Embrace Tree, 70/30 left leg forward stance, off center view - 06/16/08 (Spring)
I've held all of the postures from the 37 Posture Tai Chi form as static postures (standing pole exercises). But if I'm going to be standing still in a 70/30 stance for several minutes at a time, the arm position I most prefer is Embrace Tree. Here are 4 reasons why:
1 - More than any other Tai Chi posture the Embrace Tree arm position makes me experience my upper body as a large UPRIGHT COLUMN. When seen from above, my rounded back forms the back part of the column. My arms, maintaining a rounded, circular shape in front of me, complete the front of the column. A circle can be drawn from my back through my extended fingers that defines the periphery, or circumference of this column.
By opening and closing my hip joints, and by using my upright spine as the central axis of this column, I can rotate my upper body to the left and to the right. The Tai Chi Classics say "turn like a millstone." With my arms in the Embrace Tree shape, it's very easy to feel that my upper body can indeed turn like a millstone.
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2 - When I hold my arms in a circular Embrace Tree posture, they have the same springy, resilient "ward-off" quality as when I assume the tai chi Ward-Off position. It's a very strong, solid structure, skeletally speaking. When my arms are in this circular position, with elbows well-bent, the bones and joints of the shoulders, scapula, and spinal column, connect in a very efficient way, enabling me to resist significant external force without my arms collapsing inward. They become very capable of warding off incoming attack energy. My extended arms create a barrier, or curved shield (similar to the curved bones of my ribcage), which protect my internal organs from attack.
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3 - When my fingers extend toward each other in the Embrace Tree position, I feel chi energy flowing between them better than in almost any other hand position. That's why I'd rather hold my arms in the Embrace Tree shape than in Ward Off, Push, Press, or Brush Knee. If I'm going to be standing in a static posture, I may as well be feeling the chi flow most intensely between my hands as well.
By maintaining the Embrace Tree static posture, not only am I stretching my spine, and aligning my skeletal system most efficiently in relation to gravity, and maintaining the symmetry of my body, but also, I am cultivating chi at same time. I am feeling "warm current" chi flowing between my fingertips.
When my fingers extend toward each other, a few inches apart, I feel an electromagnetic kind of push-pull sensation between them. As if invisible lines of force are flowing between my fingers, jumping the gap between them. A chi circuit is being completed, even though my fingers don't physically touch each other. Some form of invisible life force energy flows around and through the circle of my arms, my curved back, my expanding abdomen. The energy feels like a hot cloud, expanding outward from the central core of my body.
My mind can move this energy. I can augment the chi feeling by completing the circuit with my mind! Just think circles, moving through my arms and fingers, and the chi flows even more strongly. My hands feel like they are glowing with this energy.
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4 - The abdomen is a major reservoir of chi. My curved arms EXTEND the outer boundaries of my abdominal area. It's as if my semi-circularly curved arms become the outer surfaces of my ribcage and abdomen.
Consider the image of Santa Claus wrapping his arms around his huge, protruding belly, as he laughs "Ho, ho, ho!" With each laughing breath, his arms, resting on his huge belly, rise and fall as his big belly expands and contracts.
In the Embrace Tree position, my arms do something very similar. They act as extensions of an invisible, huge "chi belly." As if my abdomen has become invisibly inflated, all the way out to the periphery of my arms. As if my arms are resting on a huge, invisible "chi belly" that supports them. My arms expand and contract slightly with each inhalation and exhalation, mimicking the expansion and contraction of my ribcage and abdomen as I do deep abdominal breathing. This intensifies the feeling of chi flow which originates from my abdominal tan-tien region, and flows along my forearms to my hands, palms, and fingertips. Until my whole body feels like it's one big cloud of chi!
My arms PULSE outward and inward with each wave of chi that radiates from my belly area. Ideally, I want every movement of my tai chi form to be propelled by similar WAVES OF CHI.
Feeling the movement of chi throughout the entire body while holding a static posture (like Embrace Tree) makes it easier to experience and maintain that feeling of chi flow throughout the moving tai chi form.
ChiGuy396
ChiGuy396@yahoo.com
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Primordial Qigong (Chi Kung) or Tai Chi for Enlightenmenby winnerwinn22,254 views
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