Song for Balance and Grounding — Tai Chi’s Secret to Stability

One of the questions was, can this help with something practical like balance, and absolutely. The more we can begin to carry the state of song in our body throughout our day, the first thing it does is it's relieving pressure on your joints. And it creates a bit of space in your joints so that you can have nutrient flow and some relief to that constant gravitational force on our joints. And that's what creates pain and arthritis over the years. So even if we were able to song for a short period of time in our day, and that's what I use standing meditation for, is to song my joints and song my body and quiet my mind. Then you're really creating more of a healing environment for your body and you're giving your joints and your mind some relief. Can it help balance? Yes, absolutely. When we balance on one leg, if we try to do it through muscle force, for example, like we tried with partner practice, muscle force would be I'm pushing down on the earth to lift up my leg. Now I have really good balance so I can do this, but most people can't, especially my age. They cannot do this, but I'm still sort of wobbly and struggling because I'm not using song. I'm using muscle force. In fact, let's try this. I haven't tested this out, so come on over, Craig. I'm going to be on one leg. If I use muscle force and I press down in the earth and I'm thinking to lift up, this is not Tai Chi. Yes, I have great balance, but I'm using muscle force and my mind is on the lifting up and I try to push him. I can't do it. He can push me over very easily. It's kind of like I'm standing on a toothpick, on the end of a toothpick. It's rigid and the mind's in the wrong place. That means if I'm moving throughout my day and I have a perturbance of a balance or some force on me, unexpected force, I'm more likely to topple over. This is again addressing the question, how does this help me in balance throughout my day? If I release down, that's that water pouring down. My supporting leg is now soft and hydraulically filled. My awareness is in the down part, not in this part. This part's floated. Do you feel the difference? Then he's pushing, but I have him. Song, yes, absolutely does increase your balance. It makes our Tai Chi have that essence that we're supposed to have, the floating and the rootedness. You carry song throughout your entire Tai Chi. Yes, your balance will improve and the nutrients in your body can flow more readily because you're open and the vessel is open. It's just so enjoyable. It's soft and floating and balanced and it's a whole nother ballgame when you carry song in your Tai Chi. Yeah, thank you for that great question and I hope that demonstration helped you. See you next lesson.