5 Principles In 3 Postures #2

This program of learning explores five key principles of Tai Chi in the sequence of postures 'grasp the sparrows tail', 'throw down' and 'double handed push'.

Copy the sequence of posture and movement using the Tai Chi video or images. Never do anything that is uncomfortable. After uncomfortable comes tension ruining your practice. After tension comes discomfort. After discomfort comes injury.

Discussion - Stability

While rooted in traditional teaching the embodied approach to Tai Chi enables each student to find their own unique most stable posture. To find, test and keep testing our best personal physical stability. How we place our feet today may be different tomorrow - we change, we get stronger or less flexible.

It can be misleading to just copy our teachers, it is better to have a different posture, one that is right for you, that enables you to move in that stable flowing way that we see in the form.

But Tai Chi is not just about being physically stable. When we are physically stable we also feel stable. Emotionally we become confident. This follows the philosophy of yin and yang, body and mind. One must affect the other both in a positive or negative sense.

Every time you seek your most stable physical posture as you practice Embodied Chi you are also experiencing emotionally stability.