Wednesday

Existing habits

When joining an external martial arts class, a student has familiar habits of body use.
The person may be tense, aggressive, macho.
They may be pumped-up and accustomed to using force.
Ideally, the teacher will find a way to channel these habits into learning the given art.

Tai chi is different to this.
Chinese people have trained the internal arts for centuries without needing to be pumped-up, aggressive or unduly strong.
Usually, a tai chi new starter must lose their existing habits and begin again.
This is a challenging process but very rewarding as it pays long-terms dividends in terms of health, wellbeing and biomechanically efficient body use.

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