Your most significant and challenging relationship is with your body and how you view it, accept it, use it and respect it.
No one in their right mind wants to be in pain, but physical pain is an inevitable occurrence, and we mostly do our utmost to have as little of it as possible. We will strain, pull, rupture, bump, cut and break parts of our body. The good news is that the body has incredible ways to heal itself. The pain we feel disturbs our minds; what could be termed minor injuries we get over quickly, but some injuries are more serious, penetrating, and pernicious. A long-term imbalance can later manifest as a chronic condition and, as such, may appear to be permanent. You may start a rehabilitation process just long enough for pain to subside. This does not mean your painful episode’s root cause has gone, only that redistribution has occurred, a levelling out of the symptom, only to reappear when other situations and secondary causes arise later to trigger a relapse.
Do you really know your body? Do you genuinely acknowledge it? If you are in denial of your body and its needs, it can become a real burden to living a healthful life and simply feeling good under the skin. Learning to work intelligently with your body will pay dividends in performance ( sport ), the creative realm, and all aspects of life.
We may often think or assume that pain happens out of nowhere and that we are helpless victims. There is no getting away from the fact that having a body can cause us untold problems. The body develops deep misalignments that show up at a very young age.
As we age, a layering of patterns develops on top of the primary tensions of childhood, layer after layer, covering up. For simplicity’s sake, let’s assume that these physical landmarks block the flow of all vital fluids and the bio-energy of life. Pains, insults, and injuries experienced are tensions that are held onto, albeit at an unconscious level. We may only activate these historical patterns when under the influence of new stresses, the weight of which bears down and crushes us. Then, when and if the storm passes, that stress leaves a fine layer of holding and is added to the original template of an I, me and you.
The uniqueness of practices such as Qi Gong and Tai Chi Chuan, in particular, is that the underlying occult nature of these tensions can be brought to conscious awareness to mitigate and, in some cases, eliminate them.
In my long years of research and practice, I have learned that there is no quick fix for chronic patterns and that any quick fixes result from surface change. More profound and meaningful changes come to anyone who consistently aims to be here for themselves.
What is clear is that pain can come from two directions. Let me be very clear about this critical point: Most folks will give up on practice when they believe that the pain they are experiencing is the result of their practice. They will think this slow movement is causing pain when, in fact, the movement is exposing a long-held pattern or blockage. ( regular exercise will not divulge to you these blockages ) This is pain coming out of the body, which is not to be confused with pain going into the body. If you have an experienced teacher, then this can be assessed. Adjustments can be utilised to bring out the pain, dissolve, release, and disperse.
People do not expect HABITUAL tensions to arise during practice and think Qi Gong is entertainment.
Check your alignments as instructed or get one-on-one feedback.
There is a crossing-over point in any form of body conditioning and training. In the case of what and how I teach Internal Arts practice, you will, at various points, come across an obstacle. Either a familiar pain, tension or niggle will appear to you, and you will think that what you are doing, e.g. Nei Gong or Standing meditation is wrong. Either the art itself is incorrect, or you are doing it wrong. Apart from these understandable thoughts, having patience with this process is worth the effort. Then, in time, small and occasionally big breakthroughs will occur to re-inspire and help with the unmistakable letting go of deeper patterns of tension.
C.R.Chappell March (c) 2025
