The Philosophy of Embodied Tai Chi

‘Simple if you don’t think about it’!

Embodied Tai Chi is simply the interpretation of traditional texts and oral teaching as being seen as references to our internal physiological sensations and feelings. 

This hypothesis would interpret ‘Chi’ not as energy but as the perception of an internal sensation or feeling.  The concept of ‘Tao’ would be the connection - efficient working of our physical body rather than the usual interpretation of way or flow. 

Within the form we have a complicated interpretation of movement.  The opposites of yin/yang leading to the trigrams and hexagrams along with the elements from Chinese philosophy.  Combined together within the sequence of movements perhaps relating to the 10,000 things or the cycle of life described by Gerda Gebbes.  So taking this hypothesis further the eight trigrams that also relate to ‘Pa Qua’ practice and five elements seen in ‘Hsing I’ should be felt or sensed rather than studied.  If a posture relates to the hexagram ‘Mountain’ it is not just thinking solid / unmovable but also an internal sensation - how you feel inside when on a mountain or next to a towering cliff.

I say simply the interpretation with some reservations.  It’s simple because we all have the ability to do it, no special guru, system or book required.  It’s also possible that many people are doing this already and it’s just me that has spent nearly seventy years not understanding this simply way of seeing things.  However, much of our autonomic nervous system functions without our conscious awareness.  So I posed myself a question;

‘How do we know what we don’t know we already know’

David Hunt 2021

Well the ancient teachings of Tai Chi provide a helpful way to gain a wider perception of how our body functions, how to sense and feel what has largely been unconscious.  Take balance as an example.  As a one year old you were aware of the difficulty your body had trying to walk.  But today you probably walk unconsciously, without thinking about your balance.  If you don’t remember learning to walk you may recall years later learning to balance while trying to ride a bicycle.  Learning Tai Chi helps us pay attention to what our body knows (balance) but has moved outside of our perception, has become unconscious.  Paying attention – experiencing our physiological sensations and feelings allows us to become more conscious.  However, trying to do this just through rational thought is much more difficult.  Chinese philosophy warns us about over theorizing this process;

 ‘The Tao (way) that can be described is not the eternal Tao’

Tao Te Ching attributed to Lao-Tzu ch.1

If we don’t have the breadth of language to explore our physiological sensations and feelings we can at least experience them through Embodied Tai Chi movement and posture.

Perception of Opposites

There is another shift in perception that we need to consider.  Our Western world appears more and more polarized and divided.  A predominant world view seems to take an ‘either or’ standpoint leaving no room for a ‘both and’ inclusive perspective.  When you see the Chinese picture representing the opposites of yin and yang it may appear to us as a two dimensional image of black and white.  It may be difficult to see this flat image as a three dimensional spherical shape.  However, by experiencing the circular spiraling movements in Tai Chi it may also be possible to perceive the three dimensional sphere as two flowing vortex’s merging and changing with each other.  This hypothesis has been represented in the David Hunt Tai Chi logo for some thirty years.