This website is dedicated to the Students of Seifu A.S. Umar Sharif, MA. It is also dedicated to the promotion and propagation of the Traditional Afro-Asian Martial and Healing Arts. Our goal is to inform, educate, inspire, encourage, and motivate others to improve their lives by applying The Wisdom of the Ancients.
As your teacher and host, Seifu Sharif [aka: Xia` Xue' Gong] [aka: Tobi Alakoso] is dedicated to helping each of you to remember and nurture the Spirit of Wu-Te and the powers dormant within you.
Namaste’ Students and Fellow Martial Arts Enthusiasts!
We stated in our last Post, “We don’t think of the two ‘ways’ as separate and independent of each other. In fact, the Longevity Way is the necessary first step to be effective in learning and developing the Wu-Kung Way.” In this month's Video of the Month I demonstrate three different ways of performing the first few movements of Yang Style Long Form. In the first performance you will notice the application of TCCI.1,
‘Once you begin to move, the entire body must be light and limber. Each part of your body should be connected to every other part.’
Although I am very relaxed in the first clip, my body looks somewhat stiff. The entire body is moving but the separate parts are still being held too tightly together (for me). There is a certain lack of ‘internal fluidity’.
Remember, TCCI.2 states:
The internal energy should be extended, vibrated like the beat of a drum. The spirit should be condensed in toward the center of the body.
In my second performance clip of the same movements I have released even more tension from my body allowing the joints to open and the muscles to relax so that my internal energy can flow more smoothly. You’ll notice more fluid movement and subtle pulsing and vibrating of my body.
TCCI.4 states:
The internal energy, ch’I, roots at the feet, then transfers through the legs and is controlled from the waist, moving eventually through the back to the arms and fingers.
So you have to become more and more relaxed to facilitate that flow of internal energy. View our YouTube Video on The 7 Gates for more understanding of this important point.
TCCI.5 states:
When transferring the ch’I from your feet to your waist, your body must operate as if all the parts were one; this allows you to move forward and backward freely with control of balance and position. Failure to do this causes loss of control of the entire body system. The only cure for such a problem is an examination of the stance.
Our YouTube Videos titled, On the Road to Fa Jing will help you to really develop those perfect foundation stances as well as the perfect body movement and postures to free your internal energy to flow.
In the third performance clip I demonstrate those first few movements allowing the internal energy to flow all the way to external explosive power, our Combat Way. Unlike in the Longevity Way, where the movements are long, open, continuous, flowing, and evenly paced, in the Combat Way, we are concerned about even pacing and certainly flow, but are also focused on the process of generating explosive power. The Longetivty Way is there but it evolves to add on another characteristic or quality. You may also notice the change in movement when making the transition from Press-Pull-Push into the Single Whip technique. It’s different from the technique in Longevity Way and elevates the combat profile of the movement.
When we perform Tai Chi in the Longevity Way, we should feel heavy and light at the same time. In other words, we should feel rooted to the earth, grounded, connected, while at the same time feeling light, as though we are floating, almost like levitating. Most students lack the patience to spend the long hours, weeks, months, and years necessary to ‘master’ the Tai Chi form as well as the principles. The problem is that students tend to focus on the end result rather than the process. But with Tai Chi, as with most martial and healing arts, the greatest rewards come from paying attention to and enjoying the process. Bring your body, mind, and spirit together in the form, and then put your heart into it, your passion. Make the Longevity Way a place and process of total integration. Practice over and over until you can get lost in the form and achieve the pinnacle of a moving meditation.
With Tai Chi Longevity Way, slower is better! In our next Post we’ll discuss how to slow your performance down by using the Ho Me So Breathing Method.
To be continued:
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It is not simply practice that makes perfect. It is perfect practice and consistent practice that makes perfect.
