Principles

Relax

This is the beginning of Tai Chi. Gradually the gentle flowing movements encourage the body to shed its tensions: joints free up, muscles loosen, the mind releases its grip on our structure, and an overall sense of well-being pervades the body.

Sink

As the body relaxes it opens up to gravity which draws the body down into the legs which gradually become strong. This in turn strengthens the kidneys and develops power: a real investment for old-age.

Energy

As tensions subside and blockages release, energy starts to gather and flow in the body.

Alignment and Rooting

If the heel, coccyx and crown are vertically aligned then sinking and relaxing within this alignment will establish and develop a root. A root is an energetic connexion with the ground we stand on. A person with a good root can take any energy that impinges into their root, and can equally return energy from that root through any part of the body. Every part of the body offers a clear channel into the ground. The feeling is that there is no distance between the hand and the foot.

Awareness / Sensitivity

Without the impediment of gross tensions, the body starts to feel new sensations to do with energy awakening within. It also starts to become aware of other entities as energy-beings rather than just physical lumps. One also starts to perceive communication with other entities as exchanges and interchanges of energy.

Softness / Yielding / Listening

A quality which refuses to go against anything – a constant yielding. When one relaxes and opens to energy one feels no need to resist others but neither does one feel the need to draw away from them and retreat. Softness and yielding is that middle ground between resistance and retreat. It is a very nourishing place to be largely because it softens and transforms as it touches thereby encouraging a mingling of energies – especially deeper energies associated with essential nature. To be soft requires us to have started the battle of conquering our fears – the place from which our tensions and hardness spring.

Natural

"Natural way best way." This is softness taken further. It attempts to access our essential nature – an aspect of ourselves generally subdued by our desires and conditioning, and eventually install it as the fundamental driving force in our life.

Light & Lively

This is associated with a sense of humour – a refusal to allow things, even the Tai Chi, to get you down. It is a felicitousness – a natural and appropriate unhurried speed – quick and bright. An aspect of spirit which my teacher calls 'delight'.

Spirit

Spirit, or 'spirit of vitality', is an energy that rises in the body, expresses in the eyes, and is responsible for organising and coordinating all our faculties so that we work in prime condition no matter how we 'feel'. It is a natural fighting energy ('fighting spirit') and it starts to cultivate internally when the student brings the fight inside, battling their own fear, pride, arrogance, laziness, etc, albeit with a yielding softness. This is the arena of solo practice – a little every day is recommended. Eventually the spirit shines full and clear.

Sticking

This is an unusual quality – an attractiveness and natural adherence to things. It comes from practising perseverance with spirit – a gentle persistent spirit that teases constantly through the practice.

Open

Particularly the heart – an open heart naturally empathises and willingly engages. But also an open body. When the joints relax and loosen the body naturally takes on a rounder shape and as the energy develops the character also becomes round and full.

Entering / Embracing / Connecting

Knowing that no matter how one feels, and no matter the state of one's energy, opening and connecting to others compassionately, which requires a moving forward – an entering and an embracing of their domain – will bring positive affects all round.

Abandonment

This really means giving yourself completely and unconditionally to the task at hand – no reserve, no reservations. The connexions we make and the situations we find ourselves in are managed best if we throw ourselves in with enthusiasm and energy. Energy is there to be engaged and spent rather than hoarded, and only by spending it (wisely) will we get stronger.

Giving from the heart

Of our energy and our essential nature. This is what my teacher calls destiny: the deep sense of fulfilment that comes from making one's world a better place. If we never fully reveal and give of our true nature then our life has been largely wasted.

For an on-going discussion of the principles of Tai Chi and Heartwork visit the taichi heartwork blog.