Sometimes when I practice alone at home at night after work, I think I understand what teachers have been telling me about taiji movement. I feel it in my body, a mind-body-energy understanding like when the tumblers in a lock all come together just right and the key turns and the door opens. Qi flows through and a familiar facet of my being becomes evident ... a much larger part of me than I have been aware, perhaps, for most of my life.

        

We go beyond our body's limit to withstand the pressures we put on it as it carreis us through life. We injure, wear out, fatigue, and abuse it. Much of the time we don't realize we're doing it. This is the nature of habit. Taiji is a tool and method for breaking habit, or rather introducing new behavior that erases the old in agreadual, incremental way. Change is achieved by changing, not by bluntly destroyong old habit. How do you loosen the hold that habit has on your mind and body?

        

As long as the moves are simple and brief, beginners can time the breath with the movement, so that both begin and end together. More complex moves and especially linked series of moves, require a different breathing strategy. I've heard many masters say to "breathe naturally," but what does that mean? Is it unconscious, shythmic, steady, full, complete?

        

Most movement in Chinese martial arts is hidden from plain view. The average eye might see something different happening, but it would not be clear unless you knew how to do it yourself or at least understand the concepts being employed in the movement. Take spiraling, or the concept of “mind does it,” that I’ve heard often master instructors refer to. What do they really mean and how does a teacher convey that meaning to others in ways that they will also understand and be able to move with the same ability?

Mind … whatever you’re doing now, it’s your mind doing it. Whatever you’re not doing, it’s the mind doing that, too. How you hold your head, how you turn your body to change directions, what you tell yourself you’re doing, what you think you’re doing. It’s all your mind holding that particular awareness. If you shift from a sitting position to standing, it’s your mind that motivates the body in order to move.

 

Spiraling … One of the first things to know about Chinese internal martial arts, such as taijiquan, xingyiquan, bagua, is that they are movement—plain and simple movement in various directions, shapes and patterns. From this basis, it gets interesting. Take spiraling, for example. It is a very important type of movement. By practicing spiraling, you cultivate power, the kind in which the least amount of energy is utilized to produce real power and speed. I prefer the word power over force because it incorporates more potential for energetic movement as opposed to mere physical. Once you grasp even just one of these concepts or principles, you are on your way to all sorts of improvements in your practice.

 

If you want to move your body in a spiral pattern you have to get your mind to shift from what’s holding it in its customary pattern of movement. Most beginners move on a horizontal plane habitually. Left-right, right-left and utilizing only a few parts of the body to intiate and complete the move, while the rest of the body goes along for the ride. Spiraling incorporates an up-down movement while also turning left-right, right-left. Of course, it takes practice to learn, and practice takes times; but not as much as most people think. The key is to knowing how to utilize what time you have. Think about this the next time you practice and see if you might find understanding.

        

Chinese internal martial arts…if you are fairly well versed in martial arts in general,you might think that Chinese internal martial arts are not as effective as other fighting styles. Many people learn CIMA for their health and longevity benefits, not for fighting. Maybe this biases views of them as fighting systems. But CIMA abilities are hidden. You can learn technique and highly effective skills like any fighting system; but with the added knowledge of internal energetic movement. It just so happens that more people are not fighters. Still, it’s good and proper to learn applications even if you don’t plan to fight. You can use them in two-person practice and sensitivity training.

        

An acquaintance said to me, “you must love it there,” when I told I had just returned from my third trip to China in five years. I had not actually thought that I “loved” China before hearing her put it that way. Something attracted me to go. Not just taijiquan training, but the intrigue gathered from life’s vicarious experiences. Tales have rang in my memory of China. Photographs in National Geographic, news of struggles, cruelty, survival, revolution, resistance. Contrasts, contradictions, conflicting images. I had to see for myself.  Going there is the best way to learn about a place. There is no substitute for seeing it yourself. The next best thing is to hear stories from someone who has been there. If they are good storytellers it might be almost like being there yourself. Perhaps that’s enough and you wouldn’t have to experience the not-so-good things that travelers encounter in a foreign land. But those aren't the things you remember. You always remember the fascinating parts, the encounters and experiences, the smells and the sights etched in your memory.

        

Every posture is a standing position and opportunity to power stretch. Even postures in this set. Any kind of posture you find yourself in during the course of a day.

 

Stretching is done with your mind focused on opening joints and extended ligaments and tendons; not on stretching muscles. Muscles will follow suit.

        

Suggestions

The body remembers everything, although the memory is storedin places that we are not accustomed to accessing. Movement helps to access it.

 

Be comfortable, but challenge yourself a little beyond yourcomfort zone.

 

There are two ways of doing taiji available to most of us,physically and energetically. You can practice one or the other at a time, orboth harmoniously. What you focus your attention on at any given moment is whatyou are working on. If you focus on only one thing at a time, then okay. Therest will take care of itself. Eventually you will be able to focussimultaneously on many things.

 

Many do only physical. Many talk about energy, but they arenot clear what it is. Reaching new knowledge is only a matter of time if youpractice. Practice regularly, take the time to do what you know is good foryou.

 

Movement done in groups cultivates facility. Solo practicecultivates remembering. We can rely too much on the group to do for us what weshould do on our own. Don’t neglect your own personal responsibility toremember.

        

Dantian and zhong ding harmony …

Getting them to work in unison to do moves. Take silk reeling for example. If you are connected, sunk and weighted in gravity then the dantian and zhong ding should be moving in harmony. You will feel it if they are. Harmony draws attention to itself. Your attention is drawn by the generation of well-being. Your body likes the feel of it. Once your mind lets it enjoy the sensation, it also experiences a slight elation. It’s contagious that way.

        

Thank yourself every time you succeed in breaking routine.

It takes more than you think to break your routine in order to exert yourself to do taiji and stop what you're are accustomed to, even though you don’t really like it and you know it’s not good for us to be doing so much. We still have a hard time convincing ourselves to get up and walk away and do what we know is good for us. Your body will thank you later and over and over again when you do sit back down to re-immerse yourself in your habits.