自然

centered around centers. networks.

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

centered around centers. networks: general 615

Physical experiences create feelings and thoughts. Thoughts and feelings create physical experiences. Since it is all connected, the one impacts the other. But this kind of circularity extends over all kinds of areas and dimensions. The way your environment makes you feel and experience yourself and the world (in the process of your socialization) shapes all parts of your (conscious and not conscious) existence, your body posture, the way you move, whether your inner organs work and interact with each other in more or less harmonious and balanced ways, your emotional and intellectual patterns (open and cooperative, manipulative,…), the ways you experience and treat yourself, others, and your environment in general,…

In the Taoist tradition, healthy developmental and healing processes are complexly integrative. Taoist philosophy, spirituality, and medicine are reinforcing each other in their practices. This is why in Taoist philosophy-inspired bodymind practices, you start in one or just a few areas that you try to connect better, and then expand the practice to include more and more areas in your being.

You start, for instance, by connecting hands and feet movements more complexly in your practices. This is, for instance, something I thoroughly pay attention to when doing the individual movements within the Shaolin method for transforming the tendons, the 少林易筋經. With the feet, you focus on feeling the support of the ground and the opportunities to receive energy providing impulses. You grow your „roots.“

more about roots

beings

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beings: general #545

The essential material I work with in the traditional Chinese movement methods I practice and teach is basically just a couple of concepts—at least a pretty limited number of concepts. (1) At first sight, it might appear simplistic. It is not really complicated, and you can learn about and get to know these concepts in a comparatively short period of time. However, and this is significant, the simplicity of these concepts gains complexity through their profoundness and continual practice. As soon as you start to work with these essential concepts, you are basically on an open-ended path.

Of course, it is helpful to know a few (movement) forms and to be acquainted with differing formal approaches—as I started with the Wing Chun forms and then learned some others. This helps to formulate questions and offers different angles for answers. You need education in the basics, and you need guidance. But where does this guidance come from?

You need a teacher, or teachers, but we do not only learn from our fellow human beings. We also do not only learn from (what we generally call) other beings—animals, plants, … We can learn from rocks, mountains, streams, clouds, … We can learn from being itself. We can learn from the beating of our hearts. We can learn from our breathing, our digestion, … We should not be fixated on human beings, particularly not a very narrow understanding of human beings and their position.

We are so much more than a general body and a general mind. We are something inside of something larger as the kidneys are part of our bodies. We often exclude so much and are not inclusive enough. Seen like this, the „I“ appears as a strange idea, an illusion and distortion. When practicing (a traditional Chinese bodymind method), you experience that it makes sense to let go of an exclusive, and moreover narrow (human) self. (2) When practicing, you feel that, energetically, it makes sense to play one’s role in the larger units one is part of like a liver in a body. (3) When practicing, you experience that it completely makes sense to connect. (4) We are conglomerates within conglomerates within conglomerates within … Being, we are all beings.

When you practice a traditional Chinese movement method and you focus on dissolving (5) and connecting (6) in your daily practice, why would you rely on the ignorant arrogance of a narrow „I“? Why would we subordinate conglomerates to autocratic egos? The practice of a traditional Chinese bodymind method is fascinating and relevant. It takes us on meaningful and nourishing paths.

Notes:
(1) https://tao-moves.com/wing-chun_nei-kung/concepts/
(2) 損之又損, reducing/dissolving, Lao-tzu, chapter 48
(3) 自然, being such by itself, 無為, non-action—many quotes in the Lao-tzu
(4) 通, term regarding the flow of Ch’i in the movement traditions
(5) 損、散
(6) 抱一, Lao-tzu, chapter 22

what i feel is what i see

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

what i feel is what i see: general #540

Autocratic systems are ultimately manipulative and deceptive. They are cruel systems that ignore the destruction, the injuries, and the pain they purposely inflict. We can currently observe them globally spreading with vigor. Healing in this context needs complex and multidimensional approaches. Bodymind practices will sometimes only offer a tiny contribution that needs discipline and effort, but the contribution is profound. The effects are not tiny globally, if bodymind practices get adopted by impactful multipliers.

inner landscapes

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

inner landscapes: general #521

A Taoist bodymind practice is about multidimensional resonance, about multidimensionally resonating. As soon as you have internalized the external aspects of a movement sequence you can set foot on a really fascinating and rewarding path.

Light, pulsing movements, vibrations, waves throughout the whole body are a meaningful physical approach to begin and then continue your path. These words are so easily uttered. They are, however, not always that easy to grasp and put into practice. It is a wonderful, endless path of inspiration.

Movements, movement impulses, move in, through, and out of the body. You do not command these movements. You do not hold them back. The “identity” of a movement is broadened and extended. Rigidity is dissolved, drop by drop. You become a part of the flow—physically, mentally, emotionally, on conscious as well as on subconscious levels. Tune yourself in a wider context. You become tuned. It is a pleasant treatment that takes the time it needs. Building trust by trustworthy being.

Ancient Taoists were interested in meaning beyond the linguistic understanding of language and words. Sensing and sense-making seen in a different light.

context 4

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

context 4: general #510

Watching this series of short videos on water you get a another idea of the meaning of “Daoist philosophy in movement”.

In water you can indeed observe incredible liveliness. Moreover, in all its complex transformations and adaptations water preserves its oneness. It is a major model for the Daoists.

From the perspective of ancient Daoists, the Daodejing in particular, the philosophy that their circle admired was not man-made and intellectually constructed. The philosophy they admired was embedded in natural phenomena, in what they observed and sensed in their natural environments. They then transformed and translated it into human language—words, ideas, and the general concepts and organizational patterns they worked with.

A Daoist bodymind practice is a means to experience, work with, and tune in with this philosophy.

Nei-kung – ein tiefer Weg des Transformierens

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

Nei-kung 內功 – ein tiefer Weg des Transformierens

In einem meiner früheren Blogbeiträge habe ich bereits erläutert, warum ich aufgehört habe, den Begriff 氣功 Qigong für die Beschreibung meiner Arbeit mit Bewegung herzunehmen, und nun stattdessen den Begriff 內功 Nei-kung verwende, den ich in meiner Zeit in Taiwan in den 1980er Jahren kennengelernt habe, als ich dort Hochchinesisch, Wing Chun und andere Dinge gelernt habe. In dem gerade erwähnten Blogbeitrag wollte ich zeigen, dass es sich bei meinem Wechsel von einem zu einem anderen Begriff definitiv um keine sprachliche Spitzfindigkeit meinerseits handelt.

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Nei-kung

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

Nei-kung 內功 — a profound way of transforming

As I explained in one of my prior posts, I stopped using the term 氣功 Qigong in describing my work with movement, and instead adopted the term 內功 Nei-kung that I became acquainted with during my time in Taiwan, studying Mandarin, Wing Chun and more there in the 1980s. In this particular prior post, I was trying to show that my switching of terms is not trivial linguistic nit-picking.

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No center and no central control

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No center and no central control

When you look at the way the 道德經 Daodejing approaches the concept of 天地人 “the universe, the earth, human beings” as I discuss it in my last blog post, it is obvious that in a world consisting of endless networks a focus on a center and central control creates unnecessary imbalances, risks, and problems. For a movement practice based on the philosophy of the 道德經 Daodejing, this means that instead you have a diversified practice with a wide range of inputs that are guiding the processes. An energy hub like the 下丹田 lower Dantian for instance, is therefore just one energy hub among many, many others. When you initiate a movement, the focus is on connecting, not on where the movement starts. There also is no centralized process.

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Kein Zentrum und keine zentrale Kontrolle

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Kein Zentrum und keine zentrale Kontrolle

Wenn man sich anschaut, wie das 道德經 Daodejing an das Konzept von 天地人 “das Universum, die Erde, die Menschen”, das ich in meinem letzten Blogbeitrag diskutiert habe, herangeht, ist es offensichtlich, dass ein Fokus auf ein Zentrum und auf zentrale Kontrolle in einer Welt endloser Netzwerke unnötige Ungleichgewichte, Risiken und Probleme hervorbringt. Für eine Bewegungspraxis, die am 道德經 Daodejing orientiert ist, bedeutet dies, dass man stattdessen eine diversifizierte Praxis mit einer großen Bandbreite an Inputs hat, die Prozesse strukturieren. Ein energetischer Knotenpunkt wie das 下丹田 untere Dantian beispielsweise ist deshalb lediglich ein energetischer Knotenpunkt unter vielen, vielen anderen. Wenn man eine Bewegung initiiert, liegt der Fokus auf dem Verbinden, nicht darauf, wo die Bewegung beginnt. Es gibt auch keinen zentralisierten Prozess.

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Kreuzschmerzen nach dem Nei-kung Üben

/ Taoist philosophy in movement: Traditional Chinese bodymind practices with Ansgar Gerstner

Gestern bin ich gefragt worden, was man macht, wenn man nach dem Üben der Yin-Yang-Methode Nacken- und Kreuzschmerzen hat. Eigentlich ist es so, dass man durch die Praxis der Yin-Yang-Methode Verspannungen im Nacken-/Schulterbereich Stück für Stück löst und den kompletten Wirbelsäulenraum wieder beweglicher macht. Dies sollte komplett schmerzfrei geschehen. Schmerzen deuten hier daraufhin, dass man die Yin-Yang-Bewegungen ohne das notwendige Feingefühl gemacht hat. Worauf sollte man also achten, damit man nicht genau das Gegenteil dessen bewirkt, was man erreichen möchte?

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