Tai Chi has always been regarded as a way to be able to increase health and boost the immune system because of its slow movements and its relaxing nature. Now in this martial art, there are two aspects that one would look at namely the internal aspect and external aspect. If one would want to learn tai chi, then he would have to learn both of these aspects.
Now for those who do not know, the main concept of this art is the manipulation of internal energy or otherwise known in Chinese culture as chi. Now chi is an extremely important aspect to know about because it is the one thing that Tai chi aims to be able to harness. Of course in order to harness this hidden power, the only way to do that would be through breathing exercises.
Now there is actually a certain way for practitioners to breathe which is not like the way regular people would breathe. This type of breathing would require one to push in air into his stomach while inhaling and also pushing that air out of the stomach while exhaling. So if one would feel his abdomen moving up and down, he is doing it right.
Now one has to make this type of breathing his primary way of breathing because it is the correct way. When he has already gotten used to breathing like this, then he can already move on to the more physical part of the art. The first thing to do would be to learn about the basic stance.
The most basic stance that he will be assuming for most of the time would be the horse rider stance. The horse rider stance makes a practitioner stand in a sitting position similar to the position of riding a horse. In this stance, one can actually be able to get a lot of health benefits.
So for those who would want to try out this basic stance at home, basically it is done by first spreading the legs open in shoulder width and relaxing the entire body. Once one has already relaxed his body, then he has to now breathe in slowly and exhale while he bends his legs. Now all he has to do now would be to keep on practicing that stance until he will be able to hold on to that stance for around fifteen or more minutes.
Now once he has already learned how to do the horse stance, the next stance that he will be doing is the bow rider stance which is a lunge. After that, he will do a cat stance wherein his back leg will carry majority of the weight. From there, he will practice shifting from one stance to another.
Now after learning those stances, the instructor will then let the student incorporate some hand movements. This would include some slow punching movements, kicking movements, and even some pushing movements. Doing this will all encompass the forms.
Now for those who do not know, the main concept of this art is the manipulation of internal energy or otherwise known in Chinese culture as chi. Now chi is an extremely important aspect to know about because it is the one thing that Tai chi aims to be able to harness. Of course in order to harness this hidden power, the only way to do that would be through breathing exercises.
Now there is actually a certain way for practitioners to breathe which is not like the way regular people would breathe. This type of breathing would require one to push in air into his stomach while inhaling and also pushing that air out of the stomach while exhaling. So if one would feel his abdomen moving up and down, he is doing it right.
Now one has to make this type of breathing his primary way of breathing because it is the correct way. When he has already gotten used to breathing like this, then he can already move on to the more physical part of the art. The first thing to do would be to learn about the basic stance.
The most basic stance that he will be assuming for most of the time would be the horse rider stance. The horse rider stance makes a practitioner stand in a sitting position similar to the position of riding a horse. In this stance, one can actually be able to get a lot of health benefits.
So for those who would want to try out this basic stance at home, basically it is done by first spreading the legs open in shoulder width and relaxing the entire body. Once one has already relaxed his body, then he has to now breathe in slowly and exhale while he bends his legs. Now all he has to do now would be to keep on practicing that stance until he will be able to hold on to that stance for around fifteen or more minutes.
Now once he has already learned how to do the horse stance, the next stance that he will be doing is the bow rider stance which is a lunge. After that, he will do a cat stance wherein his back leg will carry majority of the weight. From there, he will practice shifting from one stance to another.
Now after learning those stances, the instructor will then let the student incorporate some hand movements. This would include some slow punching movements, kicking movements, and even some pushing movements. Doing this will all encompass the forms.
