My first blog post and it seems fitting to maybe say what I think Tai Chi is. Actually, I think Tai Chi is probably a movable feast and it can be used for a variety of purposes – say from a physical callisthenics to feeling the ecstatic energy of the universe. I have been practising Tai Chi for 30 years, maybe half of that intensely with teachers and the other half, just myself. When I first started Tai Chi I thought, this all about energy and now 30 years later, I think this is ALL about energy. Whether you focus on health, martial art, exercise or spirituality, it is still about energy.
It seems that if you practice Tai Chi a bit you can feel Chi quite strongly, most often in your hands – warmth, coolness, magnetic or electrical type feelings. Then we undergo a process to feel more of this. We need to “Sung” – we need to loosen, relax…let go and release as much as we can and keep on doing so. The more we do this, the more energy we can feel and that can flow in us. We pay attention to our bodies, we inhabit our bodies with Mind, we re-train ourselves. One day if we soften and let go enough, not just physically but mentally and emotionally we might feel a flow or surge of internal energy – up from our feet to the top of our head. We become a being with feet rooted in the earth and head in the stars or cosmos.
So, in our Tai Chi journey we might well feel the ecstatic energy of the Universe and along the way and we will certainly have strong legs. We may well come into more balance within ourselves and hence our lives. What a treasure trove Tai Chi is!
