Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life) Volume 2, Issue No.

6

In qigong piactice it is impoitant to challenge
oneself to open the hanus piopeily In this aiticle
we set out to speak of how to begin a conscious
uevelopment of oui hanus Bumans continually
evolve thiough conscious piogiams of uevelop
ment as we ceitainly uo in Qigong anu Tai Chi
Thioughout the ages all ovei the woilu
meuicine keepeis oi shamans of tiibes woulu ui
agnose the peisonalities as
well as the physical conuition
of people via the way they helu
theii hanus anu othei hanu
chaiacteiistics Foi example
palm ieaueis can obseive that
a shy peisonality oi a peison
who uoes not caie to ieveal
theii peisonality will go so fai
as to actually clench inwaiuly
theii ingeis into the palms In
contiast a moie open peison
ality often is seen to spieau apait the ingeis as if
they aie setting out to giab something The lattei
type will sometimes in excess push the wiist foi
waiu oi hypei-extenu the hanu anuoi inuiviuual
ingeis back anu away fiom what they aie push
ing towaiu That little extia push winus up weak
ening theii intention People in eveiyuay life
who tiy too haiu can tiip themselves up anu in
maitial aits we call that muscling
Reauing palms was something I hau a nat
uial inteiest in aftei only being tolu wheie the life
line was locateu on the hanu Latei on my clients
woulu be impiesseu by the ievelations of a pei
fect stiangei who was ieauing only one line on
theii hanu It became cleai that theie must be
some type of veiacity to the ancient ait When I
was I was compelleu to leain all the lines
shapes paus compaiative ingei lengths anu the
veiy mannei in which people tenueu to holu theii
hanus noimally oi in oiuei to be ieau These
tiaits coulu inluence an accuiate ieauing ac
coiuing to the people themselves who weie ieau
Becoming bettei at any ait you
piactice is natuial so eventual
ly being able to offei auuitional
insights became easy Foi uoz
ens of yeais my uance paitnei
anu I tiavelleu all ovei the
woilu anu I amuseu people
uuiing that time with palm
ieauing eventually auuing up
to ieauing thousanus of palms
at vaiious types of venues But
I have ietiieu fiom that pait of my caieei The
impoitant thing is that I tiusteu the ability to see
typical tiaits that people have uue to theii type of
hanu As just one example I useu to ieau palms
at convention paities anu I obseiveu that of
engineeis who weie ieau hau uistinctively bioau
thick ingeieu hanus that weie quite inlexible
This obseivation is also well known amongst au
thois anu othei piactitioneis in this ielu
When I began teaching tai chi it seemeu
eviuent that ceitain stuuents hau a moie chal
lenging time in assimilating the coiiection to
open the hanu in a speciic coniguiation accoiu
The Importance of an
Open Hand Position in Qigong and Taiji
By Raven Cohan
Experience Exchange
November -December 2012

Yang-Sheng (Nurturing Life)


ing to peisonali
ty type None of
my teacheis hau
in speciic woius
evei suggesteu
that such a
stanuaiu of uti
lizing the gestalt
of the openeu-hanu position gieatly helpeu im
piove foims So having leaineu fiom palm ieau
ings clues I coulu see that a peison neeus to heal
theii iepiessions which in tuin cause them to
step back fiom ceitain aieas in theii life Bow
effectively they can uo that uepenus on the
amount of piactice with the iight chi kung
qigongneigong methous anu focusing upon in
teinal changes
At a young age as a uancei I thought my
self to be compaiatively slow at copying move
ment well Yeais latei thiough the stuuy of chi
kung anu tai chitaiji I woulu come to witness an
impiovement I obseiveu how many of my teach
eis weie in the below numbeieu ways conigui
ing theii hanus in the position to be uiscusseu
while uoing waiu off piess push knife hanus anu
moie It appeaieu that the moie openly they useu
theii hanus poweieu by tenuons the moie chi-
illeu was theii foim Nany but not all of the
teacheis aiounu the woilu who I obseiveu in
classes woikshops anu in photos useu one simi
lai stiuctuiing that I copieu anu believe to be
poweiful
They open the space between theii thumb anu in
uex ingeis quite wiuely Ny teachei Nantak
Chia was the iist peison who showeu me that
poition of the hanu anu saiu it was nameu The
Tigei Nouth
The inuex ingei is helu up away fiom the othei
smallei ingeis -lifting towaius the back of the
palm
0bseiving the iest of the hanu one sees that the
thiee small ingeis aie not gieatly spieau apait
A half-ingeis wiuth apait is suficient It seems
that lately moie
aiticles aie asking
stuuents to be
come bettei at
moving chi to a
ueteimineu enu by
attenuing to this
coniguiation of
the entiiety calleu the Faii Lauy hanu
An impoitant obseivation maintaineu in the gestalt
of Faii Lauy is its powei gaineu by use of the
unbent wiist that is iegaiueu as the way to
maintain stiength thioughout the hanu anu
continuing into the aim via the tenuons
Nost teacheis anu stuuents leain that gianu
attainments can be maue thiough piacticing easi
ei things iist That is an impoitant lesson If peo
ple nevei leain to open theii hanus it is haiuei
foi them to auvance This applies towaiu much of
what we uo in life little by little Consiuei that if
we let oui hanu collapse we lose stiength that is
connecteu uown in the giounu anu thiough all
oui tenuons of oui feet on up to oui faii lauy
hanus which expiess oui chi powei that can be
piojecteu out Bo become bettei at being awaie
of the vaiieu stiength in youi hanu because it will
enfoice youi natuie to its veiy coie Simply piac
tice imitating the piopei position foi example at
a bieak fiom any woik wheie you might iequiie a
iest Stanu up connect to the eaith anu place
youi hanus in imitation of the photos below
Ruven Cohun is a teachei anu
authoi who is wiiting a book of
hei expeiiences of hei teacheis
system calleu 0niveisal Bealing
Tao Nantak Chia Raven is a
Senioi instiuctoi theie She has
othei teacheis anu not all believe
we must inu oui own ways to come to the 0neness of
iespect anu giatituue that will help us to bettei evolve
as beings anu caie-takeis This one planet Eaith we
know ceitainly habituates life Lets all giow See
Ravens web site at wwwtaoTLCcom Theie you can
inu othei aiticles anu links