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ART DU CHI

Inner Way School of Tai Chi Chuan Portugal

Art du Chi: the Inner Way perspective

Techniques

Contents of the lessons

Inner Way School in Portugal

Art du Chi: the Inner Way perspective

Tai Chi Chuan is a form of exercise based on a sequence of stylized martial art movements.

These movements are carried out very slowly and with great fluidity, without the use of muscular effort. The Chi (vital energy) which circulates within the body becomes the source of the movement.

Chi Kung in Chinese means to work with energy. In our School it is called the "Art of Chi".

The utilisation of Chi produces the movements of Tai Chi Chuan making it possible to relax our physical and mental tensions.

The teaching is free from any competitive spirit, and aims to create inner balance and harmony with the external world.

... and then, one day, the Way of the grand Masters will open.

Techniques

Chi it is this irreplaceable energy which is found in all forms of Life. It must be able to circulate freely in order to release all our potential, both physical and mental.
 

Chi is a component of life, its form of communication, the acknowledgement of one life to another, the silent messages of love.

This force obeys the human will.

 By using techniques based on relaxation, breathing, Tai Chi Chuan, Chi Kung, vocal techniquesenergy circulation and others, it is possible to learn a new language, that of your body, or better, that of the living being. You will thus learn the correct use of a faculty specific to all living things: handling energy at will.


The exercises, techniques and methods are useful only to teach you how to do. It will be you who decides how to use them:  to improve your health, your wellbeing, your dynamism, your awareness of your body, your love, yourself-realisation; for combat, success, peace, existentialism, expanding your  fields of conscience, the union with the Divine.

. "My only intention - writes the author - is to transmit and pay the debt which I have to my Masters who went to great pains to teach me. But my Masters also helped me to understand what is beyond the techniques and the art: Life. They showed me a way: the way of all living things, the way of conscious integration with the immense extravagance of joy which is the Way of the Life ".

Contents of the lessons

    The teachers of the School give classes in a variety of ways–  groups of classes,  classes on individual topics, weekly classes and training courses. The short and long training courses are reserved for the more experienced teachers.

    Courses can vary between the teachers because the repertoire is so big that it takes several years to cover every aspect.

    The teachers themselves are urged to continue their training each year with the formateurs, to ensure they offer a consistent and high quality of teaching.

    Generally the courses consist of two parts ;

·         -   Work on the ground (Chi work)

·           - Standing work (Chi Kung and/or Tai Chi)

    The principle themes of the work on the ground (Chi work) are :

·           training in different relaxation techniques

·           stretching exercises

·           several breathing exercises

·           15 exercises for waking the hands to the perception of Chi

·           techniques for automassage

·           exercises for sensitizing oneself to the Chi

·           Bhuddist, Taoist and Chan school (Chinese Zen) techniques for meditation

·           exploring the Tan Tien (Hara), the geometrical and energetic centre of the body

·           training in the energetic techniques that encourage the Chi to flow through the various energy circuits of the body, etc.

    The objective of all the work on the ground is to release the body of its inner tensions, to develop and extend the individual’s awareness and capacity to direct the Chi around the body and to enable, through the circulation of the Chi, a practice of Chi Kung and Tai Chi which goes beyond simple muscular work.

    The main topics of the standing work: are:

·           awakening to the state of our body

·           exerecises for muscular relaxation

·           attaining the correct posture

·           attaining a balance with one’s surroundings

·           the perception of the  movement of the weight in the body, from empty to full

·           communication with one’s surroundings

·           preparation of the basic energy aspects of Chi Kung and Tai Chi

·           Chi Kung (the 11 Chinese health exercises)

·           Tai Chi: training in the 3 Yang forms:

24 postures (prerequisite: the 11 exercises)

108 postures (prerequisite: the 11 exercises and  the 24 postures)

127 postures (prerequisite: the 11 exercises,  the 24 postures and the 108 postures)

    The standing work incorporates the  work  done in the Chi courses to return Tai Chi to a real form of meditative moving (the progressive union of the whole body with the universe and life)

    The CVS Centre in Portugal also offers seminars on other topics :

·           training in the 8 brocades

·           training for Kiriki-do ( a type of Kung Fu) using specific Chi techniques. The practice of Kiriki-do helps us to  understand and improve the movements in Tai Chi.

·           the technique of the loop to protect the energy of those working with patients.

    There is also the emission of sounds (mantras)  to make the body vibrate in order to release tension from within. The sounds are not emitt for external melodic reasons but to help us in a major exploration, that of union with the universe.

Inner Way School in Portugal

 Since 1996 the School and and the training centre are lead by Fabien Bastin with the assistance of Jeanne Houde.

Today, there are 8 teachers in Portugal.