Many folks in the coaching, teaching or instructing world jump on the opportunity of the New Year to let their students and potential students know that ‘its just another day’ or that ‘ resolutions don’t work’ etc. Indeed, there is plenty of evidence to suggest that resolutions don’t work in the vast majority of cases.

The originators and developers of Tai Chi likely had the goal of creating good fighter in mind when creating the training practices of the art. But many soon realised that, not only were some the attributes created by Tai Chi useful for combat, they were also useful for health. Indeed, many of the methods of health and wellness were required before the fighter could truly utilize the arts combative side after all, what use is a sick or immobile fighter? The training methods of Tai Chi are design...

Continuing with our look the various texts known as the ‘Tai Chi Classics’, this month we look at what the Tai Chi Chuan Ching has to say about posture and movement. This section from the Tai Chi Classics describes the way the body should be trained, both in its posture and in its movement, and although just s few short lines it is a great signpost for our practice. Indeed when we think of this verse, we quickly can associate it with the graceful movement and body position of the Tai Chi Adept.

In my opinion the concept of softness is perhaps the most misrepresented idea in all of Tai Chi. For many softness is to be floppy, it is to be soft in both musculature, structure and position. It is the idea to ‘yield’ to external forces and to be loose and slack when someone interacts with us. I have lost count of the amount of Tai Chi exponents that I have met who had embraced this idea, most of whom cannot maintain their structure or positional security when interacting with a partner. Con...