Quotes on TCC Practice Principles

Art of Teaching

By Rosa S. Fallon, Pittsburg, CA

1. Movement Quality The first necessary thing to do before you start moving is to relax. “It is important to maintain complete relaxation while doing the movements, as muscular tension would prevent the ‘chi’ from flowing through the proper channels.” *[1]

2. Posture Preparation When you come into the resting pose, tuck in your pelvis, relax your abdomen, unlock your knees, try to center your weight in both of your feet, find your roots, feel stable and balanced, relax your upper body, round slightly your shoulders, chest, and your hands are cupped. The head and torso are held in erect position, feel that the head is suspended from above, like a wire from the ceiling is holding it. (Review “Correct Practice” on p. 28 in T’ai Chi Chih text.)

3. How to Move We want to start moving with “softness and continuity”, like “swimming through heavy air” (or “moving slow motion in a dream”). “Though we are relaxed and the hands are soft, the air is felt to be very heavy as the hands move through it, fingers spread apart. This may appear contradictory, but it is not. It is easy to feel the air as heavy and still keep the hands slightly cupped and relaxed.” *[1]

4. Circularity This is an important aspect of T’ai Chi Chih because round areas attract ‘chi’, while straight or stiff movements and postures contribute to the stagnation of the chi. “Throughout the enactment of postures, we create circles, ovals, and ellipses, connected by supportive curves and spirals so that chi is continually activated, increased and contained.” *[2]

5. Alignment To help refine our alignment of movements we can pause–rest at different points of the movements in order to adjust the weight displacement. The movements always start in the lower part of our body, from the legs, then the arms and hands follow. We don’t want our hands to go ahead in the movements, quite the opposite. (Paraphrased [2]). “In the beginning we are apt to focus too much on the hands, while, in truth, it is the legs which are ‘yinning and yanging’. It is vital that we bend the knees and shift our weight from the left to right and back again.” [1]

6. Synchronicity It is important not to lose the impulse while moving. “Without proper synchronization and coordination, the chi flow is interrupted, jarred, weakened, and it loses its momentum.” *[2]

7. Focus While performing T’ai Chi Chih, and coming to a rest, we need to focus our attention in Tan T’ien, a point 2″ below our navel; this is the point where we want to accumulate the chi that we generated while performing the circular movements of TCC. It is the center of our body and from here the chi is distributed. Also because that’s sometimes a difficult place to find, we can instead, focus our attention in the soles of our feet or “bubbling spring”. We should be here and now through all our practice, empty our mind of thoughts; we should have an “unclouded mind.” That’s because the chi follows our thought and we want to direct that energy down to the roots of our body to Tan T’ien and let it spread from there.

8. Absorbing the “Chi” By the end of every movement, we come to the resting pose to let the chi settle in our body, to let the yin and yang forces become one again. By the end of our practice it is important to sit for awhile quiet and still. That’s because we want to absorb the energy that we generated in our body, we don’t want to waste it away. “I’m sure you have enjoyed practicing TCC with a group or with a friend and have noticed 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.” *[3]

9. Practice T’ai Chi Chih is cumulative, so as much as we practice, the more results we’ll feel. In Bill Moyer’s program, “Healing and the Mind” on TV, a 90 year old T’ai Chi Ch’uan master was saying that t’ai chi has no secret, if you practice you’ll feel the results. “Give yourself to T’ai Chi Chih! for 30 minutes each day. Practice regularly. The Chinese say: ‘You cannot appease the hunger by reading the menu.’ It is only through practice that you get rich rewards.” *[1]

*[1] T’ai Chi Chih-Joy Thru Movement by Justin Stone

*[2] Perspectives…in Motion and Stillness by Steve Ridley

*[3] “Following TCC Practice” by Steve Ridley in The Vital Force, Spring 1993.