So I’ve been brushing up a bit on my Tai Chi skills (see previous post here), and came across a very interesting article about the relationships between Kung Fu and Tai Chi ( Taijiquan). It points out that the term ‘Kung Fu’ is used in China to describe someone who is very good at something, since the term refers to a skill which requires a lot of practice. So, when you meet someone who is very good at something, you can compliment them, as well as confuse them,  by telling them that their Kung Fu is great!

Precision in Tai Chi
Tai Chi is another martial arts based skill that takes a lot of practice to become good at. It’s not exactly difficult, but it is tricky to do correctly. If you tried to get the hang of it just watching videos, you would end up maybe being able to ape the general movements, but wouldn’t gain much of an understanding of the importance of

1. Mindfulness – utilizing the mind’s energies as well as the body’s
2. Precision – why doing moves correctly matters

Let’s talk about these two points right from the start, when you are taking up Tai Chi for the first time, to get you off on the right foot, so to speak. The book I recommended in the last post covers both these topics excellently (the authors have super Kung Fu writing skills!), and if you want to download the book, I have included the link for you here; just click on the image to download the .pdf. Many thanks to whatever kind person uploaded it in the first place. The book is also available from Amazon at a price that won’t break the bank, if you’d like your own copy.

Breathing, mindfulness and Chi

I included a video in my last post that explored a Chi ‘light ball’ energy-focussing technique, but I didn’t discuss the role that correct breathing has in the generation of this energy. Chi (Qi) energy can be described as Life Force energy. When you do some of Tai Chi’s Qigong exercises, often incorporated into warm-up routines for Tai Chi sessions, you will soon see why they are thought of this way; abdominal deep breathing floods the body with oxygen, and wakes up body and mind, giving you energy throughout the day. Let’s see how abdominal breathing works, since, surprisingly, so many people just aren’t doing the breathing thing right!

Well, you might be surprised that the topic of the perineum came up in a video about breathing! These Tai Chi practitioners have quite a science behind their art, and often are experts on Chinese traditional medicines as well. I think some of the ideas about meridians and energy channels could be related to Indian chakra systems well also. However, I digress slightly (it’s just so interesting, I can’t help it), so I’ll get back to the point; to break down the abdominal breathing thing to it’s simplest explanation. When you breathe in, let your belly expand. When you breath out, let your belly contract. That’s it, in a nutshell.

The next video shows a Qigong technique for building up energy before a Tai Chi session. It is called a ‘Permeating Technique, or Guanqifa, if you wanna get fancy, or bore your friends with new-found knowledge at get-togethers. There are instructions for this in the book too, starting on page 26 (link in book image).

The point of entry for the energy the universe is so kindly providing for you is a point at the centre of the top of your head (any hippies reading this will know it as the Crown Chakra!), and at the end of the movement, the stale energy and tensions which your body may be holding get released into the ground, through  points located just behind the balls of your feet.

Posture wise, it’s also important to have a straight line going from the crown of your head, down to your perineum. Visualize all the stale energy and tension going down about 3 feet into the ground beneath you. Incidentally, the lady in the video is getting a good grounding herself by doing her exercises outdoors, and if you take your shoes off and get those toes into some grass or even get some sand between your toes you are electrically getting yourself back in tune with the earth’s energies.

Precision – Start With Your Stance

Your stance in Tai Chi, like all martial arts, is very important to get right, since it’s where you generate power. Think of the energy coming up from the ground, through your body, and flowing out through your hands, and you will be on the right track with your Tai Chi efforts. Pushing off with the feet, or using your back leg as a tripod, as is done with the Bow Stance, helps you generate more power up through your hips and arms, power which is intensified and concentrated with the circular movements and twists the hips and arms use. Tai Chi isn’t done with great power, but do remember, it should be done with energy flowing at all times, and it is important to bring the mind to bear on matters, and think about where in the body your energy is travelling, and where it is being directed, and to this end you may want to repeat the moves you are learning over and over again, and think them over between sessions. Here’s the best explanation of the Horse Stance and the Bow Stance that I could find;  you need to learn these in order to do your Tai Chi routine, and they are a good place to start.

Keep about 70% of your weight over the front leg when you move forward into the Bow Stance. You can see how the stance is used in the Tai Chi routine  if you look at the instructional video in the previous post again.

Let’s finish up with something fun, that teaches you a new skill. This one is known as ‘Cloud Hands’, and you will be in your Horse Stance while doing it. As well as feeling really nice to do, it teaches you how to move your waist, and get arms, body and legs working all together. Brain too, hopefully! I always feel chilled out and happy doing this one. It’s my favourite Tai Chi move, and a good example of the circular movements used in martial arts to generate power. Think of the concentrated power in the tip of a twirling whip, or how the movement concentrates and speed builds up at the tip of a piece of ribbon twirled by a gymnast. The guy in the next video is great fun , and although I wouldn’t normally teach something by telling people all of the million ways they are doing it wrong (which he does for the first 2 mins and 50 secs on this video), we could all probably do with a bit of a laugh, after our big, heavy-duty info giving session. The far less funny, but much easier to understand video tutorial is below this one.

Well done if you are this far down the page, ‘cos that means you are probably already very motivated to learn Tai Chi! Try putting on some music you like while you’re practising and you should have a wonderful time!

For those intellectuals out there who always must go deeper into the subject, and Tai Chi will bring you about as deep as it’s possible to get, here’s a bonus video. If you want to go back to my previous Tai Chi post, click here.

For anyone who just wants to do party tricks with their Chi, start watching the video from 2hrs 5mins in; grab a friend for the second Chi trick, and see if s/he can sense you interfering with their Chi vibes. Click the video below to go straight  to the party trick section. Have fun exploring Chi.