How to practice Tai Chi?

I believe that everyone likes to keep in good health, but the ways of keeping in good health are different. Tai Chi is a very good way to exercise. Through Tai Chi, you can regulate your mind and body. Regulating the body's vitality has a very good effect on the body. Every step and every routine of Tai Chi has correct regulations, so we must know how to perform Tai Chi correctly.

Listening to the Force in Tai Chi

Listening to the force is a term in Tai Chi.

Listening to the force is the core of Tai Chi pushing hands and releasing.

Listening to the force comes from Wang Zongyue's Tai Chi principle of "familiarity - understanding the force - enlightenment".

Listening to the force is the prerequisite for Tai Chi fighting skills. Without "listening to the force", any Tai Chi techniques or skills will be useless in fighting with an opponent.

Therefore, "listening to the force" is very important to Tai Chi practitioners. Anyone who practices push hands or free-release Tai Chi will place "listening to the force" in an important position and train it continuously and in depth.

Listening to the force is the prerequisite for Tai Chi fighting skills.

Take Push Hands as an example. The two sides interact with each other, acting as yin and yang to each other, and a certain "field" is formed around them. In this "field", the strength of both sides is not only reflected in their bodies, but also at a certain distance from their bodies. In other words, the actual range of the fight between the two sides is larger than the range of their bodies. The author borrows the meaning of "magnetic field" and calls this range "potential field", which means the range where both sides compete in skills and potential.

In this "potential field", in addition to using your skin and central nervous system to listen to the strength of the opponent's body, you also need to use your ears to listen to the strength outside the opponent's body, especially in free-range fighting, including fighting with multiple people. This is the so-called "listening to all directions"! Although "listening to all directions" is a description, the requirement in Tai Chi is three-dimensional, all-round, and thorough. It is the three-dimensional, whole-body, and spiral operation of the "potential field" of Tai Chi fighting, which is more comprehensive and sensitive than "eyes watching in all directions."

We often say that when practicing pushing hands, we must practice listening to the force, learn to listen to the force, and master listening to the force. However, how to practice listening to the force well during practice also requires us to know the movement rules and change principles of listening to the force. As for listening to the force in Tai Chi, from the essence of fighting, listening to the force means understanding and discovering the opponent's offensive and defensive intentions, knowing ourselves and the enemy, and winning in moderation. When listening to the movement rules of strength, one must grasp the following five elements: one is the contact point (point of force) between each other, and the other is the size of the strength. The third is the changes in hardness and softness of strength. The fourth is the transformation of the virtual and real strength. Five is the direction and route of the force's movement.

In two-person pushing hands, we use the "four key points" of touching, sticking, connecting and following. The key to the "Eight Methods" of Tai Chi is to calm the mind, restrain the qi, relax the waist, sink the hips, and walk steadily. The muscles and joints of the whole body should be relaxed without the slightest clumsy force. Only in this way can you gradually train yourself to make the senses and reactions of your whole body increasingly sharp, to the point where you can sense the slightest sensation, thus training yourself to be a highly sensitive person: "If you don't move, I won't move. If you move, I will move first." The so-called listening to the strength is to train the brain's sensitivity and the body's natural response.

The most critical aspects of Tai Chi are the right time, right place and right people. We need to master these four points. We usually say that Tai Chi is just about pushing the opponent, but it is not that easy to really master the movements of Tai Chi. When pushing hands, you have to pay attention to the strength. The combination of hardness and softness is the most effective way for the body.