The Healing Power of Tai Chi and Bone Tapping
Tai Chi Chuan or any Tai Chi is a type of Kung Fu, so at some depth it’s a martial art, but it’s also more than that. It’s a healing art and a meditation in itself that can help one’s balance. It provides a tangible mind/body/spirit connection, as well as a deeper connection with one’s surroundings. It can do wonders for the ailed as well as athletes of all types. It’s also a folk dance (the only way I can fake the ability to dance is by repeating Tai Chi moves).
Tai Chi is a physical art that betters one’s well-being and it’s also a metaphysical art that provides a way to cultivate energy. Tai Chi is all about developing grounding and rooting. Since it is done standing and walking, the meditative nature of Tai Chi is highly applicable and transferable to the rest of our day as we walk and stand around others.
There are four main forms of Tai Chi: Chen, Sun, Yang, and Wu, and there are many different styles within each. No matter how different they are, each contains some of the same practices and entirely the same theories.
In Tai Chi, there is no one superior type of posturing, there are only more dedicated practitioners. The interesting thing about Tai Chi, as opposed to practically everything in the postmodern world, is as long as you keep in mind certain concepts you can’t do it wrong, you can only refine it. In this way, there is constant potential to learn more from the same movement.
In Tai Chi, a couple of movements are just variations of yoga’s warrior poses, only done with less of a deep stretch. And in the form I practice there are a couple of movements that involve brushing oneself, tapping certain body parts and even adding a moderate stomp. In Tai Chi, there is infinite variation and change is good.
Being flexible and accepting of new ways to do things and new forms to do is a big lesson. It’s said that in the long-form there is a variation of every movement possible and there is definitely a reflection of every martial art, healing and internal art.
The Benefits of Bone Tapping
One of the simplest healing arts, a primal uncle of Tai Chi as I was taught, is called bone tapping. Bone tapping is about healing yourself using your own touch. Because grounding is so important and because so few people do actually ground, the following procedure is both a grounding and healing series:
Using any part of your hands and fists begin to tap yourself. Begin with your calves and shins, the harder the better, but keep it reasonable. Exhale as you tap throughout the series, and definitely as you begin tapping the abdomen. Breathe out the tension, do not tense up. Bone tapping is primal, like the instinct to walk around after getting slightly hurt.
Hit the sides of the calves, the backs and even knock on the shins and/or rub them downward. Hitting the back of the knees is said to stop varicose vein formation. Even though it’s called bone tapping, one begins nearby and primarily taps next to the bones. The basic premise is that this sends vibration farther and deeper, and vibration eliminates tension and inflammation, preventing all sorts of distress and disease. Continue up to include the thighs and legs all over.
Proceed to the coccyx and the lower back, then the front equivalent and continue upwards tapping the chest, back, shoulders, arms, neck, chin, and head all the way to the crown of your head. Then, and this was and is considered a moderate secret, end by tapping the softest bones of the body, the clavicles or collar bones.
Global Meditation for Peace
Tai Chi Chuan and Yoga are not only intimately related, but sourced from the same vein. We can trace practically all martial arts and internal arts back to or back through India. Since all meditative movement originates from the same place, let’s all come together in a meditation for peace and unity of humanity. If every meditator, if every yoga practitioner, and Tai Chi and Chi Gung practitioner all perform their practice out in the open for all to see maybe we can raise awareness of our healing, meditative and intuitive movements.
Maybe we can share an idea or movement with someone (like on how to properly tap your body to heal for instance) that might help them! In this way, we can change things. So today, bust out your form, or rock some sun salutations, or meditate in a place you normally would not, and see what happens.
About the Author
Sai Baba of Shirdi: Creator, Sustainer, and Destroyer of Universes
Revered by thousands of Hindu, Muslim, Christian, and Zoroastrian devotees, Shirdi Sai Baba was known to be an Indian saint, Satguru, fakir (vowed to poverty and devoted to God), and spiritual master.
The translation of Sai Baba’s name speaks directly to how people saw him. Sai means “Sufi Saint” and Baba means “Father.”
Baba did not support the hierarchical caste system or the notion that one religion was more significant than another. Throughout his life, he gently wove elements of Christianity, Hinduism, and Islam into his unique version of Vedantic teachings.
While Sai Baba’s birth year was not recorded, it is assumed he was born near the year 1838. He passed from this life in samadhi in 1918. Baba often lived in a Mosque, and his physical body was cremated in a temple.
Many believe Sai Baba of Shirdi to be the embodiment of Saguna Brahma, which refers to an eternal, absolute and immanent divine presence. Many also believe Sai Baba is the embodiment of the supreme God and Sri Dattatreya, one of the consecrated avatar-lords of Yoga in Hinduism.
Baba was most likely born to Brahmin parents within a few hundred miles of Shirdi, Maharashtra, India. Some have reported that he came from the village of Pathri. When he arrived in Shirdi, at the age of 16, where he led an ascetic life, Baba began meditating under a neem tree and teaching local villagers.
Baba left Shirdi for some time and was thought to have traveled throughout the country meeting with other saints, fakirs, and gurus.
“Do not be misled by what you see around you, or be influenced by what you see. You live in a world which is a playground of illusion, full of false paths, false values, and false ideals. But you are not part of that world.”
— Shirdi Sai Baba
