01 Begin Tai Chi

Begin Tai Chi - additional comments:
There are three techniques in this movement:
First, you raise and lower your hands. This move is a part of many QiGong exercises, but can also be used to tear yourself loose if somebody grabs your chest or throat with both hands.
Weight is evenly distributed between your feet. Inhale as the hands go up, exhale as they go down.
Next, you inhale as you sink your weight into your right leg while you ‘sit down’ and let your right hand come in front of your body, palm downwards, wrist on the center line.
Exhale as you turn your entire body, including your right foot to the right (east). Right hand keeps its relative position to the body, left hand sort of trails along. Both palms downwards. Weight stays on the right foot, left foot still points north.
‘Sitting down’ is essential to Tai Chi practice. It means bending your knees a little bit and at same time tucking your tailbone inwards and forwards so that your back stays straight. You do this all the way through the set. It makes it easier to turn and to connect the upper and lower parts of the body.
This movement is a parry. Somebody tries to punch you with their right hand, and you respond by having your right hand coming up under their arm, hooking it with the outside of your wrist and leading it past you as you turn.
Finally, you inhale as you turn your body towards the corner (northeast) and at the same time lift your left leg and step out in the same direction as the body, heel first. Weight is still on the right foot which still points east. Left hand comes up in front of the body, palm inwards, wrist on the center line. Left arm is rounded from the shoulder, make sure to open the armpit. Right hand goes downwards and slightly backwards, palm still downwards.
Exhale as you shift your weight to the left foot, still facing the corner.
This posture is called Ward-Off. Basically, it uses the outside of the arm to keep someone or something at a distance. If the arm is rounded properly, and the connection through body, lower abdomen, leg, and foot is properly made, it is almost impenetrable. The best way to do this is to relax and align the body. Ward-Off can be used both defensively and offensively. In this case you use it to ‘push’ into the right side of the person whose punch you just parried.
General advice:
Even if the movements and postures are hand-to-hand combat techniques, don’t perform them as if you are in a fight. Because you are not. But you need to understand the techniques to know the direction, progression, and flow of the individual movements.
Concentrate on relaxing and aligning your entire body, and connecting all the way from each foot to the fingers of the opposite hand.
When you inhale, imagine you are hanging suspended from the top of your head. When you exhale, imagine that you are stacking the different parts of your body onto each other from the floor and upwards.
Pay at least as much attention to your feet and legs, and the lower part of your body as you do to your hands and the upper part of your body.
Pay attention to which direction you are facing. Your entire body from groin to shoulders should face in the same direction. When you turn your body, try not to twist it.
Once you know a few postures, link them together in a smooth unbroken flow.
Don’t go too slow, don’t go too fast. Keep an even speed. You can always change the speed next time you start over.
Practice every day, even if it is only for 5 or 10 minutes. Daily practice gives the fastest progress.
REMEMBER:
EVEN IF YOU DON’T DO IT “RIGHT” OR “CORRECTLY”, TAI CHI CAN STILL BE A VERY BENEFIFICIAL WAY OF EXERCISING!
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