In this page, I try to impart how to do one particular form of spiritual exercise that I have found useful. I can't predict how it might work for you, however. Many such methods fail for some people; some could even have a negative effect. In general, I advise stopping an exercise right away if it leads to discomfort ("If it feels bad, don't do it"). And if nothing useful seems to be starting to happen after a reasonable time (people I have learned from have suggested allowing six weeks), maybe another technique would be better for you.
There are two schools of spiritually-related exercise which are widespread and which are perhaps most often associated with "exercise" in the sense of promoting physical and mental well-being. These are hatha-yoga with its postures or asanas (such as that in the image at the head of this page), and the slow balanced curves of the Chinese movement technique, tai chi chuan.
Each of them, however, is also practiced for spiritual reasons, and can in any case produce spiritual benefits if pursued single-mindedly with your goals set aside in the effort to just do the exercise rather than to think about why you are doing it. For some people, the absorbing demands of technique are just what is needed to occupy the mind to the exclusion of all distractions (of course, either requires more or less full use of your four limbs, and reasonable ability to balance).
I've tried both, and found that yoga asanas demanded too much of my body's flexibility, while tai chi chuan demanded too much from my mind's ability to memorize.
If you want to try either yoga or tai chi, I recommend seeking out a reputable teacher, of which there are should be many in even a moderately large community. I would look either for a program sponsored by an organization you trust, or for a teacher with students you can talk to who are well-satisfied.
What little I know of yoga asanas would be potentially dangerous for me to pass on to you due to the possibility of you hurting yourself trying to follow my inadequate instructions.
However, there is one spinoff from tai chi chuan that I was taught and that I think gives a feeling for what it is like to make tai chi movements and adopt tai chi poses. This is the tai chi walk.
To begin, stand with your weight evenly distributed, your left foot forward, and your right foot behind it, a little to the right to maintain your balance easily, and pointed about forty-five degrees to the right (if your left foot points to twelve o'clock, your right foot points to half past one). Hold your left forearm and hand level, curved to point your left palm towards the bottom of your rib cage. Hold your right arm down, with the forearm at a forty-five degree angle forwards and your right hand level, palm down (if you want to think in terms of tai chi's connection to the martial arts, your left hand is your shield and your right hand is your sword). The opening stance of your legs and the opening position of your body are as in the first two pictures below.
Get used to your opening pose before moving on.
Now you begin a continuous series of movements.
Rock back on your right foot, turn your body forty-five degrees to the left (half past ten o'clock), and rotate your left foot ninety degrees to the left (nine o'clock). Then begin to rock forward again. Your right hand moves smoothly up to the level of your left forearm, while your left hand draws back and rotates so that the palm is pointing down. Both hands are now flat, palms down, and your right hand moves far enough in the direction your body is pointed that your left hand just brushes against your right wrist. This transition of your hands is shown in the third picture below.
This may sound complicated in words, but when you get used to it it's a nice smooth flow of your body and limbs. Avoid jerkiness, and look for continuity.
Put all your weight on your left foot, and take a step forward with your right. Shift your weight to your right foot, and as your body sways forward turn it forty-five degrees to the right to point straight ahead (to twelve o'clock) again. While this is going on, rotate your left foot forty-five degrees so that it points to half past ten o'clock. Your hands move smoothly on from the transition above, your left forearm going down at a forty-five degree angle forwards, while your right forearm and hand go into a horizontal curve in front of you and your right hand rotates to point your right palm towards the bottom of your rib cage. The result of these motions is as in the fourth picture below.
Now sway back to distribute your weight evenly on your two feet, and as you do so bring your left palm level, pointing straight down. You are now in a position which is just the reverse, interchanging your left and right feet and your left and right arms, of your beginning position. But you don't stop in this reversed posture, you keep right on swaying backwards to put your weight on your left foot, turn your body forty-five degrees to the right, point your right foot to the right (to three o'clock), and move your hands to brush in a mirror image of the first transition described above.
And so on. Right foot advances, then left; body turns left, then right; weight sways back, then forward, then back, then forward; left hand brushes right wrist as right hand rises, then right hand brushes left wrist.
It takes patience and something of a sense of humor about your stumbles to get this sequence going with the correct hands and feet ending up in the correct places. You will probably find yourself in strange positions at first, and have to stop and start over. Don't hurry, do try to be smooth, do try to be good-natured towards yourself and your difficulties as you would in any spiritual exercise.
To do the Tai Chi Walk for more than a minute or two requires a large room, or an exterior space in which you feel comfortable. The walk ends when you encounter a physical obstacle, or when you decide to quit.
Illustrations of the Tai Chi Walk:
The Tai Chi Walk may be a bit complex for your tastes. A simpler moving exercise is just to walk, slowly and smoothly (but not so slowly as to put too much of your attention on maintaining your balance), and to try to put all your attention -- other than the attention you have to pay to your environment to preserve your safety -- on just walking.
Rise to the toe of each foot as you prepare to lift it free and move it forward. Put your feet down flat, rather than heel-then-toe, reducing the length of your stride if necessary. Try to make contact with the surface you're walking on as softly as possible. Move your hands only enough to keep a easy balance; you're not trying to work out, or to increase your vigor.
If your mind strays to other things and thoughts, gently put it back on paying attention only to your walking. Try to be only in the moment of your current step and its smooth motion towards the next step. This exercise can be seen as one of contemplation, in which the object of contemplation is your own moving body (click here to go to my page on contemplation in general). Begin and end with some moments of stillness and of consciousness of your physical self.
Return to "Spiritual Exercises" page to select another kind of exercise.
© 2007 Anthony Buckland,
anthonybuckland@telus.net
last modified: May 12, 2007
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