Hello everyone!
As we start 2012, I have yet more news for you. I will be starting a new career on Monday and as the commute will be a little longer than it has been I have little idea what the impact on my spare time will be. I hope that I will be able to continue publishing the Tai chi article, but apologies in advance if I end up slipping or forgetting.
As we all know, the theory of tai chi is all well and good, but it is no substitute for actually doing it!
Tai Chi Exercise
So far, we’ve talked about getting ourselves mentally and physically ready for tai chi. Now, let’s get on with it. I’m going to focus mainly on the Yang Short Form over any other form style – but I may also reference the Simplified Short form as well; these seem to be more the more popular styles for beginners.
So we start with taking our comfortable “wu-ji” posture, making sure that we are standing comfortably, with our bodies drawn up by that invisible thread, but also with no “straight” limbs; ideally just hanging loose. As we begin our inbreath and our chest (and stomach) fills with air, this inflation is what causes the arms to raise in this first step – Raising Chi. As we breath out, our fingers “catch the air” and our arms lower.
So let’s think about this a little more. The common thinking here is that we raise our arms, then we lower them, whilst breathing in and out. But if we take the movement from the breath, we actually turn it on its head – and it seems more graceful. As a visual example of what we’re trying to achieve here – if we take a piece of paper (the bigger the better, but we’ll use A4 for the moment) and hold it along one of the short edges, we can see the paper will hang down loosely. This is how our arms should be at the start. Then raise the paper up and then down. Hopefully you should see the paper (at the bit at the top) come up, then flap gently as it starts to descend. What you will see is that the loose end moves at a slower rate than the edge you’re holding. I’m sure I’ve not described it as well as I could in its written form, but waft some paper and see what it looks like!
Remember though, we are not trying to waft the flames of the fire – slow movement is key here. Tai Chi is graceful!
Classic Lesson
Over the last week I thought about the deep lessons of Zen and Taoism that I could use for this week’s mail. However, a recent funeral of a relative reminded me of a more important lesson: Life is short, have fun. Adopt a “Can Do” attitutude.
So instead of working out the lesson for the week, I played with my Lego, creating this small reminder for you. Have a great week!
