In
taichido NL 55 Mark wrote:
The other Tuesday morning, I gathered my trusty Canon
XL1 and took it down to the park in Southampton, where
I met up with Gary and a close member of the ‘group’
Matt Backhouse, who specialises in Tai Chi Ruler.
With great light as the sun came out and only one
heckler (“are you making an advert?”), for
a couple of hours I filmed him going through a series
of Ruler exercises for our forthcoming DVD project:
‘Tai Chi Ruler’. A fairly rare and uncommon,
curious but simple mixture of tai chi and chi kung,
this is the first time I had seen this form practiced
in any length and I was fascinated and intrigued by
it. This is the first time that Gary and myself have
collaborated with another away from our own ‘specialism’
and has it been educational.
There
seems to be quite a lot of variety and differing of
opinions as to the origins of Tai Chi Ruler. One source
has it down as 100AD; another has it during the Sung
dynasty from about 950AD, invented by Chen Hsi-I,
a legendary Taoist. Chen was friend to the first Sung
emperor Chao Kong Yan and taught him many martial
arts (Ruler included); who then passed it down through
his descendants right up to the twentieth century.
At the same time it is also credited as being Chen
Chu, a legendary conjurer who befriended by the emperor
(not Chen His-I, unless I am missing something important)
who used the principles of early Chinese medical concepts
laid down by Huang Ti – the Yellow Emperor –
around 2600BC. I have seen Zhao Zhong-dao credited
during the mid 1800s for inventing what he called
Tai Chi Stick Chi Kung; and much later Chu Man-yi
is credited with inventing both Tai Chi ruler and
Tai Chi Ball just before the 1920’s. Chu’s
form was based upon the concepts that the simple turning
and twisting movements could replace the tai chi form
itself, which was too complicated for some. He also
injected western gymnastics into the mix.
Whatever
its origins, of no doubt are its benefits. A form
of Taoist chi kung (or yoga), tai Chi Ruler utilises
a wooden rod/ruler about ten inches long, said to
have originally been derived from sword handles. This
is known as a ‘chih’ and you might see this
form called Tai Chi Chih. The practitioner then goes
through a series of simple (I say this only in the
context of the more complex tai chi form, as its not
that ‘simple’!) twisting and turning exercises
holding the ruler lengthways between his/her palms
– on the pericardium meridian point in the centre
of the palms. I have practiced a version of one of
the exercises of this myself years ago - without the
ruler itself, and you can see this on the taichido
website under ‘chi kung/tai chi invisible ruler’.
Each exercise uses chi kung and deep, slow breathing
within a tai chi framework. The practitioner focuses
movement, breathing, visual and mental concentrating
along the central meridians flowing along the body,
aligning movements with the three energy dantiens
(energy centres) a couple of inches above the navel,
around the sternum in the chest, and in the head.
So like chi kung, this focuses, cultivates and balances
chi.
According
to www.Yamatanidojo.com, Ruler exercises the entire
body and improves posture, circulation, metabolism,
neuromuscular functioning, and boosts the immune system.
The principles that achieve this are (lifted from
their website word for word):
1.
The body is in a state of complete relaxation;
2.
all movements are circular and spiralling;
3.
all movement is controlled by the turning of the waist;
4.
the spine is held straight and erect;
5.
the eyes are constantly focuses on the ruler;
6.
breathing is coordinated with all movements;
7.
breathing occurs at the rate of two breaths per minute.
This
makes sense as in it we can see much of the fundamental
principles of tai chi: circular movements, focus on
breath, erect posture, relaxed stances, etc
Once
more there seems to be some variety as to the exact
exercises and number. Some say eight exercises in
repetition, other say seven exercises followed by
eight more advanced ones. Matt simply says that there
are – and I quote - ‘loads’. I am sure
that I will get some emails from readers enlightening
me about Ruler – and I would welcome them of
course, as I have only ever found this sort of correspondence
constructive. Like tai chi it seems that there are
a number of forms and ideas – but the common
thread is that the benefits are wonderful.
AVAILABLE
NOW! Tai Chi Ruler format: DVD (video), wooden
tai chi ruler video format: PAL, NTSC compatible with:
DVD players capable of playing DVD-R disks, PC/MAC
with DVD drive
and DVD playing software.
DVD comes complete with hand-crafted hardwood ruler.
FEATURES:
Full instruction on: - holding the ruler - basic stances
- opening exercises - each of the exercises in the
Ruler Program
BONUS
FEATURES: - warm-up sequence - the complete exercises
in the Park.
author
Mark Allan taichido.com. Bibliography:
www.yamatanidojo.com
www.taichichuan.co.uk
Tai
Chi Ruler