Part I: Students Discover and Apply Tai Chi Principles in Daily Life

I’m very fortunate to be sharing and learning tai chi and its application to every day life to a lovely class of physical therapist at the Shangrila Spa Academy, Manila, Philippines. These students from all over the Philippines, Nepal and Indonesia learned very simple movement forms and chi kung principles to focus on how they can apply them in the daily issues of their student life- many of them away from family and loved ones.

Reading their experiences makes me remember how often we can use tai chi and chi kung in everyday situations:

Aubrey:
Discovering how negative chi can be purified by practicing the “3 Adjustments”-
Chi is in our environment and permeating all aspects of our lives. While it cannot be seen, we can discover that it exists in many ways as in good and bad or positive and negative manifestation of chi. I’ve discovered its negative aspect recently:

My having bad eyesight and the need to take down notes from a distance where I sit in the class had caused me unbearable headache. The continuing effort of straining to see had seemed to drain my chi and had caused a blockage and deficiency in the areas of my eyes and brain, which manifested in this throbbing pain in head. To make things worse, I believe I was also generating negative chi in my emotion.

Right after dinner, I immediately laid down to relax my tired and beat-up body. But as much as I wanted to rest, I felt restless and distracted. At that point I remembered the tai chi lecture on how tai chi can be applied in situation such as this. Instantaneously, I sat down on the edge of the bed and made the "3 adjustments of chi kung" (1) adjusted my posture to be balanced and relaxed which helped my (2) breathing to be deep, long, even, smooth and silent. Beginning to loosen and release the constriction in my chest and abdomen, I felt my breath becoming more abdominal and was gathering more oxygen and chi particularly into my brain. I then I (3) focused my mind letting it to be less distracted and more calm and sensing my relaxing my body. In a short while, I began to feel better and my outlook opened up to be more positive and resourceful.
I realized how tense and stressed I was and that working on the chi kung’s “three adjustments” – posture relaxation, breathing and mind focusing – is a very effective way to meet any challenge in life.

Felina:
Discovering how positively chi affects us-
In was a Sunday morning and I was strolling to church when I discovered how positive chi could make that day a super fabulous one. That chi simply appeared when I chanced to meet the whole family of my best friend from long time ago. Even though my best friend was not there with them, she being out of the country, that meeting was filled with heartfelt greetings and catching up on what has happened, hugging and shaking hands. An immeasurable emotional high enveloped me. At that point I felt chi emanating from their smiles, their body and their words and I said to my self, “so this is positive chi, and it does circulate among people who feel each other”. At times like this, one has just to express that overwhelming chi with an expression of gratitude to God.

Jhem:
Bending Time in a Traffic Jam-
That Friday evening I was rushing, excited to get home from my classes at the Academy and looking forward to enjoying my brothers’ company and resting early. But the traffic turned out to be not only bad, the bus I was on seemed stuck at standstill. Slowly I felt my excitement turning into impatience and anger. My chi was turning from positively golden to turbid gray. In exasperation I leaned back on the chair and got thought that I shouldn’t get this situation to destroy my evening. I adjusted the way I held my body to be more balanced, centered and relaxed as I focused my mind in deep abdominal breathing. I focused on happy moments I had in my pasts and one good memory lead to another and I found my self really enjoying my session on reflecting. Then I realized that two hours stock in the traffic flew like few minute. Working on chi, we can change how time feels.

John-john:
The level of chi does not depend on how much energy we spent that day-
It was after office and classes in the evening. I was already tired and also felt I needed to conserve my energy for the long class work the next day. But it was my cousin’s birthday party and I had to go. Before entering the house, I composed myself by adjusting the way I carried myself, breathed deeply from my abdomen and focused on the thought that this is time to be happy. I entered the house with a bright smile and an open heart and mind to circulate with the people. Right then I felt that my own energy was circulating inside me and around the other people in the room. I just flowed with this chi as I felt it circulating smoothly. It was memorable evening and I felt energized rather than depleted.

Irene:
Teacher save the day by giving us a break to exercise-
It was after lunch and the subject of the lecture was very complicated. We felt like our chi was stagnating and not flowing into our brains. We were obviously straining to focus on the lesson. Our teacher was perceptive and wise and gave us an exercise break. We took the opportunity to do group tai chi. From doing the exercises it felt like the stress and tension we felt was released. After that I continued to do the “3 adjustments” and particularly focused my mind on my goals and the reasons for me to keep motivated. This way I get going through difficult hours in the classroom.

Eric:
Arrogant people transmits negative chi-
Learning about chi made me more aware how people chi affects my chi. I come from the southern islands of the Philippines and we speak with a different accent from people in Manila. Some Manila people think we are inferior because of this. It is a stupid way to think but their looking down on us affects me negatively. I feel downtrodden and insulted. It triggers off my homesickness, missing my family and loved ones. Learning chi kung made me remember that I need not be a victim of such things. I have power and control of the harmonious flow of energy in my body. I can make the three simple adjustments and direct my focus on something positive and not dwell on this negative people. So I do tai chi, listen to peaceful music, call my love one, converse with my friend, all these easily purifies my negative chi to be bright and positive again.

Melanie:
Managing chi with a little help from friends-
There are simple things I do that really help me adjust my chi. Taking a brisk shower in morning for one gets me ready for any type of day ahead. Even during times that I would have to skip breakfast to finish the many things I have to do, I get along doing my 3 adjustments or what I call PBF (Posture balancing & relaxing, Breathing deeply and Focusing positively). If these are not enough there are always my friends whose smiles, laughter and lively conversations never fail to get my stagnating energy circulating again. With these even difficult day don’t seem so stressful.

Charity:
Teamed-up with someone I despised-
According to Buddha, to be with the one you despise is one of the unavoidable sufferings in life. Our school head confirmed this with his firm admonition to me, “You should follow what you are told”.
Every tissue in my female body was rebelling in spite of my realizing how unprofessional I was behaving. So, I decided to act on this issue – “I would confront this negative chi that is represented by this person I was teamed up with!” But before proceeding, I had to align and find my calm center, take as many deep breaths as necessary to discover the right intentions to focus on. After this, I finally gained the wisdom and strength to express to him my wounded emotion and listened to his side. We eventually arrived at an arrangement that works for the both of us. Now, we are working harmoniously.

Rachana:
We love to keep going back to places where we feel positive chi-
I always look forward to going to our cafeteria. They always greet me by name and always sees to it that my vegetarian meal (specially cooked for me is ready). No matter in what physical and emotional state I am, this place – because of its people and the healthy food they cook for me – always, always makes me high.

Ajaya:
Our chi connections, hurting & healing-
One morning, my friends’ and my chi were shaken by the angry chi of one of our friends. In a loud and hurting voice he asked us, “Am I not your friend? Why do you go out on a fun trip together without inviting me?”
His chi affected our chi and we felt both guilty and sad for him. We needed to heal the wounded connections between us.
So we had to center ourselves before we could positive affect his aching chi. Doing the “3 adjustments, it felt like we knew just what to say and do to console and comfort him. It took a while, but instantly we knew the healing was in progress.