Alright, time for another installment of Tai Chi Chih!

This week we go over “Around the Platter.”  This is the first of the general set of motions after the two warm ups we went over, Rocking Motion, and Bird Flaps It’s Wings.

Some keypoints:

• The breathing pattern is not strictly one way, but should be consistent within a particular set.  I always exhale while moving forward and inhale when moving back, but the reverse works just as good.  Find what is comfortable with you, and remain open to changing it if your body seems to dictate doing so.
• Soreness in the knees is okay, sharp pains are not!
• Take your time, go slow, and let the movement show you what it can do for you.

As always, you can check my Teaching Gigs page and stop in if you are in the area.  I’d love to see you!

Happy Tai Chi!

Here’s the next installment in the Tai Chi Chih series.  Bird Flap’s it’s Wings.

A few points for this exercise:

• Build up the knee flex slowly(!!), and make sure the knee moves along a line guided by the inside edge of the bone process leading up to your big toe.  Take it nice and easy and work up to deeper bends.
• Raising the heels is more important to the Chi effect of the exercise  than bending the knees
• Breathe!

Any questions, feel free to comment below.  Let me know how you are doing with these moves!

Check out the first move in the series here, as well as my teaching schedule.

Until next time, happy Tai Chi!

Welcome to the first installment of my Tai Chi Chih series. Tai Chi Chih is a simplified version of basic Tai Chi Chuan movements developed by Justin Stone,  and was what kicked off my first 1,000 day vow, and is what helped me to lose over 200 pounds.

In this video I demonstrate the first exercise in the series, a warm up called Rocking Motion.

A few points:

• Looking into the far distance, as if looking to the most distant horizon, helps with balance.
• Do not strain to lift the balls of the feet, or the heels, to high when starting.
• Try to keep the breathing consistent, but don’t worry about it too much at first. I tend to exhale as I raise my arms for the forward swing and inhale on the back swing, but any consistent pattern is fine.

Please feel free to hit me with any questions.  I’ll be releasing these videos weekly until the series is done.

Please see my Teaching Gigs page for my current schedule!

Cheers!