Tai Chi Journal

Back exercises & more on Wu Chi posture

I reported in My Aching Back and My Tai Chi Posture that I've been contending with backache brought on, I think, by incorrect posture while Tai Chi Walking.

In order to offset that, I bought and am using the book Backache: What Exercises Work, by Dava Sobel and Arthur C. Klein.

I consider it an ideal book for my purposes. The textual information is brief, clear, and to the point, and I assume thorough and accurate. The main thing is the exercises, I would think, and they are described fully, lucidly, and tersely in words and also through use of an abundance of accompanying illustrations.

The bottom line is, you can just skip up to the exercises for, say, low-back pain, and begin doing them right away. It takes but a few seconds to acquaint yourself with the steps to do for each exercise.

And they're easy to do. They don't demand a lot of strain or effort, coordination or skill. They're intentionally gentle enough so that anyone can do them. Those that are more challenging are identified as such with words to the effect of, say, "You may not want to do this one until you first have mastered ... ".

For the past couple of days I've been doing the stretch-the-lower-back exercises and the strengthen-the-abdominal-muscles exercises after doing the Fundamental Movements from Step-by-Step Tai Chi. It takes well over an hour to get through them all, but it's well worth it. My back and knee pain are much diminished.

I've also been avoiding Tai Chi Walking for the duration, except for a few experiments with the revised posture I detailed in My Tai Chi Posture.


Nevertheless, I've been using the revised posture as the basis for those exercises that are compatible with it. Most of the Fundamental Movements except those that deal with the hips and back are compatible. The ones that involve the hips and back are straight-leg-only exercises.

I am finding that just assuming the correct Wu Chi posture has a clearing effect on the mind. It is not yet easy for me to "find" the right posture, though. My wont is to lock my pelvis either all the way forward or all the way back. Somewhere in the middle, between these extremes, is a "sweet spot" wherein the invovled muscles stay soft and wiggly. When everything is just right, the knees are also somewhat yielding, not locked in any particular degree of bend ... and it seems as if a certain amount (but not a lot) of the strain of maintaining the posture shifts down to the ankles.

So I'd hazard the opinion that the strain of maintaining the Wu Chi posture must be (a) minimized and (b) distributed over all involved joints and body regions, including upper body, lower back, hips, knees, ankles, and feet. When all is just right, I get the feeling of being "planted" firmly in place, and rock steady. And the head clears magically.

Which tells me that my usual standing and sitting postures — not necessarily walking or lying down — are way out of whack. So much so that I'm "kinking up" my Chi "hose," or I'm shutting down my Microcosmic Orbit, or something. When I use Wu Chi posture to "unkink" it or whatever, the beneficial effect is noticeable and immediate.


That the correct Wu Chi posture makes one feel "planted" or "rooted" firmly in place is no accident, by the way. After all, this is expressly a posture for Standing Meditation. Which means, on a practical level, that you're going to enter an altered, meditative, twilight state ... and you don't want to fall over!

And, on a more esoteric level, you are in that posture which best facilitates the flow of Chi from the Earth up into — and through — your body. It's almost like the bottoms of your feet are electrodes, and are making the best possible electrical connection with the "charge" of the Earth when you are in correct Wu Chi posture. Not that you feel any shocks or tingles, mind you. You just get a warm and fuzzy feeling that this is the way you are supposed to stand on the surface of your mother planet.

posted by eric @ 10:55 AM