Flowing Form and Format

Justin Stone and Lois Mahaney write

Dear Lois: Thanks for the interesting letter. It sounds as though your initial approach to giving lessons is very well thought out. I’m sure your lessons go very well. You might write about your approach in the Vital Force (you’ve heard of it?) and so help other teachers.

The hips and waist (which students usually turn too quickly) are very important in “Carry the Ball to the Side”, the “taffy” movements, and “Passing Clouds”. To be anchored rigidly to the ground is, as you know, destructive. The ‘Flow’ is so important–from substantial to insubstantial and back.

– Justin

Dear Justin: As I typed your article for the VFJ on “how” to move, I was stopped short by the phrase “not yinning and yanging much with legs, hips, and waist in a soft and easy flowing manner.” Now I hesitate in my classes, to mention “hips”, although I do stress the legs (with bent knee) and the soft, fluidity of the waist. In the past, when I’ve mentioned “loose” hips, I’ve had students that projected the hip so much that it threw the body out of alignment. So now, when I have a student that does have too “loose” hips, I get behind and hold the hips so that, though the yinning and yanging are taking place in a soft flowing manner, the hips don’t destroy the vertical stance. I realize that the hips do move in a sideways turning manner in the Taffys and Passing Clouds, but I hesitate to mention “hips”, instead I suggest a soft turning to each side.

I probably don’t follow the same format as Suni when I begin a class, but I do start with your audio tape explaining the principles behind T’ai Chi (while I’m doing the enrollment slips). This is followed by demonstrating and having the students practice the correct posture (alignment) needed to do the movements correctly, as well as the necessity to keep the knees bent to enhance the flow of the chi. Then to get them moving, I teach Joyous Breath, followed by the Rocking Motion to show the necessity of correct posture (otherwise they lose balance or stick out their rears). After these two movements, we go into very serious practice on the basic T’ai Chi Chih forward and backward leg movement and then to the so-called T’ai Chi step to the side. Each session begins with Joyous Breath, Rocking Motion, and Bird Flaps its Wings followed by a review of the leg movements then on to the hand movements that are to be taught that session.