AboutJonathan Gaines Expertise T`ai Chi and meditation. I am a 30+ year student and teacher of T`ai Chi Ch`uan. My teacher was the late Grand Master Cheng Man-ching with whom I studied for seven years. I am knowledgeable about the principals, practices and the applications of Tai Chi as well as the many benefits and some of the pit falls of practice. I am also knowledgeable about Chi Kung and have developed my own `simple and easy` method. The benefits of T`ai chi Ch`uan and Chi Kung include health and wellness as well as self defense based on principles of yielding rather than resisting. Fascinating! As a life long spiritual seeker I am also knowledgeable about meditation and contemplation. My principle practice is Dzog Chen which I am learning from Chogyal Namkhai Norbu Rinpoche. The benefits of Dzog Chen are the potential to discover your own mind stream and master it. The point is to enter into the non dualistic state of `no thought` and then learn to be aware of this state while entering into thought. Self liberation from samara and for the sake of all sentient beings is the purpose of Dzog Chen practice.
Expert: Jonathan Gaines Date: 7/11/2008 Subject: tai chi and lotus posture
Question i can meditate sitting in the lotus posture or half lotus posture comfortably for ten minutes. Now I've also taken up practicing tai chi. but when i practice horse stance or goat stance where you are asked to keep your feet parallel to each other i experience severe pain in my knees. This problem arises only when i practice both 'sitting in the lotus posture' and doing the horse stance simultaneously. once i come out of the lotus posture i find that that my feet is splayed out and not parallel to each other. please tell me what position a tai chi student should assume while practcing sitting meditation.
Answer Aloha.
The first rule in any practice is the same as in medicine, i.e., 'Do
no harm'. Take care when some pain arises to figure out why and make
necessary adjustments.
In meditation I recommend staying with the half lotus posture ( Left
leg in first, right leg over left, spine straight as an arrow, body
relaxed, etc.) Maybe time your leg muscles will lengthen and the full
lotus will become useful. The full lotus is excellent for stability in
long meditation sessions of 1/2 hour to several hours. In any event my
experience is 20 minutes is a minimum meditation to develop actual
calm state of relaxed continuos breathing and enter into no thought
state of awareness.
A firm meditation cushion is almost essential. A second small pillow
to raise your pelvis higher can help relieve tension in the legs and
hip joints. Place this on a large square meditation cushion so your
feet and ankles are comfortable.
As for the Chi Kung Horse stance (Never heard of the goat stance),
again, when pain arises seek to discover why, the cause. Perhaps
simply opening your toes a bit so the feet are not exactly parallel
will solve the problem. Keep your knees out and over your feet vs. collapsed inward.
Also loosen your hip joints, drop your tail
bone a bit so your weight drops into your heels should remove pressure
from the knees. The upper body torso and head need to be upright,
balanced (not forward leaning) so that in standing posture you feel
the same as if you are sitting on pillow in meditation.
If you find you have a curve in your spine, in the lower back, tilt your pelvic girdle and straighten the curve, This will help drop your weight into your heels and spread weight throughout the feet. Weight in heels in practice and in walking is very good.
Eyes gaze straight ahead. Relaxing chest and abdomen allows your chi to sink to your Tan Tien / lower abdomen and breathing regulate.
After meditation and Chi Kung lightly rubbing for a few minutes the
legs from the hip to the knee to ankle and foot will smooth out the
chi and gradually you can become pain free.
