Nicola Joanne Dunn:
Has anyone got experiences of T'ai Chi and Qigong? Have they used it in the path? I find that I slipped into the habit of a moving meditation with t'ai chi, and it's really nice to meditate like that. It can be very different to a sitting meditation.
Hi Nicola,
I practiced an internal (meditative) Qigong and went through the first two paths using that practice. I had no knowledge of Buddhist practices at the time. Later I started doing t'ai chi and found that a very nice addition. What I found with the tai chi is that it really developed a sense of rootedness, of poise and balance. Haven't done it for years though as I took a break for a while and later couldn't remember the order of the moves – so it goes.
As to its relationship to Buddhist practices and path, consider that the role of the noting practice is to get in touch with bare sensate experience (vibrations). What is the energy that you are feeling in the body but 'bare sensate experience (vibrations)'? Once you open up to that – and it seems already pretty accessible for you – just stay with it. Deepen the experience by slowly working to open up all the areas of your body. Try to stay out of content stuff – that is, all the stories – and just stay with the energy. So you can basically do both at the same time – work on your pain and health issues while also proceeding in your meditation practice.
“I'm interested in taking this a lot further and really working with the energy in my body to improve the problems I have, and to slow down degeneration”
I encourage you to do it. I think many people have been really helped by this work particularly in the area of chronic pain and it sounds like you already 'get it'.
“I find it helps a lot - if I'm in pain, I move healing energy to that area. Sometimes the pain is too great though, and concentrating on the area hurts, so I've found that if I move energy to another area, especially a sensitive area, like the fingers of a hand, my mind kind of shuts out the rest of my body, and focuses on the new sensations of energy filling those fingers, and how it feels different to normal, so the pain in another part of my body lessens.”
I am not an acupuncturist but experientially, the fingers and toes are all wired in to the entire energetic system so by working in those areas your are connecting and working with many other parts of your body. You can also try moving closer - but not to – the area of pain. Go as close as you can - but still feel the energy. Then slowly move closer to the pain with a sort of 'liberating' or 'opening' intention. The sensations may start feeling kind of 'wiry' or kind of like 'sensations with hot sauce' (an acquired taste) but not themselves painful. Just stay with that – keep an open intention – give the pain some space to dissolve – to break up.
-Chuck