There are three basic stages to Tai Chi training; Breathing
Exercises, Postures, and Combat Application.
Breathing Exercises, known as "Qigong" (pronounced 'chee
gung') are perhaps the most important part of proper Tai Chi training (and all
other martial arts as well.) From the simplest explanation (if you don't get
enough air when you are fighting, you will pass out) to the more complex
(proper breathing allows your Chi to flow without impediment, giving you power)
Qigong requires its own set of training exercises focusing on posture, proper
movement and; yep you guessed it, breathing.
Being in the proper state of mind is very important to taping into
your Chi. It is good to remove any distractions, such as the radio or TV. A
quiet room at a comfortable temperature is nice. A simple example: stand with your feet
shoulder width apart, shoulders back, but relaxed. Imagine you have a spot on
the very top of your head. You also have matching spots on the palms of your
hand, and the soles of your feet. Raise your hands over your head as you
inhale, with the spots on your palms pointing to the spot on your head. As you
exhale, lower your hands to your waist, and imagine you are drawing in the Chi
from around you in through the spot on your head, pulling it through your body,
and that it exits through the spots on your feet, anchoring into the ground. Do
this twice more, and then stand at peace, feeling yourself filled with the Chi
around you.
Out there? Kind of, especially for a western-thinking mind. But
give it a try. Really visualize the Chi moving through you, the spots on your
head, hands and feet. See what you discover.
Postures are those things you see a Tai-Chi practitioner doing in
all those movies. The moving of the hands, taking steps, flowing back and
forth. Many Tai-Chi styles have different sets of forms, or postures, such as
the Yang style with its 24 Posture form and its 48 Posture form. In moving
through your postures, it is imperative that you breathe correctly. If you are
learning Tai-Chi without breathing exercises, most likely you are not getting
the full benefit of the training. Postures help move Chi back and forth, and
also are great physical exertions. The slow-motion appearance of this martial
art is harder than it seems and places some serious demands on various muscles
when done properly. The reported benefit to those in physical therapy is real
enough; your muscles build and strengthen as you do what you can till the point
that you can do the postures as they were intended to be done.
Combat Applications are not missing in Tai-Chi; like any other
Martial Art, this style is designed to defend the practitioner. The simplest
way to describe Tai-Chi's effectiveness in combat is to say- speed it up! What
first looks like a pretty waving of the hands and rocking back and forth, when
sped up, becomes a sweeping block and an offensive push, a one-two combo
guaranteed to put an assailant on his backside!