Tai Chi Principles

The essential principles in the practice of the art of Tai Chi are: 

Relaxation, concentration, meditation and harmony.

Relaxation – Be soft and yielding… exert no strength

Just imagine for a moment that you are about to lift a very heavy box from a table in front of you. Picture the action in your mind but the same time be aware of how your body feels as you imagine this activity. Even with no activity occurring at all, you probably tightened your muscles. Perhaps you took in a quick breath of air and then held it, tightening your chest. If you could have measured your blood pressure you would probably has found it rising slightly, with your heart rate increasing. All in all, almost a perfect description of the effects of stress – and achieved simply through imaging a muscular activity.

Now imagine yourself as you are sitting, standing or lying and your body becoming lighter and lighter. First your head seems to lift then your whole body almost drifts away from the ground. Focus on this image for perhaps a minute.

More than likely your muscles became relaxed. Your breathing deepened into continuous steady breaths, possibly your blood pressure fell marginally, quite a different scenario from the previous one. Yet, in fact, your body is probably much heavier than the imagined weight of the box. In both examples we imagined we imagined muscle power and became stressed; in the other, we simply relaxed and let something happen.

When you perform your Tai Chi, take this soft approach: allow the move to happen. In Tai Chi you should almost allow yourself to be moved rather than move yourself. The Chinese have many expressions to describe the movement of Tai Chi. To them it is like ‘riding the wind’ or the art of windblown willow’.

Concentration – let the mind direct the movement

As seen in the earlier examples, a task is more easily performed when you not only relax but also imagine yourself doing it – the key being to allow something to happen rather than to make it happen. This applies to movements of Tai Chi and assists you with performing them easily and with as little effort as possible.

To achieve the mental images of visualization, you need to concentrate. Concentration should not be thought of as mentally gritting your teeth: this would work against the principle of relaxation. The aim is of quieting the inner the inner chatter of mind, to free it from its daily worries and concerns, by focusing your thoughts on the Tai Chi move you are performing.

Through visualization, you will gain a keener awareness of the task at hand and not be distracted by what happened that day at the office or at home. This will enable you to concentrate your energy into what you are actually doing, using only the energy you require and wasting none. Take a camera lens as an example. The lens is no more strained when it is focused than when it is unfocused. It simply gives a clearer picture.

As well as visualization, concentrations on your breathing and the movement of the chi throughout your body, helps you to focus your attention on the totality of movement of, and within, your body – you are in control.

Getting the clear picture in Tai Chi initially necessitates breaking the move down into smaller parts.

Visualize the positions where your feet start and finish, Visualize your hands move. Then put these two pictures together, discovering how your hands and feet coordinate.

Remember, your mental focus should be on picturing the movement, not on getting the movement right. If you focus on trying to get move right, you set yourself up for the stress of failure. A Tai Chi movement that bears little resemblance to the correct movement but that is performed softly, slowly, smoothly and with good posture can provide considerable health benefits. A Tai Chi move that starts and finishes in the right positions but that is performed stiffly, with force and gritted teeth, is unlikely to provide any benefits and may well contribute to stress.

Meditation - Balance the movements of the mind, the body and the chi

When you are quiet and focused on the movement you are performing, when the soft and slow motion is a reflection of visualization in your mind and you feel at ease with the movement, then you have reached the meditative state necessary for the proper performance of Tai Chi.

In this stage, not only have you achieved balance between your mind and body, but you have also tapped into and gained control of your chi, your vital energy. In the understanding of the Chinese, body, mind and spirit are one and you are at peace with the universe. This is when the healing qualities of Tai Chi begin.

In terms of technique, this balance will be reflected in the movements you perform. When we are stressed, we tend to move quickly in uncoordinated jerks. This is because excess tension within the muscles makes coordination very difficult. When we learn to move smoothly and evenly during times of stress we have, in effect, learned how to relax our tense muscles and undo the effects of stress.

To move in this way requires continual awareness which is meditative aspects of Tai Chi. The Chinese say that movement should be like the action of reeling silk: if you are not to break the delicate thread, you must be conscious of the manner in which you perform every movement. This alert awareness means that you are not focused on your daily worries and problems, and hence the mental as well as the physical side of stress is relieved.

In your Tai Chi practice, try to eliminate sudden changes in speed and direction. There should be no stopping or starting within the form, only circular changes in direction. To do this, keep the shoulders and elbows down and try to avoid sharp angles in the elbow joint. Do not be afraid to use space in your moves. The closer in that you draw your arms and hands, the more jerky the movement will tend to become.

Harmony – When thoughts and movement are in accord, you gain the power to heal.

Through the unity of mind, body and spirit you acquire in Tai Chi practice, you achieve harmony. This is when you reach an agreement, an accord, or a pleasing arrangement of the various parts of yourself.

Rather than making you oblivious to any tension or pain you may be feeling, your awareness of this unity allows you to identify any remaining areas of tension within your body, for in these places the wave of momentum does not flow.

When we focus on feeling our body as a unity, as a whole, we become aware that each move contains within it a wave of momentum usually starting in the feet, flowing through the body and being released through the hands. To encourage harmony of movement, follow this imagery in your Tai Chi move:

Feel your feet firmly rooted against the earth

Feel the power of the move come from your legs

Feel the power directed by the waist

Express the power in the hands.

Gradually you can begin to remove any blocked tension from your body and in this way bring your whole self into the balanced, harmonized state.

Breathing – Breathe naturally through the nose into abdomen. With the abdomen relaxed tranquility will prevail

Correct breathing is crucial to the proper performance of Tai Chi. Breathing is essential for life. Just as breath symbolizes life or the Spirit in Christian theology, so too does it to the Chinese. As we breathe in air, or spirit, it becomes an intrinsic part of us and all life is connected by this. In your Tai Chi practice, along with helping you to relax, awareness of your breathing helps you to focus the mind and gain control over this essential aspect of life.

Before beginning each session of Tai Chi, take a moment or two to bring your breathing in line with the following principles.

Breathe deeply but without forcing your breathing

Allow your rate of breathing to slow, reducing the number of breaths taken per minute.

Have your mouth gently closed and breathe in and out through your nose.

In fact you should not commence your Tai Chi set of movements until you are satisfied, that your breathing is comfortably relaxed and gentle. Once you start your Tai Chi set, forget about your breathing and let your body handle it.