John’s Tai-BlogTai Chi and anything I can relate to Tai Chi … like life

Is A Balanced Life Good For Tai Chi, or Is It the Other Way Around?

The more I learn about tai chi, the more I learn about life.  The more I learn about life, the more I learn about tai chi.  I seems everything really is interrelated.

When the economy isn’t doing well we say it’s out of balance.  When an ecosystem isn’t doing well we say it’s out of balance.  Financial portfolios, diets, lawns, brain chemistry, even the water in your swimming pool are all affected by balance.

In tai chi and in life balance is not only necessary, it’s critical.  If you had no physical balance you wouldn’t even think of getting up and walking to your bathroom.  Without balance taking a step would be nearly impossible because you’d fall over more often than not.

As long as you’re feeling well you don’t even think about balancing when you walk any more than you think about how to move all the different muscles in your legs.  You’re in a state of balance or at least you’re balanced enough to get where you’re going.  Balance is one the fundamentals of life.

Now you understand that great balance is key; so how do get into balance?  Proper alignment is all it takes.  If you stand a straight pole so the weight of the pole is focused over the center of the point that’s in contact with the floor, the pole will stay there.  That’s assuming the end of the pole is flat and square with the sides, and that the floor is level.  If everything is in balance, it works.  Standing on one foot is no different except you can adjust yourself to achieve alignment.

A tall building stands because it’s in alignment.  A house of cards stands because it’s in alignment.  You stand because you’re in alignment.  The better aligned you are the more relaxed you can be and the longer you can stand there without stressing your body.

So if you’re new to tai chi the most important thing to work on is alignment for maintaining your balance.  When you see an advanced player moving, the movement appears almost effortless.  When you try to follow along you quickly realize tai chi is simple but it’s not easy.

There are a lot of ways to practice your alignment.  One is to shift your weight slowly from foot to foot while standing.  You can do this in line at the grocery store.  How do you know when you have good alignment?  First of all you don’t fall over.  Second, when you have good alignment, this activity is extremely easy to do and you can stand like that for a long time.

In tai chi the better your alignment the easier it becomes to do.  That’s how you really tell if you’re in alignment.  So go stand on one foot and check your alignment.  It’s a deceptively simple yet powerful exercise for improving your tai chi.

Bye for now,

John