What I learnt from Taichi

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clear mind, enjoy, history, learning, practice, traditions

Three months. That’s the time it took me about to learn the 24 forms of Wushu Taichi — and I didn’t even force myself. Obviously, the first thing I learnt from Taichi are these 24 basic forms. There are more to go if I want to become better at it.
At the same time, through this learning, I understood more about Asian culture and about the body and it’s mysterious and complexe functioning. I leanrt more about myself, too.

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48 Forms Tai Chi Quan

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48 forms, video

First time outside practice

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outside, practice, story

The alarm jars me from my sleep. It’s 6am. I feel dizzy but I manage to stand on my feet and, my eyes still tightly closed, I stumble on my way to the bathroom to have a quick shower. The splash of water on my head forces me to open my eyelid to discover a pale and attracting light that filters through the window; that makes me just in the right mood for my Taichi practice.

Tai Chi: its influences and its impacts

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architecture, balance, difference, feng shui, health, human, nature, qi, walking, well being

Last week, we saw the importance of the ‘qi’ energy in Taichi. This life-force actually plays a much more important role than only in martial arts or health, and is taken into account in every day situation as well. In fact, Taichi uses the principles of Feng shui (pronounced ‘fung shway‘ and meaning ‘wind-water’) that studies the balance between humans and the universe. This balance is achieved through the measure — to say it in maybe too technical terms — between yin and yang (referred to in this post).

Taichi Yang style self-defense

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control, fight, flow, self defense, video

Benefits of Taichi

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arthritis, benefits, elderly care, health, joints, qi

Westerners often look at Taichi as a form of healthy exercise — and relate it to the long life of Chinese people. But why exactly is it so healthy? There are several reasons of its benefits.

The first one is simply the physical activity. Although you don’t really run out of breath when you practice, you can feel a light sweat beginning after 15 or 20 minutes or practice. As Ms Yip, a taichi teacher, often says, it’s because it makes you use gently but deeply your muscles. “You always have to keep your legs bent, that’s the key to a fluid motion and it’s what makes Taichi a physical activity,” she says. “Slow moves” doesn’t necessarily mean “effortless exercise”; as long as the whole body moves to its full motion — extension of the arms and legs for instance — it benefits the body.

The beginning of practice

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balance, coordination, taekwondo, taichi

(Picture by faungg)

Taichi can be practiced at any age even though doing it well requires some important skills: coordination, balance and patience.

All the forms usually alternate between the left and right side of the body and thus requires good coordination. But it also needs it between hands and legs as they have to be moved at the same time — in opposition with Taekwondo forms for example.
This consciousness of the whole body is likely to put off many new students as they realize that, after having performed their hands well, their footwork was all messed up.

The 24 Tai Chi Forms (Video)

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24, forms, taichi, video

The basics of Tai Chi

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chinese, forms, health, martial art, tai chi

Tai Chi session at Victoria Park (by Twin Peaks)

Hong Kong is said to be Asia’s most westernised city with its high building and its 99 years of British colonisation. Although now a Special Administrative Region of China, it has kept a huge part of its habits from the past Western era and somehow rejects its Chinese influence (read this old but still actual article from the Asia Times).
But the past cannot be forgotten so easily and a flock of Chinese traditions still flows in the veins of the huge city: from street temples to street food stalls, its porcelain and ivory antics or its Chinese New Year, it is impossible not to see the culture’s Asian roots.