ZOOKINESIS - AN APPROACH TO
TEACHING TAI-CHI
I have been using an approach to teaching Tai-chi for many years, which may be helpful to other teachers. It has proven not only useful to my students in helping to learn, but useful in daily life, exciting and energizing, combining physical training with the philosophy and spiritual aspect of Taoism. While you may not wish to embrace this approach whole, there may be aspects of it which can be useful in your classes.
BACKGROUND:
My training began in the late 1960’s when I was introduced to both Tai-chi and Zen training at the same time as I had graduated college with a zoology degree and opened an animal importing company. We tried to provide wild animals to zoos and other groups, encouraging them to establish breeding colonies in anticipation of the destruction of their natural habitats. I was told that Tai-chi evolved from observation of animal behavior and imitation of their movements. I was told to feel the pattern of energy of animals and understand how each differed.
This was exciting to me since I had a ready supply of many
species and had to deal with them all day, every day. I even slept in the importing facility
because this job was really a 24-hour a day business. I always slept with “one ear open” in case I
was needed by any of the animals. I also
spent time in
I discovered a wealth of “information” and insight into each species and indeed, felt the differences of “energy” of each. The main way I experienced this “energy” was in the direct attention between the animal and I, not only through our eyes but also between our bodies. In this way, I was able to take a wild animal (mammals, birds and reptiles of all sorts), calm it down and make it comfortable so that it wouldn’t get stressed out (and wouldn’t attack me).
Over the years, I also studied various forms of bodywork, both traditional and modern and traditional forms of healing from teachers of other cultures. In these studies I learned that there was the same appreciation for the connection of energy, or attention, but in this case within the human body, rather than between a person and an animal. The result of all this study, experiences and further Tai-chi training is summarized here.
ATTENTION:
I use the term “attention”, as distinct from “chi” or “internal energy”. There is an old Chinese story. A famous calligrapher was asked to make a scroll for someone’s living room, summarizing the essence of Zen or Taoist philosophy. He presented them with a large scroll with a tiny character of “attention” in the center. The purchaser liked the scroll but asked the calligrapher to draw something larger and giving more of an explanation. The calligrapher returned with another scroll, this time with a larger character of “attention”. The purchaser asked one more time for something appropriate for a large living room, something that would really explain the principles of his philosophy. The calligrapher then returned with a very large scroll with a very large character “attention” drawn on it.
I would explain it this way. As you know, Taoism describes two basic forces or principles, Yin and Yang. Imagine that Yin is attention. It is the substance of the universe. It is the common “flesh” of physical matter, thoughts, feelings - of all experience. Yang is creativity. It is the shaping of Yin into specific forms, such as specific thoughts, feelings or the experience of matter. When I look at a wild animal and it is sizing me up, this basic substance is flowing between us and we are about to “shape it” with our creativity. On my part, thoughts and feelings are created (what is this animal going to do?). With my Tai-chi training, I realize that, rather than allowing the shaping of attention to proceed out of my previous conditioning (LET ME OUT OF HERE!); I can bring creative energy (Yang) into the interaction and determine the shape of this attention connection.
The shape I choose will be the feeling of respect and acceptance. Since our attentions are connected, this shape will be “felt” in both of us. This actually works. The issue for the animal is no longer that someone captured it, stuck it in a box and now is opening the box with some horrible intentions. The issue becomes the respect and acceptance between he and I. The capture and the box are still in his memory, but I control the shape of the issue at this moment.
When you become an artist of the interplay of yin and yang, attention and creativity, you are the artist of what is going on right now. You are no longer so torn apart by what happened the moment before and what will happen the next moment.
Within your own body, each organ, each cell has attention. The attention of each organ has its own unique pattern and is its individual Body-Mind. The attention of each cell has its own unique pattern and is its individual Body-Mind. The attention of each person, of each habitat and of the earth as a whole, has its own unique pattern and is its individual Body-Mind. The alignment of these levels of Body-Mind is an issue at each stage of a student’s development. I call it the “spiral staircase”. If you stand at the center of this staircase, you can see all the way up and down. Each floor represents a level of Body-Mind. A goal of the student is to be able to travel up and down that staircase, exploring each floor.
I call this approach “Zookinesis” (animal dynamics). The original name refers to the alignment of the elements using the dynamics of animal energies, but it is an awkward name. “Zookinesis” is simple and pretty close to the original meaning.
APPLICATION
TO PRACTICING FORMS
Once the student has memorized a particular form, we use the form to develop the basic qualities of his or her attention. Attention itself is considered the medium of an art, such as clay to a potter or paint to a painter. Most people try to shape their world, using whatever qualities of attention they may have. In this approach, you first learn about the substance of what you are working with, the Yin of life, and gain skills at working with that substance, that medium.
We begin by having the student follow the flow of momentum in the form. When this momentum flows down into the ground or out the head or fingers, the student follows it out of his body with his attention. When the momentum circles around under the foot and then back up into the foot, his attention follows that as well. The teacher will explain how the momentum should flow and the student adjusts his posture and movements to get it to flow that way. As an example, the momentum should flow down the inside of the legs and back up the inside of the legs. The legs form an arch and the weight on top of the arch must always move towards the inside of the arch. This means that every point on the torso of his body must move towards the inside of the thigh of the forward leg (if you are shifting forward). When you rise up from that leg, the force should move up to the inside of that thigh, to your tan-tien and then out to wherever it is going.
The student gets used to following momentum with his attention. Then you explain that each arm, leg, the head and torso has its own momentum, though they are all connected. Your attention must divide so that one portion of it can follow each of the momentums. When one momentum moves through another momentum, they affect each other and your attention must go along with that. If the two momentums unite into one, so does your attention. If their interaction creates smaller eddies and currents, your attention must follow these eddies and currents.
In this way your attention becomes more complex and stronger. You learn that there are spots in your body that the attention flows through well and other spots that are closed to the attention. To a large extent, you can open these closed spots by relaxing them or by having someone massage them. You can also “breathe into them”, which consists of imagining that your breath goes into and comes out from that spot. This makes the spot more sensitive.
I describe it this way. If you hold up a piece of wood at an angle and place a drop of water near the top, the drop will probably just remain in place. But if you wet your finger and draw a path of wetness down the wood, then connect that with the drop, the drop will follow the path. You have lowered the friction down that path and the drop will follow the path of least resistance.
In the body, you use the breathing technique described above to “lower the resistance” of your attention in that part of the body. What you are really trying to do is to eliminate the resistance of attention everywhere in the body. You wind up with a “field of attention” rather than specific pathways. It is this field of attention the cells and organs use to communicate with each other and coordinate their activities. It is a finer and more effective means of communication than the nervous and endocrine systems. When our bodies are dull to attention, the cells and organs have a more difficult time functioning properly.
We must also lower the resistance of attention in the bones as well. Attention can flow anywhere. It is what connects all things together because it is the substance of all things. I explain it this way. Internal energy (“chi”) is a sense, like the sense of sight. Internal energy reveals to us how everything is connected to each other. The sense of sight shows us how everything is separate (I am here and you are there). Both senses balance each other. Our culture has emphasized the sense of sight (separateness) and de-emphasized (really, eliminated any reference to) the sense of internal energy. This has detrimental effects culturally and medically.
The sense of sight and the sense of internal energy are a paired sense - they work together to form an accurate picture of the world. We are partially “blind” without the sense of internal energy and have a very distorted view of the world.
Chi is the biological energy flowing through all living things. When we are aware of chi, we know how all life is connected. Attention is the substance of life while creativity is its activity. Attention (yin) interacts with creativity (yang) to provide the forward thrust of evolution. Chi keeps everything alive in the meantime.
When you practice a form, notice that you get distracted (by thoughts, senses, feelings, etc.). Many people try to push away the distractions or get caught up in them. Instead, be aware of what the distractions are distracting! They are distracting your attention. Pay attention to attention itself. Be aware of what it is. How is it connected to the body and how does it get pulled away from the body. How well is your attention connected to your body in general?
When you do your form, does your attention jump to the next move, does it remain in the previous move or do you trust your Body-Mind to perform the form and pay attention to what is going on right now? Do you find your eyes looking at where you are going to step or does your attention flow into the next step along with the momentum? Keep your head straight ahead.
Keep your eyes Yin - relaxed. Don’t try to grab with your attention as if there were little arms reaching out of your eyes to grab something. That would be Yang attention. Yin attention allows the sights to flow into the eyes like water flowing over a waterfall and splashing down into the pool of the Tan-Tien. The mist of the waterfall evaporates into the air. Allow some of your attention to evaporate into the air, even while most of it flows along with the momentum.
There are several patterns to the flow of attention. One is that it is connected to the flow of momentum as described above. Another is that it fills the body on the in-breath, drawn up from the ground, and presses against the inside of the skin. Still breathing in, some of the attention penetrates the skin and begins to move out into the air. On the out-breath, that part of the attention that has moved out of the body, evaporates into the air, while the attention still inside the body, sinks down to the Tan-Tien and into the ground. The attention that has sunk into the ground, merges with the ground as water merges with earth. The attention still within the body is drawn back up on the in-breath.
When you breathe out (your body has finished expanding on the in-breath and is about to sink), new, fresh attention is drawn into the body from the surroundings. When you breathe in (your body finished condensing and is about to expand), new, fresh attention is drawn into the body from the ground. The implication in these statements is that there is attention in the ground and in the surroundings which can be drawn into the body and that “your” attention actually “goes” somewhere into the surroundings.
From the “Zookinesis” perspective this is true. Remember that empty space is a characteristic of the sense of sight - separateness. We create an intellectual framework within which the sense of sight can be arranged and be made useful to us. We call this framework the “three dimensional, physical world”. But the framework of the sense of internal energy, the “spirit world” does not really have “empty” spaces. Nowhere is there an absence of attention because attention is the substance of the universe. Space is one of the things creativity “makes” with attention.
In the “spirit world” everything is filled with attention; everything is connected. That is the experience we are trying to achieve by learning a Tai-chi form. When we breathe in, it is not as if we are breathing something from empty space; it is as if we are breathing in attention itself. The term, “breathing in the spirit” really means recognizing the Yin and Yang interaction of every aspect of life. It means regaining the sense of internal energy and eliminating the resistance to the flow of attention within your own body and your own life.
When you practice any form of healing (such as bodywork) you are aware of how attention flows through the “patient”. You try to “wet” the patient’s body to allow attention to flow more freely and to connect to the body more easily.
Another (more accurate) way to put this is as follows. You gradually become aware that the very substance of your body is attention and that becoming an artist of attention means that you become aware of the creative energy within you. You become aware of how you can develop your body, mind and spirit and how it can be contorted. The form teaches you that you are the creator of your own life through your artistic affects on attention. Rather than trying to change the world around you to conform to your own distorted attention, you refine your attention and through that your body, mind, spirit - your life.
PUSH
HANDS
The next level is to connect this awareness to another individual. In this case the individual isn’t a “patient” lying down, passively receiving your healing. It is someone trying to push you off your center. You try to be aware of the pattern of your partner’s attention, its quality (how quickly can it respond, how well is it connected to his body, can his attention be broken through quick changes in pressure and speed or is it resilient?). It is on this level you play your push hands game.
It is possible to implant patterns of attention into him in the form of intentions. In this case you get him to move in particular ways and he thinks it was his idea.
We begin by trying to maintain our “field” of attention, as if it were a spider’s web. During the action, our attention should be evenly distributed throughout the body and throughout both bodies. Each action is like an object moving in water; the water flows around it. There is never a lack of water (attention) in any area. If the partner tenses up in one spot as if to try to push, this does not draw all of our attention to that spot. If there is some pressure between our two arms, our attention is not trapped between our two arms. It extends out into him and back behind us into the ground.
Each action on his part is met by our attempt to maintain the field of attention and keep it even. This is the main focus of our creativity. On the level of body action, we try to fill the spaces between us. If there is space at the hip level, we move our hips forward, even though our top may be held at bay. If the right side is “blocked”, we allow the left side to flow in. This is true on the level of attention as well. If the partner has gaps in his attention, we fill those in with our own attention, expanding our attention into those gaps without tensing our bodies. We must learn to “feel” his attention and know from second to second, how it has altered its patterns and qualities. The push hands is played on this level more so than on the “body” or technique level.
One player may create false intentions for the other to
find. When the other player responds to
those false intentions, he gets trapped.
So there are levels of deceit and trickery on the level of
attention. This teaches you to really
develop your awareness of attention.
You can jam the partner on the level of attention while remaining soft and yielding on the physical level. You can lead his attention to be imbalanced so that his body will follow his own imbalanced attention. You can make your physical movements in areas where his attention is jammed so he won’t be aware of what you are doing.
All of this can be taught fairly easily if you give the student a lot of time to carry out each “attention technique”. The problem, as always, is to do it in real time. Physical movements and techniques can be used to illustrate the “inner” techniques but the students must always be reminded that the physical technique isn’t the important thing for his training.
It’s the same with bodywork. You try to make the patient aware of what you are doing on an internal level, how you are communicating with his muscles and nerves, trying to “convince” them to let go. But you don’t want to work on him forever. The patient gradually takes over more of the conversation, getting his own muscles and nerves to relax, using the techniques you have shown him. You are really teaching him how to communicate with his own body. It’s a shame that anyone has to be taught this - we have become so disconnected.
The physical push hands techniques are a good way to lead the student to an internal awareness. The two partners are each trying to gain “influence” over each other’s bodies on the level of attention. The physical “push” is just the outward, secondary result of a lot of internal work. It is the tip of the iceberg. The push can represent the changes in the life of the student. He may do some particular thing to change his life but it is really his new skills in the interplay of awareness and creativity that has allowed that particular change to take place.
METHODS
OF TEACHING
I’ve noticed that chi-gung is taught nowadays as moving your internal energy in particular patterns. Supposedly the pattern it’s going in isn’t good and the teacher will show you how to move it in the “correct” pattern.
I have found that we are all very skilled at manipulating the flow of internal energy, whether in “correct” or “incorrect” patterns. I have found that the body is quite capable of controlling the flow of energy by itself, for optimal health. My approach to teaching “Zookinesis” is a “hands off” policy. Spend a few years letting go of your addiction to control internal energy.
We learn through push hands, how manipulative we can be and how a person who is addicted to this manipulation, can himself be easily manipulated. We learn through the form how to allow our attention to flow smoothly along with momentum, and to remove our grubby little hands from the flow of attention. This frees up the flow of internal energy, which follows the flow of attention. If you think of attention as the substance of experience (in this case the body), internal energy is a wave in that substance. While each water molecule in a tidal wave just moves up and down, a wave of energy is propagated through the water resulting in great power.
The water itself is not pushed along the length of the wave. It may begin as a sinking of the earth - an earthquake or underwater rockslide or as an expansion of the earth - an underwater volcano. The propagating force comes and goes quickly but the flow of energy continues. You do not need to “push” the internal energy of the body along in its path. You need to let it go. If you use a bow and arrow, you don’t push the arrow forward; you draw the bow first and then, to send out power, you “release” the force; you let go.
Each movement of the form is initiated by letting go (usually of the opposite side of the body from the direction you want to go) rather than by forcefully moving the body into place. When you push someone, you first allow your own body to be compressed by their resistance, and then you let that compressed force go before adding your own.
Teaching Zookinesis is the same. We first learn to let go of our tendency to force energy through our bodies. We discover the power of letting go of that addiction. We discover that our bodies already know the “correct” way for that energy to move.
Then our training consists of allowing the substance of the world, attention, to work naturally. More specifically, we allow our attention to sink down into our bodies and just rest there. Nature’s own creativity is hard at work within our bodies, making it function. This natural creativity stirs up our attention, it draws our own individual attention into its eddies and swirls of activity. Since we are, by this time, very connected to our attention, we can detect how our attention is stirred up in this way. The less we manipulate our attention, the more it can be used as a sense to detect the internal activities of the body. A very quiet attention can become aware of the natural creativity within the body.
You must first GIVE UP YOUR ADDICTION TO MANIPULATING ENERGY before you can develop your sense of internal energy.
Now when the student practices push hands, he can sink his attention very deeply into his partner. When he practices bodywork healing, he can heal on a very deep level. Rather than manipulate his patient’s energy, he removes the claws of his patient from his patient’s own energy. He makes the patient aware of the patient’s body’s own wisdom.
Even more, he makes the patient aware of the wisdom of all of nature surrounding him and the connection of his energy to the rest of the energy around him.
When we look at a wild animal, we can respect the great wisdom of its internal energy, of its attention, and realize that its attention is the same that is inside us. It is the substance of all things. When we meet that wild animal, we look into its eyes and say, “I recognize you. You are inside of me.” And the animal says the same to you. It may still be confused about its new surroundings but it recognizes you and is familiar with you.
Each of us finds ourselves out of the habitat our bodies evolved in and as we look around at our fellow humans, can we detect something familiar in them? Or are they so involved in manipulating themselves and others that our attention flicks off them like a little rolled up ball of paper flicked onto an old record player?
If you look at old movies, the camera focuses on an actor’s face for a long time as his expression changes due to some event. Your own attention can sink gradually into his as you appreciate the change in his feelings. Newer movies are based on the poorer attention span of modern times. You don’t get the chance to allow your attention to mellow into the scene, like the aging of a fine wine. We don’t get wine anymore, but grape juice. And this change has taken place in just the few years since movies have been around.
I hope that Tai-chi training doesn’t all become of the grape juice variety. I hope there are still some teachers out there who are willing to wait for the wine. Sometimes I get calls from people asking, “How many lessons do I need to become a Tai-chi teacher - six or eight lessons”. I understand that some organizations are offering two day Tai-chi teacher certification courses.
To me, Zookinesis training is the fine wine of Tai-chi. .