Good afternoon. I practice Tai Chi Chuan Yang. My doubt is this: If I start practicing the series every day, after a few days I begin to feel dizzy, I am very concentrated in my own thoughts and very distracted in relation to the external world. If I persist in practice these symptoms are getting worse. Do you understand why this happens and what could I do so that this does not happen anymore? Thank you
Agree, get medical advice. If a doctor gives you the all-clear; from a tai chi point of view, make sure you're not holding your breathe in your practice, keep the head upright and shoulders relaxed. Don't try and force slow breathing, just breathe naturally. But definitely seek medical advice before continuing.
Agree with others, there is no reason doing Yang TCC should make you dizzy. Once you rule out any medical conditions, concentrate on your eye focus. You should be looking at the imagined target. Remember, it is a martial art and you should be imagining the moves are against an opponent. If you are doing some too internal hazy focus thing, maybe that is causing it? Also, what Dan Bian said, pay attention to proper breathing. Make sure you aren't concentrating so much that you are holding your breath.
I had a TaiChi student who had the same, it turned out that they had low blood pressure. The breathing exercises that help most relax and lower HR, and in conjunction, BP, was causing them to become light headed. This was only one case as the diagnosis was by their GP, so essentially, get it checked. I advised them I was not medically trained, so any advice on how to approach such exercises should be addressed through their GP. Also my teaching experience with TaiChi was not great, so I couldn't really see how to around it other than not to do the deep breathing
Friends, first of all I would like to thank everyone for the answers. I went to the doctor recently and no health problems were detected and my blood pressure is normal. However, my acupuncturist tells me that I have an excess of Yin energy. Can this cause this problem? Aaradia, whenever I do the series I pay attention to myself, in my own body, I never imagine an opponent. Can that be why? Because in addition to the problem of dizziness, I end up spending the day very fixed in my own thoughts, reaching the point of "talking alone"
It's worth checking your blood pressure at home over the course of a month or two. You rarely get a true resting measurement of blood pressure at the doctors (you walk there, you're a bit nervous about being checked out etc...). I don't believe in Qi or anything like that, but taken figuratively I think it can still be useful. Intense meditative activities that don't involve much physical exertion can leave some people feeling "ungrounded", floaty, and lost in their own heads. Maybe try doing something that makes you feel grounded in the physical world around you after your practice. Hard physical exercise, eating heavy foods... different things work for different people.
Obviously you have to raise your blood pressure. Bacon cheese burger and chips for every meal should do it.
I don't know, it is worth trying though. eye focus can help with balance. If you are so caught up internally that you aren't paying attention to your surroundings, I think it could contribute to dizziness. Mind you, I have no medical training. But proper eye focus helps me be grounded and balanced. And when in my CLF we do spinning stuff that makes me dizzy, my instructors always tell me to focus my eyes properly to not be dizzy. I come from a place of training where TCC is a martial art and you should always be thinking of the moves as if they are against an opponent. And even if you are not interested in the martial aspects, visualizing an opponent will still have you do the moves correctly, which gives you the full health benefits. So, eye focus is important to proper alignment anyways. Also, not sure about the acupuncturists thoughts, but go ahead and try what they say. Some people on here are against any alternative medicine. But I have had it help when regular Dr's failed. Just use it as an addition to regular Dr's. Not instead of one. And don't let them use this as a selling point for a bunch of Chinese herbs. I mean, if you want to try those, go for it. But it shouldn't be necessary for acupuncture treatments. If you didn't tell your Dr. about your specific symptoms on your last visit, I would visit again with a description of these specific symptoms. For what it is worth, that is my two cents. Let us know how it goes!
I've heard stories of people who have been described as having excess Yin energy being directed to take up bagua zhang or xingyi quan, rather than tai chi, to "balance out the energy". I suppose it depends on what stock you put into such a "diagnosis"...
Don't be so inside yourself, but this can happen - being too much focused within. I think Arradia pretty much covered it. Martially visualising an opponent is good. The combined effect of lacking external visual anchors or focus together with the meditative state you are likely getting into could well be the cause.. This can tie in with a wider training of spacial awareness or to borrow a traditional term - shen. Whilst there are more esoteric ideas around "shen", one simple way to think of it is as your spacial awareness. So you're in a room doing your tai chi - feel that space, explore that space.. Move through it like water or treacle. Shen can be and is spacial imagination too. that kind of thing. hope it sorts itself out happy training
