Cook Ding's Kitchen: Whole Body Movement in Taijiquan

Cook Ding's Kitchen: Whole Body Movement in Taijiquan: At Thoughts on Tai  Chi , there was a good post about whole body movement. An excerpt is below. The full post may be read here . I try to fo...

The Kwa Squat: The Engine of Your Practice #taichi

Basic Body-Being Exercises - Brendan Lea

Every Step

 

Every step should have the potential for a kick

Thymus Tap

Lawrence Gallante - Tai Chi

 Amazing what you can find on Youtube.

One of the first books I bought about Tai Chi was by Lawrence Gallante. Here he is doing Ch'eng Man Ch'ing's form.

Advanced Internal Martial Artists; Guide for

More Stepping stuff

So over the past month I've been focusing on stepping forwards.

Firstly I've been making sure I don't just put the heel down and transfer the weight immediately. I put the foot down without any weight to ensure it's safe to transfer the weight. I may also want to pick the foot up to step elsewhere without lurching backwards to do so or execute a kick.

This means staying on the supporting leg a little bit longer. 

Secondly I step with the ball of the foot almost touching down before the heel and foot rest on the ground. The image I have is a swallow swooping down but very gently.

Unlock Your Tai Chi Potential: Strengthening Kua and Yao for Mobility

Q&A on how to increase breath or lung capacity

Chungliang Al Huang: TaiJi at Wu Yi Mountain. A Film by Guido Ferrari Part 2

Chungliang Al Huang:Tao at WuYi Mountain. A film by Guido Ferrari Part 1

Cook Ding's Kitchen: Stoked to Practice

Cook Ding's Kitchen: Stoked to Practice: Sometimes our daily practice becomes drudgery. It's sometimes difficult to be enthusiastic about our practice every day, and yet it is e...

Tai Chi Chuan Lesson by Marshall Ho'o1986

Step like a Cat

So I'm concentrating on my stepping in the form.

Instead of just rolling my weight onto the foot I'm mindful of remaining balanced in the supporting leg and being able to pick up the foot I've stepped with without lurching or losing balance. 

If the ground is ok where I've stepped, i.e., no holes, obstructions etc. then I shift my weight and only then.

In practice this means a nanosecond longer in the supporting leg before shifting my weight.