Listening to the Body: Embracing Modern Approaches in Ancient Arts

Within the world of Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang, there are lots of traditional styles and lineages that exist.

And having trained in authentic Qi Gong, Nei Gong, and Ba Gua Zhang since 2010 and taught professionally since 2016, I understand the importance of maintaining the authenticity of your lineage.

It's from this position of understanding and respect for the traditions that I've sometimes found it cringe-worthy to see people on the internet modify or fuse these arts and market them under their traditional names.

When I’d see someone seemingly just swing their arms around and label it Tai Chi, devoid of any authentic connection, it was hard to stomach.

But hearing a personal experience of a new client recently, led me to having a profound epiphany.

This person, plagued by various physical ailments, got tremendous value from a fairly popular online Tai Chi youtube page.

To me, sure, this account seemed to be 'Tai Chi-ish'.

Their method took Tai Chi movements and made them more accessible to the masses, without delving deep into the principles and alignments of the art, which in my understandting is what makes the internal arts unique.

But with these videos, the focus was less on correct form and internal alignments, and more on simplistic follow-along routines.

Now, even though I might have criticized this before, hearing about its value firsthand changed my perspective.

My client, after following along with these videos for the past few months, felt real relief for a few hours after he’d practice. But then, on a friend's recommendation to switch to a more 'authentic' teacher, he began to experience discomfort and lost that sense of relief.

I told him, "Forget what your friend said. Your body is the most honest critic. Listen to it."

My client's main goal wasn’t about attaining mastery as a martial artist, it’s just to live with more comfort and improve his quality of life. So, while the teachings might not be 100% traditional, what truly matters is the persons intentions, goals, and how they resonate with the practice.

I've come to realize that much of the criticism towards more accessible teaching styles might stem from a place of competition.

As skilled practitioners, especially those from renowned lineages like the one I come from, in my humble opinion, we need to rise above such sentiments.

Embracing different methods will not only enrich our understanding but also help us attract students genuinely meant for our teachings.

With all of that benign said and just to be clear, I do not condone people taking a few classes or workshops and then going out and trying to teach the masses. But when a dedicated practitioner chooses to modify what they’ve learned, I’ve come full circle and can see the value.

Does Your Back Hurt Because You’re Getting Old?

I just had a long talk with my barber about how his back has been hurting for the past few years, and he doesn't know why.

He tells me, "Jonathan," (in an Italian accent, he's from Sicily), "I used to play soccer every week, I used to go to the gym, then during COVID, I gained about 15 lbs, and now I'm in my mid-50s, and at the end of the day, my back is in pain."

He says it's not that bad, but it does hurt.

I said, "Anthony, this ain't rocket science. You used to do all those things, and now you don’t, and now your back hurts. Do you think if maybe you got back to being more active and lost a few pounds, things might start to feel differently?"

In my experience, people love to blame age. Maybe because it's convenient. But if age were the reason, then literally everyone would have the same issues as they got older.

And even if it seems like everyone over 40 that you know is struggling with something physically, it's not everyone.

But staying out of pain is not always convenient, although with practices like Qi Gong, Tai Chi, and Ba Gua, it can be.

It takes a committed effort to start something new. And then to keep it going!

The key is to find something that's enjoyable for you, so at least on those days you REALLY don't want to do it, once you get started it's not so bad.

It's also helpful to find something that can check off several boxes at once. It should be efficient and convenient.

That's why I love the internal arts like Qi Gong and Ba Gua.

I think a few of the main reasons why a lot of my clients love it are: you don't need to go anywhere to practice, you don’t need any equipment, you can knock out your daily session in under 20 min if that's all the time you have, it integrates with the rest of your life so normal activities become opportunities for therapy, it feels good and makes you feel more balanced, aligned, and decompressed, it both energizes me and calms you down, it helps improve physical aptitude, increases agility and sharpens your mental focus to name a few.

It's hard to find another physical therapy approach that even comes close to that. And those aren't even all of the benefits.

If you’re thinking you're getting old and that's the reason you're experiencing orthopedic pain, you're mistaken. I mean, age is a factor, but it's literally the only one you can't control.

There are a plethora of other things you CAN control, and I highly recommend getting started on them so the next 10, 20, 30 years plus of your life aren't riddled with more discomfort.

If you want more information on a movement therapy approach like Qi Gong in New York City, Ba Gua in NYC, or Tai Chi in NYC, or if you're interested in online training, schedule a call to speak with us today.