| Do
TCC Properly for Maximum Benefits
by Justin Stone
How you do the movements of T’ai
Chi Chih is all important. Not for academic reasons
or to please the teacher, but because the amount of
benefit you get from practice depends on the way you
move. If you are using muscles to move your arms, while,
at the same time, shuffling your legs, you will not
get [the] full benefit. All important is having you
move from the center, the T’an T’ien, with
no effort from the shoulders or the arms. It is easy
for the teacher to tell if the student is moving to
the maximum of his or her capacity. If the feeling is
floating and flowing, the movements are being done correctly.
Flowing effortlessly from the center, while effortlessly
pushing the arms thru very heavy air, is the desired
method and the one that brings results.
Watching a student is not like putting
him thru an exam, to be graded by what he or she has
written on paper. The great results felt from proper
practice cannot be put into words. Sages of India equate
the Chi with Consciousness itself, and, when the Chi
(prana) leaves the body, you are dead. Therefore, causing
the Chi to flow, while balancing the Yin Chi and the
Yang Chi, will, in the minds of the Chinese wise men,
bring longer life and better health. T’ai Chi
Chih students also write that it changes their lives.
We have seen how favorably it affects hardened criminals
in prison, and we have had reports of great benefits
for those suffering from Osteoporosis and Migraine Headaches,
for the student doing the movements well. It is hard
to get the idea of effort out of student’s minds,
and it is only natural, in the beginning, for the student
to feel the harder he or she tries, the better will
be the results. But that’s all wrong! Softly and
effortlessly is the correct way. And, of course, the
student must do correct yinning and yanging, as well
as accenting one side or the other when called for.
On my latest videotape,
the practice session is being led by Suni McHenry, followed
by the other three teachers, in a stifling studio with
no air coming into the room; yet it appears effortless
and joyous. Following the teachers on this practice
session, strive for the feeling of serenity that comes
from doing the form properly. Don’t do it well
to please me but to please you.
Reprinted with permission
from The Vital Force, September 2001
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T'ai Chi Chih Boston & T'ai Chi Chih ABQ
Ph 617-901-9628 | email Kim here
©2003-07 Kim
Grant. All Rights Reserved.
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