Keep the essentials in Tai Chi

Sometimes when I teach Tai Chi, the Chinese proverb “Qu Wu Cun Jing” comes to mind. In Chinese, Qu means get rid of; Wu means weeds; Cun means keep; and Jing means chives. Essentially, we should get rid of the weeds and keep the chives. Figuratively, the whole sentence means “Keep the essentials and get rid of the things which are not necessary.” 

Anytime we learn something new, we may unknowingly transfer bad habits from our daily postures, in other words, the weeds. However, many of us are not able to distinguish the weeds from the chives on our own because they look very similar. A good teacher can tell the difference and give you advice accordingly. For example, sometimes I tell my beginner students to relax their shoulders and keep their body vertical because new students are not aware that they have raised their shoulders and they are leaning forward or backward, causing bad form. In many cases, the job of the Tai Chi teacher is to help you discard such habits. The following is a list of these habits. Removing them from your form can help you develop better Tai Chi skills. 

• Raising your shoulders
• Raising your elbows
• Leaning your body backwards or forwards
• Allowing your stomach to protrude, thus not observing the proper position of the acupuncture points called dantian 
• Tilting your shoulders while moving
• Not transferring weight properly from one leg to the other 
• Not placing your foot lightly on ground
• Not turning your waist while moving
• Moving your body up and down too much
• Tilting your head
• Not leaving enough space between your arms and body
• Not coordinating the movement of your upper body and lower body 
• Stiffening your waist
• Using force

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2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi

TV Interview on Huan's Tai Chi on Channel 5 WCVB

Watch Joe's Tai Chi interview last Tuesday, September 13th on on WCVB Channel 5.  Enjoy!

It Baguazhang the Best Exercise Ever? 6 Benefits of Baguazhang Walking over Brisk Walking

Swimming, Tai Chi, Walking, Strength training, and Kegel exercises are listed as five of the best exercises you can do by Harvard Medical School’s Healthbeat report. The Authors probably do not know about a Chinese martial art called Baguazhang which concentrates on circular walking and has many benefits beyond simple Brisk Walking.

Baguazhang does not require a lot of space.
Bagua only requires a small circle to walk around. It can be done at home during bad weather outside.

Baguazhang requires precise body alignments which can reduce joint pain.
Many elderly people develop joint pain because they do not have good body alignments especially while walking. Bagua develops precise alignments while lifting and planting  feet.


Baguazhang is a total body exercise.
Bagua is a whole body exercise; you need to coordinate many different arm and waist movements with the walk. You not only exercise your legs but your whole body.

Baguazhang familiarizes you with orientation.
Bagua does both the Yang and Yin circle walking. It walks two different directions with a special tuck in step to change directions. It gives you more flexibility of walking in different directions.

 
Baguazhang is suitable for both young and old
You can adjust your body height while doing Bagua walk.  Normally elders walk in a higher stance while younger practitioners practice in a lower stance to help strengthen the legs more.

Mud Stance allows you to train your balance
Bagua's special Mud Stance allows holding a leg in the air for short period of time to train balancing on one leg.

For people want go beyond, you can also learn the martial arts application for Bagua. Want to try out a class to see if you will enjoy this ancient exercise from China? You can visit our studio every Saturday morning at 10am at 7 Temple Street, Cambridge MA.

2016 Copyright by Huan's Tai Chi