1. Practicing Tai Chi often does not yield immediate fitness results, similar to activities like walking or hiking, but this is a misconception.
The reasons for this perception are twofold:
Firstly, the practice time is insufficient, meaning the exercise volume is inadequate. If one only practices the simplified Tai Chi three times a day, taking about 15 minutes, it may be suitable for those who are physically weak, but for the average person, this is too short. Generally, one should practice five to seven times, with a practice time of at least half an hour. Some advocate for an hour, excluding time spent chatting. The appropriateness of exercise volume should be based on personal feelings; one should feel mentally refreshed and physically relaxed after each practice.
Secondly, the practice is not conducted with strict adherence to the principles, leading to a lack of effectiveness. Therefore, it is essential to practice Tai Chi seriously and diligently, maintaining consistency to see results.
2. Direction of Practice. We often learn a set of movements and practice them daily without a clear direction for improvement, unsure of how to progress. The Tai Chi classics mention three stages: familiarity, understanding of energy, and spiritual clarity. Tai Chi emphasizes three stages: practicing the body, cultivating Qi, and refining the spirit. Familiarity corresponds to practicing the body, understanding energy corresponds to cultivating Qi, and spiritual clarity corresponds to refining the spirit. Generally, practitioners are between the stages of practicing the body and cultivating Qi. Practicing the body involves achieving softness and flexibility, while cultivating Qi involves filling the internal energy. When one achieves internal energy and strength, the maximum fitness benefits can be realized. This is our direction of effort: to practice achieving a soft body with a certain level of internal energy and strength. There are many layers to this process that we must experience.
3. The process of practicing Tai Chi is one of continuous deepening, discovering and correcting mistakes. Generally, one first learns a routine, ensuring the postures are correct (hands, eyes, body, and steps must be as prescribed), and then practices according to the principles of lightness, slowness, roundness, and uniformity. Further, one should achieve coordination, continuity, roundness, and clarity between emptiness and fullness. As one delves deeper into practice, understanding of the principles and requirements will deepen, and one will continuously discover and correct their mistakes. At this point, one should consciously practice according to the principles, focusing on one aspect of the principles for a period (one to two months) before moving on to the next.
1. Zhongzheng Anshu (Centering and Comfort): Standing upright means the body is naturally straight, achieving a suspended head, tucked tailbone, and aligned shoulders and hips. The alignment of the shoulders and hips means that during movement, the line connecting the shoulders and the line connecting the hips must remain in a vertical plane, without twisting.
2. Distinguishing Emptiness and Fullness: Both advancing and retreating must be done with a gradual transition from emptiness to fullness, and vice versa. Sudden changes must be avoided; the gradual shift of the center of gravity must be reflected slowly and evenly, with each aspect of emptiness and fullness continuously flowing.
3. Upper and Lower Coordination: The movements of the hands and feet must coordinate with each other, starting to move simultaneously and reaching the endpoint of each posture together. For example, in the Louxi Aobu (Embrace the Knee and Step Back) posture, the forward push and downward embrace must be synchronized. The legs must not reach their position before the hands are still in motion. One must practice achieving whole-body strength, meaning not just the hands are moving, but the body and legs are moving together. One can first practice individual postures, then pay attention to this coordination throughout the routine.
4. Using Intention, Not Force: This means using thought more than force; less force means lightness, which is the precursor to relaxation and a bridge to achieving it. If the weight of the hands below the shoulders is 4 pounds, only a minimal force greater than 4 pounds is needed to move the hands, push the body, and apply force to the feet. Learning Tai Chi requires patience and meticulous exploration to practice with minimal force. The content of intention varies at different stages; for example, practicing according to the principles is part of the intention during body practice. Learning Tai Chi primarily relies on the use of imagination. Additionally, understanding the application of each movement helps ensure correct posture during practice, not just in combat.
4. Once the movements are correct, one can begin to focus on using the waist. The waist should lead the limbs. Tai Chi requires the waist to move first, guiding the limbs.
Using the waist can be experienced through clearly defined postures, such as in the Louxi Aobu, practicing repeatedly to understand how to use the waist. The left and right rotations of the hands are results of the waist’s movement; the hand that embraces the knee moves past the knee due to the waist’s rotation, and the forward push of the hand is a result of the waist leading the hand and body forward. In forming the bow stance, the waist rotates and moves forward (the rotation slightly precedes the forward movement, also known as ‘first rotate, then advance’). Within a certain distance, the positions of the hands and body remain unchanged, with the advance slightly preceding the rotation (known as ‘first advance, then rotate’). The upper hand achieves its action through the rotation of the waist. In the Lan Que Wei (Grasp the Bird’s Tail) posture, the squeezing and pressing are achieved by the waist leading the body forward, not just the hands pushing or pressing forward. Once one understands how to use the waist, even the smallest arcs made by the hands are external expressions of the waist’s arc.
When one knows how to use the waist, practicing a set of movements means the waist is practicing, not just the hands. One will realize that previous practice was overly artificial, with the limbs being too active and too little passive, failing to move from the inside out. When one knows how to use the waist, the strength is no longer just localized in the hands. It should also be understood that the rotation of the waist is actually achieved through the rotation of the hips, as the rotation possible in the human spine is minimal, and maintaining an upright posture does not allow for spinal twisting.
5. Breathing. Beginners can completely disregard breathing at first, focusing solely on learning the postures. The slow and smooth movements of Tai Chi naturally lead to deeper breathing. After practicing the postures for a certain period, one can consider dedicating time to practice breathing. Start with breathing while stationary, then practice exhaling only. It is important to note that the coordination of movements and breathing should not be overly mechanical, as Tai Chi is not a breathing exercise; some postures can be combined, while those that cannot should not be forced.
6. Regarding the Essence and Intention of Tai Chi. The essence refers to the unique style of Tai Chi, characterized by relaxation, stability, slowness, and uniformity, which represent the style of Tai Chi. Relaxation includes lightness and softness. Stability encompasses distinguishing emptiness and fullness, remaining calm, and avoiding chaotic movements. Slowness facilitates deep understanding and introspection, allowing for detailed use of imagination. Uniformity leads to stillness; when the entire body is coordinated evenly, complete strength can be achieved. To practice Tai Chi with its essence, one must ensure the body is relaxed, emptiness and fullness are distinguished, upper and lower movements are coordinated, internal and external are harmonized, and breathing is smooth.
7. Relaxation. Tai Chi requires both softness and release in the limbs. Softness refers to the flexibility and high mobility of the limbs, especially the joints. Release means allowing each joint to extend comfortably in a natural manner. We pursue a clever combination of softness and release. Relaxation permeates all stages of Tai Chi. Softness is the soul of Tai Chi, and practicing Tai Chi is a continuous effort to pursue greater levels of softness. The relaxation required in Tai Chi is achieved through minimal exertion, gradually reaching maximum softness through mental awareness, moving from lightness to relaxation.
1. At the beginning of practice, one should first relax the entire body, especially the arms, which should feel as if they are loosely tied to the shoulders, without any tension. Once the body and mind are calm, one can begin the movements. Relaxing the shoulders means imagining the shoulder joints loosening.
2. The softness in the feet is closely related to the ability to open the hips and sink the energy. If practicing with larger steps, one must primarily focus on sinking energy; each posture should have both rising and sinking, allowing the feet to achieve considerable softness. The feet should be trained to feel like two highly elastic springs, capable of moving freely and flexibly.
3. The principle of relaxing the waist involves slightly retracting the area around the navel (pulling back, not pressing down or lifting up), while the Mingmen (Gate of Life) area is relaxed and slightly pushed back (pulled). This action is commonly referred to as ‘pulling the waist,’ but it is actually the key to relaxing the waist.
4. The hips can be challenging to relax, so one can practice relaxing the waist and hips. With the toes gripping the ground and the heels stable, the area above the waist should be naturally upright, and the waist and hips should be completely relaxed. Using the hip joints as an axis, one can move in a figure-eight pattern, followed by the knees and ankles making similar circular movements.
8. Once relaxation is achieved, the entire body will feel heavy (a natural heaviness, not forced), and slight movements will feel as if they are interacting with the air, akin to moving in water.
As one practices the postures longer, the body becomes increasingly relaxed, leading to a greater sense of heaviness and increased air resistance, which enhances sensitivity. Internal strength is primarily cultivated through practicing the postures, allowing the shoulders to sink and elbows to drop, aiming to experience the weight of the arms; sinking Qi to the Dantian (Elixir Field) and relaxing the waist to experience the weight of the upper body; stepping lightly like a cat, ensuring that both legs feel the weight during transitions between emptiness and fullness. The day one feels the load of the body’s weight is the day one experiences the internal strength of Tai Chi.
Practicing internal strength generally begins with the hands, allowing them to experience their own weight, and then gradually expanding this experience to other parts of the body. Internal Qi is a subtle intrinsic sensation. With a calm mind and a relaxed body, practicing Tai Chi slowly with intention rather than force, over time, the hands will feel a sensation of swelling and warmth, transitioning from occasional to frequent occurrences during practice.
9. Further practice involves sinking the strength to the soles of the feet. The specific practice method: all movements of the hips, whether advancing, retreating, or moving sideways, must utilize the grounding force of the feet and the reactive force of the feet pressing against the ground. This way, the strength from the soles drives the hips, and the hips drive the entire body. The longer one practices, the more relaxed and agile the body becomes, with all strength emanating from the feet’s interaction with the ground. At this stage, one has successfully sunk the strength to the soles of the feet. The Tai Chi classics state, ‘Strength arises from the feet’ and ‘is governed by the waist,’ which conveys this meaning. The waist, aside from referring to the Mingmen point, also refers to the hips.
10. Further practice involves issuing strength. Each time one reaches a fixed posture, in a state of seeming stillness, one must engage in internal strength. This internal strength is the reason for the generation of internal power in Tai Chi. How to practice internal strength: whenever in a fixed posture, such as during the squeezing or pressing movements, one must sink the shoulders and drop the elbows, maintaining a sense of upward lifting at the head, pushing the tailbone forward, and relaxing the Mingmen area. The joints and ligaments should be relaxed, forming a bow-like structure with the hands, legs, and body, with the gaze directed forward, as if releasing strength to the horizon; ‘the further the intention, the longer the strength.’ This should be practiced in every fixed posture. At this point, the hands do not feel exerted. However, if there is an obstruction in front of the hands, the person will feel a significant force; this is the subtle strength, not the overt strength. With awareness guiding each movement, the strength arises from the heels (reactive force), using intention to guide the internal strength from the feet to the waist, spine, shoulders, elbows, wrists, and fingers. Over time, one will feel a tingling sensation at the target area, and the hands (Lao Gong point) will feel a pulsing sensation.
In summary, completing a set of Tai Chi does not mean one can practice independently; it does not imply mastery. Tai Chi emphasizes not only form but also content, which is abundant. Only with content can one achieve the essence of Tai Chi; thus, one must continuously pursue a deeper understanding of its essence. If the essence is not right, it remains an empty form, and practice will not yield significant progress. Consistent practice, regardless of the season, will certainly lead to health, although the degree of effectiveness may vary. After persistent practice, the circulation of Qi and blood will normalize, resulting in a sense of lightness and comfort, leading to better health and alignment with the practice.