Most people want to learn the moves, but I don’t want to teach ‘Movements’ as such. Applied Tai Chi is based on principles, like; “Balance and Stability” / “Stillness and Flow”.
After more than 47 years I’m still training to achieve these principles myself; stillness is balance, balance is stability, stability is smooth, smooth is fast, fast is power, therefore power is stillness in action. All are balance and flow.
Stillness gives you an opportunity detect tension in your body, to mindfully fine tune your alignment, and strengthen the body for efficient movement. From a physical and a neurological perspective it has to do with learning how to engage the most powerful internal parts of our body.
Whenever you feel awkward it is because your balance is disturbed, your connection to the ground is weakened. You are clumsy and vulnerable, energy blocks up; when blocked, you cannot utilise flow, it drains your power and it weakens your spirit.
The Tai Chi Classics say;
A thousand techniques cannot compare,
to the one technique of power, ie BALANCE.
A single gram can topple one hundred kilograms.
The direct translation of ‘Tai Chi’ or ‘Taiji’ the name of the ‘yin/yang’ diagram is ‘The Supreme Ultimate’ or as I would say in my English ‘the most important thing is balance’
Another important aspect is being in harmony, internally and with our environment or the ‘Tao’ the balance of nature. We practice ‘Yang-Sheng Qigong’ ie to lift our spirit and to nurture our life energy for healthy aging.
It is a joy living in the present.
Rod
Eventually, we develop new habitual patterns of moving our body effectively, with minimum energy expenditure, less chance of injury, but with greater vitality. Spiritually, we see our reality/situation clearly. Mentally, we have a set of principles that we can apply to navigate the world effectively with a tranquil, positive, kind, and persistent attitude. These modalities constitute a journey of learning, refining, and mastering a wise way of living a meaningful life, nurturing our mind, body, and spirit, and extending our innate human kindness to others. Mastering this is a lifelong journey towards maximizing our personal growth and our potential to contribute to the world.
Dr Yang Yang NY 2016
Rod Ferguson
Tai Chi Master & National Chief Instructor
Australian Academy of Tai Chi & Qigong
