The effectiveness of pressure points in the martial arts is a hotly contested topic. Many books and films show very unrealistic scenarios where the master touches a few points on his opponent who is then paralysed or dies soon thereafter. At the other end of the scale are the martial arts who say this is pure bunkum and that pressure points don’t work at all. As is usually the case […]
Why you should stop eating As I write this I am four days into a fast. The first two days were water only and then I started eating some red grapes for the last two days. I intend to fast for 7 days eating only red grapes and drinking only water. Why am I doing this, why would anybody do this? The all-natural cure-all All animals, apart from man, stop eating […]
The single most important thing you do every second of every minute of every day is breathe. Your breath powers every cell in your body. It is intimately tied in to your emotional states and energy levels. The health of every single part of your body is utterly dependant on it. So why on earth aren’t Doctors taught about the power of breath to change your physiology? Learning to breathe […]
Unclench Your Teeth One of the most common areas of tension and pain is in and around the jaw. Thousands of people, when under stress, clench their teeth together or grind their teeth. This often happens at night but also may occur regularly during the day when under pressure. TMJD is caused by the way you react to stress. It can cause tremendous pain and suffering. Why this is so […]
Whenever I perform tai chi I bring to mind the image of a tiger. The tiger is an animal that embodies many of the principles of tai chi. It uses its weight very well and constantly relaxes down into the ground. It holds no excess tension in its frame. It blends into and is completely at one with its environment. When it moves it is a poem of grace, balance, […]
Chinese exercise is very different from Western exercise. Here in the West we don’t consider we’re doing exercise unless we’re struggling and straining, gasping and sweating. The aim is always harder, faster, more and more. We push our bodies to the maximum in the gym or pounding the streets but still we’re exhausted half the time and struggle with pain and limited mobility in older age. This kind of exercise […]
Visit almost any park in China at dawn and you will find people doing a variety of traditional exercises. These exercises will look nothing like Western exercise. Some of them will be moving in the intricate patterns of tai chi. Others will be standing completely still yet utterly relaxed in a variety of postures. Stranger still some of them will be walking round and round in a circle then doing […]
Tai Chi is a Chinese martial art that has often been adapted to improve the health and balance of its many practitioners. Tai chi is best known around the world for its forms. These slow, beautiful, graceful, flowing movements are associated with calmness of mind and physical control. They are a form of moving meditation with all the health and wellbeing benefits that implies. Although tai chi is mostly associated […]
Tai chi is a profound martial art and exercise system that has become universally popular because tai chi health benefits are so wide-ranging. What’s more ongoing research is constantly showing new areas where tai chi is beneficial. One year it is in the news for treating anxiety and the next year for helping hugely with fibromyalgia. So what makes it so beneficial for such a wide range of physical and […]
The term tai chi (taiji) refers to the constant interplay between the forces of yin and yang. Tai Chi Chuan (taijiquan) is the martial art that uses those forces to develop extraordinary power. Very few tai chi schools now teach the development and use of these forces. This is a huge shame and is leading to the gradual decline of tai chi and the loss of the treasures it contains. […]
Are you tired during the day and wide awake at night? Use breathing for stress relief and sleeping. This is a very common experience and one I’m sure is familiar to you. As humans we have evolved, like most animals, to be awake during the day and to sleep at night. Our sleep cycles are governed by the day/night cycles and by the seasons. Generally we need more sleep during […]
One of my main goals in this blog is to help your release the tension that is imprisoning your body and poisoning your mind. There are several different ways of doing so. One of these is to shake out your tension. In these posts you will learn to change the way you stand so that you aren’t holding onto the tensions you did previously, you learn to stretch so as […]