During the Dan-yu there’s a rhythm of movement to be synchronized with our breathing. When we descend, our bodies draw life in. As we ascend our bodies naturally exhale. This drawing in and letting go is the nature of the up and down in the dan-yu.
The dan-yu is integral to the movements of Tai Chi, Lok Hup and Hsing-I. Finding the dan-yu in the movements and listening to our bodies allows us to find the rhythm of drawing in and letting go. With much practice the movement becomes more natural and timed with our particular body and its unique attributes. Using our entire lung capacity, we may find ourselves timing the set of movements slowly. Focusing on the beat of our hearts and flow of our cardiovascular system, we may find ourselves timing the movements more rapidly. The key is not the timing nor the finding of connections with the various parts of our bodies. No matter how “groovy” it may feel to tune into those things, the key to chi kung is simply to listen to the rhythm and let the movement express what’s needed in any given moment. We must listen to our own timing which changes with our situation, environment, our health and age.
Master Moy Lin-Shin talked often of “up down same time.” In classes we would work on the connections between the outer movements of arms and legs and the inner movements of our spines or for those more adapt at chi kung the movement of energy. In the movements of chi kung, we have the capacity of moving both up and down at the same time. Our outer form may be ascending, but our tailbones are already descending. Our arms may be down in the bottom of the movement while our spine is already going up. This internal timing is the following of the internal rhythms of our bodies and energy. It is the flow of the movements if we can simply let go our conscious selves and listen with all of our thoughts, senses and perceptions. Listening with everything we are stills the unnecessary in our experience and connects us with something more than can be explained with a few words on a blog.
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