Below is our ever-growing collection of articles on Tai Chi, Qigong and health related subjects.
Many other articles are being prepared and will be available here in due course. These will include the full 37 step tai chi form, qigong practices, meditation skills, health advice and more.
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Gain leg strength
As anyone who comes to my classes will know I talk a lot about leg strength. Basically, without strong legs you have no real support so your upper body will be full of tension to keep your weight off your weak legs. Strengthen your legs and your upper body can…
Wuji – The basic stance
The basic stance is a way of standing that keeps your body aligned with gravity, improves your posture and promotes relaxation. For most people, the way they stand is unbalanced. Tension in the muscles pulls their body in different directions 24 hours a day. Relearning how to stand has so…
Arm Swing One
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…
Hip Circles
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…
The 5 Points of Awareness
Many people turn up to my classes worrying that they won’t be fit enough or flexible enough. Within a very short space of time they realise those things don’t really matter. The biggest problem they have, that everyone has, is with coordination. Coordination means getting your arms and legs to…
Forwards Clock
This is another good exercise for restoring mobility. I often do this after doing the sideways clock. This exercise focuses on opening the front and back of the body. Here are the teaching points for this sideways clock exercise. Notes Find out more about traditional Chinese conditioning exercises through the tai…
Unbendable Arm
Relax and extend The unbendable arm is a concept that is talked about a lot in tai chi and aikido. However, it is a part of most traditional Chinese martial arts. It is a way of holding your arm so that it cannot be bent at the elbow no matter…
Be On Your Legs – A guide to stance training
Please read this post. Because almost nothing else I can teach you (apart from good breathing) is more important. The strength of your legs directly relates to almost every element of your physical and mental health and wellbeing. Your legs are the foundation of your structure. They are your connection…
The Invisible Stool
One of the main aims of tai chi and kung fu is for you to be able to hold and move your body in the most effortless and efficient way. This doesn’t come naturally as our habitual way of holding our body is from above by tensing up. This takes…
The Real Reason Why You Can’t Relax – The Tension Paradox
Why on earth is long lasting, genuine, deep relaxation so difficult to attain? The answer is the ‘tension paradox’ but before we look at what that is let’s take a quick look at your relaxation options. Here are some of the main things people do to relax and release some…
The Crane Stance – be confident on one leg
The crane stance is common in tai chi and kung fu so is important to master. It the easiest stance to understand but, perhaps the most demanding to perform. It simply requires you to stand on one leg with your raised foot pointing to the ground. Note: when we talk…
Cat Step
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…
Infinity Circle
The infinity circle is used in tai chi and many kung fu styles. The whole circle itself is rarely done but parts of it make up so many movements that it is worth practicing and becoming very familiar with. It’s like learning the scales when playing music. It makes you…
Your Three Wild Horses
In the Jade Dragon tradition we say that every person possesses 3 wild horses. These 3 horses are largely out of control and pull us this way and that. They drain us of energy with their wildness and age us prematurely. What are our 3 horses? As any horseman knows…
The 2 types of fear and how to deal with them
Virtually all negative emotions are based on fear. Fear is our most primal emotion and one that a great many people feel, to a greater or lesser extent, every single day. We have around 30 names for different types of fear, and many more slang words: anxiety, dread, panic, alarm…