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Tai Chi Journey
  • Home
  • Locations & Classes
    • Vaughan Thornhill Club
      • Regular Classes
        • Daytime Classes
        • Retirement Residence Classes
        • Instructor Profile – Janny Cheng
      • Celebrations
        • TCJ celebrates our 3rd Anniversary and Chinese New Year
        • Holiday Season Celebration 2019
        • Chinese New Year 2019
        • Chinese New Year 2018
    • Mississauga Club
      • Mississauga Classes
      • Mississauga – Fall Workshop Review
      • Instructor Profile – Ron Noronha
    • Danforth Club
      • Danforth Club Winter Classes, 2021
      • Review of 2018 at Danforth Club.
      • Instructor Profile – Silvia Wineland
    • Durham Club
      • Instructor Profile – Ellen Yau
  • Workshops
  • Benefits of Tai Chi
    • Member Comments
    • Health Benefits
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
    • Events Calendar
  • About Us
    • Senior Instructor
      • Patrick’s Journey
        • Michigan Intensive, November 2018
        • Michigan Intensive, May 2018
        • Netherlands, May, 2018
        • Workshop in Poznań, Poland, 2018
          • Poznań Workshop Reflections (p. 2)
        • Lindsay Tai Chi Club 5th Anniversary
    • Our Teaching
    • Tai Chi Everywhere (2019)
      • Tai Chi Everywhere
    • Inauguration Celebration
      • More Photos
      • Second Anniversary Celebration
      • First Anniversary
  • Contact Us
Tai Chi Journey Tai Chi Journey
Tai Chi Journey > Our Teaching

Our Teaching

Tai Chi Journey (太極之道)

Our teaching is based on the accumulated knowledge of many generations of Tai Chi (太極) and Internal Arts (內家) masters.
The unique thing about it is the emphasis on individuals.
Everyone’s body and physical ability is different: therefore the teaching for each individual must be specific.

The Journey (道) Begins

With a health focus in mind, we emphasize relaxation, balance and body alignment, when we work with new beginners.
The primary goal at this stage is to teach the students to move gently with proper foot and leg alignment.
Trying to memorize something new adds undesirable stress for many new students.
Therefore we encourage them to start with the correct posture for each Tai Chi move rather than memorizing the sequence of the moves.
The sequence of the moves will be learned by following the continuing students in practising the Tai Chi set.
For students who prefer to learn the moves and sequence at the same time, the instructor will provide necessary guidance.

The Journey Continues

The way a student practises Tai Chi evolves over time, with direction from the instructor.
In the first year, the form will be linear, with lots of standing up, sinking down and transferring weight from one leg to the other.
Students are practicing squaring the hips, stretching the legs, back and arm muscles, relaxing the joints.
The goal is to stretch the muscles to gain flexibility and to build up strength in the legs.
This is a weight resistant exercise and it helps in retaining bone mass.

The beginner journey normally takes three months.

Sensing of the Qi (氣感)

The next stage turns to practising how to use the spine to guide the movement of the abdomen.
This internal movement will result in sensing the Qi in the Dantian (丹田).
Practise in spiraling of the spine will gradually open the three gates (三關) along the Du meridian (督脈).
The Qi will be able to flow along the Ren (任脈) and Du (督脈) meridians as guided by the intent (意) of the mind.
This practice takes the student to the next level: the practice of using intent to guide the Qi to rotate the Dantian and spiraling the spine to drive the Tai Chi move.
At this point the students are starting their journey of internal cultivation (內修) to reach a high level of awareness.

Internal Cultivation (內修)

Taoists (founders of Tai Chi) conceive of the human body as a small universe within the universe we live in.
The body is described by the interaction of Yin (陰) and Yang (陽) and the same five elements (五行) describing the universe.
These elements are Metal (金), Wood (木), Water (水), Fire (火), and Earth (土).
The five organs that mirror the elements are the lung, liver, kidney, heart, and spleen.
Maintaining a Yin Yang balance within the body and mind is crucial to health.
Tai Chi is a practise that promotes the balance by stimulating the vital organs, strengthening the muscles and bones.

Available as a PDF for download.

© 2018 Tai Chi Journey

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