Lesson 1: Purpose of Taichi

      When I first came to know about Tai Chi, my impression was old people in the parks moving their hands and feet (very slowly). I had some reservations.

      On the other hand, my Dad/Teacher seemed pretty fanatical about it. So I thought: what the hell, let me try it out myself and see what’s this all about!

     I asked Teacher:-

What is Taichi?

 “What are we trying to do? What's the purpose?”

Teacher answered:

  • My understanding of Tai Chi is summed up by the term, ‘Dot Tai Chi’.

  • Dot Tai Chi is about nurturing our health（养身）. To do this, we follow the principles of nature (“道法自然”), and create an environment in our bodies that allow for increased circulation (“氣血流動”) in our internal organs (“五藏六腑”) in order to enable our body to have sufficient life force to self-regulate and self-recover

  • By practicing Tai Chi, we enter this state; i.e. the Tai Chi State (太極狀態)

How do we enter the Tai Chi State?

Entering the Tai Chi State can be simple. And it can be complicated. 

It is simple because we can enter the Tai Chi State by being relaxed. If there is one principle in Tai Chi that you take away, then simply take away this: Relax (放松).

Well that sounds simple. How do we ‘Relax’?

That is the complicated part – How do we relax?

To be relaxed, we have to create suitable conditions in our body, so that our body can be relaxed. We have to have a Stable Body Structure (框架稳定).

Without a stable body structure, our body will tense up. We cannot enter the Tai Chi state when we are tense. We cannot create a building without first building the foundation. Likewise, we must create suitable conditions in our body to enter the Tai Chi State by being relaxed.

In other words, to Relax, we must first have a Stable Body Structure.

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