Faulk TaiChi

Learn the beautiful, flowing movements for health and relaxation.

Autumnal Equinox

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We’re at that time of year where we mark the day when we have equal amounts of light and darkness and then the hours of darkness will increase and dominate until March. Equinox signifies balance and I visualize that balance in the two small circles of the yin/yang symbol.

Faulk Tai Chi

The dark and light spaces symbolize energy moving, continuously and the space in circles represents “balance”. We see this symbol associated often with Tai Chi, because through the gentle moves of this ancient practice, we hope to increase our internal and external balance.

Our lives, following the patterns of the universe, include both dark and light aspects. We need to embrace the dark, contemplative, intuitive inward yin creativity as well as the more active, outward, physical yang. energy. This can be a challenge for those of us who want to accomplish, reach goals, keep active. Are you someone who’s little voice in your head continually tells you “so much to do, too little time?”

Visualize the clouds, the trees. They are an integral part of the rhythms of nature. We, too, can be part of nature’s rhythms, with attention and intention to working towards a balance of doing and being. What can you do, or stop doing to have more balance in your life?

Find a Few Minutes for Stillness Each Day

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Faulk Tai Chi class

In our fast-paced world of instant communication, so many sources are seeking our attention, many times simultaneously. We feel pulled in different directions. We set out to do one thing and can’t finish because we’re diverted to do something else. These sources are not only our family, bosses, colleagues and friends, but also technology, being drawn to our phone, computer, television, ads flashing at us from all directions.

How important it is in our busy world to find a few minutes for stillness each day. Usually, these minutes need to be intentional and we might even need to program them into our schedule — a leisurely walk, looking at a beautiful lake, watching the cranes migrate, being on the top of a mountain staring, doing a favorite yoga pose, meditating on our cushion, playing some tai chi movements from our favorite form.

For me, it is taking time to create stillness through the motion of weight-shifting and gentle, flowing movements of tai chi. It is not only relaxing but also energizing and clears my head of clutter and competing thoughts that fly through my mind.

What will you do this week to bring some stillness into your day?

A Lesson from the Turtles

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So much negative news on the television right now — round-the-clock coverage on finding a suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings last week. It puts our nervous system in a state of high alert, of fear lurking around the corner. Don’t go out of your house. Lock the doors. Don’t let anybody in. Will our city be next?

So, I will offer an alternative today, a story that will make you smile.

By chance I happened to see a little story on TV that offered a good life lesson for all of us. An organization on the east coast rescued turtles in the midst and aftermath of hurricane Sandy. I’m not sure what condition the turtles were in, but now they were ready to return to the Atlantic Ocean.

A truck arrived on a sandy beach. The pleased workers carefully took out 240 to 250 turtles, ready to return to their natural habitat. The spotted turtles, with about 16-inch or so shells, were lifted out of the truck. At the front of the TV screen were the turtles and toward the middle of the screen a few feet from the turtles were the waves lapping up onto the beach.

The turtles seemed to have smiles on their faces, looking directly at the water, anticipating their freedom. As their legs touched down on the sand, they looked forward and started moving. Slowly, ever so slowly. Their destination was clear but they didn’t hurry. They took their time and didn’t touch or run into each other. They just moved forward. Slowly, right side forward, then left, then right. . .then gracefully moved into the water and were at peace as they returned to their home.

In Tai Chi when we practice walking, I often mention that ‘the tortoise wins,’ meaning the slow, steady, purposeful movements of the tortoise, the turtle is what we want to emulate. The turtles are steady, focused and intentional. They are in the moment. The live a long time.

Filling Up, Emptying Out

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March is the month when we really start thinking about the spring season. Yes, this month marks the calendar beginning of spring, although in Chicago, it  feels like spring one day and winter the next. We have had a cloudy, snowy and rainy start to spring this year, so right now we’re thinking about the season rather than experiencing it.

Just like making resolutions for January to start a new year, we plan cleaning out — closets, papers, broken appliances — to have our homes feel neat and clean for March and April. Good for those of us who actually take the time to empty out closets, catch-all drawers and give away or throw away.

We have to be intentional for this to work. We may set a specific goal and timeline to accomplish this. We may say our intention out loud, to increase our motivation and resolve. We know ourselves and what would light a little fire under us to actually take action.

Tai Chi can be like cleaning out a closet; a closet is a metaphor for our entire life. Too often, we take on more and more, in our life that if already full. We get overwhelmed, are frustrated, have trouble sleeping and can never cross off enough items on our ‘to do’ list.

In class we use breathing, breathing in — filling up, then breathing out — emptying out. Very slow, very focused. It helps to clear our mind and stop long enough to refresh and create capacity to take new things in. Intentional walking, which we practice in every Tai Chi class focuses on the same principle. Place 100% of your weight on one leg (filling up); allowing for 0% on the other so you can take a step (emptying out). Fill up (Yang) and empty out (Yin). We need both to feel some balance in our days and in our entire life.

Taking a Tai Chi class can help us cultivate a pattern and habit of these helpful practices. However, everybody can breathe with intention and walk with intention, wherever you are. What a great way to welcome spring into our lives — breathe and walk.

A Yin Time of Year

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We are moving into a Yin time of year. This will be particularly evident when daylight savings time ends during the first weekend in November.

“My heavens, it’s getting dark before 5 p.m.”, we say. “I don’t like that it’s dark so much more than its light,” is commonly heard.

In our culture, Yin isn’t an everyday term, but in the Chinese culture, it is.  Yin is most often talked about in relation to Yang, the opposites in us, in all of nature that are always moving, always changing. Yin is dark, night, reflection, internal, water; Yang is light, day, activity, external, fire. Yin and Yang are part of system of thinking called correspondence thinking, that events occur in association with each other. Patterns develop. This philosophy which informs the principles of Chinese medicine are centuries old.

Yin and Yang theory also informs Tai Chi. The goal of Tai Chi is to promote balance in all things, starting with our own body, mind and spirit, and then moving outside of us to our relationships, and to our care of the external world in which we live. Through Tai Chi we bring intention to our breathing, our posture, our shifting of weight, all to achieve better overall balance in our lives, starting with the literal, increased balance of standing and walking every day.

We are surrounded by affirmations for Yang activities — setting goals, achieving, multi-tasking, doing more and more. The Yin activities — resting, reflection, turning off the TV and smart phones — are not affirmed externally. We individually, have to make the decision to stop, say no, revitalize and renew our energy.

Our bodies need moisture, not only moisturizer, but also moisture in our tissues. In Tai Chi class, I’m emphasizing QiGong movements right now, shifting our weight from the center of our feet to the ball of the feet, then back to center again. At the center of each foot is a strong energy point, Yongquan, also called “bubbling spring”, which stimulates and enhances Yin in our body.

Yin and Yang relate to water and fire in the body, the two main components we aim to balance. With balance we have health; with imbalance, we have illness. At this time of year it is helpful to recognize these two components and embrace importance of Yin, that surrounds us and can nourish us when we pay attention.