Tai chi offers mind, body connection

SANDPOINT — For years, the backcountry was a second home to trail runner Mark Duffner.  He didn’t just jog the switchbacks and ridgelines; he attacked the terrain, running like an animal in flight.

In the end, the trails had the last word.  The constant pounding exacted a toll from Duffner’s back and a final injury ended his regular assaults on the mountain country.

“It basically shut me down completely,” the former trail runner said.

In between visits to doctors — most of which told him that back surgery was the only viable path to healing — Duffner heard the whisper of ancient practitioners who, for Westerners at least, were masters on a road less traveled.

“In the process of talking to doctors I thought, ‘I want to see what’s happening with tai chi,’” he said. 

“In learning tai chi, I’ve embraced the whole process,” added Duffner, who started with lessons at Sandpoint West Athletic Club before moving on to private instruction with master teachers around the Northwest.  “The body lessons and the life skills lessons that are buried in tai chi are huge.  It’s not just old people waving their arms around in the park.”

Connection with tai chi masters created a web of instruction that overlapped Washington, Idaho and British Columbia.  This spring, Duffner invited his teachers to travel to his hometown in hopes of building a community of like-minded students here.  The focal point for that effort is now Northwest Tai Chi Sandpoint, which currently offers lessons every Thursday from 5:30-7 p.m. in the lower level of the Gardenia Center.

“People are still dipping their toe in to see what this is all about,” said Bryan Knack, who teaches tai chi and qi gong (pronounced: chee-gung) classes at Northwest Tai Chi for Health in Spokane.  “Most of the students tend to be in their 40s and 50s and are there for stress relief.  They want to get an hour or so for themselves to escape the day.”

That avenue of escape, practitioners say, takes one into an internal realm of self-discovery and body awareness that leads to staying grounded and calm in the middle of the action, rather than thrashing about on the sidelines.

“A lot of the lessons we learn in tai chi transfer right into everyday life,” Knack said.  “Instead of moving from one extreme to another, you learn to stay within your center.

“There are three reasons people train,” he continued.  “The first one is for health.  It helps with flexibility and weight loss and those with physical disabilities like dystonia or Parkinson’s can also benefit from tai chi. The second reason is to increase body awareness and improve balance, which is especially good for older people.

“And the third is spiritual — gaining a better understanding of the flows of nature.”

The local classes, which began in early May, have focused on fundamentals of tai chi and are still at the stage where drop-ins will feel comfortable with learning the material, the teacher said.

“These are fun classes,” said Duffner, who organized the instruction and acts as the local contact.  “There’s laughter and it’s an easy, very friendly environment.”

Watching the graceful arc of tai chi in practice might lead the observer to mistake it as “a flowery dance,” Knack said.  In reality, the masters who first taught the discipline were considered to be adepts in a martial art that was considered so powerful that some of its forms were outlawed by the Chinese government.

“Even if your goal is to improve your body mechanics and be more centered as a person, it’s still useful to understand the martial intent,” Duffner said.  “That understanding gives you clues about how to direct your body with mindful intent.”

“Tai chi is practiced slow, but it’s used fast,” Knack said.  “There’s a stillness in the movement, which gives the mind a chance to connect with the body.”

Along with tai chi instruction, which is often described as a “moving meditation,” Knack and other visiting teachers will offer instruction in qi gong, a standing form that translates to “energy practice” or “energy work.” 

The “chi” in tai chi and the “qi” in qi gong are synonyms for the same concept — that there is a tangible internal force coursing through every living thing, one that can be nourished and strengthened to affect overall health and longevity.

“Chi is the animation of life, as the East looks at it,” said Knack.  “Western medicine knows that cells split and divide, but they don’t know what force animates that process. 

“It’s not some fantasmic, lightning-out-of-the-hands kind of thing,” he added.  “Chi is energy, it’s life force, it’s breath.”

Along with the Thursday classes, Northwest Tai Chi Sandpoint plans to host a series of workshops featuring visiting master teachers.  The first in that series will be held on June 20 from 9-10:30 a.m. when Sana Shanti leads a beginner-level class in tai chi principles and fundamentals.  Cost for the workshop is $23.

“I’d like to build an informal network of people who are interested in this sort of thing so we can bring other instructors to Sandpoint,” Duffner said.

For more information on weekly tai chi classes and upcoming workshops, contact Duffner at 255-8099 or e-mail him at: mduffner@yahoo.com