taijiandqigong

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Why is Tai Chi Practised So Slowly?

When you first start learning either tai chi or qigong, it’s all about learning a set of movements.  For some people, it never goes beyond that point; they want something to exercise the muscles in certain ways and no more.  Absolutely fine – why not? And then there are those who would like to take it all a stage further, and, aside from learning the order of a set of movements, would like to…

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Song between movements

It’s impossible to jump off the floor without first of all bending your knees and sinking into the ground.The implication of this is that all movement, in fact everything in life, is impossible without its opposite. Relating this to tai chiIf you put two tai chi or qigong movements together, e.g. let’s say you are sitting on your back foot and you move on to your front foot and push your arms…

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Speeding & Tai Chi

I recently attended a speed awareness course (doing 36 instead of 30), and there were several interesting points that came up which very much relate to the process of both teaching and learning tai chi and qigong. Starting Tai Chi & Qigong When beginners phone me, some of them ask, “How long will it take me to learn it?”. I have to admit that I feel a bit of an internal sigh when that happens –…

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‘Testing’ Postures

It wasn’t really explained what or why we were doing it, but we did it nonetheless.  Working with a partner, you held a tai chi posture, and your partner would push against you; I seem to remember that it was a bit hit and miss as to whether your partner got the correct angle for the push. So your partner would push into you, and all I understood was that it was necessary to withstand that push;…

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Cold Hands / Cold Feet

I come across a large percentage of people who suffer from cold hands and/or cold feet.  This doesn’t seem to be restricted to any age group, although it might be slightly more prevalent in the over 50s, or thereabouts. There are many reasons for having extremities that refuse to warm up easily, but my interest in this focuses more on what to do about it, rather than what causes it. Using the…

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Dealing with Life's Problems and Tai Chi

or Retraining the Sympathetic Nervous System “Often, when we encounter challenges or tough situations, our initial reaction is to respond with worry or negative thoughts. This internal turmoil can make it seem like we’re addressing the issue, but in reality, it hinders our ability to effectively manage the situation, leading to frequent setbacks.The key to overcoming obstacles lies in first…

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Doing Nothing About It

There are so many great sayings in the English language about putting up with a state of affairs, aren’t there? ‘Grin and bear it’, ‘Put a brave face on it’, ‘Man up’, ‘Pull yourself together’, ‘No gain without pain’, ‘Make the best of it’, ‘It could be worse’, ‘Just get on with it’, ‘Bite the bullet’, ‘Stiff upper lip’, ‘Make the best of a bad situation’… and there are undoubtedly many more. I…

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In Support of Finishing Schools and Deportment

In the age of mobile phones and computers, it’s very noticeable that posture has sagged somewhat… not so good for the individual, but great for osteopaths and physiotherapists, and, come to think of it, quite good for tai chi and qigong teachers. I used to think that the art of learning deportment was a bit of a joke, something to do with being upright in society as well as being upright in body,…

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Moving Energy in the Body

I was terrible at physics at school. Looking back at it, I’m not sure why, as these days I find it fascinating. However, although Mr. Grenville couldn’t make Boyle’s Law and Charles’ Law very exciting prospects, he did manage to enthuse me with Ripple Tanks. Those of you old enough to remember the days when physics was an incredibly ‘dry’ subject, when the education system apparently did…

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Opening Joints & Connecting The Body

When pushing or pulling an object, we usually tighten muscles automatically. If you want to push something heavy, you compress, or ‘get ready’, or ‘gird your loins’, or ‘wind up’.  In effect you tighten up, squeezing the body and limbs, and, temporarily compact yourself. If you want to pull something heavy, even though the act of pulling with your arms would theoretically pull the joints open,…

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Controlling Energy From The Feet

The sinking of energy and the generation of energy relating to the feet and the fascia.

These days I’m not so interested in the ‘Forms’ (sets of movements) of Tai Chi.  I’m more interested in the way in which we generate and use our energy which can be applied to those Forms. Perhaps the reason that I can say that though is because I have learnt a lot of Forms! This doesn’t mean that I don’t teach Tai Chi Forms – I do; you need to be comfortable with some kind of sequence of…

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'Full' & 'Empty'

‘Full’ & ‘Empty’When we walk, we need to create ‘full’ and ’empty’ in the legs.  Most of the time we do it without thinking; it just happens.  But in both tai chi and in qigong, this is very much a conscious process involving good timing as well as being in exactly the right place at the right time. What’s it All About?When you are about to step, consciously place all of your weight on to one…

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Using Your Legs.

Making Movement Easier Frankenstein’s monster doesn’t have knee joints. I’m not entirely sure that I’m right about this, but judging from the way that he moves, there’s a pretty good chance that I’ve remembered correctly! I seem to remember that the monster moves by rocking from side to side, his centre of gravity shifting from one hip to the other (at least he did in the old Boris Karloff…

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Moving the Arms in Taiji, Qigong, & Yoga

Many taiji forms begin with the arms rising ahead of you, something that also applies to many qigong and yoga exercises. Raising the arms. Use your back. The arms need to connect to the body; the action is not one where only the shoulder muscles function. It’s therefore essential that you involve the ‘S’ bend of your spine (see the previous 2 Blogs). To do so, gently extend the lumbar spine…

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Look at the Spaces in Between

There are so many activities that we do where we spend our time focusing on the limbs.  Tai chi and qigong are but two examples out of hundreds.The external movements are so ‘visual’, so ‘in your face’; they catch the eye, and we often spend a lot of time emulating them… I certainly did for the first 20 years or more whilst starting to learn tai chi and qigong. Gradually though, you start to…

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Shoulder Alignment: The Practicalities (2)

If you’ve read the blog ‘Shoulder Alignment: The Mechanics (1)’, and played around with it, and particularly if you’ve noticed that things have changed (or need to change), you will discover that it’s a bit of a journey to break those old habits and actually apply the changes to everything in everyday life, including the way that you use your arms in both tai chi and qigong.You’ll find more about…

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How to Lift the Knee Higher in Taiji & Qigong

In both in taiji and in qigong there is often the need to raise the knee, either to kick, or perhaps as an exercise for the pelvis, or perhaps just to take a step.As in raising your arm efficiently, there is a similar method with the leg. Try the following…Whilst standing, lightly place the knuckles of one hand on the small of your back.By flexing your spine beneath your knuckles, see if you can…