Tai Chi, Yoga, Health, Weight Loss

Life is good.

In Tai Chi, you move slowly,
from foot to foot,
and move your hands and arms, too.

Most fools
teach it in a very strict
and anal way:
do just this,
do just that.

Boring.

Bad for the brain.

Good for getting people up off the couch,
and out of the car,
and away from the computer
(yeah, this one, right
in front of us!!!!),
and
still:
boring.

Think about moving your weight,
from foot to foot,
when do you do that?

When we walk, eh?

And Tai Chi is fun
or should be fun
because we change directions
as we are pretend walking
and waving our hands
into this shape
and that.

But it's still this:
using the pelvis to rotate,
shifting the weight from one foot to the other,
noticing our breathing,
noticing our spine.

This is
or could be
way fun.

Fun to be present.
Fun to notice two arms and two legs
and gravity
and breathing
and moving from foot to foot.

Balance.
Awareness.
Rotation.
Shifting.

Fun.

Okay,
and what about yoga?
There you don't get to move
around as much.

Oh, well.
It's more popular in the West,
it would appear, by the vast number
of yoga studios "helping"
and torturing vast numbers of people,
most of whom are desperate to like
themselves and their bodies more,
torturing again
with the same old:
do it "just right"
stuff.

Boring again.

And, truth, to be told
beautiful when you "get it right,"
and sometimes
fun
to try for the various contortions,
like crow, or Warrior 3,
good for balance,
good for figuring out how
we work.

And still:
how to make these two
potentially ahttp://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifmazing activities
and turn them into learning
and enjoyment and discovery.

If you thought
http://www2.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifI might mention the Feldenkrais Method
and the Anat Baniel Method
you are right.

and that's all
for now.

they are mentioned.
plenty of other essays,
especially in Wake Up Feldenkrais blog
to shed light on these
amazing ways
to improve
thinking
feeling
learning
knowing
discovering
and
moving

and what about health
and weight
loss??

maybe tomorrow
or the next post,


ciao
for now

chris

How to Lose Weight, part 44:

Don't Wait to move around,
not "exercise,"
call it Life

>
"half backbend," (head under gap) from Chris' SUFIA yoga (Feldenkrais/yoga/tai chi) mix

Moving is fun

to lose weight:
take twelve to
twenty minutes
set a timer
and dance
or walk fast
or lift rokcs
or do push ups
or all of the above
in some mixed
and awaren
and fun
way

and then
eat

eat slowly
and in
awareness

but earn your food
by joyfully being
in the life
of movement
and awareness,
first

Yoga for a Monday

Warrior II
or Virabhadrasana II
or
Vira 2:

Ah, hello Monday,
and how about a little Vira 2
to start the week.
Let's skip the warrior name,
just go for the gusto,
eh?
Strength,
down and into the ground,
open heart,
up into the sky,
looking forward,
rooted backward,
tooted
to
life
and all its wonders.

And so,
yippie,
let's go:

slowly
and with depth
and exploration
and joy
and discovery:

DNA yoga, Discovery, Nature, Ananda/Awareness

In DNA yoga,
we are up to all sort of variations:
lean "too far" forward,


lean "too far" back



arch you back "too much"


fold and round your back "too much"


try it out
find what feels real
and good
and strong
for you

find the power of connecting to the ground
find the freedom and joy in the upper arms,
feel them floating free,
whether palms are oriented up


or
down


try different depths of the pose,



find what's right
and good
and strong
and happy for you,
for YOU,

find the power and the joy
and affirm
while in this pose
and then
in a resting pose before
the next one:

"I joyfully manifest the power of God."
or
"I joyfully manifest the power of Life."
or
"I joyfully connect with the power of my Higher Self."
or
something else
of your own chosing

have fun
go deep
be strong
clear
and present

that's yoga

you are yoga

Cow, belly down, ready to Moooo about:
Yoga for a Monday

Cat and the Cow

Cats, when they hiss, round up their backs, raising up their belly
and creating something like a half circle from
front feet to the back.

Cows, when they stretch out for a big old loud mooooo,
arch their backs, so the belly gets lower,
and the head gets higher.

Now, if a person did that,
we could have something like this:

1) For starters. Come to your hands and knees. Do this the normal mindless way, and then, hmmm, what would it be like to do it with awareness? Just how do your hands feel on the floor or Earth, and your knees? Are your feet flat to the ground or do you have your toes bent, in what they call the “for running” shape? Where are you looking? How does your spine feel? Are your hips over your knees, your shoulders over your hands? Fool around, play around, shift around, find what feels right for you today.

2) Breathe easily. Notice your breathing. Notice a happiness in breathing. See if there is any way that this simple act, the act of breathing can be easier and more pleasurable for you.

3) Now begin to arch your back and push out your belly as you breathe in. As you do this, lift your butt toward the sky, by tilting your pelvis so that your tailbone, too, is lifting. Do this each time you breath in, let yourself push forward with your belly, arch your back and tilt your butt to the sky. On the out breath, just come to “normal,” whatever that is.


4) Now try the opposite. As you breathe out, pull up your navel, lift the middle of your back toward the sky and tilt your tailbone under, as if you are going to tilt the front of your pelvis ( your sex) toward your face. Look down as you do this, so you are becoming nicely folded, with the center of your back being the high point of the curving you. This is the cat.


Cat, belly in, ready to hiss and ???strike


5) Alternate cat, with belly pulled in and back toward the sky, and cow, with the belly pushed forward and back arching so that shoulders and butt are the high points. Notice the tilting of your pelvis as you do this, and allow your head to come up when your butt comes up (the cow gives a big Mooooo), and allow your head to come down, looking between your legs when your pelvis tilts the other way.

6) Rest on your back and feel how you feel in your whole self. Notice your spine. Notice your breathing. Once again concentrate on being present and the happiness that comes from simple being at the moment with yourself.