Tai Chi – Page 38

Tai Chi Lollies

When I started Tai Chi 22 years ago I was like a little kid in a lolly (candy) store.

I wanted all the lollies, every colour except the black ones and I wanted them now.

In my first year I watched various students practice weapons, do some boxing drills, push hands and I wanted to do all of that straight away.

Well, all I did was learn the Tai Chi form and basics and it took a while before I was slowly introduced to push hands, weapons forms and self defence.

I realised that Tai Chi was not something you can knockover in a few months. If it was I’d be bored and leave.

So 22 years on I feel I’ve hardly scratched the surface. In the early years it worried me because I didn’t feel I was making much progress.

As the years crept by I stopped worrying about comparing myself to others who were more experienced and talented.

I just kept plugging away, practicing and now realise there is no end to the journey.

Just as soon as you feel you have climbed a mountain top, you look up and there are higher mountain tops.

I can now understand it is the journey that is important not the destination.

I haven’t trained at a club or with a partner for some time now because running our business has taken up most of my time.

However I will get back into training with a partner in the near future and until I do I will keep practicing on my own.

So I suppose I’ve come a long way from that little kid in the lolly store who wanted everything now.

I’m more patient now.

The Tai Chi Form

By Chris Leave a Comment

I was asked recently what is the ‘form’ in Tai Chi so I thought now would be a good time to do a post on it.

The word ‘form’ in Tai Chi can have different meanings so let’s clarify that now.

There’s the Tai Chi form and there are weapons forms such as sabre form, sword form, spear form and staff form.

I’ll focus on the generally accepted view of the ‘form’ as in the Tai Chi form.

The Tai Chi form is a series of mostly slow movements that are performed in sequence. See the clip below.

There are different syles or forms – the major ones are:

Wu
Yang
Chen
Sun
Wu/Hao

There are two categories of forms:

1. The traditional form (long form)

has 37 original postures ( e.g. Grasping the Bird’s Tail, Clouded Hands etc.)
usually have 108 postures (movements) which include repeats of the 37 original postures
about 15-20 minutes to perform, some are longer in duration
6-12 months to learn

2. Short Forms

made up of postures from the traditional forms – could be any postures in any sequence
4 minutes or more in duration
6 or more weeks to learn

[Read more…]

Tai Chi Tip #38

By Chris Leave a Comment

Find your opponent’s center – disguise your center

What's Tai Chi?

By Chris Leave a Comment

What’s Tai Chi? A question I’m usually asked when Sue and I go out and run our facilitation workshops and ‘Pozitive Kidz are happy kidz’ programs.

Here is a basic explanation of what Tai Chi is.

Tai Chi Chuan is an exercise, relaxation, meditation, philosophy (non religious) and self defense system.

The five major areas of Tai Chi are;

The Form
Chi Kung/Nei Kung
Push Hands
Self Defence
Weapons (the basic weapons are sabre, sword, staff, and spear).

Tai Chi is based on the 2000-year-old philosophy of Taoism.

The Taoists believed you could achieve a harmonious life by seeking the Tao (natural way).

In practical terms this means you need to harmonize your mind and body with nature before you can find the Tao.

From Taoism came the Tai Chi symbol of Yin and Yang . The white represents Yang (man, strength, day etc.) and the black represents Yin (woman, softness, night etc.).

The Yin and Yang are opposite forces or energies, which are in constant motion.

One of the many interpretations of Yin and Yang is in the area of good health.

We achieve good health when our Yin and Yang energies are balanced.

Tai Chi consists of a series of movements and postures that are performed in sequence to create what is called the ‘form’.

There are five major forms or styles of Tai Chi; Wu (Master Wu Chien Chuan), Yang, Chen, Wu (Master Wu Yuxian) and Sun.

Tai Chi Chuan translates to ‘supreme ultimate fist.’

There's Always a First Time

By Chris Leave a Comment

I often share the following story with various groups when Sue and I are running our workshops.

Twenty-two years ago a friend of mine, who was a Tai Chi teacher at the time, tried to convince me to do Tai Chi.

At the time I wasn’t interested because I thought Tai Chi was for elderly people and besides who wants to embarrass themselves by prancing around.

Well, he kept at me ‘try Tai Chi, try Tai Chi’, and after two years of being pestered by him I finally gave in and said, ‘look, if I try it will you stop annoying me?’

He said, ‘yes.’

So I went to my first Tai Chi lesson here in Blackburn, Melbourne, Australia.

It was a church hall and as I entered the hall I noticed 20 other nervous beginners milling about.

My instructor yelled, ‘Big ones at the back and small ones in the front.’

I thought, ‘you beauty, I’m tall. I can hide down the back.’

After that one hour lesson I was hooked for life.

It’s now my passion, part of our business AQ/KQ and an excellent way of maintaining good health.

I often thought why did it take me so many years to try Tai Chi.

I think the answer lies in what a Tai Chi master once said, ‘you will come to Tai Chi when you are ready.’