Tai Chi and Acupuncture Lectures

Hello everyone. I am very pleased to be able to talk to you about Tai Chi and acupuncture in traditional Chinese medicine. Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese martial arts, has distinct characteristics. In terms of martial arts, it can overcome the strong with the soft, and the weak can overcome the strong. In terms of health care, it has excellent physical fitness, disease and longevity effects. The inheritance and development of Tai Chi has produced a variety of schools. The most representative ones are Chen style Tai Chi and Yang style Tai Chi. Chen style Tai Chi is the oldest, and other styles of Tai Chi have evolved from Chen style Tai Chi. Now let us talk about the different characteristics of Chen style Tai Chi and Yang style Tai Chi. Chen style Tai Chi. It is characterized by the combination of rigidity and softness, speed and slowness. Its biggest feature is the spiral winding. It is called twisted silk strength. And twisted silk strength is the fundamental guarantee for Tai Chi kin to overcome toughness with softness. Defeat the big with the small, defeat the strong with the weak, and start later and come first. Yang style Tai Chi. It is characterized by gentle and generous stretch. The movement characteristics of Tai Chi are sheng jian and comfort, lightness and roundness, softness and slowness, orderly, opening and closing, combination of rigidity and softness. This kind of movement is both natural and elegant. And you can personally experience the rhythm of music, the connotation of philosophy, the shape of beauty, and the artistic conception of poetry in the high enjoyment, make the disease disappear, and make the body and mind healthy. Now let's talk about the health benefits of Tai Chi. First let's talk about the importance of Qi. Qi has a great impact on human health. All diseases are born of Qi. There is an old Chinese saying, medicine tonic is not as good as food tonic, food tonic is not as good as Qi tonic. So what exactly is Qi? It can be summarized as Qi is a kind of substance. And it is the Qi substance that affects the life activities of the human body. In terms of the relationship between man and nature, Qi can be divided into natural Qi, which is outer Qi, and human body Qi, which is inner Qi. External Qi exists objectively and can be perceived. For inner Qi, not all people can perceive it. But well-practiced people can perceive it, including their own inner Qi and the inner Qi of others. Those who are skilled in Qigong can make their own inner Qi change by practicing Qigong. Very powerful. Inner Qi and outer Qi are closely connected. Inner Qi is the continuation and deepening of outer Qi. People are in Qi, and Qi is in people. Once the Qi is exhausted, the life activities of a person will cease. Human life activities, in a sense, can be said to be a special form of movement of Qi. Humans receive the Qi of space, heaven and earth, and the Qi of the two essences of their parents. After conceiving, they are warmed by their mother's true Qi for 10 months. After giving birth, they are born in the Yin and Yang of heaven and earth. Qi, heating and drinking water and grains and forging into the subtle gas of water and grains, nourishes the internal organs of the body, the limbs and bones, and nourishes the life. Therefore, the most valuable thing for a person is Qi. And if you practice Qi seriously, you can protect your life. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine says, Take the emptiness, follow the true Qi, keep the spirit within, and stay safe from illness. The Qi here is not the Qi of natural breathing, but the Qi of true essence obtained from Kung Fu training and practice. The acquired Qi that has not been cultivated and exercised is the lowest level of Qi that maintains the life activities of the human body. Usually, the Qi of oral and nasal breathing is superficially transported and transformed in the body. Therefore, it can only be limited to the transportation and transformation of exiting, entering, ascending, and descending, but cannot open, close, gather, and disperse, cannot gather essence, cannot close spirit, cannot open orifices, and cannot purify blood Breathing is short and shallow, making it difficult for the body to make full use of the air inhaled. Over time, it is inevitable that there will be a situation of physical weakness and great loss, resulting in insufficient righteousness, evil spirits taking advantage of the weakness, and many diseases. It can be seen from the above that the key to improving physical fitness lies in Qi, and its primary task is to improve breathing and movement, that is, to practice Qigong. Practicing Qigong is to change from mouth, nose and lungs' breathing to abdominal deep breathing. This breathing method can increase the running distance of the Qi inhaled by the human body, increase the time of Qi guarding the pelvis, guide the movement of Qi, and create subtleties, which can be used for Qi refining, storage and nourishment. Cultivation of essence, Qi and spirit has always been a mysterious technique, and it has always been an internal transmission technique closely guarded by Buddhism and Taoism. Tai Chi is one of The general sports spirit is outside. Energy is consumed during exercise. But when playing Tai Chi, the spirit is introverted, which can save energy and enhance inner Qi. In general exercise, Qi can only rise, and fall in and out. But Tai Chi can make the Qi reach the point of gathering, dispersing, opening and closing. Especially Chen style Tai Chi, its spiral motion can make the meridians of the whole body get an excellent dredging. Tai Chi diagrams reveal the mystery of Tai Chi exercise. A circle represents a whole. Black and white represent Yin and Yang. There is a black dot in the white, and there is a white dot in the black, which means that there is Yin in Yang and Yang in Yin. Yin and Yang are half. But the middle of Yin and Yang is not completely separated, but separated by an S-shaped curve. This S-shaped represents the spiral. This S also means reciprocating folding. This figure also expresses the unity of centrifugal and centripetal, and the fusion of Yin and Yang. The process of Tai Chi is a process of exercising the whole body's internal organs and the combination of various symmetrical strengths. The main points of practicing Tai Chi, practice both inside and outside, combine movement and stillness, and unite body and mind. Harmony is required everywhere, and all parts of the body should be balanced and unbiased. Therefore, long-term practice of Tai Chi will also have good changes in temperament and personality. Now let's talk about acupuncture. Acupuncture has a history of at least four to five thousand years. The earliest record of acupuncture and mock Sebastian left in the world is probably the Huan Di Ni Jing written in China more than 2000 years ago. Acupuncture is to use a special metal needle, press a certain point, pierce the patient's body, and use the manipulation to achieve the purpose of curing the disease. To know why acupuncture can cure diseases, we must first know why people get sick. If health is a normal physiological state, then disease is a pathological state of abnormality. In other words, due to some reason, the body's yin and yang are out of balance, the qi and blood are wrong, the xianfu organs are out of balance, and the meridians and blood vessels are not smooth. In traditional Chinese medicine, the body's regulating and defense functions are collectively referred to as righteous qi, and the factors that lead to the formation of diseases are collectively referred to as evil qi. When the regulation of the human body is basically sound and the defense force is strong, it is called strong righteousness. At this time, the functions of the viscera are coordinated, the qi and blood are in harmony, the meridians and blood vessels are unobstructed, and the body is in a healthy state. Conversely, if the seven emotions joy, anger, worry, thinking, sadness, fear, and fright are internally injured, the six evils wind, fire, heat, dampness, dryness, and cold are externally injured. Coupled with improper daily diet, the impermanence of daily life will damage the righteousness of the human body, cause the imbalance of qi, lead to the disharmony of qi and blood, the imbalance of viscera and meridians, and the body is in a morbid state. In the whole disease process, due to the interference of evil qi, the disease has risen. And the course of the disease shows a situation of struggle between righteous qi and evil qi. And this situation is also the pathological state of the body. In this situation, if the righteousness is strong, the evil will subside. If the evil is strong, the righteousness will decline. If the righteousness is restored, the disease will tend to be cured. If the evil is rampant, the disease will become more critical. In fact, the process of human disease is the process of the human body's struggle between good and evil. And the main aspect of the conflict between good and evil lies in the strength of righteousness, which is the key to the recovery and danger of disease. Therefore, the lack of righteousness is the key to whether the human body is sick or not. Acupuncture and Tai Chi are precisely to adjust people's body and mind to help people's righteousness and then to reconcile qi and blood, smooth the meridians, coordinate zangfu organs, balance yin and yang, and achieve the purpose of eliminating evil and curing diseases. This is why acupuncture and Tai Chi can treat diseases. The zangfu organs of the human body have eight forms of ascending, descending, exiting, entering, gathering, dispersing, opening, and closing. These eight forms are only a form of operation. So what is the essence of this operation? This is the metabolism of various substances. If body's qi, blood, body fluid, and other substances regarded as main body, the operation of qi is its carrier. And the body's metabolism can be carried out normally only under the operation of its carrier. This problem is also the true meaning of the word nutrition in Chinese medicine. That is, nutrients must be transported normally to function. Most people's understanding of nutrition focuses on its components and ignores the state of the body's qi machine. Now let's talk about the relationship between meridian, body and qi machine operation. First of all, I declare that this is an esoteric and complex issue. It is absolutely difficult to explain in a few words. So I can only give a general introduction. There are twelve meridians in the human body and eight odd meridians. The qi of the meridians has a certain flow direction in the operation of the meridians and has a certain timing. The running path of the meridians is very long. And there are many nodes on this long running path. And these nodes are called acupuncture points. The acupuncture points are the places where the meridians enter and exit the gathering and dispersing. And they are also the qi orifices for opening and closing. Now let's talk about the relationship between the movement of meridian qi and body posture. The parts of the human body are roughly divided into two categories, yin and yang. And human meridians are also divided into two types, yin and yang. The yin meridians are in the yin position. And the yang meridians are in the yang position. Since the yin and yang attributes of the meridians are consistent with the yin and yang attributes of the body parts. The movement and shape of different parts of the body will inevitably affect the qi movement of meridians distributed there. For example, in real life, many people work while sitting at a desk. After sitting for a few hours, they will immediately get up and stretch their arms, expand their chest and yang, and then create a sense of comfort. Probably everyone has this experience. But why? This is because when a person sits in a sitting position, his body not only bends forward, but also his shoulders forward. So the chest and abdomen are in a state of convergence. And the qi movement of the meridians distributed on it is bound to be unsmooth. And the yin and yang meridians, the balance of the qi movement is affected. So the body will feel uncomfortable at this time. When the waist is straight and the arms are stretched to extend the chest, the chest and abdomen are in an open state. And the meridian qi is smoothed. And the turbid qi is also exhaled due to yawning. In this way, the qi movement can reach a smooth and unobstructed state again. And the discomfort will disappear immediately. For another example, when a person sleeps in a physiological state, he will involuntarily turn over. The principle is the same as above. That is, the meridian qi in the oppressed parts of the body does not run smoothly, thereby affecting the balance of qi and machine. When this influence accumulates to a certain extent, movement will occur spontaneously. The body will involuntarily turn over. And the movement of the meridians and qi will reach a new balance. In order to make the qi movement of a certain meridian smooth, the body part that it passes through must be stretched. And vice versa, the movement of the qi movement of some meridians can be adjusted by whether the body part is stretched or not. Adjusting the qi movement of some viscera. This is the so-called zhuang gong belonging to static work. It is also possible to adjust the qi movement of some viscera by constantly changing postures and changing the stretched state of certain body parts. This is the so-called moving work, such as tai chi. Whether it is static or dynamic exercises, they all use their own qi to maintain health and prevent diseases. Acupuncture, on the other hand, is a method of acupuncture physicians using acupuncture points to stretch the patient's meridian qi. If the acupuncturist has deep qigong skills, the effect of acupuncture will be greatly improved. To sum up, the essence of practicing tai chi and acupuncture to maintain health and treat diseases is by regulating qi. The combination of acupuncture and tai chi will achieve the best health care effect.