So you’re interested in learning tai chi. Good decision as there are very few practices in the world that have such a wide range of benefits and will keep you engaged for so long. On this site you will find an increasingly deep and broad range of skills, movements, exercises, principles, philosophies etc all related to tai chi and it’s sister arts of qigong and baguazhang and parent philosophy of Taoism.
This post is here to guide you through the main exercises, principles and movements. It will give you a solid grounding in the art. But also feel free to go off-piste and explore the wide range of other posts on tai chi related subjects.
Don’t try to learn everything at once. You’ll just get confused and disheartened and give up on something that could be of immense benefit to you. Focus on learning one move or exercise at a time and adding that to your arsenal. I will tell you what the most important things to focus on are. Unfortunately these are rarely the most exciting but without a solid foundation nothing else you learn will have any real benefit.
I have divided this pathway into background, general principles, loosening up exercises, basic skills then form work.
Some of these articles are free. Others require a membership. A basic membership of less than £2 per week (£8 per month) will take you a long way. For a complete beginner there is a good 6 months or more of knowledge there. Don’t be tempted to rush ahead but when you are ready an intermediate membership that is still less than 50p per day (£15 per month) will give you access to everything else. Click here to sign up to one of those memberships.
Background
General Principles
These are the main three principles I teach. Tai chi has many principles. I’ve distilled them down to just three main ones.
Loosening Up
Before you begin moving loosen your body up. Otherwise you’ll be carrying lots of tension into your movements and get little benefit from them. These loosening up exercises can be done any time. Whenever you’re feeling fatigued and drained you’ll find that your body is racked with tension. Instead of just crashing on a chair try a couple of these exercises. They will loosen you up and you’ll instantly feel rejuvenated.
Leg Training
Do not skip this! This is THE most important thing.
Everybody struggles with excess tension. I firmly believe that the tension we constantly carry in our body is responsible for most of the chronic ill health that have become pandemic in our society.
If your legs are weak your upper body cannot fully relax so you will have way too much tension in your neck, shoulders, chest and back. All your movements will be weak as you have no connection to the earth.
Standing in stances is vital but so is learning to transfer your weight from one leg to the other. If you can’t transfer weight properly you’re either pushing yourself up away from the ground or, worse still, never attached to the ground in the first place
Strengthening the legs is absolutely key as I keep hammering home to my students. Train your legs every day. After 40 years I still train my legs every day. It’s that important. Understand and practice at least the following before even thinking about moving onto the form.
If you’re serious about leg training, and you should be then also look at this post about leg training.
The form
Click here to see the pathway to the full 37 step Yang style form