Time Control in Tai Chi

Once again, I had a student asked me how long she need to perform once on the 85 Yang style Tai Chi.

If you perform too fast, you cannot concentrate on details of each movement. If you move too slow as a beginner, it’s easy to have uneven speed of movements.

“ As a beginner, you may perform Tai Chi for as little as 15 minutes; however, as you progress, you will perform for 20 minutes. Eventually, you will perform as long as 40 minutes” My father mentioned in Tai Chi Magazine on “ Zhang Lu Ping on correct Use of Spine”

You might perform pretty fast when you start as a beginner. You might have problem to slow down. To help you slow down, usually I suggest you imaging yourself perform it under the water. Imagining there are a lot of water resistance to prevent you to move faster. It will help you increase your energy if you can imaging yourself perform under water because it takes effort if you do it slower. Say, you going to do a kick. If you kick fast, it’s easy. If you kick slower, it takes effort and strength.

I told a story about Tai Chi Master, Yang Lu Chan and Pa Gua Master, Dong Hai Chuan to my students. Dong learned Tai Chi from Yang Lu Chan. One day, yang went to visit him. Dong was doing a “lu”- rolls in. yang start to have cup of tea, after he finished his tea, Dong was still in middle of “lu”. That’s how slow some masters can do their Tai Chi.

Copyrighted by Huan's TAI CHI '09