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Finding Joy in Movement

15/8/2022

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There is a theory in Chinese Medicine that the Qi flow in Meridians/ Channels are already in existence when we are born into the world as babies. However, only through nourishment - by way of (mother's) milk and care, life experience and movement, do these Channels get stronger as well as more distinct. As I have explained in a previous post, only when these conditions are fulfilled and with the time through childhood, can these Qi 'Rivers' fill up and the access points develop. Thus, the Acupuncture-Points also come to maturity sometime around puberty, if all the criteria of nourishment are fulfilled. 
 
With this in mind, we realize that Movement is a key ingredient in the growth and development of a human being. In childhood, we get to know the world and our bodies through Movement. The child touches its face and realizes for the first time that it has a face, when it feels it in its hand and the corresponding sense of its hand on its face. It swings its arms, kicks its legs and finds its center, to finally turn sideways; this is when it finds its true potential of its mobility. Then the process begins, to crawling, standing and walking; all this in the span of about 8 to 18 months. Children need to move with their bodies and in the environment throughout their childhood in order to develop muscles, fasciae, organs, bones, experience and understanding of self within space. When I say, "understanding," I am referring not just to the intellectual but also to the physical, emotional, spatial and energetic understanding. Due to fact that our mainstream "conventional" world very seldom speaks of energetics or the existence of an energetic world, many of us are energetic "toddlers." We may sense something of an energy as children, but we are seldom given impulses or feedback or much less schooling to develop ourselves from this perspective.
 
Many of us experience Movement through our childhood in the form of sport, especially for males, as our society frequently views Movement forms, such as dance often times ballet, mostly for females. Thus, Movement has become gender-defined. Look at our mainstream school system in Switzerland, the only Movement subject on the schedule is "sport." In many sports, one is often not focused on developing the internal environment of the being but more so learning the rules of the game, sport-specific skills such as eye-limb-ball coordination, maybe tactical strategy or team cohesion, most prominently competition and winning. Any other forms of Movement outside of the "sanctioned" sports are considered odd. Yoga or I must mention Yoga Asanas - the posture practice of Yoga, since Yoga encompasses far more than physical practice, has become more conventional but again more dominant in the female population. Some Yoga Asanas resemble acrobatics, which is also considered a sport; therefore, something that looks like sport is more acceptable to our society. I hear of so many "traumatized" by school sports; many at a young and tender age were forced to participate in Movement based on competition, failed to meet this standard and were scarred from being branded "uncoordinated" or even "failures". If we as a society concentrate on Movement for competition, then what we will reap is a small number of winners, since there is often only 1 winner in most sport forms, and a large population of casualties, broken from the battle. They, or we, are left to pick up the pieces of their broken beings. How can this be sustainable or even logical for the wellbeing of our society?
 
What drew me, and still draws me, to Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong and Yoga is the internal focus to Movement; the internal environment of my being and the work I put into developing it can be manifested as/ in external Movements of my body. This is not to say that there are no Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong or Yoga practitioners who are externally-focused; some are, that is where they place their intention and therefore they stay on the exterior. For me, it is about what is inside us that matters and not how good it looks in front of a mirror or on some social media platform. If the focus is only on the outside or in competition with others, then we become nothing more than a vacant shell, hollow and empty on the inside but having shiny adornments to cover up the emptiness inside. I was lucky, I found joy in Movement, even if just physical and external, early on in life. Then, even the distress of injury later could not extinguish my desire to find Movement. In fact, when my external body could not manifest Movement, I found internal Movement. For this I am grateful to my bodymind. This is what I am trying to share with others, the joy of connection to our own bodies, external and internal, the joy of Moving. Because Movement is life, so let's live!   
 
 
​
 
Photo by Amanda Napitu on Pixabay

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In Search of Centre

27/9/2021

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The Chinese character for Centre or Middle is, 中 Zhōng in Mandarin. I recently looked up a Wiktionary etymology of this character and it describes 2 versions of this pictogram: one being a target, the rectangle box being shot through by an arrow, the second, derived possibly from a more ancient character as in the image above, being a flagpole with a drum being beaten by the wind, placed in the centre of a field to gather people together and to detect the direction of the wind. The meaning of this character, Zhōng, is either "middle" or "centre" or "to hit the centre" or "to attain."  

It is quite unknown to many that the name for the country China is not what Chinese people call their own country. They call their country Zhōng Guó,中國, meaning "Middle State" or "Middle Country." The modern mainland Chinese call their country Zhōng Huá Rén Mín Gòng Hé Guó, People's Republic of China. "China" was a name given to them by the Persians, or possibly ancient Indians and then adopted by the Europeans. There are many reasons that led to the people of China calling their country Zhōng Guó, which archaeological sources date back to the period known as the Warring States Period, ca. 471 to 221 BCE. But what has then occurred is that the medicine that we called Chinese Medicine, which is called in Mandarin Zhōng Yī,中醫, directly translates as "Middle Medicine." 

It only recently occurred to me that a "Medicine of the Middle" is about finding the Centre, which for me also refers to finding balance. This is true of Chinese Medicine, there is a focus in finding balance within the individual; the individual within her/his social-emotional, physical and spiritual environment. The concepts of Yin-Yang and the Five Phases/Elements, which are the basis of Chinese Medicine, are about balance. Over 10 years ago, I was in a course for Shonishin, Japanese Children's Acupuncture, with Dr. Thomas Wernicke. He got us to lay like babies, in order that we understand the perspective of the world that babies have. One of the important growth milestones for a baby is rolling, either from belly to back or reverse, which typically occurs between the 4th and 6th month in a healthy child. Before a baby can perform this, it must first find its midline, that means hands and feet, right and left must be able to connect with each other. Once they can perform this on a regular basis, the body will be able to tip sideways, and they begin their movement journey towards being upright. This was an illuminating moment for me. I became more aware of my own Centre as well as how important it is to be Centred in order to be alive and thriving. 
  
It has been a few years now since I began practicing Yoga. What has drawn me to practice it regularly in recent years has been the connection I sense with myself internally and externally as well as, what I perceive as a playfulness with my own body(-mind). After spending my early years of life till my 20s dancing on my feet and the next few decades practicing rooting through my feet-legs through Tai Ji Quan/Qi Gong, I find being upside-down on my head, arm and hands just fabulously exciting. My most recent goal is the Handstand; the description of Handstand is very deceiving as it not just about trying to stand on the hands. Through this process, I am evolving a new awareness of balance and my Centre, not just in the literal sense but also in my life. I am finding that balance is not a static place/event; it is a constant fluctuation between stillness and movement. Some days I achieve balance on my hands for 3 seconds and another for just a milli-second. I receive minute information from different body parts like the base of my hand or my phalanges (the bones of my fingers) on where my balance is. I find that I am in constant "conversation" with my body and its different parts. It brings me into the here-and-now, because if for one split second of handstanding I lose my focus, I may fall painfully on my head. I accept all these gratefully as I know deep inside me, a cauldron of deep knowing is in the brewing.
 
As we just passed the Autumn Equinox (time of equal day and night) last week, I had the feeling that balance is being called for. We can all definitely find a little more balance in our lives and what better way than to become aware of our Centres. Take a moment of quietness and stillness in either standing, sitting or lying. Become aware of your body in space. Then, ask yourself, "Where is my Centre?" and just listen to your body answering.
 
 
 
Image Headstand by Aron H.
Image Zhōng Bronz Inscription and Silk Script from Wiktionary
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Spring: Time to Get Stretching

27/2/2021

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I was outside these past few days enjoying the warmth of the sunlight and the scent of spring. There is still a chill in the air but you can feel the earth is warming up and the plants are twisting their way out of the earth to reach the sunlight. It is the return of life and the energetic motion of rising upward. 
 
In Chinese Medicine, it is the time of the Wood element with the color green and the climate of wind; hence, be mindful of the cool wind when you go outside to get sunlight. The organs that are associated with Wood are the Liver and Gallbladder. They govern the sense organ of sight, the eyes, and the tissues are the sinews. Interestingly, the emotion related to this time of year is anger/ frustration and the sound of shouting. I say "interestingly" because one would imagine after a long, cold winter, it feels like a relief to have sunlight and warmth. Which it is, if we are allowed to grow outward. But if you imagine yourself as a plant breaking through stone to come out to the light but being restricted when you have all that powerful energy in you, you would become frustrated and at some point, angry. It is a time of movement. All that storing of qi inward in winter needs to start to move outward. As the Yellow Emperor Inner Classic or Huang Di Nei Jing, Su Wen Chapter 2 states:
 
"The three months of spring,
they denote effusion and spreading.
In heaven and earth everything comes to life;
the myriad beings prosper.
Go to rest late at night and rise early.
Move through the courtyard with long strides."
 
It is the time of the year to move our bodies and minds. This is why many of us feel like beginning new projects or starting to exercise. It is not just us humans but the energy of the season that inspires us to movement. The reference to "move through the courtyard with long strides" arouses in me the feeling of stretching.
 
I like stretching. I began formal dance training at the age of 5 and continue movement training even till the present. I feel blessed when I can move and stretch. It is like breathing for me, existential and essential for life. When the Chinese say "sinews," they refer to tendons, ligaments and fasciae. This is fascinating as I realized that being flexible has more to do with our connective tissue, which are made up of collagenous, elastic and reticular fibers, than to do with our muscles or bones. More and more scientific research into the body is revealing that we do not know everything about the body. For the longest time anatomists thought that they discovered all there is to know about human anatomy. Then not so long ago, they realized that fasciae are not just "junk" tissues around organs and muscle, but a deep network of tissues that connect the whole body. Currently, more connective tissues are being discovered and they are realizing that stretching is a very important component to having a healthy body. In The Science of Stretch, Dr. Helene Langevin describes her research with stretching connective tissue with acupuncture and how deep the effects of this stretch are on a person. 
 
For me, stretching goes even deeper than connective tissue; stretching my physical body brings me deeper into my mental, emotional and spiritual being. This is why I like practicing Tai Ji Quan, Qi Gong and Yoga. These practices incorporate breath, movement and stretching of my body, as well as the awareness of Qi. I have learned to focus and discipline my body-mind, being aware of sensations in my being as well as the environment that envelops me. I have learned to distinguish between a beneficial, stretching sensation and the sensation of ripping, piercing pain when I have overstretched; in other words, I have come to know the healthy boundaries of my body. This does not stop at the physical body, it extends to my awareness of the other aspects of my being, be it emotional, mental or energetic.
 
If you are sitting in your chair right now reading this blogpost, begin by opening your chest to the sky and lifting your arms above you. Feel how good that feels. It is now the time to move, turn off your digital device and get stretching!  
 
  
 
 
Reference
Unschuld Paul U. (2003): Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen - Nature, Knowledge, Imagery in an Ancient Chinese Medical Test. London: University of California Press, Ltd.
 
 
 
Image by kevin burt on Pixabay
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    Elaine Yap

    I am a Chinese Medicine practitioner at ICM, mother of 2 sons, living on my third continent. I'd love to share with you my perspectives on healing, TCM, movement, plants, social change and life.

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Institut für Chinesische Medizin ICM GmbH

Falknerstrasse 4 | 4001 Basel
Tel. 061 272 88 89 | Fax 061 271 42 64
info@icm-basel.ch ​
  • Acupuncture
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