zrm wrote:My original T’ai Chi teacher, Sifu Kao Ching-hua, told me there are five dan tians (principle energy centers) in the body—the primary dan tian in the center of the abdomen, one at the sternum, one at the third eye, and two in front of the armpits. All other sources I’ve encountered agree with the three on the body’s centerline, but I’ve found no other source that mentions the two in front of the armpits.
I've never heard of armpit dan tians. My teacher used to tell me to concentrate on and "open the the armpits" though, but we would also focus on the two corresponding spots for the legs and "open the groin". Strange to visualize additional dan tians for the top half of body and then ignore the bottom half.
charles wrote:... these are photos of the author on her website:
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They tell me a little about her training, maybe more than her writing.
zrm wrote:My original T’ai Chi teacher, Sifu Kao Ching-hua, told me there are five dan tians (principle energy centers) in the body—the primary dan tian in the center of the abdomen, one at the sternum, one at the third eye, and two in front of the armpits. All other sources I’ve encountered agree with the three on the body’s centerline, but I’ve found no other source that mentions the two in front of the armpits.
I've never heard of armpit dan tians. My teacher used to tell me to concentrate on and "open the the armpits" though, but we would also focus on the two corresponding spots for the legs and "open the groin". Strange to visualize additional dan tians for the top half of body and then ignore the bottom half.
Bao wrote:According to what I can see on the website, it seems like she practice and teach forms only.
my first advice is to sit into the hip. There’s a physical sinking that happens—the hip and center of gravity lower slightly as the socket settles securely over the ball or “head” of the femur. The center of gravity shifts so that the weight of the upper body is over the hip. Because the hip is part of the dan tian, hip sitting is a way of maintaining that awareness of the dan tian that is so useful on every level—physical, mental, and spiritual. I stress sitting into the hip with every transfer of weight.
And here another fundamental T’ai Chi concept comes in—song. Song refers to the joints and is often translated as “loosening” or “relaxing.” But I think the words “expanding from within” best express this idea. When we’re relaxed, we’re naturally in a state of song—unconstricted and spacious. We can enhance this by deliberately looking at joints and seeing the bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, nerves, and skin softening, opening up, and spreading outward particle by particle—releasing, relaxing, and letting go. I’m convinced I can do this to any one joint in my body and every joint follows suit.
Trick wrote:Once i asked one of my teachers here in China about the dantian, he said; The whole body is the dantian,now focus on your practice
charles wrote:The photo on the left, above, shows me she isn't physically doing what she says. Also, the hip (kua) is not part of the dan tian. Seems likely that she has not understood the role of the kua, how to relax it and how to round the crotch, essential in "sinking qi" and loosening/relaxing the body.
GrahamB wrote:I'm not entirely convinced that not 'rounding her crotch-arch' (to avoid Chinese terms) precludes her from having 'developed a dantien'
GrahamB wrote:I'm not entirely convinced that not 'rounding her crotch-arch' (to avoid Chinese terms) precludes her from having 'developed a dantien'.... if it did then all those XingYi and XinYi practitioners who close the legs together haven't got a dantien either... and I'm always suspicious of the resort to 'structure' as an explanation - it's generally a clue that people don't really understand the depth of what they're talking about... developing a dantien is more about developing its connection to other parts of the body via muscle tendon channels and learning how to use it as a control point for the whole body.
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