Good to see you, after so many years of focusing my attention on other pursuits. I have struggling with a solo Acupuncture practice for the past three years, that I haven’t found a time to talk about Tai Chi! Though, I have had another pursuit where I delved into the exploration of the Yi Ching and its influences in Daoism, Buddhism, and Chinese Medicine. You can read about it in my other blog, Vajraroad. Here I go into the particulars that make up the Yi Ching.
And now for Tai Ji!
The Practical Method is a direct way for finding the limits of the body. It is elusive and cruel sometimes but it is also dynamic and wonderfully fluid. The elusive nature is within the self. You have to pull out what you can barely dish out and then give it that extra 5%. I find myself completely zonked after doing the form a couple times. It is cruel, because of the amount of training that you have to do to keep up with the form. I, myself, am not disciplined enough to be regimented to keep up that I make small progress here and there, and find myself repeating spots to continually re-learn the form. As you progress with the movements you find out that there are particulars of stability that you have to gain. To maintains those “stabilizers”, one has to continue practicing, daily!
It should be a joy to practice Tai ji Chuan, but you know after work, you don’t really want to go to the gym, do you?
Slacking a few days off from the form I realize that I sacrifice, tonicity, tempo, and direction. It then takes a week of regular practice to return to that place. But, lo, when you reach that place of stability, all that there is left is flow! Dynamic movement that you know, can penetrate any surface.
I had to make a commitment to myself, to reach a level of consistency with my form, and that would be to practice daily, but not just once a day but at Da Qing Shan.
Da Qing Shan, is located on a beautiful green mountain near Ri zhao, port to the Yellow sea. This is Master Chen’s International Tai ji school. It is exciting, daunting, and I welcome the experience.
Lazy Man Ties Coat 