Tai Chi Adventures: Part #3 - Li Style
Picking up from where I left off in Part 2, after having reinjured my neck and having 'one blackout too many' at my voluntary C.A.B role (which... led to me losing that job), I came to the realization that both previous styles of Tai Chi could have prevented the incidents that I had from happening - ie: Chen style would boost my stamina and Sun style would have strengthend my neck, it was clear that I needed to get back into Tai Chi after a long absence from it.
I looked all over for local Tai Chi places and that's when I discovered something interesting called Lishi Tai Chi (pronounced 'Lee-Sheer'). As you can see from the website here - http://www.lishi.org/ it doesn't just cover Tai Chi, but Yoga and Soft Kung-fu too. I wasn't to sure if it was suitable for me or not, but this came at a low-point of my life when I was starting to get depressed about losing my C.A.B job and the feeling that my health is back at square one with no solution in sight. So I went down to Salford University with a "what have I got to lose" attitude and gave Lishi a try. I'm glad that I did because it has turned my life around ever since.
Right from the word go I explained my health issues and concerns to the instructor, Xi'an Shen Wan-Ley, who not only understood my situation, but said he was willing to work with me on it. This was something no previous instructors did and even now he still tells me to "lower your shoulders" and "keep your neck inline with your spine" during activities, which to be honest is advice that I should have been given years ago from the likes of Physio and Spinal consultants (seriously i'm learning more about my health from this guy than most of the experts that i've seen). This is clearly what I need because for years the advice given to me has always been along the lines of "if it hurts your neck, don't do it" (ie: Bottom filing cabinet hurt my neck, told not to use filing cabinets since), where as here when I hurt my neck or go dizzy, i'm finding out why and i'm getting advice to prevent that from happening.
Lishi follows Li style (more info here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee-style_t'ai_chi_ch'uan ) which was created by Chan Kam Lee and later popularized by Chee Soo as a way of bringing the Taoist way of life to the west (see Taoism here http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daoism ). Lishi also combines the combat aspect of Jian Taiji (from part 1) with Soft Kung-fu, the health aspect of Eccles Tai Chi (from part 2) with Yoga and both in it's Tai Chi teachings. This 3-in-1 package was just the thing I was looking for.
The Tai Chi aspect of Lishi uses the Li form known as 'the square yard' because of the limited space needed to do it. I am picking up this form quicker than others that I have done in the past and that's because the moves here are easier to remember as the stances are all based and named after animals (ie: Horse stance is like you are sat on a horse). It also features Qigong breathing exercises in a similar vein as the previous Tai Chi stuff that i've done.
The Taoist Yoga aspect is called Kai Men based around moves and stances from Tai Chi. Whilst i'm not a big Yoga fan and I find these to be the hardest/most painful part of the classes (mainly due to maintaining and holding poses), it has proved useful at strengthening my neck, correcting my posture and improving my balance whilst in these unique Yoga positions.
Lishi also features Soft Kung-fu called Feng-Shou (see here for more info http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feng_Shou ) which also uses moves and stances from Tai Chi. Whilst this is the most energetic part of the class due to it's heavy focus on dodging and side stepping (think Matrix bullet dodging and you get the idea), it's the part that I enjoy the most. My health problems are clearly not suitable for other types of Kung-fu or martial arts, but this one is perfect for me because the focus is on using minimum effort and remaining calm. Everything here from the palm strikes to redirecting blocks are done in a similar, controlled manner with no actual sparring and everything being choreographed. Not only is this good stress relief for me, it toughens me up and deals with my biggest problem regarding my health and that is fear.
You see every solution for my health so far has focused on the physical effects of my neck injury such as the pain and stiff movement of it, but the psychological side of things hasn't been touched upon. This is one area that Lishi has improved for me the most because when that fear of passing out takes over I used to either become more hesitate in everything I do or I just lock myself in my bedroom for weeks, but thanks to Lishi though I have become more confident and less fearful of that. When I go dizzy I used to fall over alot, but now my balance has improved I don't fall as much. When I pass out I used to struggle recovering afterwards, but thanks to the controlled breathing that i've learned from Tai Chi, i'm recovering alot quicker now.
I still have a long way to go on my road to recovery, which is why as of writing, I still do Lishi to this day and whilst it hasn't always been easy and they have been times where I struggled badly, it is making a huge difference on both my physical and mental wellbeing.
Thanks for reading and I hoped you enjoyed it.
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