Begin standing comfortably.
Allow your feet to settle naturally beneath you.
Arms,
Resting comfortably at your sides.
Feel the soles of your feet relax and sink into the earth.
Feel the crown of your head gently suspended upward with the chin tucked.
Now bring your awareness to your lower Dan Tian,
Four fingers below the navel.
The center you have cultivated throughout the previous practices.
Feel the warmth there.
Stillness there.
Presence there.
Allow the breath to settle naturally into your lower abdomen.
Simply breathing.
Relax.
And sing.
You Now imagine as you fill the Dantian with each breath.
Feel a pressure build up.
There is an ever so slight expansion as you breathe in.
It is as though everything is plumping up as it fills with breath and chi.
As you breathe out,
The body softens and the energy settles.
With each breath,
This sensation and awareness becomes stronger.
And with each in-breath,
The outer layer of the dantian expands out farther.
In Tai Chi,
Expansion is yong.
Contraction is yin.
Neither exists without the other.
Each gives rise to the other.
Like day and night,
Like the tides coming and going.
Like the breath itself.
This breath practice is active expansion and passive contraction.
After a short time,
The dantian grows to fill your body.
And then it expands out to surround you.
Begin to become aware that your body is surrounded by a soft sphere of awareness.
Sphere extending in every direction,
Above and below.
And below.
In front.
And behind.
The left.
And to the right.
It is not separate from you.
The sphere is an extension of you.
A living energetic space projecting out and surrounding the body.
As you inhale.
Feel the body subtly expanding in all directions.
Not physically pushing outward.
Not forcing the breath.
Simply.
Becoming more spacious.
With this,
The joints soften.
The spine lengthens.
The chest gently opens.
The lower abdomen widens.
Feel expansion moving outward from the Dantian,
Like ripples spreading across the still pond.
Or vibration.
The expansion reaches the shoulders.
The arms.
A fingertip.
Down into the hips.
The legs.
All the way to the soles of the feet.
The entire body participates.
The entire sphere expands.
Yang expressing itself through the breath.
You you Now,
As you exhale,
Allow everything to gently return toward the center.
Not collapsing.
Not shrinking.
Simply gathering and organizing.
Returning toward the lower dantian.
Board stability.
Toward quiet strength.
Returning inward.
Expansion.
Yam.
Interaction.
Opening.
Bowsie.
Notice how the body remains spacious even while contracting.
And remains rooted even while expanding.
Balanced.
Alive.
Responsive.
Now begin walking slowly.
Very slowly.
Allow the body to move as one connected structure.
Center leading.
The limbs following.
Continue linking expansion.
And contraction to the breath.
As you inhale.
Feel the entire body expanding.
The step becomes light.
Win.
Effortless.
The body feels spacious.
Alive.
As you exhale.
Feel everything contracting softly toward the center The foot settles into the earth.
Body becomes rooted.
Stable.
Bye.
Expansion and contraction.
Yang and yin.
Opening.
And closing.
With every breath.
Allow the movement to feel spherical.
Not linear.
There are no straight lines.
Only curves.
Arcs.
Circles.
Spirals.
As though the body is gently breathing in all directions at once.
Continue walking slowly.
Now begin to notice that expansion and contraction are not only in the breath.
They are also within the movement itself.
As the body shifts forward,
Something expands.
As the weight settles,
Something contracts.
As one side opens,
The other gathers.
Yang transforms into yin yin transforms into yang.
Without interruption.
Without separation.
Feel the body moving in continuous curves the feet,
Tracing gentle arcs.
Hips turning softly spine responding naturally.
There are no straight lines in nature.
Planets move in curves.
Water flows and curves.
Breath moves in curves.
And tai chi moves and curves.
Imagine a large inflated ball.
Soft,
Resilient,
Responsive.
Not hard,
Not collapsed,
But alive with quiet pressure from within.
This is the feeling of balanced expansion and contraction.
Effortless support.
Arm strength.
This is the energy of Peng.
Gradually allow the walking to slow.
Take smaller steps.
And gently.
Come to stillness.
Once still,
Place one hand over the other over the lower dantian.
Feel the breath continue.
Feel the subtle expansion and contraction still occurring.
Even in stillness.
The body breathes.
The energy breathes.
Life continues to move.
Take a slow breath in.
Feel the gentle expansion.
Yang.
Exhale.
Feel quiet,
Contraction,
Settling.
And begin to flow your energies back to the dan tian.
Allow all awareness to settle into the lower dantien.
Stable.
Feel balanced between expansion and contraction.
And Yin.
Between heaven and earth.
Between movement and stillness.
Carry this spaciousness with you.
Carry this calm strength.
Now centered.
Move out and continue to experience your day.
