Relax. Tai Chi is here

THE INTERNAL practice of Tai Chi Chuan is an unusual blend of healing art and martial art and a unique culmination of many centuries of Taoist reflection (Chi Kung), which focuses on physical health and spiritual growth. The first quality that Tai Chi develops is strengthening of one's concentration, what the martial arts refer to as "being centered".

Ron Perfetti in his Overview of Tai Chi explains this rather elegantly, "This ability to center the mind is understood to be the foundation of Tai Chi because from this state of attention comes the possibility to change, correct and heal. To facilitate this process, Tai Chi begins by building awareness of the body's movement and feeling, distributing this attention evenly throughout the body, leading to harmony of mind and body, and thus to good health". In other words, the essence of Tai Chi practice is not to learn a set of movements or to become skilled in a system of self-defence, although all this may happen in the process of practice.

Even though Tai Chi has been developing in China for centuries and more recently in other parts of the world, it did not make much of an impact in India. Quite without warning, there is an exigent awakening towards Tai Chi as a natural and seemingly effortless way to good health and harmony between body and mind. Unfortunately, there do not seem to be enough teachers to meet the demand. In this sense, Chennai is lucky to have George Thomas Kurien, one of the few teachers scattered around the country.

Tall and lanky of limbs, George can be seen just about anywhere in the city, usually alone and at peace with himself. On closer encounter he warms up to you, an oriental twinkle teasing from behind a pair of glasses! George grew up all over India, practising one or the other martial art from his teens. Six months of reading English Literature and a year and a half of Visual Communications at Loyola College convinced him to opt for an alternative lifestyle. He earned a diploma in Acupressure with the Sri Lankan Institute. He spent two years at the Center for Holistic Healing in Pune with Medical Mission Sisters learning Shiatsu, Accu-Yoga, Polarity Therapy, Gin Shento, and "Touch for Health". He is a Grand Master of Reiki and a practitioner of hypnosis. A voracious reader, George also did Kalari, of both the Thekkan and Vadakkan schools and studied Varmam and is a qualified Vamani today. After seven years of Tai Chi, under the guidance of his teacher Mr. Pandyan, he became a certified instructor and has been teaching for the last five years.

I spent an early morning watching him as he taught a group of six. The oldest was 55 and the youngest 12. Each one practised the form at his/her own pace in the warm wash of the rising sun. George moved from student to student teaching, correcting, encouraging, and changing. What at first sight looks like graceful oriental dance movements actually exercises every muscle in the body at a level of intensity determined by the practitioner. "The core of Tai Chi is a set of movements. There is only one form for the teacher and the student. The only difference is that I have journeyed there before and am now in the position to teach. Every time I do the form, the experience is new, there is still something more to learn. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step and ends whenever you decide."

In self-defence George teaches to flow with the opponent's energy. "We don't try to negate it or deflect it; we simply redirect it. There is no aggression in Tai Chi. We call it the doing of non-doing. The movements, when internalised, work on the meridians, which in turn work on the energy bodies". Anybody at any age and at any fitness level can do Tai Chi and reap the benefits of the practice.

Tai Chi can also be very therapeutic. "It energizes, it relaxes, it helps the body get rid of negative energies and toxins. Being a joint oriented art, Tai Chi is beneficial both as a cure and a prophylactic in Arthritis and for back problems. It improves balance, controls high blood pressure, and reduces stress and weight..."

When George is not travelling, conducting workshops for the non- governmental and corporate sectors, when he is not teaching at the various locations in Chennai or consulting and healing in local hospitals, he works with local theatre groups and dancers "getting them to be fit, learning how their bodies move and explore space, teaching them martial arts movements or to walk like the Samurais".

George has an active healing practice and has been at it for about nine years. He heals "anything that does not require surgical intervention". I watched him, quite by chance, attend to someone who limped in with a twisted ankle. The instant healing, as George gently moved her head from side to side and selectively pressed the tips of three fingers, was quite amazing. George practises a variety of healing arts including Shiatsu, Energy Healing, Spiritual Healing, Reiki, the use of Mudras and Mantras. When necessary, he does distance healing though it takes about a month to make a real difference. He has no problems about combining his healing arts with that of other practitioners, including contemporary Western medicine. "I go along with the patient's belief system. If they don't want one form I use another..." And all this from his rambling home at 3 Rutland Gate Sixth Street, where he can be reached on the telephone (823 2272).

ELIZABETH ROY

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