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Writer's pictureJames Drewe

Moving Energy in the Body

Updated: 4 days ago


Physics laboratory

I was terrible at physics at school. Looking back at it, I’m not sure why, as these days I find it fascinating. However, although Mr. Grenville couldn’t make Boyle’s Law and Charles’ Law very exciting prospects, he did manage to enthuse me with Ripple Tanks. Those of you old enough to remember the days when physics was an incredibly ‘dry’ subject, when the education system apparently did everything it could to remove the subject from reality, might remember Ripple Tanks. I seem to remember that, amongst other things, they were meant to teach how sound waves reacted with matter. I mention Ripple Tanks because the rippling, or apparent transfer of energy from one end of the tank to the other is precisely what happens in the transfer of energy through the arms and legs when doing tai chi.


Try this…

Hold your arm out to the side of you, parallel to the ground.  First, try lowering it back to your side as though it’s a stick.  This is how not to lower your arm!


Shoulder joints

Next, without lowering your hand (leave it exactly where it is), breathe in, and then focus on breathing out gently but firmly.  You might feel your shoulder start to sink.  Give your shoulder a bit of help by consciously sinking it, and notice how the elbow also sinks and rotates forwards slightly.


Try it again, but as soon as the elbow starts to sink, feel the weight of your forearm and start to lower it also, but leave the fingertips in the same position.  To do this you need to let your wrist bend.  Notice any sensations in your fingertips whilst keeping on lowering the arm.


If you’re doing it correctly, your awareness will sequentially pass down the arm from shoulder to fingertips via the individual joints, and it will feel a little as though the lowering of the arm is initiated by a very slight closing of the armpit.

Bones of the hand

The action is therefore like a wave passing down through the major joints of the arm, one after the other; a transference of energy from one end of the ripple tank to the other. You could also bring the metacarpo-phalangeal joints (the joints where the palms connect to the fingers) into the equation, if you wanted.


Where can you use this energy concept?

Every time you lower an arm in tai chi and qigong.


The most obvious tai chi movement where this happens in any Form?

The lowering of the arms in ‘Raise and Lower Hands’ at the start of many tai chi forms.


Why use it?

It connects the upper limbs to the body during movement and causes the movement to come from the centre of the body.


Why not just lower the arm like a stick?

The muscles involved in lowering your arm (adduction) are the Coracobrachialis and Pectoralis Major on the front of the body, and the Latissimus Dorsi and Teres Major on the back of the body (& Subscapularis).  Activating the muscles from the core, as above, means that the fascia connecting the body to the arms is also activated, and because of this the muscles become coordinated in their action and are no longer acting independently.  It is this coordination that increases their strength beyond the total strength of the individual muscles.


Why don’t we use this all the time?

We often do, but often without analysing it. For example, if you were going to take part in a tug of war, and it was only you against, say, 6 other people, when you took hold of that rope you’d automatically work from the core and connect the body correctly.  You’d instinctively do it and know how to do it.  Likewise if you tried to push a broken-down car up a slight hill, you’d do the same.   We tend to use the ability when in extremis, but not when movements are soft and gentle … We don’t bother because we can get away with it.


 

James Drewe teaches Tai Chi and Qigong in both London and in Kent and online.

Details of weekly classes both live and online can be found on the website, and there are classes for 2-person Tai Chi on one Saturday a month.

You can also learn both tai chi & qigong through a monthly subscription, and there are also many free videos on YouTube.


CONTACT:

Phone: 07836-710281



 

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