INSTRUCTIONS FOR T'AI CHI PRACTICE

By Barbara Baker

* Firstly, please don't panic when you look at the written instructions for Part One! If you use these instructions to try to work through sections you haven't already practised in class you will find it almost, if not totally, impossible and will become disheartened. The written instructions are really a back-up to the class, to help you if you get lost! In any case, I am attracted by the words of Chungliang AI Huang, author of 'Embrace Tiger, Return to Mountain, founder of the Living Tao Foundation in the United States, an international cultural arts centre, and T'ai Chi instructor, whose approach is very much the antithesis of what you might hear from many of today's T'ai Chi instructors. He says: 'The essence of T'ai Chi is really to help you to get acquainted with your own sense of potential growth, the creative process of just being you. T'ai Chi helps you to be you and to let that sense of wonder and development and constant joy of changing happen in you. T'ai Chi is a discipline that you as a person, as a human being, can begin to dig into and practice, and it will serve you.' 'If you understand the principles of the movement, you will not get stuck in worrying about the irrelevant details - how large it should be, or exactly when to begin turning etc. If you only pay attention to details, you will feel awkward and confined. The minute you feel confined and you start to think, then the flow gets stagnant and polluted. Pretty soon your movement becomes dead and looks as if you are only trying to copy the master's instructions. If there is any rule in the learning process of T'ai Chi, it's the minute that you feel confined into anything, get out of it first, and then flow back into the form once more.' 'T'ai Chi has a particular flow and pattern. But if you pick up a T'ai Chi book, usually it has a series of poses and a lot of little footprints in the directions. It rem inds me of Arthur Murray's old dance manuals with footprints on the floor, for doing cha cha cha and tango. People never could learn to dance through the Arthur Murray dance books so finally they had to go to the dance school. You cannot learn movement that way because you try to fit yourself into that rigid, fragmented pattern. If I saw everybody go out on the deck and do the T'ai Chi form in unison, I wouldn't say 'Bravo!' I wou ld say 'How sad'. So many people just go through the motions mechanically and that's the end of true creativity. T'ai chi may look from the outside like a pattern or structure, but what is happening inside the body must be very different. ' I hope Chungliang AI Huang's words inspire you to believe in yourself and recognise that 'knowing the steps' of the T'ai Chi form is only a tiny part of what T'ai Chi is about - which gets back to one of the first things I said to you about 'don't be in a rush - the journey is the destination' (I love that phrase!) . This is all a very long-winded way to say that when you get home with 'the instructions' attached, don't paniC! In fact, you could do worse than chuck them straight in the bin and just move around your front room in a

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'T'ai Chi' sort of way, combining any of the movements you have learned so far in any order and in any way and even improvising! For you are likely to get more of the feel and essence of the real 'T'ai Chi' doing that than by trying to follow the instructions attached! This would be heresy to many T'ai Chi instructors but to Chungliang AI Huang it makes perfect sense because he recognises that T'ai Chi is about more than the sum of its parts - and while of course you want to aim to learn 'the steps' and the correct position of your hands, feet, body etc, your T'ai Chi is your T'ai Chi - it will look different to the person standing next to you, and that doesn 't make it 'wrong' . The steps are part of the discipline of T'ai Chi, and there are good reasons behind the principles, but once learned they don't have to be a straightjacket. If you observe the basic principles then there is room for creativity, room for you being you! So take heart - you are doing absolutely fine!

Tips: * Before you start, remember to warm up. * Remember your stance - find your point of balance and stand evenly weighted, head held straight, as though golden thread pulling you up to the sky from the crown, chin tucked in, spine straight, little spaces under the arms, arms held loose, hands with fingers loose not closed, seat tucked under, let your pelvis drop. Check your stance sideways by looking in a mirror - are you leaning back or forward? You shouldn't be! Let everything sink as though you are trying to make a deep impression with both feet in the sand. Relax! But not so much you are limp. Focus on your Dan Tien -just below the navel, where your 'chi' energy is stored. * When you begin the form, remember you should be facing North (or notional North for practice purposes). Your first turn is to the East. * Don't worry if you can't remember any of the movements - this is perfectly normal for the first few weeks or even months. Then suddenly you will find a little bit 'clicks' into place and then another and another. Remember, the journey is just as important as the destination. The destination is the journey!! So don't become downhearted if your memory fails you when practising alone. * If you can remember only the opening sequence of arms rising to shoulder level, drawing the elbows in and then hands softly down, you could keep doing that movement in a circular rhythmic way so you have a short sequence to practice until you remember the next part. * Try this simple Chi Kung exercise to build up your awareness of Chi -stand with feet hip width apart, knees slightly bent etc as though beginning the Form . Then raise your arms in front of you, nicely rounded, palms facing you, as though holding a balloon or circle of energy. Sink, relax and gently focus on your breathing - slow breaths out and let the in-breaths take care of themselves. Feel tension melting away from your body. Keep going until your arms get tired!

Good Luck!