BeginnerGuide Archives - Page 3 of 4

Tai Chi

How Tai Chi Relax your shoulders; a hundred explanations

In the words of Grandmaster Yang Chengfu in "Ten Essentials of Taijiquan": "Sink the shoulders and drop the elbows. To sink the shoulders means to relax and allow them to hang down. If they cannot be relaxed and allowed to hang down, then the two shoulders will lift up, and the qi will also rise, causing the entire body to lose strength. To drop the elbows means to let the elbows hang down loosely. If the elbows are raised, the shoulders cannot sink, and the opponent can easily break your structure, similar to the external martial arts' concept of breaking power."

0 Comments

August 23, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

The basic principles of practicing Tai Chi Chuan’s upper, middle, and lower body coordination. – Hong Jun Sheng

Upper Body From the top of the head to the neck area, the upper body includes the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, tongue, teeth, and facial region. The upper body serves as the guiding mechanism for the overall body movement, as explained below: Neck The Baihui acupoint at the center of the head's top is the center of "ding jin" (upward force). It should be slightly raised, as if suspended. Properly managing "ding jin" results in a light and agile body, embodying the concept of "full body lightness."

0 Comments

August 23, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

The basic principles of practicing Tai Chi Chuan for the shoulders, elbows, hands, wrists, and fingers. – Hong Junsheng

Shoulders: Should be relaxed, resembling the arms hanging from the shoulders like ropes. This not only keeps the arms and hands flexible but also maintains the body's balance even when the arms are moved or pressed by external forces. Elbows: Elbows should frequently sink with the relaxation of the shoulders. The extension and contraction of the arms should shift direction from the movement of relaxed shoulders and sinking elbows. This ensures that the body's power reaches the hands appropriately and can adapt to changes when facing an opponent.

0 Comments

August 22, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

Tai Chi Before or After Eating? Food, Water & Meal Timing

　If you ask me whether it is better to practice Tai Chi before or after eating, my answer is simple: I don't like practicing when I am either very hungry or very full. For morning practice, I usually drink warm water first, eat only a light amount if I need food, practice Tai Chi, then give my body some time to settle before having a larger meal. 　After more than four decades around traditional Chinese martial arts, I've found that complicated diet rules are rarely necessary for ordinary Tai Chi practice. What matters more is comfort. When my stomach is too full, turning the waist, sinking, stepping and breathing simply don't feel right. When I'm extremely hungry, concentration can suffer too.

0 Comments

August 3, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

7 Tips to loose up when practice Tai Chi

Warm-up preparation According to the sequence of practicing boxing, warm-up is essential for relaxation. Before punching, stretch your muscles, move your joints, and gently move your whole body, which helps to relax both physically and mentally. Unfortunately, many practitioners neglect these simple warm-up exercises because they don't value their importance. Even if they do warm up, it's often done half-heartedly. Little do they know that without proper warm-up, the effectiveness of boxing will be compromised, and it may even lead to injuries. Cultivate a tranquil mind A calm mind leads to a relaxed body, and a relaxed body facilitates a tranquil mind. They are interdependent and mutually reinforcing, forming a dialectical relationship. If you talk while practicing boxing, it will not only disrupt your movements and disperse your internal energy ("qi") but also make it challenging to relax your…

0 Comments

August 3, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

How to prevent knee injury when practicing Tai Chi ?

As Tai Chi, an outstanding martial art of Chinese Wushu, has gained recognition for its health benefits with the development of society, an increasing number of people now participate in learning and practicing Tai Chi. However, among those who practice Tai Chi, some individuals often experience varying degrees of knee joint pain and, in some cases, even long-term knee joint injuries. So, how can one avoid injuring the knee joints while practicing Tai Chi?

0 Comments

July 29, 2023

BeginnerGuide

Why stretching is extremely important for Tai Chi

Every morning, in the park or by the lake, you can always see many morning exercisers bending and stretching to stretch their ligaments. This type of exercise method is well known to everyone. As long as someone wants to exercise, even without a teacher's guidance, they will instinctively and naturally perform leg stretches and waist bends. Similarly, professional gymnasts, acrobats, dancers, etc., also consider leg stretches and waist bends as fundamental training. The purpose of this training method is to stretch the overall ligaments. The benefits include improving the flow of qi and blood in the body, achieving fitness effects, and making body movements more flexible and aesthetically pleasing. For example, gymnasts and dancers' movements present a gentle, coordinated, and graceful visual beauty to the audience.

0 Comments

July 29, 2023

Tai Chi

BeginnerGuide

Must learn Tai Chi readings

Part 1: "Inherent distinct method: At the beginning of life, one's eyes can see, ears can hear, nose can smell, mouth can taste; colors, sounds, fragrances, and tastes—all are natural perceptions, inherent goodness. The movements of hands and feet, the abilities of the four limbs—all are natural and inherent. When considering this, people become familiar without cause; human nature is close but also distant, lost and confused in the inherent. To restore our inherent, we must seek the root of movement through martial practice and the original source of perception through scholarly understanding. It is by moving that we perceive, and by perceiving that we feel. Without movement, there is no perception; without action, there is no sensation. When movement reaches its extreme, it becomes action; when perception is heightened, it becomes knowledge. The one who knows through action…

0 Comments

July 27, 2023