As Tai Chi practitioners (hopefully) know, our movements are controlled by intent. Intention requires both attention and awareness.
While this intent is not visible, it is the key to the practitioner’s success. As we learned in a previous blog, intent is not easy to understand. However, there are a couple of great Tai Chi Classic sayings that I think may help us understand intent more clearly: “First on the mind, later, on the body.” or “First, the intent moves, later, the power follows.”
It is the mind that brings intention (YI) and awareness into harmony. As stated in The Tai Chi Effect, 2021 Taijiquan Guide, “if intention is the mind’s output, then awareness is its input.”
When you focus your attention on or in your body, Qi (energy) is sent to that area. This focused attention may even cause the temperature of that area to rise. You may also feel a vibration, electrical impulse, or a myriad of different sensations.
Your intent controls all the physiologic functions inside and outside of your body. Your intent also guides the circulation of Qi internally. Bottom line: if there is no inside (internal) movement, there should be no movement outside the body! First step is to develop awareness. Once you reach a point where your body is relaxed and you feel and understand that it is not your muscles and joints, but your mind that causes your body to move, you will have begun to develop awareness.
Sounds hard? Well, it depends on your sensitivity, and it may take some time. Be patient!
Be sure to focus your awareness internally, not externally. You should then become more sensitive to what is happening in your body. Then, and only then, can your attention become intention, at which point you may start to feel your internal energy (Qi). Here’s a suggested exercise to help us experience a sense of awareness:
Sit in a chair and place your attention (mentally) on the spot where your chair and your body meet. Now, with your eyes closed, feel the chair. Is it soft or hard? Do you feel any tension? How about the temperature of your body or the chair? Is it cold or hot? You may even pick out other sensations as you become more sensitive. At some point, you may even notice that the point where your body ends and the chair begins to blur. Pretty cool, huh?
In the same way, when we practice Tai Chi, it is important to feel the subtle changes, sensations, and Qi flow. This will make us more aware of what is happening inside our bodies, such as our joints and body moving as a unit. We should then be able to feel any tension we are holding or any pain in one or more parts of our body. When we move with awareness, our mind begins to gather all this data and we get a clearer picture of both our body and our mind.
Keep in mind that negative emotions will restrict the cultivation of intent. A calm, focused, and positive mind will assist in the cultivation of intent.
Remember that intent or Yi will not magically appear. It must be cultivated by daily practice in our daily activities and, especially, when practicing form.
In our next blog, we will look at how imagination relates to intention and awareness.
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