Longwater Tai Chi - Practice Tip
Every month we intend to post a little tip that may help you with your Tai Chi or Chi Gung practice.
Perfect Pelvis?
Within the pelvic region of your body is some pretty important stuff - your hip joints, perineum, reproductive system, some of the digestive sytem, some serious nerve, arterial and venous pathways, and muscles that connect your lower and upper body, to name a few. Within Chi Gung practice, keeping this area of your body alive and well is, as you might imagine, very important.
When you are practising , relax all your muscles from the kidneys down as much as you can. Allow your pelvis to drop down away from the rib cage. Encourage the sacrum to also draw down toward the floor, using no effort to do this, as if all you are working with is gravity. Liken this to sitting on a saddle or high stool. Think of the perineum being relaxed open, allowing your hip joints to ease away from your centreline. Allow and feel your weight pass through the pelvis and down the centre of the legs to the feet. Why not engage in a little micro-practice and try these alignments whilst you are standing at the sink or waiting in a queue?
When you bend, also start to become aware of your inguinal fold (the crease between your upper thigh and groin) and think of something drawing in from the fold to the very centre of your body, causing your back to incline forward but remain straight, and your bum to drop as if you are about to sit. More on this when we discuss the kwa!
April 2009
