Recently a student shared two paintings by artist OH Keehyung with me. The objects in both paintings possess the quality of being still as well as dynamic and resonate with me and reflect my practice of Tai Chi and Qigong.
OH Keehyung is a South Korean artist and lives in France. She does calligraphy, watercolor paintings, and sculptures with clay. Sometimes she draws on her cell phone. Since 2007, she has exhibited extensively in France, Switzerland, Poland, Germany, Vietnam, Belgium, China, Austria, Turkey, United States, Russia, and South Korea. Her father OH Sang Seok, an expert on Chinese calligraphy, influenced her in the brush techniques as well as the free spirit. She learned Qigong in South Korea and continues to practice the healing art. Her significant other is a long-time Tai Chi practitioner and has shared the philosophy of Tai Chi with her.
Master OH Sang Seok crafted a calligraphy piece with three Chinese characters which means motion within stillness. “Green Mountain” is Keehyung’s recent creation. It speaks to me deeply. Oftentimes, we view mountains as stationary masses of rocks and soil. Countless poems and songs praise mountains’ quietude. Nevertheless, mountains don’t stand still. There is momentum within. Earth continues to shift so do mountains. I was in the National Red Rock Canyon (Las Vegas, Nevada) a couple of weeks ago. A sign tells a story of a frog life. Situated in the desert area, Red Rock Canyon seldom gets rain. Once in a while tiny rain drops seep through the cracks of rocks and deposit in the crevices. With water, the frozen frog eggs come to life and develop into tadpoles and then frogs. I was amazed by the fact. With simple brush strokes, Keehyung’s “Green Mountain” reveals the vitality and richness of mountains.
Kidneys are the origin of life. They store the original essence of life or Yuan Jing, which babies get from mothers. The adrenalin is crucial to generate the post-natal essence. According to Chinese medicine, winter is the season that we should nurture kidneys. For my winter Qigong program, the curriculum includes Tai Chi, Qigong, self-massage, and meditation. All of them have a focus to nourish kidneys. The meditation can be executed sitting, standing or laying down. From the outside appearance, our bodies are not moving. Internally, we use reversed belly breathing technique with mindfulness to rotate Lower Dan Tian and massage kidneys. Like those green mountains in Keehyung painting, we are motionless outside but active inside.
“Zhan Zhuang” is another painting by Keehyung. Zhan Zhuang is a Tai Chi regimen and means standing post or meditating while standing. Practitioners need to relax mind and body and focus their own energy and feel they are deeply rooted unto Mother Earth. Better yet, rooting is not conducted in a way like a nail stuck straight into the ground; instead, it spirals into the ground and grabs the earth tightly. Keehyung’s “Zhan Zhuang” is profound. I can sense the drilling energy of rooting in her painting. Again, we are inactive with our physical body but proactively moving the silk-reeling energy within.
Tai Chi 13 postures or Shi San Shi are the most important principles for Tai Chi practice regardless which Tai Chi style people practice. They are Peng (Ward-off), Lu (Roll Back), Ji (Squeeze), An (Shovel or Press), Cai (Plug), Le (Split), Zhou (Elbow Strike), Kao (Shoulder Bump), Zuo Gu (Look Left), You Pan (Look Right), Qian Jin (Step Forward), Hou Tui (Step Backward, and Zhong Ding (Center Equilibrium). There are eight different energies, four footwork, and Settling Down. Peng is the first principle and also means buoyancy and should be omnipresent in spite of movements. Zhong Ding is the last one and also should be expressed in every move. One may ask how we settle down while moving legs and arms. Zhong Ding is a mindset of settling down; a practitioner needs to be quietly listening to his own body and feeling his own energy. Unlike standing meditation, physically we are active but emotionally we are rooting constantly. Another perspective is that we have to be solemnly mindful all the time. The Tai Chi symbol has two parts: white and black representing the Yang energy and Yin energy. There is a white dot in the black portion and a black dot in the white portion to crystallize the concept that there is Yin within Yang and Yang within Yin. Nothing is absolute.
We made a brochure for 2021 Chinese Cultural Days’ Tai Chi & Qigong program at Missouri Botanical Garden (St. Louis, MO). Someone pointed out that the Tai Chi emblem on the brochure cover is upside down because the white portion or Yang energy is on the top and not at the bottom. The philosophy of Tai Chi is depicting the continuous rotation of the universe and nature. The insignia should be turning constantly and not a still picture. The 2-D rendition of the symbol gives people an inaccurate impression of being fixed. Actually, you can turn the symbol anyway you prefer. Practicing Tai Chi teaches me not to fixate on certain things because they can just be illusions.
Violet Gong Hey Fa Choy! This article was so interesting! Thanks for sharing.
I will share and practice with my students. You are the best. May the year of the RABBIT be good to you.
Best regards,
Hasmig Mekjian
New Jersey.
Happy Chinese New Year to you and your family and students! Appreciate your kind comment.
Thank you very much for these interesting comments on some very beautiful art! The idea of “stillness within motion” seems somewhat plausible if you consider movies being composed of single “still” frames of images (and you ignore any analysis of motion by integral calculus!). But “motion within stillness” is much more challenging. As you say, “we are motionless outside but active inside.”
I do not know much about TCM’s view of the kidneys but your comment about adrenalin and “post-natal essence” caught my attention. The major source of adrenalin is the adrenal gland, which sits on top of the kidneys. When stimulated, the adrenal releases massive amounts of adrenalin into the bloodstream. The first downstream target of this hormone is the heart, which it causes to beat more rapidly. But in turn it increases breathing and causes the bronchioles to dilate, thereby increasing the ability to take in more air. A major example of all this is the stimulation of adrenalin release in a newborn by the stress of passage through the birth canal. The result is a baby very eager to BREATHE!!
While not a one-to-one correspondence, the term qi 氣 has been translated in ancient texts as “vapor” and some view the character as representing steam arising from rice…qi as a sort of misty, nutritional entity, related to ordinary air. Thus, just prior to the emergence of a newborn, moving and full of life and the energy to “be”, so much has occurred within, silent and invisible: adrenalin molecules swooshing through veins, receptors engaging, and muscle fibers vigorously contracting in heart and lungs. Essence indeed!
Charlie, as always, your comment is very good and highly appreciated. Thanks. — Violet
Dear Violet: I enjoy this article very much. It is packed with wisdom and skills that take years to acquire. Just the other day, I heard a non-Chinese Tai Chi practitioner talking about the “Eight Methods” and “Five Steps” (八法五步 ba fa wu bu). He didn’t know what they meant. Your article has given me the perfect masterful translation of ba fa wu bu. How wonderful! Now I can forward this article to him and for him to share with his friends and colleagues. By the way, thank you for the instructions you gave me via email today. Best, James Chan, PhD, 陈华江, Philadelphia.
James, thanks for the kind feedback. Take care. — Violet