Find the calm

There are calm places to be found in every town. A tai chi class is a good example. Calm voices, settled emotions and an atmosphere of friendship and camaraderie will be immediately apparent.

This may feel most unfamiliar to you, odd even. Don't panic. Give yourself time to adjust to something different. Just stay with it and enjoy. A feeling of serenity and peace may settle upon you.

 Only when your mind is clean are you in a suitable state to read books and study the ancients.

(Huanchu Daoren)

Notice things

The first indication of a calmer mind lies in your capacity to notice the world around you. Instead of driving past in your noisy car, you walk slowly. You see.

Insignificant-seeming things catch your attention: a butterfly, a leaf, a flower, the sound of an insect or the call of a bird. If you experience genuine awe and delight, then you are learning.

As we work, we use the form as a guide. It is something we work with, not something you learn to show off.

The form is a process that serves you, not an adornment you bring back to hang on your wall.

(Chungliang Al Huang) 

Those who are harsh and aggressive are like fire,

burning whatever they touch.

Those who are ungrateful are like ice,

chilling whomever they encounter.

Those who are obsessive and inflexible

are like stagnant water or rotten wood,

already void of life.

 (Huanchu Daoren)

One is taught in accordance with one's fitness to learn.

 (The Silent Flute) 

Wear & tear

Suppose you buy a car in 2020 and use it very rarely. In 2026 you decide to sell the car and take it to a dealership. The mileage is unusually low for a car of its age.

Yet the car is still 6 years old chronologically. In terms of wear and tear the car is 6 months old.

Tai chi is about spending your energy frugally. That way, as you get older, your wear and tear is unusually low for a person of your age.

Mind, body, spirit

Tai chi combines mind, body and spirit in every action. The student feels acutely alive and alert; energy-filled and passionate.

By using the body more efficiently, you can become less tired and feel more lively.

Nervous agitation

Neurotic conduct is not youthful. Look at small children, unhindered by adult interference. They are usually curious about their immediate environment.

Taste, smell, touch, sounds, sights. The child is not fidgeting or restless, bored or emotional. They are filled with awe and wonder.

He lives long who enjoys life and who bears no jealousy of others;

whose heart harbours no malice or anger;

who sings a lot and cries a little;

who rises and retires with the sun;

who likes to work and knows how to rest.

(Mislimov)

Large movement

It is easy for most people to perform large, extended movements that rotate the shoulder joint or bend the elbow.

No particular skill is involved.

Our students are not taught to practice in this way.

Whilst large movements may indeed exercise some of the muscles and the joints, they fail to address the full range of potential movement.

The real skill lies in the small, in the subtle.

Thirty spokes converge in a single hub;

It is the centre hole that allows the wheel to turn.

(Lao Tzu)

Mind, body, spirit

Instead of feeling apart from what is happening, we feel the physics of the movement, the kinetic flow.

Our own body and our self-consciousness is lost in the event itself.
There is no more self or other, just movement, just sensation/feeling.

When your mind/body/spirit integration is complete, you act so unconsciously that you no longer really feel the movements as such.
It is spontaneous and natural. It just happened.

Too slow?

If you go too slowly it can be counter-productive. Instead of loosening and relaxing, you stiffen up. This occurs because the muscles are working too hard to carry the weight of the body. Find a pace that is slow but still smooth.

Beginners find it quite difficult to move slowly. This is understandable. In our class, beginners move at a comfortable, easy pace. They are not encouraged to be too slow at first. 

Skilled students are asked to slow down considerably. This makes the practice far more potent. The body must work harder, and excellent balance is necessary.

Whole-body strength

Almost every beginner struggles to understand the application of strength in tai chi.

They wrestle with the subject, believing that they cannot reasonably apply the system without tensing their muscles and using force.

For each and every tai chi movement, the muscles of your body must work in unity to produce the effect.
Not just the shoulders or arm.
Not just the waist.
You must feed power through the frame using every muscle of the body combined.
This is far harder than it sounds but well worth the effort.

Your muscles must never tense. They need to remain soft and loose, with a subtle stretch.

Natural range

In tai chi you must always remain within your natural range of movement.

Any stretching is done subtly and never forced; the body is allowed to open by itself, rather than be forced.

By encouraging the joints to be free, mobility increases radically and the body can move more comfortably.

Tai chi should never strain or hurt the body.

Some movements may feel uncomfortable if you have bad postural habits and this is to be expected - your body is already used to set patterns of movement and poise - and the tai chi is gently changing these.

Gravity

The loose flowing movements of tai chi are very deliberately slow because gravity is maintained when you move slowly. You can align the body to work with gravity and improve your balance. Leaning of any kind will destabilise the body.

It is fairly easy to move quickly. Try lifting a leg in slow motion... the leg feels very heavy and hard to move. When your body submits to gravity, it can feel as if you are lifting weights every time you practice tai chi. Stronger bones and muscles are developed as a consequence.

Nervous system

Moving slowly is quite difficult. New students cannot sustain a slow, even movement. They jerk.

The remedy to this is to practice. Gradually, your body changes from within.
Slowing your movements entails the release of tension and the softening of the nerves. A calm, relaxed body can move softly and evenly without effort.

 The equivalent process to seeking the "Holy Grail" in internal arts is the ability to move more slowly than your opponent and consistently win.

Slower speed that wins out requires three types of speed coming together simultaneously:

1. Timing.

2. The signals required to maintain some level of conscious power.

3. The ability to release the internal gears of your body, which, if they freeze up, can create a momentary mental gap that breaks the connection between you and your opponent.

This method is referred to in the Tai Chi Classics in the form of a question:

"How is it possible that an old man can defeat a group of younger men?"

Obviously, elderly men, even the most talented, are not physically capable of moving at the speed of young men. Virtually, by definition, the elderly move with slowness, and yet those old men internal arts masters by slipping in between the gaps, are justifiably well-known for defeating younger and faster men.

(Bruce Frantzis)

Feeling

Our approach to tai chi places emphasis upon feeling/physically sensing. You must be totally present in order for the system to work effectively for health, meditation and self defence.

This entails feeling every part of your body consciously as it moves. Immersing yourself in the 'here and now' heightens your awareness and reduces the risk of injury.