My Favourite Books

The Essential Movements of Tai Chi by John Kotsias is an old book I bought in 1989.

It is not about form. Instead it provides a number of interesting exercises to develop tai chi qualities, such as rooting, springy spine, springy step etc.

There is a good presentation of tai chi principles, such as keeping the weight of the boy continuously going downward, even if the arms or legs are going outward. I like the translation of the Nine Secret Messages by Ng Man Hap at the end of the book such as " the art of confused circles is most difficult to comprehend. However, its changes and variations are mysteriously unlimited".

You can still get second hand copies on  Amazon, I believe.

Thymus- Seat of the Human Soul

Interesting article on the Thymus, especially for those students of John Kells who are interested in this area of study.

Read here.

No flourishes

John Kells always stressed we shouldn't be making flourishes in our Tai Chi.

There is a beauty to the natural, soft, relaxed  and powerful movements that are in accordance with the principles.

Here is a good post from Martin Boedicker's  Tai Chi Chuan and Philosophy Blog to illustrate this point.

small-thought-embellished-movements

Brisbane Chen Taiji

I don't practise Chen style but the drawings on the Brisbane Chen Taiji website are just fantastic.

You can find them here: Brisbane Chen Taiji

They speak for themselves.

DEVELOPING SHORT THROW POWER

This is an interesting exercise from Mark Cohen - Inside Zhan Zhuang. I  practise a method using the hands as if throwing sand at another person but I'll give this one a try.

Jphn Kells - Mysteries of Reality

Mysteries of reality number nineteen

The root starts to develop at the moment of birth, but it is important to realise where the root originates. The root originates from before birth in the kidney energy and after birth in the heart energy, but heart energy is uncomfortable without the strength of the thymus gland. It boils down to the essence of love. Love from this point of view is the giving, sharing, and caring that you can muster without counting the cost. Nurture is there, your hope is there. When peace tries to escape it is captured by your need for solitude. This solitude carries the grace of courage which enables you to find the enemy of love in the selfish greed which is the first instinct of the lost generation, which we undo by our daily prayer of root.