Faulk TaiChi

Learn the beautiful, flowing movements for health and relaxation.

Rooted like Prairie Grass

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Nebraska Prairie Grass 1

Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska — my first time there a couple weeks ago. Most of the state’s population is in those two cities. Otherwise, lots of open space, farm land, corn and soybeans sprouting up and some beautiful rolling hills, which I didn’t expect. And prairie grass.

Along with lively conversation among friends, great food, fun walking the University of Nebraska campus, the two images that remain vivid in my mind’s eye are the cloud formations and prairie grass.

Against a bright blue sky, white puffy clouds dotted the sky, hanging in still motion, mesmerizing. At the same time they seemed majestic, they also seemed light and soft. They drew me into stillness.

Nebraska Prairie Grass 3

The prairie grass, which covered the landscape when Lewis and Clark arrived in 1804, continues to thrive. The stems are thin, tall and sway in the wind. We learned that prairie grass roots can reach down 12 feet under the ground. They are nature’s natural protection against soil erosion and soil blowing away in stiff winds. They also go deep to find water.

I couldn’t help thinking about this relating to Tai Chi. We use the image of rooting like a tree in Tai Chi and that’s a great image. But now I have another image — the slim, gentle, wavy prairie grass, rooted deep beneath the earth. The deeper the roots go, the more stable the tree, the prairie grass, and we are, on and above the earth. Earth energy nourishes us and calls us to be in tune with nature.

I am grateful for this unexpected discovery and for the beauty and the lessons that the clouds, the trees and prairie grass of Nebraska teach us.

Nebraska Prairie Grass
Nebraska Prairie Grass

Photos by Jennifer Davidson (Thanks Jen, for introducing me to Nebraska and prairie grass)

Rooted Like a Tree

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winter tree and blue sky

Rooted like a tree. I use that phrase; many teachers use that phrase when describing tai chi.

A tree has roots deep beneath the earth, which helps it stand upright, tall and sturdy above the ground. The strength of the roots will influence the health of the tree. The tree pulls up earth energy, to grow and flourish. The trunk and roots sink energy into the earth.

In Movements of Magic – The Spirit of T’ai-Chi-Ch’uan, Bob Klein says in Tai Chi, with knees bent, at least slightly, the “weight is allowd to sink through the leg muscles and feet into the ground. Rather than a pulling down, your experience is one of dynamic connectedness. Earth energy is shooting up through your legs and roots are growing into the earth, drinking up every drop of energy they can find.” This is a different experience of gravity than we usually feel. It’s dynamic. It can fill us with energy.

Most of us like trees. We tend to focus on them when they start to spring forth with green buds, getting ready to unfold new leaves, new green color that signifies re-birth, re-generation, hopefulness. Here in the Chicago, it’s still too early to see any outward manifestation of this seasonal process.

Arlene Faulk

Stop for a moment though. Look at a favorite tree. Think of all the work that tree is doing, within the earth right now, getting ready. Are you connecting to the earth, getting ready?

Learning about Energy

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tai chi master


Being in the presence of Tai Chi Grandmasters at the International Tai Chi Symposium was a privilege. Most of the keynote speeches and class instruction were in Chinese. It was amazing how clear and captivating it all was – there was no language barrier when it came to Tai Chi Chuan.

tai chi master

Each master stressed relaxation. Relaxation helps us:

-root. When we’re tense, too much energy is held in the top half of the
body.
-unify energy. We internally release energy from the tan t’ien.
-be agile for change. Otherwise, we can’t distinguish from full and empty,
know where the energy is.

The body becomes steady. The upper body is light; the middle body is agile; the lower body is rooted, energy sinks to the tan t’ien.

A main theme I derived from all the Grandmasters was that Tai Chi is more about learning and understanding our energy rather than performing movements. The movements are important to provide a structure and sequence for directing our mind and energy, but movements are not the goal.

Learning about and understanding our energy is much broader than Tai Chi. For each of us, how we understand and use our energy helps determine our quality of life, every day.