This is a lovely exercise for gently restoring mobility to most of your joints. I do this several times a day. Particularly if I’ve been sitting down for a while or am feeling tired and stressed this exercise can restore balance and vitality in under a minute. Exhaustion is almost always accompanied by greatly increase muscle tension. You’re tired because every muscle in your body is tight and are fighting […]
In kung fu and tai chi you learn to direct the force of your body through the centre. This is your waist and hip area. Yet it is often full of tension. Most people spend a lot of the lives sitting down and when they walk their walking habits are unbalanced and lack grace and aliveness. All of this creates tension in the muscles surrounding the hips. This exercise is […]
This is a classic and popular qigong exercise to loosen the shoulders, realign the spine and teach you to twist upwards through the whole body. It connects every part of you to the centre of your body and teaches you to direct power from there. This exercise is the most common first exercise I do in class to begin loosening and warming students up. This arm swing looks simple but […]
Stretching is an important part of conditioning to be fitter and healthier. Do you really need more reasons than that to stretch regularly? If the answer is yes, consider this. Imagine if you could have a bath in WD40. It would seep into all your joints, restoring them to their full range of motion, lubricating every part until it was as new and dissolving away all your tension. What would […]
Push is a movement that looks easy but can take years to get right. It is used several times in the tai chi form but is also essential study for kung fu practitioners. The principles of push can be applied to a wide range of other techniques. Push is actually two movements. There is a drawing back move where you take all your weight plus your opponent’s energy and root […]
In the Jade Dragon tradition arm circles are taken very seriously. They teach us to move our arms fluidly, without tension, without hesitation at any angle and at any speed. There are 8 circles to learn but only 4 of those are used in tai chi. This version of the yin circle is one of the most common arm movements in our tai chi form so it’s important to get […]
In tai chi we learn to walk in a certain way. We never just put a foot forward then drop our weight onto it. We place the foot down first then transfer our weight forward. The best way to practice this kind of walking is through the cat step When cats stalk their prey they move in a silent fluid motion. They have a distinct advantage over is in having […]
In kung fu and tai chi there are only two movements we can do that have any real power. One is transferring your weight from one leg to the other. The other one is twisting your body at the waist and hips. Transferring weight simply involves moving your weight from one leg to the other. But as with everything we teach how you do it can make a massive difference […]
The cat stance is one of the most used stances in both tai chi and kung fu. Yet when you first start to use it you may find it unstable and unbalanced – unlike a cat! Simply put the cat stance involves having all your body weight on one foot while the other foot rests under its own weight on the ground in front of you. The supporting foot is […]
There are only two main movements you can make that involve the entire body. These movements are the only ones that generate any real power. So every move in tai chi and kung fu that requires power uses one of these. The first is transferring your weight from one leg to the other. The second is turning at the waist and hips. This post covers the twisting movement. In a […]
Invalid rule and here are a few more. Remember the success of any move depends on maintaining the right principles. Don’t panic or tense upStay ‘on your legs’Don’t hold your breath If the person comes back to attack you again you’ll have to resort to joint locks or, if they fail, strikes. To view this post in full you’ll need a Basic Level membership. This will give you access to […]
One of the most common and debilitating places to hold onto pain and tension is in the neck and shoulders. Shoulder pain and tension is often associated with responsibility – literally carrying the world on your shoulders. It is so common that I can state with confidence that you too are carrying your shoulders too high. It is as if we need to suspend our arms from our shoulders instead […]