Tango Zhong Ding with Micaela and Tito
If you have read my recent posts (Setting the Knee, Parts 1-4) and Meditation in Action (Parts 1-3), you will already know how crucial the principle of central equilibrium is to my practice and my teaching. It is also one of the Three Pillars that I emphasize as fundamental for internal martial arts and energy cultivation.
In the photo to the left, a moment is frozen during Micaela and Tito’s tango performance. Note the stability of Micaela’s posture in heels, left leg extended backward. Tito is solidly rooted in his left leg. Both exhibit zhong ding.
Central equilibrium goes far beyond just balance. It opens us to the Big Qi, the yin qi of the earth and the yang qi of the heavens. We plug in and become part of a much bigger energy system than that of our own body.
How much energy? Virtually infinite.
How much we are able to actually take in and use? That is determined by our gongfu,diligent practice over time. We only take in what we can handle, and to handle more we have to upgrade our wiring.
The effortless power of Central Equilibrium can be seen in the following video. When not connected, and using muscle power (li), both Maria and Beatrice are easily overwhelmed by Dennis’ superior strength. When plugged into the Big Qi, however, they both easily withstand all his force. Beatrice also demonstrates that the earth connection instantly creates superior rooting ability and structural stability
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Even more important, to my mind, is that zhong ding makes accessing superconsciousness so much easier, almost instantly. Superconsciousness is a highly coherent state of body-mind-spirit integration, awareness that allows for Knowing that is cpable of representational thought but not dependent on it. In a superconscious state we are not limited to the narrow bandwidth of the conscious mind. (Please read the recent postings linked above for more information about superconsciousness.)
