Not a Quick Fix Is Tai Chi or Qi Gong what you think? Lots of new students come into a class saying “I’ve always wanted to do Tai Chi, it looks so soft and gentle, with the wavy hands in the air.” People are drawn to the Classical Chinese practices for many reasons, and often…
Chen Style Warm Ups Joint Loosening Exercises Sharing with you a number of online resources for Chen style Tai Chi warm ups. There are a variety of joint and soft tissue loosening exercises that we start all of our classes with, warming up every major joint in the body prior to practicing Tai Chi and…
Ding in Tai Chi How to align your spine correctly in your Tai Chi practice. The principle Ding in Chen Tai Chi means maintaining a well aligned upright spine. It is sometimes described as: Imagine a piece of string is pulling you up from the crown on the top of your head. Elevate the crown…
Peng Jin in Tai Chi Peng jin is the primary principle in learning Chen Tai Chi. It is a whole body quality that times time, effort and patience to develop within your structure. Once established, it should always be present. When beginner students notice that their movements and structure looks different from their teacher, on…
I Forgot the Moves “I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee Beginner students often get hung up on memorising the movements. This can make Tai Chi and Qi Gong a stressful and frustrating experience. Students often report…
Method Not Mimic Your Tai Chi Journey As a beginner when learning the internal martial art of Tai Chi or Qi Gong, it is important to learn how to move rather than just mimicking the instructor. Without guided and personal instruction, the movements become mere choreography. If you simply watch and follow your Tai Chi…
Psoas Muscle in Tai Chi The psoas (pronounced so-az) muscle isn’t well known and yet plays a huge role in our bodies. It is the deepest muscle in the body and unlike most other muscles it lays buried. This muscle is vital for appropriate alignment/structure, full muscular range of motion and correct joint rotation. Location…
Tai Chi Standing Zhan Zhuang – Standing Still for Powerful Health Zhan Zhuang is a powerful internal practice where a fixed posture is held for a period of time. It is the foundation of Tai Chi and Qi Gong training, and is rooted in traditional Taoist practice. By holding a posture in stillness you can…
Taoist Six Healing Sounds Taoist Meditation Practice for Health, Happiness and Longevity Further to the article on the meditation of the inner smile, we can extend the practice to include the healing sounds. This ancient practice helps expel negative emotions from the organs, cleanse the organs and transforms them into positive emotions. This can be…
Tai Chi Trigrams How Taoist philosophy & the I Ching relate to Tai Chi Chuan practice. In Taoist philosophy, the 8 Trigrams are symbols of change found within the Book of Changes, known as the I Ching. Each trigram represents a unique set of characteristics; tai chi application, qi gong movement, natural identity, cardinal directions,…
What does Qi Gong mean? WHAT IS QI / CHI? There are many types of Qi within Taoist philosophy, Traditional Chinese Medicine, Qigong, Tai Chi, Feng Shui, astrology etc. Qi does not have a direct translation from Chinese to English where the concept makes sense with our culture or heritage. Qi is not a noun,…
Tai Chi Stillness Principles Physical body alignment. FIXED STEP & STANDING POST TRAINING. As beginners Tai Chi can be seen as simple, yet aligning the correct posture whilst relaxing the body and breathing deeply can be quite difficult. As soon as you concentrate on dropping your shoulders, your lower back closes. Ok, try again…. as…
Doing One Thing Correctly Applying the Principles in Chen Tai Chi Practice Tai Chi Drills & Form Training. When learning the Tai Chi form and training drills, it is important to have a single point of focus, to do one thing correctly. This is active mindfulness. There are many principles and layers of learning, and…