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Tai Chi for health & wellbeing

 

 

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Small Space Tai Chi

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Yesterday it was raining and muddy outside so I couldn’t go into the garden to practice my Tai Chi weapon’s forms as usual.

So the options were either miss training or improvise and train inside my house. Well, I wasn’t going to miss training so I decided to practice these forms in my hallway. I cleared the furniture and created some space.

In a narrow space I had to shuffle my feet back to the centre of the room several times as I did the form. The difficulty was to stay focused and keep the correct shape of each posture.

And also not to take out the overhead light with my Tai Chi weapon!

Although this is not the ideal way of  training it does  keep me to my schedule.

Winter has come early here with many wet days and training inside the house is the only option for me.

It really is a simple choice.

Practice or don’t practice.

Tai Chi: Arrow Visualisation

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In a previous post Tai Chi: Reverse Thinking I discussed a way of adding depth to your Tai Chi form by thinking in the reverse way of the direction you are moving.

Yesterday I was perfoming the Tai Chi from in my garden and a thought flashed through my mind of how you could use a visualisation technique to help you with reverse thinking.

As I moved throughout the form I imagined arrows shooting out the reverse direction I was moving. Just like arrows you see in a book indicating which way to move.

Only in this case  the arrows were shooting out in the opposite direction.

For example, when I moved my arms up I visualised these arrows shooting out of my arm downwards. This focused my attention in the opposite way I was going and I certainly felt  a slight resistance which added to a more balanced and connected form.

The arrow visualisation technique is a good method in taking your Tai Chi form to the next level.

Yi leads the Chi

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In Tai Chi the Yi (mind) leads the Chi (energy).

In other words, when you are doing your form your mind which involves your attention and intention should  initiate a  movement.

Using this concept avoids the problem of moving from posture to posture aimlessly. And if you move without the Yi leading the Chi then you are not doing Tai Chi.

If your mind does wander which is a natural occurence for beginners – focus on your dan tien. This will allow you to become centred again and also makes it easier for your Yi to lead the Chi.

Try this concept the next time you do your form and let me know how it feels.