Tai Chi Walking for Healthy Joints | 15-Minute Routine

Hello our citizens, welcome to Brain Education TV. My name is Chris and today we're going to be doing Tai Chi walking for our joints. Through our postures today we are going to ask different questions of our hips, our knees, our ankles, challenging our balance a little bit. That can help us to strengthen our joints, to help them open up in different ways, to be able to improve our overall condition and hopefully in the long run reduce pain all while connecting mind and body through energy. Qi Gong practice. So let's start with a little bit of movement, warming up, let's start to walk in place. So lifting your legs, try to lift your heels if you can keep them up. Pump your knees, pump your hips, get a little rotation through the spine, a little pumping of the arms. Now as you get the movement down, start to feel the connection with the earth. Balls of the foot pressing, toes grabbing, squeezing the earth. Give the earth a little hug with each step. Breathe. So Tai Chi walking, Qi Gong is about connection. Connection of mind and body, that is energy. Energy is the Qi in Qi Gong, the Chi in Tai Chi. So we want to connect that energy and for our body we need to connect to the earth, that's where the movement comes from. We need to connect to the breath, that's from the universe. So breath plus focus creates massive energy. When you have energy activated and circulating through your body, your body tells you what it needs. More, less, you can experience the actual condition of your body and then with that insight we can change that condition. That is why Qi Gong is a practice. Through the practice we can really change our condition. Let's move a little faster. The faster we move, the more energy we activate, the more energy we create. The more juices flowing through your body, the better it's going to feel. It doesn't feel as heavy, as sluggish, as tight, as uncomfortable. So walking is movement with your feet. Tai Chi walking means you feel the connection with the earth. So feel that exchange, the shifting of weight. Now today's flow, we're gonna get a chance to ask some questions of our joints. This is one of my favorite because it's a very pretty flow, but if you can't get the actual posture perfect, that's the least important. The most important is that you feel your body, you recognize your condition and you continue to practice. With that continued practice, the flow becomes more and more comfortable, more and more powerful and the beauty comes from your connection to self, not so much a perfect posture. There's perfect posture that looks like a robot and there's also perfect posture that is beautiful and full of energy. We're looking for the energy beauty. Good and slowly come to a stop. Just feel the earth and I want you to start to just gently sway. You can rock from heels to toes. You can rock from right to left. I want you to feel what's going on in the soles of your feet. Where's the weight? Where's the pressure? That's the connection we want to establish with the earth through our walking. If you can feel the soles of your feet, you are automatically doing Qigong and then Qigong moves into the Tai Chi walking as we move more and more. Good. Feel that connection. So we want to feel strong legs and a light upper body. So through the elements and the principles of Tai Chi, we want to have a strong base like strong mountains. We want to have a light upper body like clouds floating on top of those mountains. So effortless in the top, strength in the bottom. And then we're going to practice a little bit more of those principles as we go. So settle in. Good. Now rock your weight forward just a bit. I want more weight on the ball of your foot than your heel. And then as you start to get forward, your toes are going to ask to squeeze a little bit more to keep your balance. So you don't want to put too much stress on your toes, but you want to feel them holding you up with the pressure on the ball of your foot. This is where we connect energy to the earth. That's a point where you're going to feel that connection. And when I shift my weight to my right side, I can step on that spot and I stack my spine above it. My other leg can become light. So I have a heavy leg and a light leg. When I shift back, set the toes, the ball of the foot, shift the weight onto that ball of the foot on this one, this leg becomes light. So the heavy leg needs to become the light leg so that I can move. So this is the essence of Tai Chi walking is shifting weight. One leg is heavy, one leg is light, and then they have to switch. And then as they switch and you can shift your body, you can start to lift the leg a little bit more, be able to move in any direction. We're looking for that freedom of movement through our practice. I'm going to show you the lower body. Then we're going to add a little bit of beauty in the upper body and then string it together a little bit later. So from here, my feet are about shoulder width. I want to shift some weight onto my right foot here. And now my left leg will become light. Now I want to take my left leg and I'm going to reach across my body into a bit of a staggered stance, almost as if I'm going to do a curtsy. So my back heel can come off the ground and I can settle in. Now, if I want more strengthening, I can sink pretty deep into my curtsy or I can sit a little taller, but I want to feel the weight. So right now my weight is 50-50, half and half. I'm stable, hard to move. To be able to move, I have to shift my weight. So I would shift my weight onto my front foot. My back leg becomes light. So in this movement, I'm going to sweep this leg around me to the other side and then press the ball of the foot and then shift into the curtsy on the other side. If your balance is challenging, it's okay to touch something as you start to practice the leg part. It's okay to, as I shift my weight front and I start to slide my leg, I can touch the ground all the time. As I get better, I can lift it the whole time. So I want to feel that weight. I can go backwards, shifting my weight back. I can wrap this leg around to the other side and then I can sink in. As I get more ambitious, stronger, I can start to sink these down to almost touching the ground to add strength. But notice the hips are asked a certain question. The knees are asked a question. The ankles are asked a different question. This is where the value in the joints comes. So from here, if I rock my weight back, my front leg becomes light and I can sweep it around the other side. I want to find the center. 50-50, I'm stable. I can sink a little bit more and when it's time to move, I shift my weight onto the ball of a foot. That leg becomes heavy 100%. The other leg becomes empty. Then I can move it, shifting my weight forward and moving. So we're going to take a little bit of this staggering stance. I'm going to back up so we can show a little bit. So from here, I'm going to step across into my curtsy. I shift my weight forward. The back leg becomes light. I can slide it or I can lift it and in reaching all the way around to the other side, press it and then sink in. The back heel comes up and then I shift my weight forward, sliding around. So it's a bit of a zigzag, this crossing walk. Now you can make it flamboyant or you can make it very secure. Listen to your body condition to help you be successful through practice. It gets easier, gets better, you get stronger, you feel more energy, overall improvement. So now that we've been introduced to the legs, I'm going to add the arms. This is where it adds a little bit more aesthetics, a little bit more challenge. It helps you sink the breath a little bit differently. So our hands are going to take a kind of a diagonal posture. So I want my upper body relaxed but I want to push my hands. I can pull the back of the hand so I feel a bit of a stretching sensation on my palms like I'm sending energy out, shooting energy. So as I inhale, I'm going to gather energy and then I'm going to switch the sides, shooting energy. As I inhale, gathering energy. As I exhale, sending energy. In Tai Chi, the high hand becomes the low hand. What goes up must come down. What goes down must come up. You'll notice that the spiraling of the arms, the spiraling of the walk starts to look more and more like the Tai Chi symbol. So this gives me a mental picture, a physical feeling, an energy sense that really really connects to the principles of Tai Chi very well. So we're going to try to put that all together. So I'm going to back up a little bit to have a little bit more space. So I'm going to start by stepping with my left foot across my body into this side. And so with my my left foot in front, my left hand is going to go up. My right hand is going to go down. So now with the breath, as I inhale, I'm going to gather that energy. I shift the weight onto the front leg making it a heavy leg. Coming up and then I'm going to stagger around and then as I exhale, I sink in, sending the energy. As I inhale, shifting weight, gathering, stepping. Visualize that spiral of Tai Chi. Now at home, enjoy every wobble. You can go forward, you can keep going forward. I'm going to start to go backwards. So I'm going to shift my weight, still gathering the energy. A little wobble. Inhale, kicking the leg behind me. Now you notice my hands may have gone opposite directions. That's perfectly okay because it's more about the feeling of energy, the gathering, the accumulating. When our energy sense gets more and more, our Tai Chi walking, our Qigong can really become this beautiful energy dance that is completely free. Where there is no right, there is no wrong. I want to feel the weight in my feet. I want to feel the shifting of weight, the gathering of energy, the sending of energy. Take this time to simply express. Really connect to your body, connect to the earth. Two more steps. As you complete, bring your hands up, settle into your feet about shoulder width. Let's take three deep breaths. Gathering energy and exhaling. Last time. Let your arms hang. Come back into the gentle swing where we began. Feel the weight shifting from heels to toes, side to side. Notice the changes in the feeling in your feet, the changes in the feeling of your bodies. Which joints were aggravated? Which ones felt a little weak? Which ones need a little bit more attention to make this flow more comfortable, more energetic? How does my mind feel? When we connect to energy, our mind automatically starts to relax. Now if you're too worried about the posture and perfection and frustration, the mind gets tighter, the emotions get bigger, we feel our body less and less. The more vigorous the movement is, the more challenging, the easier it is to help you clear that mind. So especially when you're the most angsty, agitated, frustrated, out of sorts, try a more vigorous practice. Find that tai chi walking is most challenging and allow it to clean your mind, to strengthen your body. Good. Take a deep breath in and out. One more time. Pull the energy from the earth, from the universe. Fill yourself up as you exhale release. This will finish our practice. Bring your feet together, hands to your abdomen and thank you. If you'd like to continue to deepen your brain education practice, your Qigong practice, tai chi practice, check the link in the description. There you can find access to our free online community called BE Circle. There you can find some on-demand classes, you can find some webinars, you can find different access to tools that will help you become master of your brain, master of your body, master of your emotions. I look forward to seeing you in the circle.