Chris Chi

Tai Chi for health & wellbeing

 

 

You are here: Home / Archives for Tai Chi form

Qingdao Tai Chi

By 2 Comments

It’s taken me over 25 years but I finally achieved my goal of practising Tai Chi in China.

Sue and I just came back from a business trip to Qingdao where we ran a three day workshop on Appreciative Inquiry for an international school. Part of the workshop included my Tai Chi energisers and I was pleased with the reaction as everybody seemed to listen closely, practice the skills and haved a good time.

It was a short stay, 5 days, and I was super busy day and night but managed to practice my stance work in the hotel room while there.

[Read more…]

Tai Chi Form: Hardly Moving

By 2 Comments

Practicing the traditional Wu Style Tai Chi form (108 movemetns) should take about 15-20 minutes.

But sometimes when I’m in a rush or not concentrating I end up practicing for less than 15 minutes.

When this happens I concentrate on occasionally saying the phrase ‘hardly moving’ to myself which slows me down considerably.

My body, arm amd leg movements barely move which is what I want to happen.

It’s really a mind game to remind myself to slow the form down.

And I suppose it doen’t matter what word or phrase you use as long as the duration of your Tai Chi form is not below 15 minutes – preferably 20 or more minutes.

When I practice the form for around 20 minutes I notice there is a deeper sense of relaxation as opposed to practicing for less than 15 minutes.

I know how long I practice for by setting an electronic clock. Each practice I record the length of time to see if I’m consistently around the 20 minute mark.

If not, then it’s time to hardly move.

 

Tai Chi Form: Reverse Thinking

By 8 Comments

I’ve just been experimenting with my Tai Chi form in the garden. A perfect day for it with the sun out, mild temperature.

Here’s what I did.

I focused my energy in the opposite direction as I moved throughout the form. And I felt a more powerful and connected feeling than usual when completing the form.

The technique involves imagining a gentle force pulling you in the opposite direction of where you are going. It’s similar to resistance exercises without using equipment.

For example when you move;

  • right think left
  • left think right
  • up think down
  • down think up
  • expand think contract
  • contract think expand

As you do the above don’t forget to think of the gentle resistance pulling you in the opposite direction. And make sure you relax, don’t tense as you feel the resistance.

It’s difficult to think of all these at once so try just one e.g. move right think left – move left think right – then try to use the other techniques combined. This technique is more for intermediate and advanced Tai Chi players. Beginners should only think of learning the form.

So reverse your thinking and you will invigorate your Tai Chi form.

Powerful Connections

By Leave a Comment

I’ve just come back from my garden after practicing the Tai Chi form.

And I’m writing this post now before I forget the discovery I’ve made.

But before I discuss this discovery’I’ll explain my approach to practicing my Tai Chi form.

Sometimes I work on a specific theme and concentrate on that throughout the form. For example it may be on breathing, Yin Yang, weighting, knee alignment, tan tien, etc. Other days I’ll just do the form without focusing on anything particular.

Today I focused on the theme of ‘powerful connections’ which occurred to me as I commenced my first movement .

I focused on my body being totally connected in every movement and moving powerfully but in a relaxed way.

After the form I felt more invigorated than usual so it’s a theme I’ll play around with for a while to see what else I can discover.

And that’s the beauty and challenge of Tai Chi. No matter how long you have been practicing there is always something to discover and/or re-discover.

When that happens, like today, it makes all worthwhile.