of our embodying being. To deepen our appreciative feeling awareness beyond easily habitualized carrot-on-a-stick preoccupied focus on some future time or goal.

If we feel bored, frustrated or impatient with moving slowly, essentially that often reflects a lack of appreciation for being fully in the now. A dissonance between our real actual self and our socially presented or idealized self, ideas & behaviors.
We may blame it on the slowness or stillness of the practice. Yet it is more honest & healthfully empowering to recognize that there is no ultimate end goal or moment when practicing.
And that there is timeless enrichment, beauty, enjoyment and expansive depth available in savoringly relaxing into quietly appreciative feeling awareness.

Opening our heart - soul consciousness and allowing such to feelingly saturate & enliven our embodying nature, transforms seemingly flat feeling external physical postures or mechanical movements into nuanced universes of fulfilling metaphysical embodying feeling awareness not bound by verbal language or dogmatic ideas about life.

An old analogy is "silk reeling". Drawing silk from silk worms in ancient times was said to be done by hand. Very slowly, gently and smoothly drawing a single silk thread from a silk worm, so to keep it whole.

Similarly when moving in tai chi qigong practice, moving with quietly calmly appreciative focus throughout our whole body evenly, unifies, sensitizes and energetically nourishes our being.

While zhan zhuang and moving qigong practices can bring unresolved energies and beliefs up to be recognized and transformed which can feel uncomfortable, as we allow it also can enable us to more fully honestly recognize, feel & be more naturally free of artifice, assumptive projections, normalized embodied blockages, constrictions and tension.
Opening us to increasingly embody universal essence of being - Life energy, even as we are individuating expressions of life exploring diverse ways of meaning & being.

Some of the most fulfilling, "enlightening" experiences I've enjoyed through my years of practice, have included when I've relaxed appreciatively into flowing into only one or a few movements anywhere from 1-30 minutes or so.
Feeling movement flowing from deep in the earth beneath the feet up through legs, hips, waist, spine and out arms & hands.

Expanding awareness in all directions. While movement in one direction is counterbalanced with spring like compressing quality in the leg we are shifting into.
And like our breathing and heart pulse, mindful of the rhythmic expansions and contractions of all of our movements. In all dimensions of our being.
Appreciating embodying yin & yang.

As we slow down, we open ourselves to be more aware & curious about the subjective fluidity of meaning, interpretations and experiences.
Quieting and growing beyond loud or rigid, knee jerk & blinding assumptions & projections, by being more openly curious and honest with ourself, each other and about our beliefs and feelings.

While lubricating & releasing even normalized patterns of constrictive or jerky movement.

Some moments feel easier than others, of course. Some nows we feel as more challenging. And some nows so easily blissfully fully present and wholly immersed in standing and near stillness of slow movements.

There is no ultimate physical place or posture to rush to.
Only the eternal now to relax into focused, fully appreciatively embodying. 💙


- Aaron

* Please note - at least for now, I am no longer providing private, unclothed massage sessions for new clients.
Only clothed chair massage, & clothed table & floor massage sessions blending thai, shiatsu, sports with energy based modalities.

 While I have met some wonderfully mutually respecting, directly honestly communicative people during my career, I am burnt out by some aspects of dealing with people & providing massages.

Mostly by experiences of dealing with some people who choose to not own their abusively negative projections, their responsibility to communicate directly honestly, mutually respectfully with me about their interpretations, boundaries & preferences before expecting to be understood.
Even though I always state to everyone before all sessions that directly mutually respecting communicating with me about such before expecting me to understand and thereby respect them, is one of my boundaries I require to be respected by all people I give for & relate with in any way, for mutual clarity & comfort.

And some people misinterpret what I am open to giving for paid massages. Sometimes mistakenly assuming & expecting more than I am open to giving in a paid context. Some people even getting upset or vindictive if not receiving more intimately than I'm open to giving in a paid context or 1 time experience.
I prefer to change context & keep relating to a personal, unpaid context based at least in developing an honest lasting friendship if sexually inclusive, for many reasons.

And some people relate, maybe unintentionally, misleadingly or assume erroneously, then feel offended based in their mistaken assumptions, misleading dishonest behaviors & projections.

Unfortunately there are many people who in their attachment to maintaining a certain, often superficial & false social & "professional" reputation - public image of themselves, will abusively passive aggressively & directly lie about themselves and to & about people. Who ghost and metaphorically throw under the bus those of us who prioritize being more respectful of the truth of peoples natural diversity & openly honestly communicating & relating with each other.

Some people even mistakenly assume that if I am appreciative of honestly, openly discussing varied aspects of life & human diversity, or networking & connecting with people through these arts for instance, that my doing so is anything more than a sincere openness to learning about life & discovering if, in what context & how relating is mutually appreciated and desired with each individual.

For me I have no expectations from anyone for anything relational other then mutually respectful straightforward honesty about & respect for each others directly honestly stated boundaries & preferences and our individual liberty.

While I respect the equal rights of everyone to have both similar and different preferences, boundaries and interests in how each individual lives ones life and chooses to be open to relate with people up to mutually directly honestly expressed boundaries, I have my own boundaries & preferences in life & for these arts. Including for what I am and am not open to providing or relating during paid or unpaid massage context.
 
Because of such experiences with some misguided, dishonest people, I am no longer accepting private clients for paid, unclothed massage sessions.
If you want a massage from me, you are welcome to receive clothed chair massages from me in a public setting. And perhaps clothed table massage sessions from me at my office.  *

Our interpretations, beliefs and resulting feelings effect how we experience our life, our emotions and body & relating with others. Including how loving, honest & comfortably present in our body & relating with each other we allow ourselves to be.

One way of exploring and enhancing our experience of being alive here in embodying ways, is to really attune to the beliefs & feelings we subconsciously & consciously choose to hold about the natural body, emotions, enjoyment & appreciation.

Recognizing how subjective and varied interpretations & thus feelings can be about a, and our own, body or experience.
How we are the creators of our own feelings of presence, unity, health, comfort and appreciation, or disassociation, discomfort, shame, fear or aversion, with our own & others body and emotions as a whole and in specific areas & realms.

* Wuji - zhan zhuang :

* Begin in in a comfortably balanced, standing position with feet about hip width apart, crown of head gently feeling like lifting upward, heart area relaxed & open. A simple standing meditation posture.

* Relax into your full being in this position for a while. 5 minutes, 30 minutes...whatever you choose. Ideally give yourself at least 5 or 10 minutes to begin to ground and become more present in the now here in your body.

* Slow, deeply rhythmic, fully inhaling & exhaling life energy.

* Relax with calm, appreciative feeling focus which is neither grasping nor avoident, simply openly present and honest.

* Allow this quality of attentive, appreciative feeling perspective - awareness to expand from isolated areas or less loving emotional attitudes that you may tend to notice or identify with habitually, to gently expand more spacious, kindly loving interpretations & feelings throughout your whole unified body - being.

* After a while of standing in stillness, we become increasingly aware of where we may be holding undue tension physically. We may noticed a pain in our hip or shoulder. Perhaps a tendency to slouch with shoulders caving forward, collapsing ones heart and breathing. And how that creates a web of extra tension in additional areas of the body & emotions in attempts to compensate for the postural & emotional imbalances.

Awakening in feeling ways how that tension & discomfort is also connected with our beliefs & interpretations, including inaccurate and unloving ones, we identify with & view life or some people or experiences through, react to. Which influence our varied life & relational choices. 

Perceiving our whole self as including rather than disassociating from, shaming or fearing our body as part of nature, our soul & ways of expressing & experiencing love, harmony and creativity here.
And equally for that of all human beings.

Gradually we can grow recognize, admit & honestly deal with how such associations & interpretations become so normalized, even when inaccurate or blinding us to other equally valid, loving interpretations and feelings which may be more true at least for others & their intentions.
That there are other at least as equally valid alternative ways of interpreting our embodying being. Being human. What is important in life. And most anything else.

We are directly, meditatively facing the truth that we all have many options for how we and others choose to interpret and feel about not only our body & emotional feelings, but for so much of relational experiences with our growing self, each other & life overall. Not just one blinding dogmatic interpretation.  We are freeing ourselves and respecting the freedom of each other, to be what we naturally are, both kindred and diverse.


* Allow this gently grounding quality of wisdom to grow in us with feelings of appreciation, comfortably relaxed softness & openness to life.
Complemented with attentively balancing, upright centrally aligned focus, rooting into our core being and honestly stating our subjective boundaries and preferences with loving kindness.
In awe of the mystery of being alive & the creative subjectivity of meaning & purpose.

Notice how this can support our integrity & clarity for communicating honestly with ourself and anyone we relate with in any way, to support mutual understanding by honestly stating our boundaries, questions, feelings & preferences and staying open to hearing and being heard. To being understanding and understood.

* Do feelings of shame, guilt, fear, disgust, aversion come up when you really relax into the present in your bodily home?


* When we allow ourselves to move out of the perception distorting knee jerk habitual or biased negative associations, we create a quieter, calmer space to relax into. Which quiets the noise of made up stories of acquired and projected beliefs, allowing our nervous system to come back to center.
Allowing our mind, our feelings to come back to a more balanced, clear space that is more curious than negatively assumptive & projective.

 This creates a quiet void space. Which is sometimes referred to as wuji - emptiness.
It is in a way our natural state. A space of eternal now. Of primordial potential. Of purifying and opening our embodying soul to our intimately interrelationship with all that is.

In our busy lives where we are often surrounded by a sea of mixed views about life, our body, each other based in superficial characteristics such as our gender, ethnicity, place of birth, political or religious - nonreligious preferences.
As we stand in quietly spacious feeling awareness, releasing our tight grip that keeps us in tense, knee jerk reactive modes of being, our gradual opening up allows life energy to flow more freely into and through us. Nourishing our being as we get out of our own way, in a sense.

* Allow yourself to be comfortably present as long, as much as you feel open to during each practice session. Savoring the pleasurable feelings & greater physiological & emotional harmony which you are nurturing.


Moving Into a Tai Chi Qigong Flow :

* When you feel ready, when you feel more groundedly present, relaxed and calmly focused than when you began, very slloooowwlly & smoothly pick up your right leg and foot & step out then down to ground again to your right a comfortable distance ( 1 to a few feet ), so that you can sink down even more comfortably.
Into a type of horse stance. Similar to a stance referred to as a goddess posture in some yoga classes.

Exhaling as you expand open from your center. Inhaling as you contract inwardly toward your center.

Often in many cultures people are accustomed to moving fast and rarely slowing down, then feel uncomfortable or strange if they do slow down and more deeply feel what is in them more fully than constantly being busy and rushing allows quietly focused space for. Or being couch potatoes where the energy barely moves at all.
So it can feel challenging, frustrating, boring, confusing or emotionally uncomfortable if we have been stuck in that mode, to really slow down.  We are bringing much needed healing awareness, nurturing balance back into our being.

* We are now moving from wuji - stillness, taking the quiet, calm open hearted feeling awareness - energy we nurture in zhan zhuang, into movement. Into a more overt playful exploration of yin - yang. Into the complementary nature of life, including our bodies as one of many metaphysical layers or aspects of this cosmic pulsing.

Continuing with sllooow, smooth movement, flow all of our balance into the earth through your standing right leg, foot. Feeling your whole body unified in supple interconnectivity.

As you reach a center point of balance on the right side, you can remain here for as long as you want before continuing this flow into the left side. Or flow slowly and continuously without pausing.

Quiet the mind, open the heart & feel appreciation of being. Embodying this quality of loving, curiosity motivated calm, focused presence in the only time that exists - each now.

Continue with this somatic exploring of present focused, grounding, spiritually sensitizing fluid movement as long as you choose. Viewed from the back the movement could seem like a wide or tall U shaped arcing flow.
Savoring the sense of deepening into ones individuating & embodying self.
While also expanding ones feeling awareness of being one of countless diverse, equally valid beings, loving expressions & perspectives.

We are each equally life, exploring and co-creating kindred and diverse paths of exploration, learning, loving and creativity. It is beautiful. We are training & healing our whole being to remember, recognize and embody this.
Cultivating our appreciation of this healthfully enriches how we experience being alive here. And how we relate.

* Pay attention to the amount of openness you are willing to relax into. How much you are able to open into feeling pleasurably appreciative, comfortably relaxed & calmly vibrantly present including your body in each moment as you flow from one side to the other.

Allow yourself to open to enjoy this simple presence even more than you may think makes sense.
You are making the nurturing sense of enjoyment, kindness, by appreciatively engaging your whole being unitively in both stillness and harmonious movement. 

No expectations.
Just relaxing into the now.
Enjoying the release of endorphins, increasing clarity, open appreciation & suppleness which can occur.

Do you tend to favor a side? Or feel pretty balanced? Do certain moments or areas feel more fluid or more stuck? Does it change from day to day? Or based in your beliefs & responses to life & co-creating experiences?

What happens if you refocus to nurture & feel more of the calm, honest, relaxed and loving qualities again? Continue to bring focus back to this. This is our point of clarity and balance.

Allow yourself to be wholly present as you flow. Like a watery warm wave flowing in slow motion. The slowness arises from and feeds a relaxed openness and curiosity about being physicalizing soul consciousness in the only time that exists - now. 

When you feel like transitioning out from that particular process, simply inhale back into a centrally aligned standing position. Feeling yourself deeply grounding like roots expanding out from your spine, hips, legs and feet into the core of the earth.
Torso balanced and heart soft & open.
Head aligned over neck with the most relaxed balance over your spine and whole body.
Feeling warm, appreciative somatic awareness flowing freely through your whole being.

Taking what you are nurturing with this process, with you as you continue with the rest of your nows, wherever you are and whatever you are doing.