Following TCC Practice

The most beneficial follow through to T’ai Chi Chih practice is to be quiet and still. By doing so we allow for a more complete assimilation of the chi generated through movement. The idea is to make the most of health-giving influences of freshly circulated chi, rather than letting it dissipate to whatever degree following practice. We don’t want to dilute the charge, the healing force, but want to give it a chance to be utilized as fully as possible.

I’m sure you have enjoyed practicing TCC with a group or with a friend and have noticed that immediately afterward there has been excessive verbalization, random motion, etc. and that the uplift generated during practice became reduced to blowing off nervous energy. The potential contribution toward restoration and transformation was largely lost. An analogy might be preparing a meal and throwing it in the garbage can.

Those of you familiar with hatha yoga – also concerned with the generation and harmonization of chi – know that immediately following the practice of asanas (posture/poses) comes a complementary interlude of deep relaxation for the purpose of assimilating the spectrum of benefits created during practice.

Personally, I prefer to first assume the Cosmic Consciousness Pose for a comfortable duration following TCC practice, then to sit quietly on the floor or in a chair being quiet and still with eyes closed for several minutes.

I hope you will give consideration to this important aspect of TCC practice and will emphasize it to your students. This idea of assimilating what is generated also applies to the shorter periods of stillness in the “Resting Pose” between each TCC movement.