Margaret Emerson

A Potter's Notes on Tai Chi Chuan compares the process of making art with the practice of tai chi chuan. It's about the lessons learned from both endeavors and the usefulness of this awreness in everyday life-especially the life of an artist.

Margy Emerson has made her living as a potter for the past sixteen years, most of that time in Springfiled, Illinois. It was there that she studied tai chi chuan under Kao Ching-hua, a Chinese woman who has taught since she arrived in this country just after World War II and who has always emphasied the pracitcal application of the principles of tai chi chuan. A Potter's Notes was written during a sabbatical that began with a move to Northern California and ended with the establishment of a new studio. Ms. Emerson currently lives in Ferndale, California, where she is teaching tai chi chuan and working with clay.

Whether to write about tai chi chuan
Why a potter feels at home with tai chi chuan
Morning
Learning
Gathering
Silence
Three points, eight directions
The secret of balance
Balance from one day to the next
Living balance
Reserving
Resonating
Contrast
Inward-outward
Hard in soft
Visible and invisible
Coming full circle
Slowing down
Noticing
Problem solving by the indirect route
Being centered
The window opening closing
Skywriter
Let the road come to you
Nothing fancy
Why tai chi chuan will never become an Olympic event
Variation: the human standard versus the standard of machines
Release
Room for everything
The art of doing without accomplishing
Becoming all one thing
My center
I have been accused of seeing things in black and white
The difference
Don't believe anything you haven't taught yourself… (mehr)

'A continuous flow from conscious to subconscious-from spirit to mind and from mind to spirit-is imperative for maintaining good health. This circular flow is catalyzed and enhanced by the uninterrupted sequence of t'ai chi ch'uan. Even the breathing, which draws air down the center-the abdomen-and then sends it back up to the head, without even stopping, back and forth, encourages this sort of exchange. Unobstructed movement, involving the entire self, inside and out, draws every part of me, visible and invisible, into the light.'-from the book.

Apart from its physical benefits, the practice of t'ai chi ch'uan can foster emotional health and psychological well-being. Author Margaret Emerson, a longtime student and teacher of t'ai chi, examines how the skills developed in the practice of t'ai chi ch'uan-awareness, concentration, mobility, and flexibility-can enrich our personal and professional lives. When integrated as a daily pracitce, t'ai chi ch'uan can enhance health, creativity, and encounters with friends, family, and strangers.

Contents

The dream
The mirror
Yin and yang
Change
The image
Chi
Tan t'ien
Silence
Disappearing
Moving slowly
Mistakes
Learning to walk
T'ai chi ch'uan is easy
The directions
Circles
Making the sequence your own
Teaching
Gurus
The martial art
T'ai chi ch'uan in my life
From the others
Photographs
The introduction to t'ai chi ch'uan
Embracing the tail of the jumping sparrow
Stetching the wings of the white mountain bird
Plant
Leopard and tiger push the mountians
Raise right lower limb
Raise left lower limb
The light exercise
Dashing wild horse blowing the mane
Pierce the bottom of the sea
Advance (circling right upper limb) and hesitation step
Push hands
Some of the others
T'ai chi ch'uan in the mountains… (mehr)