Knowing the origins and original purpose of taijiquan (tai chi) and the internal martial arts will help you to walk a straight path in your practice.
Entering the Door: Understanding and Training the Learned Power of the Chinese Martial Arts – Introduction Part I
Part I of the introduction to the video series “Entering the Door: Understanding and Training the Learned Power of the Chinese Martial Arts.”
Two poems and understanding peng/lu/ji/an/cai/lie/zhou/kao
One purpose of poetry is to communicate succinctly. My favorite songwriter John Prine was certainly a poet—he could tell an entire story in one sentence. (The day after I wrote this, John Prine was pronounced Illinois’ first poet laureate 🙂…
Why Standing?
My Experience in Learning Standing Meditation Standing meditation was not taught a great deal when I started taiji in the late 1980s. I learned from a great local teacher, and as this was pre-internet times, supplemented my learning by routinely…
The foundation of the foundation of the foundation of taiji
In recent blogs I have written a great deal about the physical mechanisms of taiji (tai chi) movement, internal power, and understanding martial application. Here I thought it worthwhile to return to the foundation (sitting meditation) of the foundation (qigong)…
Awareness – #1 on our top 12 list
In our last blog post we listed 12 words to describe taiji (tai chi). The first on that list was awareness – a word that may not have been on many people’s list. Why awareness? Taiji practice is about knowing…