Fang (Release) and the Hidden Power of Letting Go in Tai Chi

If you have the jug, a heavy jug, or a weight, like a 10-pound weight or something, don't need to do a full bicep curl, especially if this is quite a bit of weight. But what I do want you to do is carry the weight. So you would flex your bicep a little bit and carry and hold the weight. I'm carefully choosing these words. Now as you do that, off to the side, you hold it, you can feel your whole arm tense, your biceps tense, the forearm, and your grip is likely tense. Now you can put it down to the side, and I still want you to carry the weight or hold the weight. And once again, even at the side, you have some muscle tension. I want you to experience the normal way that we carry things. Now I want you to pretend that you have a hammock underneath you, and you're going to take all of your body weight and the weight of the jug, release into the hammock, and let it just hold all the weight. And to test, come over and squeeze your forearm and make sure that it's loose. And the weight, I'm really just using a hook grasp, I'm not grabbing it. So try to just let this hammock, it's strung underneath your feet, and you just pour your weight into the hammock. The hammock then becomes stretched out by holding and cradling your weight, and then you add the weight of the jug. Now every single one of you has beautiful Tai Chi posture. Now in that place, what I want you to do is, it's as though if you pushed on one side of the seesaw, the other side would go up. Well, this is sort of a horizontal relationship. So as you've released your weight down into the hammock, this is the antenna of your spine. Imagine your spine being an antenna. So the more you release down, the more your spine telescopes and opens up. Key word there being open, telescoping open. And so they become a unified structure that's one is helping the other. As you release all that weight down into the hammock, which is really your fascia system, it's dispersing across your fascia system and opening it up like a net. It's dispersing force. And then when you antenna your spine open, it further disperses the force. Just hang your arms. Don't have them inflated or anything. There you go. Just let them come. Feel that weight. And then feel the counter opening up. Great. Now just for grins, lift the weight and hold it first. Hold that weight and feel what that does to your every part of your body. Do you feel how your joints kind of go, and they compress? Yeah. And your muscles are tight. Release down into the hammock. Let your arms hang. And then the spine, almost by a natural byproduct, opens up. Yeah, that's beautiful. Okay. Now let's go ahead and put our weight down and resume into your Tai Chi stance. Imagine now that your whole body is sort of like that jug, and you're just releasing it down into the hammock. And you may feel sort of an open, floaty feeling. Release those shoulders. Let them go. There you go. So since you've been holding that heavy weight, now you feel more of a floating feeling, and your spine nice and telescoped. This is helping you to achieve the state of Song. Song is not just about opening the joints and inflating from the inside, but it's also it's a two-part series that fit together. By releasing down into the hammock underneath your feet, this can create and open up the body into Song. Now if you feel that little bit of floaty, let's work with it. So float your arms up out in front. We'll do a little standing meditation. And then imagine you have a ring in front of you, and now it's expanding. Your hand's just riding on it. So your hands are out front, fingers dangling down, your back open and broad. And then draw the fingers up, and imagine your spine telescoping open as you draw the fingers along the spine. And even though we stop at the second Dantian, imagine the telescoping keeps going through the neck and out the crown of your head. Now pretend that you have two ropes on your wrist and your elbows, and they have the weight at the bottom of them. And so just release them down into the net. There you go. And you can feel your spine opening more. And you can just go through your body and attach those little ropes with the weight and release them downward at the sacrum. How about at the tips of your knees and the bottom of your collarbone? And maybe a small one at your chin, tip of your chin. So you feel very stable, and yet on that stability, now you can inflate your body from the inside. Just pretend, or you can actually feel it. Now put your awareness in the space between the palms of your hands and the front of your body. And imagine that ball is inflating and it's moving inside the body a bit. Then roll your hands on the outside of that ball. You might recognize this position as the beginning of our opening form and our lotus. Release those muscles. Antenna, open the spine. Take a breath in, then release. Let those fingers just lengthen down towards the earth. And then press on a narrow hallway on two walls. And you're creating a bit of friction on the walls from the elbows all the way down to the palms to the fingers. And then the feet and the head on the earth and holding the sky. Now imagine that squeezing in on you a little bit. You don't move, you just rest in that space. And take a breath in, release. And remember the jug. Let the weight go down into the hammock. Bring your wrists together. And as you telescope open the spine, feel all the weight pouring down into the earth. And the earth supports you and holds you. Blossom out. Release the elbows. Rest your hands. And for just a moment, we're in absolute stillness. Now release downward. Whatever buoyancy you might feel in your body, bring it into your arms, resting your elbows down. Imagine your body in water and your arms are just floating and skimming the surface of the water. So you can release your arms on the water. And the more you feel your weight shift, the more you release like that jug. Release it down into the hammock below you. And feel or sense the opening of the body. Rather than holding your the net under your feet. And your body weight. Now we'll hold our bowl. And imagine the bowl is like your jug. You're releasing the weight of that bowl under your feet, connecting to your feet. And then the body opens. You maintain this throughout. So feel the weight of the bowl taking your upper body down. And the buoyancy is in the back. And the arms grow long. The more you bend down and move towards that weight, the more buoyancy all along your back. In the back of your shoulders, even the back of your legs. And then dip that bowl into the water. And it's like you're pouring water all the way down to the feet, which creates the lifting. The lower legs, upper legs. Release the weight at the sacrum. And then at your elbows. That floats the hands. Swallow. Follow the energy. As your hands go down, try not to move down with it. One more. Holding your jug, connect it to the bottom of your feet or in the hammock, as well as your own body weight. Then follow that weight. The back, back of your arms, all expanding. Then the whole body expanding outward towards the skin. Dip that bowl and pour the weight into the feet. And then it lifts into the lower legs, then the thighs, the qua, the spine, into the elbows. Swallow. When you're ready, you can come out of that. Gather all of this high frequency energy all around you. Receive it into your mind for peace and tranquility, into your heart for joy and gratitude. And throughout every cell of your body for healing, strength, and immunity. Thank you.