A Repeating Tai Chi Sequence

I have written this guidance for the very small form that I am teaching on Saturdays at the Patterson Park Observatory (Pagoda). This sequence takes two of the most important Yang Style Tai Chi movements from Professor Cheng Man Ching's form and creates a repeating sequence that can be done Anticlockwise and Clockwise and takes about four minutes to complete the sequence in one direction. (Slower if you want to really experience the internal energy 內勁 (Nèi Jìn).

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Tossing The Jade Pearl – Finding Yi (Intent)

There's a concept in Tai Chi that took me a long time to really understand. Yi (意). People translate it different ways. Intent. Directed awareness. The mind arriving somewhere before the body does. That last one is the one that clicked for me.

The old teachers had a saying: Yi leads the Qi, and Qi leads the body. Whether Qi means something mystical to you or just the way your body coordinates itself naturally, the point holds. The mind goes first. The body catches up.

What we're doing today is practicing Yi without moving a single muscle.

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The Living Taiji Diagram: Yin Yang in Movement

We are all familiar with the Tai Chi Symbol. It is one of the most well-known symbols in the world, yet very few people understand its symbolism. Fewer still have a deeper understanding of how this diagram relates to the Tai Chi forms, Push Hands, and/or martial applications.

The Yin Yang concept has been around for a long time. Here’s the timeline of the evolution of the Tai Chi Diagram.

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Tai Chi, Chi, and the Hidden Science of Your Body’s Energy Fields

Lately, I’ve been fascinated by how ancient practices like Tai Chi, which talk about Chi (Qi) as our vital life force, line up with what modern science tells us about our bodies’ electromagnetic fields and bioelectric rhythms. So here’s a little deep dive for anyone curious about the invisible flows inside us.

What is Chi, really?

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Imagine that you and your partner are two Jenga towers. In the game of Jenga, your goal is to remove a block without collapsing the tower. In Tai Chi grappling, the objective is the opposite. Your opponent's body is one tower. Your own body is another tower.

The question is not, "How do I push his tower over?" It is, "Which block is already loose enough that I can topple him with the minimum of effort?"

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Awareness in Tai Chi & Proprioception.

Western science has a term called Proprioception, which is our body’s ability to sense its own position and movements in space. Your eyes provide visual information. Your inner ears (the vestibular system) tell you which way is up and whether you're accelerating or turning. Proprioception tells you where your feet are and what every joint, muscle and limb are doing even when your eyes are closed.

The body uses its proprioception abilities when we are walking, sitting down, getting up, walking upstairs, dancing, swimming or playing sports. Anytime we are moving. It is working when we are asleep, on a subconscious level.

Professional athletes like gymnasts, Olympic wrestlers, figure skaters, rock climbers, martial artists, ballroom dancers, and professional sports stars all have highly developed proprioception skills honed after years of training. The fact that proprioception can be enhanced by training is important for when we age and lose some of those abilities.

How Proprioception Works.

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I recently saw a New York Times article titled “The Astounding Discovery That Could Link Eastern and Western Medicine.” It refers to something called the interstitium, a fluid-filled, connective-tissue network that runs throughout the body.

For those of us who practice Tai Chi, Qigong, or acupuncture, this is fascinating.

Chinese medicine has long spoken of Qi moving through the body, not as a simple “thing,” but as a living process of breath, intention, pressure, circulation, awareness, and connection. Western anatomy is now taking a closer look at the connective tissue, fascia, and fluid spaces that help link the body into one integrated whole.

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Over the past few weeks, I’ve had more conversations than usual with friends who are feeling anxious about the future. It doesn’t seem to matter where they sit politically.

People are worried about wars, the economy, rising prices, political division, and the constant feeling that the next alarming headline is only a few minutes away.

The strange thing is that many of us carry that anxiety around all day. We read another article, watched another video, scrolled through another hundred comments.

I sometimes wonder if this is exactly the sort of world the old Taoist philosophers were preparing people for. China’s history was hardly peaceful. Dynasties rose and fell, wars devastated entire provinces, famine was common, governments became corrupt, and

ordinary people often had little control over the events shaping their lives. The Taoists never promised that the world would become predictable or fair. Instead, they asked a different question: How do you remain centered when the world around you is not?

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