Four Ways to Find Your Piece of Time for Tai Chi

Even students with high interest in Tai Chi who attend class regularly don’t always find time to practice at home. Practice is essential for following up on the skills learned in class, leading to overall progress. But how can you find time for  Tai Chi  in today’s busy world? 
The key involves using your time more efficiently and creatively. 

First, you need to determine your priorities. Next, I recommend creating a log to figure out what you spend time on every day. Take special note of time wasters, such as excessive TV watching, playing video games or use of social media. Lastly, you should plan to remove or reduce these time wasters from your life and concentrate on the important things you want achieve. I suggest the following: 

1. Prioritize tai chi. 
What is the purpose of  Tai Chi  in your life? Are the benefits important enough to prioritize it? Some students want to gain balance from Tai Chi; others aim for correct body structure to reduce joint pain; yet others want to relax and clear their minds. Some of my elderly students attend class to achieve slow, gentle exercise to maintain their flexibility and mobility. Some of my college students want to learn Tai Chi for self-defense. Find your purpose in tai chi will give you motivation to move forward and keep up practice. 

2. Determine your time wasters.

Next, try to record a few days’ activities in a log to find out what the big time wasters are in your life. The top time wasters in mine are listed below with ways I have overcome them:

• Watching TV.  I watch a movie or two once a while using a DVD player. I don’t subscribe to cable.
• Playing computer games. I don’t play computer games. I play chess or the Chinese game “go” once a while with friends.
• Social media. This one is hard since I use social media for my  Tai Chi  class, as well as connecting with friends. However, I still try to reduce my time spent on social media by checking only once or twice a day.
• Waiting for water to boil. I use an electric boiler called Zojirushi CV-DSC40 VE Hybrid Water Boiler and Warmer, which has three different temperatures for different teas. When you have that, hot water is always ready when you need it.
• Finding the right CD and book. I converted all my music so that I could store it on my phone. I also use a Kindle.
• Cleaning and organizing things. I reduced the amount of stuff in my house, so I don’t have to clean as much. 
• Cooking and eating at restaurants. I cook more easy, healthy dishes and occasionally I go to a nearby restaurant (that doesn’t have long lines!) I also use an automatic rice maker called the Zojirushi NS-LAC05XT Micom 3-Cup Rice Cooker and Warmer
• Running fewer errands. I generally create a plan and run all my errands in one trip. One example is checking my mail once a week rather than every day.

3. Follow my father’s advice!
My father held a PhD in mathematics and taught university level math. For this reason, I’ve always trusted his sense of time efficiency. His top three suggestions (from what I remember) are:

• Muti-task in some situations

In general, I’m not a proponent of multi-tasking. Focusing on one task at a time leads to a better outcome. However, there are exceptions. One idea is try to stand on one leg while brushing your teeth to practice balance. Another is to do tai chi breathing exercises while waiting for the bus.

• Don't stay in bed when you are awake

I remember when I was a child, my father always told me, “When your eyes are open and you are already awake, don’t delay. Get up immediately and use your time to do something meaningful. Wasting time is a shame.” 

• Get up early

No time for Tai Chi? My father would suggest waking one hour earlier in the morning and going to bed one hour later at night.

4. Try the 6 mini forms from The Zhang System
If you don’t have time to finish all of the 85 traditional forms, you can try the 6 mini forms that I have created, each of which has 6 new movements or less. They are conclusions, or culminations, of the traditional form without sacrificing or eliminating important moves like the simplified tai chi form. You can finish each form in a few minutes. If you only have few minutes in the morning, that will be plenty of time to fit one in!

One of the mini forms is listed below:
 The brush peacock’s tail form
1.      Preparing form
2.      Opening form
3.      Brush peacock’s tail
4.      Single Whip
5.      Cross hands
6.      Closing form

I hope this article was helpful for you to tame the “time” tiger in  Tai Chi . If so, please pass on the link to this article to help more  Tai Chi practitioners. 

2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

Welcome 2014 and a New Beginning

Life is short! Plan your time wisely and see if you have accomplished your goals by the end of each year. If you have a dream or something that you always wanted to get done, you want to try to get it done sooner rather than later. Things can change if you don’t get it done today. I always wanted to visit Master Ma Hong (He was a tenth generation descendant of Chen Style Tai Chi Chuan and a classmate of three of my grandmasters). Just as I was telling one of my private students a few weeks ago that I am planning to visit him in 2014, Master Ma passed away on December 22, 2013. Master Ma was a kind hearted old man. People said that he always replied to every letter that was sent to him. He was very patient while teaching his Chen Style Tai Chi. His writings on the new frame of Chen Style Tai Chi are also very detailed and informative. He made a big contribution to the Tai Chi society. He had sent many Chen Style Tai Chi materials to me and my father, which we really appreciated. Master Ma, may you rest in peace.

Zengzi, one of the top students of Confucius, encouraged people to have a conclusion of their day and check if the time of their day has been well spent and if they are productive.  As I mentioned above, I believe we should do the same for our year as well.

Looking back at some of the major events that happened in my life in 2013, I feel that my 2013 was well spent while I also need to make some adjustments for the next year.

1. Huan’s Tai Chi and I have done a bunch for our School and community. I have visited my grandmaster, Cai Feng Xiang in Shanghai and my Yang Style Tai Chi teacher Master Xie Bing Can. Huan’s Tai Chi moved to our own studio within the Cambridge YWCA in February, and we got our own entrance and key in July. We had A Winter Evening of Chinese Dance & Martial Arts: Traditional & Contemporary Movement, Performance & Class, Watch & Learn in coordination with Chu Ling Dance Academy in December. In September, we started a new beginner level 2 class in University of Massachusetts Boston and MIT has finally approved our student Cathy's proposal to lead the creation of the new MIT Kung Fu and Tai Chi club which is taught by Huan’s Tai Chi 's staff. In the summer, we taught our Summer Park Tai Chi class again in Backbay, performed demonstrations for Green Fest, and gave a lecture at Spectacle Island Boston. I also made my first video of Yang Style Tai Chi to post online to benefit my students. I want to thank Dave Watts, Yael Marshall and the other Huan’s Tai Chi staff members for helping to accomplish some of the efforts above. I also want to thank Marie for organizing the summer park Tai Chi to benefit the local seniors.

2. I have spent more time with family and friends.

I also visited a lot of family and friends in a trip to China in January. I no longer feel bad for not seeing them for so long. I also went to two friends' weddings in February and September. I met a lot of close friends individually in October. I did try to squeeze enough time to see my godson as much as possible. I would like to thank all of them for staying good friends and warm family members even though I don’t see some of them often.

3. I traveled to many places which I was eager to see.

In March, I visited New Orleans, the hometown of one of my favorite singers, Louis Armstrong. I also went to Bobsled in Olympic Style and ski at a White Face mountain, where I always wanted to go. In May,  I visited Smokey Mountain and Shenadoah National Park.  In June, I visited Mount Rushmore, Yellow Stone park, and Arches National Park.  I then made my 6^th trip of the year to Alaska.  

4. Stay with a natural and peaceful life.

In August, I got offered a piece of land in Somerville community garden after 2 years of waiting period. I did a lot of gardening.   In October, I traveled to New Mexico to experience the green living life in Earthship and volunteered to setup a hot air balloon at Albuquerque’s hot air balloon festival upon a friend’s suggestion.  In November, I made my 8th and last trip of the year. I escaped the cold and visited St Thomas and St John, went kayaking for hours to an island and learned about the environment on the island. I also begin to present Chinese tea ceremony at my Tai Chi studio for another way to relax and calm people’s life.

Life is short. Being healthy and close to family and friends and close to nature will fulfill your life. Here I concluded my year of 2013 and I wish and plan to have an even better 2014. Happy New Year everyone! I hope all your wishes come true and that you will have a healthy, relaxed year filled with joy and spent with your family and friends!

Copyright Huan's Tai Chi 2013

What we see from "Lie Tzu studies Archery"

When Lao Tzu left China, Guan Yi Tzu (关尹子) was the last person Lao Tzu talked to in China. He was the gate keeper that let Lao Tzu out of China.

Lie Yukou (列禦寇; 400 BCE) is considered the author of the Daoist book Lie Tzu, which uses his honorific name Lie Tzu (列子).

Lie Tzu studied archery. He shot many times, finally he got one on the target. He reported his archery situation to Guan Yi Tzu.

Guan Yi Tzu asked, “Do you know why you got that one on target?”
Lie Tzu said “Not yet.”
Lie Tzu kept practice. Three years later, he reported his archery situation to Guan Yi Tzu again.

Guan Yi Tzu asked again “Do you know why you got that one on target?”
Lie Tzu said, “I found out the cause this time”
Guan Yi Tzu said, “ Very good, you must remember the cause, managing a country and treating people have to be the same way.”

When we doing Tai Chi, we should not just mimic what the teacher does, we need to find out the cause for each movement. If you can understand that, then you can be one step further.

Wisdom from the Oil Salesman

Ouyang Xiu (歐陽修) was a Chinese statesman, historian, essayist and poet of the Song Dynasty. I have read many of his literature. When Ouyang was a little kid, his family was very poor. He couldn’t afford school supply. He used tree branch as a pen to write on the sand. I have read many his literature a long time ago but I still have memory of his work on “Regarding the Pavilion of The Old Drunkard” and “Old Oil Salesman”.

Kang Su Gong was the most famous archer in Northern Song Dynasty. He was practicing shooting in his front yard one day. Many people went watching him. There was an Old cooking oil salesman had two buckets of oil with him. He left two buckets of oil on ground, taking a rest and watching Kang Su Gong. Kang Su Gong has missed only one shot out of ten. Every one started to cheer, but the salesman only nodded his head.

Kang Su Gong saw that, not very pleased.
“ Do you know archery? How do you think my skill?”
“Not very special, just because you have done it for a while” Salesman said.
Kang Su Gong become very angry, “How can you put me down like this?”
Salesman said, “I can show you by pouring my oil.”

He placed a calabash on the ground, then placed a small Tong Qian(Traditional Chinese money with a square hole in the middle) on top of the mouth of the calabash. He took a big spoon and scooped some oil out from the buckets. He then poured the oil into the calabash. You can see the oil formed a long string and went into the calabash through the small hole of the Tong Qian. He was very steady, so you couldn’t see any oil left on the Tong Qian.
After the salesman has done this, he said, “It’s not a big deal I did this, I have done that easily just because I have practiced a lot.” Kang Su Gong smiled and politely sent him away.

We are not only learned that practice make you good from this story, but also found that being humble can prepare you better from learning new skill, because there are always some oil salesmen around whom has unique techniques to show you.

Diet Plan for Tai Chi Practitioners & Rest of Us

While I was doing a Tai Chi Seminar, one student asked me,
“What do you eat for your daily life, what food is good for Tai Chi?”

My advice would be
“Don’t eat too much on one kind of food at once, even on some super food”.

For Example: Vitamin C is really good for your body, but if you take one bottle of Vitamin C, what will happen? Your diet should be a combination of Vegetable, grain, fruit and meat. You need to be careful about taking in different food. You should never eat too much. In Chinese, we say 80% full. Too much food will give a lot of work to your stomach and hurt your stomach in a long run.

We should not do Tai Chi with Empty stomach. If you have an empty stomach before doing Tai Chi, you should eat a little bit food, so you won’t feel dizzy or get a stomach ache while doing Tai Chi. Although it is not necessary to eat only vegetables, eating too much meat is not good for you since meat is acid and hard to digest. Don’t drink too much wine if you doing Tai Chi. Yang Chen Fu said that you shouldn’t do Tai Chi after too much wine.

Another very important reminder is that while exercise with Tai Chi, your breath will become long and deeper, which means a breath will go deeper to your chest. Strong wind and humidity can get into your body in this way. Yang Chen Fu also says to wear long sleeved clothes and not to perform in the wind. If you sweat, don’t take clothing off or take a cold shower, it will hurt your body. In the Ming Dynasty book “Talking of Cabbage Root”, it mentions that

“If you are always sick when you are old, it’s because you didn’t take care of your body when you were young.”

When you are young, you think you are ok to walk in the cold rain, you have fun under the strong wind while driving the boat, but these are actually hurting your body. It didn’t show because you are strong while you are young. These activities plant the seeds for sickness in you and they will occur in the future when you are older. When you know how to take care of your body while you are young, you will enjoy it more while you’re getting older.

Copyrighted By Huan's Tai Chi 09