Many students feel drowsy at the end of a tai chi session and feel like going to sleep. Yet they also feel pleasantly alert, but without any anxiety. Their muscles are relaxed and their minds are calm.
Ultimately, you reach a point where this dreamy state of relaxation remains throughout the day.
Beginners sometimes want to collect a whole series of forms. Why?
Form offers embryonic moves that teach the underlying principles, not set responses.
Form was designed to contain all the applications of the system without need of additional sequences/forms.
As a consequence, you only need to train one style of tai chi.
If you have trouble remembering the form, then take one movement home with you from class and drill that movement every day until the next lesson. Watch the Form DVD of you own it.
The following week, take home two movements, and so on... Pretty soon, you will have an entire sequence.
Tai chi is not like gym work or other martial arts.
Once a week training at your local karate class may result in a black belt in a few years, but this approach will not work for tai chi.
We are looking to move instinctively and naturally - without forethought or hesitation - and this entails regular practice of the form sequence.
People frequently complain that they have no time to practice tai chi at home.
A beginner only learns section 1 of the form and that section takes 2 minutes to perform.
Is there anyone on the planet who cannot set aside 2 minutes of their day for something useful and productive?
It is all a matter of priority.
Tai chi form was never intended to be a once-a-week exercise. It was designed for daily practice.
Ideally, 15-20 minutes should be set aside for form because the complete sequence takes that long to perform.
A beginner may only have 2 movements to train or a 2 minute sequence, but they should still consider committing up to 15 minutes practice to what they have learned.
Qigong offers an interesting way to exercise the body. When performed correctly, qigong feels to be so mild that it is hard to believe that anything is really happening.
There is no sweating, straining or panting for breath.
The term 'qigong' refers to a variety of exercises designed to cultivate the flow of blood and oxygen around the body, as well as released trapped energy within muscle tissues.
Other spellings commonly used - qi gong or chi kung. It is pronounced 'chee gung'.Our energy is more precious than all the gold in the world. It is a more powerful anti-aging tool than anything else.
Energy regenerates our liver and other tissue cells, flushes toxic waste from the body, helps maintain our ideal weight, keeps our skin smooth and our hair healthy.
The more energy we have, the better we feel and the more beautiful we become.
(Kimberly Snyder)
When you think of exercise, images of sweaty runners, straining weight lifters and exertive yoga postures come to mind. Qigong is not like this.
Few exercises in the world are as easy to perform as 'moving qigong'. No hardship, no suffering, no pain. The main challenge lies simply in doing the movements 'naturally', healthily and comfortably.
Almost anyone is capable of doing qigong; but the real trick is doing it correctly...
Once your body has begun to lose the old habits, it is ready for something new.
Neigong is concerned with instilling physical patterns that strengthen the body from the inside out.• Starts simple but becomes more challenging
• Increases stamina and endurance
• Improves balance
• Stress-relief
• Encourages a calm mind and composed emotions
• Energises
• Does not strain the body
• Strength-building
• Emphasis is placed upon mobile joints, relaxed muscles and natural movement
• Improves skeletal alignment, poise and coordination
• Low-impact
• Can be practiced by most people
As an instructor, it is disappointing when students start lessons wanting to learn a martial art and never get past the beginners qigong class.
Everyone can learn the basic exercises if they commit time, effort and patience to the task.We can address balance and connection once the muscles soften, the joints relax and the body opens. The psoas muscle needs to lengthen naturally; this will aid in strengthening the body without tension, as well as providing stability.
Qigong and neigong serve to internally work and support the body as you perform tai chi. From this foundation, you learn how to move in a tai chi way.Sometimes people have studied a similar system before and use this as a benchmark for comparison; rather than The Tai Chi Classics.
Comparison has some potential flaws: the first is you and your ability to correctly interpret what you are seeing. With tai chi, what you see is not usually what you get - the whole point of the system is to hide the substance.
