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Interview with Alex Shpigel: Full Contact Champion and Acupuncture Doctor

August 13, 2011 on 12:32 pm | In Fighting: San Shou/Sanda/Shuai Chiao, TCM, Massage and Dietary therapy | No Comments

It was around 1994 and I was just beginning to get involved in competitive martial arts as a Tai chi forms and push hands player. It was at a Koushu tournament in Baltimore Maryland, where I first saw Full contact Kung fu guys fighting on a raised platform called a Lei Tai. It was very new and it wasn’t until about 15 years later I had the courage to go on and fight on it. There was a team that captured my attention from my home town San Diego. They were the Hsingyi team coached by Sifu Mike Patterson and they were a very strong team winning many championships. Having had a coach that taught all three internal arts of Tai chi chuan, Pakuachang, and Hsingyi chuan, I had never actually seen theses martial arts used in actual tournament or street fighting. It was quite impressive to watch some of these fighters successfully take these classical styles and adapt them to modern competition . I spoke with Sifu Mike Patterson and he gave me some direction about fighting and suggested to learn Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) . Alex Shpigel was a multiple time Lei Tai heavy weight champion and also got his Masters of TCM at Pacific College of Chinese Medicine. It was around 2007 that I took a trip to San Diego to go to an open house at Pacific College of TCM. I met, trained some Hsingyi, and visited Alex at his clinic in downtown San Diego at that time. We recently reconnected via Facebook where I asked him a few questions:

Q: Alex, how many fights did you end up doing over the span of your fight career and what was your fight record?

A: I fought in 7 tournaments, one of those being the world championships. I don’t remember exactly because these tournaments started with a group of fighters in the same weight and they were paired off against each other until the 2 remaining fighters were matched against each other in the last round. If I remember correctly, I had around 13 or 14 fights. I stopped fighting in 2000 with an un-defeated record.

Q: Name any championship titles you might have:

A:I was the 1995 west coast champ, 1995 and 1999 nationals champ, 1996/1998/2000 International champ and 1996 world champ.

Q: what was it like doing Lei Tai in Taiwan?

A: It was pretty amazing to go to Taiwan and represent the US. It was a bit different than before because it was not only my school brothers but also everyone from the US and the camaraderie was great. I met a lot of really good and talented people and was lucky to be able to compete along side them. It was in a stadium, so much different than the hotel hall in Maryland with a bigger crowd. What I still remember were guys from other countries I had fought before who were not there send their wishes through other fighters and judges who came from their country. It was a bit intimidating being in another country but once the fights started, all that went out the window. A major difference was that here in the US, all the fights were in one day so the injuries and aches really didn’t have time to set in. In Taiwan, the fights were spread over 4 days so getting up every morning was a challenge.

Q: How were you able to balance training as a fighter and going to Pacific College for TCM?

A: It was an easy mix. My teacher Mike Patterson was a great tui na practitioner, his teacher Hsu Hung-Chi (from what I have heard and read) was an amazing tui na practitioner and herbalist and his teacher Hung I-Hsiang was an acupuncturist, herbalist and tui na practitioner. So the combination of being a martial artist and healer has a long tradition. I would train in the morning, then go to class and clinic, then come back to school to either teach classes or train again, then finish up my day with studying. The problem was not as much balancing the two but staying awake in some of the classes and trying not to have a visible injury so I don’t have to explain to my clinic patients why their acupuncturist has a swollen nose or shiner.

Q: You were featured with Mike Patterson in Inside Kung Fu magazine on “Mike Patterson’s winning secrets”, where he mentioned some of the training of the Hsingyi team. In the article, Mike Patterson mentioned he had his fighters working on a steady amount of Tui shou (push hands), Rou shou (Pakua push hands), and An Shen Pao (Hsingyi partner drills). How much did the Internal arts play in developing your strategies as a fighter?

A: The Internal Arts were the only training I had ever had to that point so that was the only strategy I had. Our team consistently made a strong showing, even the new fighters, so the Internal arts played a key role to our success.

Q: What is your current training like these days now as a retired fighter? What kinds of training are you currently doing?

A: I still keep up my training, although not nearly at the level as during my fighting days. Training for a fight is one thing, but training for knowledge and longevity is another. The great thing about the Internal Arts is they are not only for fighting or their martial aspect but if you look into them, it is a way of life. The discipline and confidence will transfer into every aspect of life. The forms keep your body supple and the qi gung keeps your body healthy. I teach class here in San Diego a few days a week to a good group of students and do my own practice including forms, meditation and qi gung on a regular basis.

Q: How did you mentally prepare for fighting on the Lei Tai?

A: Everybody had his or her own way. I had my music, movies (Conan was always a favorite), and visualizations of getting up on the Lei Tai and finishing up with having my hand lifted.

Q: With the explosion of the UFC and MMA, what do you think might be lacking with the amount of fighters rushing in to fighting in the cage?

A: Although I really enjoy watching these competitions, the skill and endurance is amazing. However, what I think is lacking is the art. I can only speak for the students at my school and myself, but today there is very little art and tradition taught at these schools. They put out great fighters, grapplers, kick boxers but there is no substance to the actual art. Obviously from my time on the Lei Tai, I really enjoy that aspect of the martial arts but it was more of my own way to test the system that I had learned and apply the combat part of it. But now that my fighting on the platform is over, I still enjoy training for health and longevity. I know quite a bit of MMA fighters that are in their mid 20’s-30’s and are constantly injured and in pain. I treat guys in their 20s for torn ACL’s, dislocated shoulders, hyper-extended elbows. The training might be fun but not the best for the long term on the body. They are missing the yin aspect of training, that part that you keep training after your fighting and young days are over.

Q: Do you see any advantages that MMA guys are doing in their training these days (like kettlebells, conditioning circuits, cross training) that might have helped you in your fight events?

A: Absolutely!! The kettlebells would have been a great compliment to our training. I add kettlebells to my workout regimen now and see an increase in connection and power. This is like a martial art, a full body workout and can only improve your training. As for conditioning and cross training, that is something we always incorporated into our workouts.

Q: On Facebook, you share many articles on western medicine and recent studies, what kinds of western research have you found relevant to your eastern TCM training?

A: More research is going into herbs, vitamins and supplements. Also, much study is going into trying to figure out how acupuncture actually works, whether its cell, nerve, blood vessel mediated or a combination. I think looking at acupuncture through this model can be a bit dangerous though. The use of acupuncture this way and westernizing it too much so that its fundamentally a therapy used adopted to western medicine might loose the basic principles and functions of how the medicine was developed.

Q: What were some of the techniques you used on injuries when you trained for Lei Tai or after fighting?

A: EPSOM salt was a staple in my house. I would soak almost every night. I did some self massage and Shrfu Patterson was a very good tui na practitioner so he kept us pretty healthy. Also, we had different jiao’s (hit medicine) and medicated oils to help heal up quicker.

Q: Are you currently coaching any fighters? If yes, what are you doing differently than how you were taught?

A: No, between my clinic and teaching I don’t have time to coach or train any fighters.

Q: Did you have any special TCM herbal formulas, diet, or receipts in the weeks training for a fight?

A: We had several jiao’s and herbal recipes for various injuries. These were always used after training on injury’s either old or new. Yunan Pao is a great formula to take internally after any full contact to help speed up healing. As for diet…well, I was young and more resilient. I usually walk around 210 and fought at 180 so the months and weeks before the fights were pretty much salad/vegetables, chicken, rice and whey protein with water and protein bars and can I say that the protein supplements have come a LONG way in taste since then.

Q: any final thoughts on the 3 internals (tai chi, pakua, hsingyi) as effective martial arts in modern times, any additional things you would like to share or add?

A: I think the Internal arts are very effective fighting arts. Hsing-I has a 800-900 year history of fighting, Pa Kua and Tai Chi about 400 years I believe. It might take a little longer to learn the fundamentals, but once learned they are very effective. But for modern times of weapons and stress, I think these arts will prove to be more important in terms of health and longevity than self-defense. As I am sure you know very well, we learn the arts so we have control and not have to fight. As my teacher said many times about his skills “it is better to have and not need than need and not have”. That is what I think about these martial arts. We don’t want to fight, nobody wins…even the “winner” might walk away with the worry of injuring someone. So from this aspect, since we are training not to fight, it is the deeper and “Internal” aspects of these arts that makes them important and valuable today.

Alex Shpigel, L.Ac.
ShpigelAcupuncture.com

Chinese Diet Therapy with Amy Tseng by Wilson Pitts

June 15, 2011 on 12:46 pm | In TCM, Massage and Dietary therapy | No Comments

Traditional Chinese Medicine by Wilson Pitts

To understanding the energetic s of the food we eat, the places we live, our daily habits, is to better understand ourselves on a truly experiential level. The actual experience of your life force transcends intellectual knowledge. The chi of any place or thing is here and now in the present moment. To experience chi you must be totally in the present moment. This practice is meditation, and the study of energetic through meditation leads to a consciousness that can heal the planet. When enough people to choose to be here and now to experience the energy, the chi, of any given situation then they can consciously choose what they put into their bodies, the ecosystem, etc.

East and west, ancient and new, must move aside to make room for a global culture based on true understanding. The bridge between these diverse cultures and ways of understanding is Tao, the glue, the unifying principle.

Energy is considered the essential nature of this principle. In his book “The Tao of Leadership” John Heider states, “The Tao is the single unifying principle underlying all creation. Tao is principle. Creation, on the other hand, is a process, how and what. The method of meditation works because principle and process are inseparable. All process reveals the underlying principle.” The principle is universal. It applies to the modern era as well as it did to the ancient mountain recluses in China. The reason why we look to China for information and process to get at the underlying principles is that for thousands of years this information was studied, refined, and past down to the next generation without interruption. A great deal of information developed when spirituality and science were not separated, has been preserved, and passed down. First by the monasteries on the Holy Mountains of China, and then the families associated with monasteries.

In the epilogue to his book, “The Book of Change and The Unchanging Truth”, Taoist master Ni Huang Ching states, “I am willing to work with a group of advanced scientists to conduct thorough research into the truth of human life and to offer the methods of the ancient sages which are the key to unlocking the knowledge of those elements which really and ultimately constitute life”

Chinese Dietary Therapy

“Healers are for general diseases, but a person must take responsibility himself for the important matters in his life. He is one who must live the life he has molded. If he plays the destroyer of his life and then asks others to be the rescuer, can anything be achieved?”- Ni Huang Ching

Chinese Dietary therapy is an ancient and very practical description of the bodies processes based on generations of study of the how, how the body responds to what is put into it. The Tao, the how, of the body has been studied for centuries. The body is considered the microcosm where the principles could be studied on a practical, understandable level. This knowledge can then be applied to the macrocosm.

The history of Chinese medicine is closely tied to Taoism from the Sacred peaks of ancient China. Along with Astrology, Feng-shuai, it was one of the three fundamental areas of study in Taoist monasteries. The prevention of disease was pursued through every avenue available. The Tao Te Ching advises “handle difficulties while they are small.” The essential nature of the universe was discerned through its many manifestations. Everything was studied and understood on an energy level. This subtle energy the Chinese call “Chi” was studied by the ancients. They considered it to be a direct manifestation of the essential nature of the universe, the Tao.

Master Ni Huang Ching, in his masterpiece the book of changes and the Unchanging truth (a wonderful translation of the I-Ching with Master Ni’s commentary), states, “The ancient medicine is Tao is a narrow way of practice, Tao is medicine in the broad way of practice.”

The Chinese have studied foods and the recognized the energy nature of each of them. The chi of the food is considered more important than any analysis of calorie or vitamin content. The Chinese doctor stresses that the patient is responsible for his or her actions and health. Once you have been taught the basics, you will know whether you are eating the wrong thing. This is a most basic, day to day activity that teaches you to nourish your chi, not just dump empty calories to satisfy cravings. The daily introspection on your dietary habits reveals the state of your energy. This study is based on principles that are fundamentally Taoist: eliminate extremes and return to the center.

The West’s unbending faith in material science has blinded many to the subtle energy of their body, the food they eat, and their environment. The west needs this awareness and the information available through it at least as much as the rest of the world needs the products of Western Science and technology. The information is available to us today through Chinese dietary therapy.

The everyday life of the family is the study of the basic unit of study in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The correct diet for each individual member is different. It is based on each person’s “now situation.” The understanding of the energetic of each person’s dietary need, allow the energy of the family as a whole to be adjusted and balanced on a day-to-day basis.

The goal of Chinese dietary therapy is to cultivate positive energy and hold it inside, of each family member, and of the family as a whole, including the energy of the house (feng-shuai). When the positive energy is cultivated and not allowed to disperse, a warm, positive attitude is exuded. This attitude helps to cultivate more positive energy which is reserved in a continuous loop. Master Ni calls this “cultivating yang virtues.”

When the energy is weak and allowed to disperse, the individual feels fear and dread and the family is weak and at odds with each other. This allows the negative energy to take over and expose itself as negative attitudes.

The typical diet in America is not understood in energy terms at all and is only adjusted according to a “mechanical mode” of calories, vitamins, and minerals. In energy terms we tend to combine extremes rather than stay to the middle.

To the Chinese all raw foods are “cold” in energy terms. All foods that are fried or baked are “fire.” In America these extremes are commonly combined and washed down with an iced drink. The result is that the individual’s chi is often weak and the energy of the family chaotic. It is no mystery to the Chinese that the American family unit disintegrated as the fast food mentality took over after World war II.

The food chart that accompanies the interview should be hung in the kitchen so it can be used. Try to avoid the extremes of cold and hot and stick with the foods in the middle columns that are either steamed or boiled.

Interview with a Chinese doctor

Question: Given the fact that most people in the West do not have access to Chinese medicine, what can they do to help themselves?

Amy: The first question you need to ask yourself is “Are you satisfied with your current state of health?”

If you are not satisfied with your current state of health, then write down a list of your favorite foods. Make your favorite foods forbidden for a period of time. Especially these items if they are on your list: coffee, alcohol, tobacco, any roasted or fried food, all raw food, raw salad, and raw fruits.

The next step is to make a list of what you eat each day for a week. If you are really enthusiastic about improving your health, then ideally you should do this for a month or two.

Note what your physical condition is in relation to your diet. Sometimes you don’t get the cause and effect relationship in one day.

Write your feelings for the two weeks that you record your diet and then eliminate the previously mentioned items and record your diet and feelings for another two weeks. After this introspection you begin to see what agrees with you and what does not. It is true that after your body changes and becomes better, you may be able to eat some of these things again.

I don’t believe in a lot of these food allergies that people talk about. Once the body gets better, you eliminate many food allergies.

Question: can you talk about the basic parameters of fire and cold imbalance in fundamental terms so that a person can learn to tell where they are in regards to the middle?

Amy: The quality of fire or cold in Chinese medicine doesn’t refer to temperature, but refers to an unbalanced state in the body. Some of the clues to having fire are:

· Burning in the eyes before you go to bed.

· Ulcers in the mouth.

· A pasty taste in your mouth even after brushing teeth.

· Dry, cracked lips.

People with a lot of fire imbalance appear to have a lot of energy. They are busying about doing many things, but they are actually borrowing money from the bank. They are using the borrowed or “fake” energy and one day they will find the balance is past due. That makes them a very nervous people.

Now it is time to talk about the cold imbalance. Some of the clues to having cold imbalance are:

· The person is afraid of or sensitive to cold temperatures.

· It is hard for them to get out of bed in the morning.

· They have a lack of energy to do things.

· They are more timid, they are not gutsy as someone with a lot of fire.

· They think about all sorts of things in the mind all day long, but lack the courage to act them out.

Sometimes people with a cold imbalance will have manifestations of fire, but this is empty fire, not full fire, true fire. There is a different treatment for empty fire than full fire. People with the full fire are easy to see because they have the red face and they have a strong personality, but the people with empty fire are thin and weak- they may have some manifestation of fire that we talked about, but they are a different type of person, much weaker. People with empty fire often stay up late at night. Staying up late at night can give you more fire and make you nervous and unable to fall asleep. The people with empty fire will think about a lot of things, think and think, but they won’t go and do it whereas the people with full fire will decide on something and do it without giving it enough thought.

Question: In general terms what has your research shown to be the predominant imbalance in America?

Amy: the population we have seen in the U.S. have been mostly people with empty fire. People who are farmers or are very active have the full fire. People who are thinking, using their minds, and thinking to much have a tendency toward toward empty fire and this is the population we have seen.

Question: Do you think it’s the lifestyle that has an effect on the body?

Amy: Exactly. People who get empty fire have the following habits.

· They like to stay up past eleven o’clock at night.

· They like to smoke and/or drink coffee.

· They drink alcohol.

· They smoke marijuana or take other drugs.

· Most of them are a nervous type.

Another important personality trait of a person with empty fire is the tendency toward perfectionism. It is impossible for a human to attain perfection, so pursuing it creates a lot of stress.

Question: Can you compare the lifestyle in the U.S. to China and and how these different lifestyles manifest different energy?

Amy: The Chinese have a long tradition of knowing what is best to eat. They are less likely to eat the diet that is full of fire like the normal diet in the U.S. They don’t drink as much coffee as in the U.S. and they don’t eat big steaks or broiled foods. They eat more simmered and stewed and drink tea. However the Chinese world is changing and in the larger cities they are now getting habits of the West. The Chinese have a philosophy of taking things as they come. They are not a hurried people as in the West. Good things take time, so that is less stress when you take that attitude. For example: as we have talked about before, if you eat something with a lot of stress when you are eating it, then the digestion will be different than if you eat with a calm mind.

Question: What steps can the average person take, beyond the basic dietary considerations mentioned to help themselves?

Amy: One of the main things someone can do in their life is to decrease the importance of material things in their life. Then the stress associated with trying to get these things will decrease and one will have more time to advance their health and cultivate their spiritual energy.

Question: What foods can you recommend that would be good for most people to eat?

Amy: steamed foods and soups are very good. Most Americans are not suited to eating raw veggies and salad. It may be OK for some people. Cowboys, people working all day by the sweat of their brow, may be more suited to eating steak and salad. People who sit in front of a computer or desk all day, its not really a good thing for them. Raw vegetables may be pure before they get in your stomach. In Chinese medicine, raw vegetables have the cold energy and when they get into the stomach have a cold quality, not a cold temperature. This cold quality decreases absorption of the food in a functional sort of way, so you don’t get the benefit of that raw food. Steaming the hard vegetable will make it soft was easy to absorb.

Question: in attempting to listen to your body, it seems you have to first recognize where you are right now?

Amy: Yes, this is why I said to write it all down, study your present situation.

Question: If you choose to look closely and listen to your body and can recognize a state of imbalance, then it seems that on the face of things the unbalanced body tells you exactly the wrong thing to do or eat?

Amy: it’s true that the body may give you the wrong signals. You may have a craving for chocolate all the time because you are weak and need the energy, but that is just the wrong sort of energy that won’t help you. It will make your fire worse and worse. That is why it is important to write down what you eat and discern the energy response you have to what you eat.

It is only in the state of imbalance that the body will give you incorrect information. Once balance is restored it should give you accurate information. If you have cold imbalance you can’t eat fire foods to restore balance. In Chinese medicine, they stress eating warm foods to restore balance. Just go to the center and forget either extreme. In other words, avoid cold and fire foods, especially when you are not feeling well. Eat cool and warm foods instead. We have a list of various foods and their essential energy nature. This will provide a basic guideline. Tse tse.

Amy Tseng studied Traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan for 7 years and has practiced in the U.S. and Eurpoe for over 30 years. She is most interested in nutrition and diet as a foundation for good health. She teaches that diet, herbal medicine, acupuncture, Tai Chi, qigong, and meditation work together synergistically to create well-being.

Wilson Pitts Taijiquan and TCM diet revisited

March 21, 2011 on 2:23 am | In TCM, Massage and Dietary therapy, Tai Chi Chaun/Taijiquan | No Comments

transcribed from video and old unscanable document:

Taijiquan with Wilson Pitts

Taijiquan is the most popular healing art in the world. To achieve health and well being was part of the tradition of the Taoist sages of China. Taiji translates into “Grand ultimate.” The ancients had called the North star ‘Taiji”, it is the ridgepole of which the constellations and stars rotate. This ancient Taoist term was given to this Grand Ultimate Martial Art.

From its inception Taiji was designated to be in accord with principles in nature. Chinese say that the earth turns at a constant rate, moon, sun and stars travel across the sky at a constant rate, day changes to night at a constant rate, the season flow uninterrupted, so we must learn to do the same with our practice. The best way to observe the self moving at a constant rate is watching our shadow. Taiji is also referred to as ‘Shadow boxing.’

The art of Taiji posture training teach how to express the coiling, spiraling, binary, and pulsing energy of life with the body. Later it becomes refined and strengthened. The highest aspect of every area of Chinese thought were melded in Taiji, the highest spiritual teachings, philosophy, medicine, physics, art, and physical culture.

To truly investigate the art, we must understand the intentions of its founders. The root of the art leads to its founders and the information they worked with. Taiji as an ancient centering exercise based on principles of harmony. To harmonize with gravity, one must stand and move erect with with knees bent. Taiji is practiced in slow motion, so harmony can be sought throughout the practice. Taiji is a progression of movement, where anyone in any condition can begin to practice. The slow graceful movements strengthen the legs and abdomen while relaxing shoulders and neck. Daily practice balances the body and slow changes the way it moves. What designated Taiji from other forms of physical education is that there is full knowledge of Chinese medicine and qigong 9breathing exercises). These arts were developed side-by-side sharing the same goal of balancing the energies of the body. Taiji postures and flowing movement is taught in the beginning as a foundation so the beginner can have deeper insights. The “qi” or internal is nourished and circulated inside rather than expended.

By centering in the present, one learns to experience life as it happens. This position of harmony gives you the pliability of water, the ability of adaption to constant changes in the environment as they are happening to you. This could be change in weather, thinking, or in martial combat. Taiji has many benefits including increased circulation, balance and stability, less stress, relaxing increases, legs stronger, and deepens breathing.

The I-Ching, or “Book of Changes”, the oldest Confucian classic’s basic premise is: “The only thing that doesn’t change is change itself.” The inability to change creates stress, so in order to change for health, you must be in tune with who you are, and not who you think you should be. Healthy people move toward what they need to stay healthy. Your health is dependant upon the degree of harmony between the way you choose to live in the world and the way the world directs you. The language of the body is not Chinese, English, or any other verbalization. Taiji teaches to communicate with the body through feeling. Once you enter this new body awareness you can realize many paths.

Our teaching method serves as a guide. The true lessons are in the process. Take them for what they are, and in the final analysis, you will be your own guide. Usage, whether healing, fighting, spirituality, competition, etc. will decide the meaning of the practice.

Traditionally Taiji was training with Qigong and standing meditation in the Taoist monasteries of Mt. Wu Dang and Mt. Huashan. Taiji as a slow motion exercise and meditation system came from these monasteries. This body awareness system is sophisticated and practical. Taiji is recognized as the most important of the other arts developed alongside Taiji. Xingyiquan and Baguazhang are other arts recognized as Taoist yoga. The arts complement each other, Taoist yoga is not a religion, but a system of holistic health care developed alongside Chinese medicine.

Meditation is a mental discipline that allows the mind to concentrate on one thing at a time. The definition here in this case is “Mind fascination” where the mind is fascinated totally like a child in play, the mental focus contemplates, not dogmas or gurus, but the “qi”, the internal energy in the “here and now” experience. This qi energy circulates in passage ways called meridians, circulation in the internal organs, creating harmony with the nervous and circulatory systems, which are also manipulated in acupuncture. Through breathing, visualization, and will, this energy can be balanced and strengthened. The body has an innate intelligence, but it doesn’t have an owner’s manual. It is learned through correct techniques. The body can maintain perfect health and create a body that can combat stressful situations of daily life.

These Taoist arts are unique as they developed in an environment where knowledge from one generation was handed down to the next generation to be investigated further uninterrupted for thousands of years. The West is just beginning to find out this information to reduce stress and disease and maximize the body’s full potential.

Taiji is not an esoteric method not everyone can do. The techniques are straight forward and effective. With discipline you will want to practice and learn more. Lao Tzu’s Tao Te Ching is a base of Taiji philosophy. “Softness conquers hardness, gentleness over comes ridgity.” The series of movements in Taiji challenge your mental and physical capabilities, rather than muscular strength. It is like the early stages of learning to play an instrument. At first it is awkward and the student feels discouraged, then learning becomes easier, and learn to enjoy and become proficient, lastly one can find great expression though the art. In Taiji, the body is the instrument.

The generations of families devoted to the study of Taiji have given us classical forms to study the underlying principles in a holistic way. These Classical forms are livening and dynamic, and can be worked away from uniformity and imitation. The student is given knowledge of the unchanging principles, encouraged to practice in a way that promotes change. In learning, a student can practice slowly and increase the speed each time to create changing emphasis. As the body changes with practice, form will change. Eventually the student will make the postures their own. Some teachers will not take the student away from robotic imitation. This attitude is harmful for not recognizing individual physical differences and neglects the student’s reason for practice. Chinese say that the practice is a daily decrease rather than a daily increase. Taoist yoga of Taiji is always relaxing and releasing patterns of tension, thereby increasing Qi circulation. The meditation of chi is only accomplished in the present state; the incredible body of awareness is developed through posture training, the vocabulary for this is in the form of movements. It is internalized through practice, and is later able to be expressed by the student. The martial aspect allows one to examine the vocabulary of form. Slow exacting postures keep energy inside; this is valuable self knowledge for someone battling the stress of daily life as well as a martial artist in combat.

There is a saying that the father teaches the son 80%, from son to son 80%, finally after generations of this they are teaching 80% of nothing. This is like the empty robotic forms many people practice. Study underlying principles, and have the motions reflect this underlying principles takes a lot of time so that the motions do not become robotic. We must start at Taiji kindergarten and build a solid foundation to which we can pursue the higher levels of the art. When the basics are correct outside and the mind can remain relaxed and still, then the higher levels can be pursued. Without proper foundations, the spiritual aspects will be mere words. The eventual goal of form training is formlessness. When the body flows, the mind also flows, not stopping, not judging, but abides in the constant change of Tao, creating postures as they come. No two times of practice are ever the same. To reach this level is to practice Taiji in the present moment with clear focus.

Traditional Chinese Medicine by Wilson Pitts

To understanding the energetic s of the food we eat, the places we live, our daily habits, is to better understand ourselves on a truly experiential level. The actual experience of your life force transcends intellectual knowledge. The chi of any place or thing is here and now in the present moment. To experience chi you must be totally in the present moment. This practice is meditation, and the study of energetic through meditation leads to a consciousness that can heal the planet. When enough people to choose to be here and now to experience the energy, the chi, of any given situation then they can consciously choose what they put into their bodies, the ecosystem, etc.

East and west, ancient and new, must move aside to make room for a global culture based on true understanding. The bridge between these diverse cultures and ways of understanding is Tao, the glue, the unifying principle.

Energy is considered the essential nature of this principle. In his book “The Tao of Leadership” John Heider states, “The Tao is the single unifying principle underlying all creation. Tao is principle. Creation, on the other hand, is a process, how and what. The method of meditation works because principle and process are inseparable. All process reveals the underlying principle.” The principle is universal. It applies to the modern era as well as it did to the ancient mountain recluses in China. The reason why we look to China for information and process to get at the underlying principles is that for thousands of years this information was studied, refined, and past down to the next generation without interruption. A great deal of information developed when spirituality and science and science were not separated, has been preserved, and passed down. First by the monasteries on the Holy Mountains of China, and then the families associated with monasteries.

In the epilogue to his book, “The Book off Change and The Unchanging Truth”, Taoist master Ni Huang Ching states, “I am willing to work with a group of advanced scientists to conduct thorough research into the truth of human life and to offer the methods of the ancient sages which are the key to unlocking the knowledge of those elements which really and ultimately constitute life”

Chinese Dietary Therapy

“Healers are for general diseases, but a person must take responsibility himself for the important matters in his life. He is one who must live the life he has molded. If he plays the destroyer of his life and then asks others to rescuer, can anything be achieved?”- Ni Huang Ching

Chinese Dietary therapy is an ancient and very practical description of the bodies processes based on generations of study of the how, how the body responds to what is put into it. The Tao, the how, of the body has been studied for centuries. The body is considered the microcosm where the principles could be studied on a practical, understandable level. This knowledge can then be applied to the macrocosm.

The history of Chinese medicine is closely tied to Taoism from the Sacred peaks of ancient China. Along with Astrology, Feng-shui, it was one of the three fundamental areas of study in Taoist monasteries. The prevention of disease was pursued through every avenue available. The Tao Te Ching advises “handle difficulties while they are small.” The essential nature of the universe was discerned through its many manifestations. Everything was studied and understood on an energy level. This subtle energy the Chinese call “Chi” was studied by the ancients. They considered it to be a direct manifestation of the essential nature of the universe, the Tao.

Master Ni Huang chi, in his masterpiece the book of changes and the Unchanging truth (a wonderful translation of the I-Ching with master Ni’s commentary), states, “The ancient medicine is Tao is a narrow way of practice, Tao is medicine in the broad way of practice.”

The Chinese have studied foods and the recognized the energy nature of each of them. The chi of the food is considered more important than any analysis of calorie or vitamin content. The Chinese doctor stresses that the patient is responsible for his or her actions and health. Once you have been taught the basics, you will know whether you are eating the wrong thing. This is a most basic, day to day activity that teaches you to nourish your chi, not just dump empty calories to satisfy cravings. The daily introspection on your dietary habits reveals the state of your energy. This study is based on principles that are fundamentally Taoist: eliminate extremes and return to the center.

The West’s unbending faith in material science has blinded many to the subtle energy of their body, the food they eat, and their environment. The west needs this awareness and the information available through it at least as much as the rest of the world needs the products of Western Science and technology. The information is available to us today through Chinese dietary therapy.

The everyday life of the family is the study of the basic unit of study in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The correct diet for each individual member is different. It is based on each person’s “now situation.” The understanding of the energetic of each person’s dietary need allow the energy of the family as a whole to be adjusted and balanced on a day-to-day basis.

The goal of Chinese dietary therapy is to cultivate positive energy and hold it inside, of each family member, and of the family as a whole, including the energy of the house 9feng-shui). When the positive energy is cultivated and not allowed to disperse, a warm, positive attitude is exuded. This attitude helps to cultivate more positive energy which is reserved in a continuous loop. Master Ni calls this “cultivating yang virtues.”

When the energy is weak and allowed to disperse, the individual feels fear and dread and the family is weak and at odds with each other. This allows the negative energy to take over and expose itself as negative attitudes.

The typical diet in America is not understood in energy terms at all and is only adjusted according to a “mechanical mode” of calories, vitamins, and minerals. In energy terms we tend to combine extremes rather than stay to the middle.

To the Chinese all raw foods are “cold” in energy terms. All foods that are fried or baked are “fire.” In America these extremes are commonly combined and washed down with an iced drink. The result is that the individual’s chi is often weak and the energy of the family chaotic. It is no mystery to the Chinese that the American family unit disintegrated as the fast food mentality took over after World war II.

The food chart that accompanies the interview should be hung in the kitchen so it can be used. Try to avoid the extremes of cold and hot and stick with the foods in the middle columns that are either steamed or boiled.

Interview with a Chinese doctor

Question: Given the fact that most people in the West do not have access to Chinese medicine, what can they do to help themselves?

Amy: The first question you need to ask yourself is “Are you satisfied with your current state of health?”

If you are not satisfied with your current state of health, then write down a list of your favorite foods. Make your favorite foods forbidden for a period of time. Especially these items if they are on your list: coffee, alcohol, tobacco, any roasted or fried food, all raw food, raw salad, and raw fruits.

The next step is to make a list of what you eat each day for a week. If you are really enthusiastic about improving your health, then ideally you should do this for a month or two.

Note what your physical condition is in relation to your diet. Sometimes you don’t get the cause and effect relationship in one day.

Write your feelings for the two weeks that you record your diet and then eliminate the previously mentioned items and record your diet and feelings for another two weeks. After this introspection you begin to see what agree with you and what does not. It is true that after your body changes and becomes better, you may be able to eat some of these things again.

I don’t believe in a lot of these food allergies that people talk about. Once the body gets better, you eliminate many food allergies.

Question: can you talk about the basic parameters of fire and cold imbalance in fundamental terms so that a person can learn to tell where they are in regards to the middle?

Amy: The quality of fire or cold in Chinese medicine doesn’t refer to temperature, but refers to an unbalanced state in the body. Some of the clues to having fire are:

· Burning in the eyes before you go to bed.

· Ulcers in the mouth.

· A pasty taste in your mouth even after brushing teeth.

· Dry, cracked lips.

People with a lot of fire imbalance appear to have a lot of energy. They are busying about doing many things, but they are actually borrowing money from the bank. They are using the borrowed or “fake” energy and one day they will find the balance is past due. That makes them a very nervous people.

Now it is time to talk about the cold imbalance. Some of the clues to having cold imbalance are:

· The person is afraid of or sensitive to cold temperatures.

· It is hard for them to get out of bed in the morning.

· They have a lack of energy to do things.

· They are more timid, they are not gutsy as someone with a lot of fire.

· They think about all sorts of things in the mind all day long, but lack the courage to act them out.

Sometimes people with a cold imbalance will have manifestations of fire, but this is empty fire, not full fire, true fire. There is a different treatment for empty fire than full fire. People with the full fire are easy to see because they have the red face and they have a strong personality, but the people with empty fire are thin and weak- they may have some manifestation of fire that we talked about, but they are a different type of person, much weaker. People with empty fire often stay up late at night. Staying up late at night can give you more fire and make you nervous and unable to fall asleep. The people with empty fire will think about a lot of things, think and think, but they won’t go and do it whereas the people with full fire will decide on something and do it without giving it enough thought.

Question: In general terms what has your research shown to be the predominant imbalance in America?

Amy: the population we have seen in the U.S. have been mostly people with empty fire. People who are farmers or are very active have the full fire. People who are thinking, using their minds, and thinking to much have a tendency toward toward empty fire and this is the population we have seen.

Question: Do you think it’s the lifestyle that has an effect on the body?

Amy: Exactly. People who get empty fire have the following habits.

· They like to stay up past eleven o’clock at night.

· They like to smoke and/or drink coffee.

· They drink alcohol.

· They smoke marijuana or take other drugs.

· Most of them are a nervous type.

Another important personality trait of a person with empty fire is the tendency toward perfectionism. It is impossible for a human to attain perfection, so pursuing it creates a lot of stress.

Question: Can you compare the lifestyle in the U.S. to China and and how these different lifestyles manifest different energy?

Amy: The Chinese have a long tradition of knowing what is best to eat. They are less likely to eat the diet that is full of fire like the normal diet in the U.S. They don’t drink as much coffee as in the U.S. and they don’t eat big steaks or broiled foods. They eat more simmered and stewed and drink tea. However the Chinese world is changing and in the larger cities they are now getting habits of the West. The Chinese have a philosophy of taking things as they come. They are not a hurried people as in the West. Good things take time, so that is less stress when you take that attitude. For example: as we have talked about before, if you eat something with a lot of stress when you are eating it, then the digestion will be different than if you eat with a calm mind.

Question: What steps can the average person take, beyond the basic dietary considerations mentioned to help themselves?

Amy: One of the main things someone can do in their life is to decrease the importance of material things in their life. Then the stress associated with trying to get these things will decrease and one will have more time to advance their health and cultivate their spiritual energy.

Question: What foods can you recommend that would be good for most people to eat?

Amy: steamed foods and soups are very good. Most Americans are not suited to eating raw veggies and salad. It may be OK for some people. Cowboys, people working all day by the sweat of their brow, may be more suited to eating steak and salad. People who sit in front of a computer or desk all day, its not really a good thing for them. Raw vegetables may be pure before they get in your stomach. In Chinese medicine, raw vegetables have the cold energy and when they get into the stomach have a cold quality, not a cold temperature. This cold quality decreases absorption of the food in a functional sort of way, so you don’t get the benefit of that raw food. Steaming the hard vegetable will make it soft was easy to absorb.

Question: in attempting to listen to your body, it seems you have to first recognize where you are right now?

Amy: Yes, this is why I said to write it all down, study your present situation.

Question: If you choose to look closely and listen to your body and can recognize a state of imbalance, then it seems that on the face of things the unbalanced body tells you exactly the wrong thing to do or eat?

Amy: it’s true that the body may give you the wrong signals. You may have a craving for chocolate all the time because you are weak and need the energy, but that is just the wrong sort of energy that won’t help you. It will make your fire worse and worse. That is why it is important to write down what you eat and discern the energy response you have to what you eat.

It is only in the state of imbalance that the body will give you incorrect information. Once balance is restored it should give you accurate information. If you have cold imbalance you can’t eat fire foods to restore balance. In Chinese medicine, they stress eating warm foods to restore balance. Just go to the center and forget either extreme. In other words, avoid cold and fire foods, especially when you are not feeling well. Eat cool and warm foods instead. We have a list of various foods and their essential energy nature. This will provide a basic guideline. Tse tse.

Amy Tseng studied Traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan for 7 years and has practiced in the U.S. and Eurpoe for over 30 years. She is most interested in nutrition and diet as a foundation for good health. She teaches that diet, herbal medicine, acupuncture, Tai Chi, qigong, and meditation work together synergistically to create well-being.