Tai Chi for health & wellbeing
I was practising my ’embrace the tree’ posture the other morning and wasn’t sure if my knees were behind my toes or over them.
I looked in the mirror but I still could not determine whether I was practising correctly; the knees should be just behind the toes otherwise you will strain your knees.
When practicing Tai Chi stance work – align the key points on the soles of your feet to the ground first.
In between Chair Chi workshops I dropped into Fountain Gate shopping centre to have a cappucchino.
I drove into the car park, got out and opened my car boot to get a book to read during my break. As I lifted the door up I realised I was double weighted.
My weight was on my right leg and I used my right hand to lift the door. A couple of days later when I lifted the car boot door I made sure my weight was on my left leg as I lifted the door with my right hand.
So what’s this got to do with Tai Chi? Everything.
Yin Yang philosophy, the foundation of Tai Chi Chuan, can be difficult for beginners to grasp so here’s a very simple exercise I teach to help people feel this concept called Yin Yang.
Here’s a short clip of Bruce Frantzis talking about the 7 key principles of Tai Chi Push Hands. Very interesting and below is a summary of the points he makes.
1. Constant contact
2. Always shifting your weight back and forth
3. Don’t use muscular strength