I believe that TaiJi Qigong is a legitimate modality for recovery from infirmities. Particularly those of the Cardio-Vascular system. Stroke survivors can benefit enormously.
There is a version of this project that would begin with a literature review and a methodology section. This is not that version.
What I have instead is a shelf, a screen, and a teacher. What follows is an honest account of the resources I actually use — the ones I return to, the ones that are doing the work right now.
Yang Jwing-Ming / YMAA
The foundation. Yang Jwing-Ming has been publishing on Qigong and Taiji since the 1980s, and his work sits at the serious end of the spectrum — technically rigorous, rooted in Chinese medical theory, never simplified beyond usefulness. I have been in and out of his books and video programmes for years. The Root of Chinese Qigong is the theoretical backbone. The YMAA digital library covers everything from the Eight Brocades through White Crane and Five Animals to Neigong. When I need to understand what I am doing and why, this is where I go.
Lee Holden / Holden Qigong
Where Yang Jwing-Ming provides depth, Lee Holden provides access. His programmes are condition-specific — joints, balance, cardiovascular health, high blood pressure, lower back — which makes them directly relevant to the rehabilitation context. They are also genuinely usable on days when energy is limited. Not a lesser resource. A different one. The therapeutic applications I draw on most heavily at this stage of the programme come largely from here.
David-Dorian Ross / TaijiFit
The current daily vehicle. Ross’s follow-along routines run approximately fifty minutes, progressing from a seated programme through routines designed for over-50s to general cardiovascular flow. The format asks nothing of memory — you follow, you breathe, the body moves. This is deliberate. At this stage of rebuilding, attention needs to go to the movement and the transitions rather than to remembering what comes next. The seated routine is where the programme begins each day. The standing cardiovascular work is where it is heading. Ross bridges that arc cleanly and without fuss.
Paul Read / The Teapot Monk
The living teaching. Paul has been my Taiji teacher for two years, working from the Chen Man-ch’ing 37-step form. He is also a published writer on the subject — Ways of Learning: A Handbook for Teachers and Students of Tai Chi and the Martial Arts, The Beginners Guide to the Tai Chi Form, and — with Gerald Greene — One Last Thing: A Time-Traveller’s Guide to Taoism, Martial Arts and 21st Century Thinking, among others. There is a difference between following a video and being taught by someone who has thought carefully about how teaching itself works. Paul is that difference.
These four are not a curriculum. They are tools selected for this job, at this stage, for this body. As the programme develops — as the terrain gets harder and the practice deepens — the balance between them will shift. That is part of the record.
Mae’r offer yn gwasanaethu’r gwaith. Nid y gwaith yn gwasanaethu’r offer.
The tools serve the work. Not the work serving the tools.
Y Offer / The Tools
Mae fersiwn o’r prosiect hwn a fyddai’n dechrau gydag adolygiad llenyddiaeth ac adran fethodoleg. Nid hon yw’r fersiwn honno.
Yr hyn sydd gennyf yn lle hynny yw silff, sgrin, ac athro. Yr hyn sy’n dilyn yw cyfrif gonest o’r adnoddau rwy’n eu defnyddio mewn gwirionedd — y rhai rwy’n dychwelyd atynt, y rhai sy’n gwneud y gwaith ar hyn o bryd.
Yang Jwing-Ming / YMAA
Y sylfaen. Mae Yang Jwing-Ming wedi bod yn cyhoeddi ar Qigong a Taiji ers yr 1980au, ac mae ei waith yn eistedd ar ben difrifol y sbectrwm — yn drylwyr yn dechnegol, wedi’i wreiddio mewn theori feddygol Tsieineaidd, byth wedi’i symleiddio y tu hwnt i ddefnyddioldeb. Rwyf wedi bod i mewn ac allan o’i lyfrau a’i raglenni fideo ers blynyddoedd. The Root of Chinese Qigong yw’r asgwrn cefn damcaniaethol. Mae llyfrgell ddigidol YMAA yn cwmpasu popeth o’r Wyth Brocêd drwy’r Crëyr Gwyn a’r Pum Anifail i Neigong. Pan fydd angen i mi ddeall beth rwy’n ei wneud a pham, dyma ble rwy’n mynd.
Lee Holden / Holden Qigong
Lle mae Yang Jwing-Ming yn darparu dyfnder, mae Lee Holden yn darparu mynediad. Mae ei raglenni yn benodol i gyflwr — cymalau, cydbwysedd, iechyd cardiofasgwlar, pwysedd gwaed uchel, y cefn isaf — sy’n eu gwneud yn uniongyrchol berthnasol i’r cyd-destun adsefydlu. Maent hefyd yn wirioneddol ddefnyddiadwy ar ddyddiau pan fo egni’n gyfyngedig. Nid adnodd llai. Un gwahanol. Mae’r cymwysiadau therapiwtig rwy’n dibynnu arnynt fwyaf ar y cam hwn o’r rhaglen yn dod yn bennaf o fan hyn.
David-Dorian Ross / TaijiFit
Y cerbyd dyddiol presennol. Mae rhutinau dilyn-ymlaen Ross yn rhedeg tua phum deg munud o hyd, gan symud ymlaen o raglen eistedd drwy rutinau wedi’u dylunio ar gyfer y dros 50au i lif cardiofasgwlar cyffredinol. Nid yw’r fformat yn gofyn dim o’r cof — rydych chi’n dilyn, rydych chi’n anadlu, mae’r corff yn symud. Mae hyn yn fwriadol. Ar y cam hwn o ailadeiladu, mae angen i sylw fynd at y symudiad a’r trosglwyddiadau yn hytrach na chofio beth sy’n dod nesaf. Y drefn eistedd yw lle mae’r rhaglen yn dechrau bob dydd. Y gwaith cardiofasgwlar sefyll yw ble mae’n mynd. Mae Ross yn pontio’r arc hwnnw yn daclus ac yn ddi-ffwdan.
Paul Read / Y Mynach Tebot
Y dysgeidiaeth fyw. Mae Paul wedi bod yn athro Taiji i mi ers dwy flynedd, yn gweithio o ffurf 37 cam Chen Man-ch’ing. Mae hefyd yn awdur cyhoeddedig ar y pwnc — Ways of Learning: A Handbook for Teachers and Students of Tai Chi and the Martial Arts, The Beginners Guide to the Tai Chi Form, ac — gyda Gerald Greene — One Last Thing: A Time-Traveller’s Guide to Taoism, Martial Arts and 21st Century Thinking, ymhlith eraill. Mae gwahaniaeth rhwng dilyn fideo a chael eich dysgu gan rywun sydd wedi meddwl yn ofalus am sut mae dysgu ei hun yn gweithio. Paul yw’r gwahaniaeth hwnnw.
Nid cwricwlwm yw’r pedwar hyn. Maent yn offer a ddewiswyd ar gyfer y gwaith hwn, ar y cam hwn, ar gyfer y corff hwn. Wrth i’r rhaglen ddatblygu — wrth i’r tir fynd yn galetach a’r ymarfer ddyfnhau — bydd y cydbwysedd rhyngddynt yn newid. Mae hynny’n rhan o’r cofnod.
The tools serve the work. Not the work serving the tools
Mae’r offer yn gwasanaethu’r gwaith. Nid y gwaith yn gwasanaethu’r offer.