Tai Chi tips - focusing on one thing at a time

There are so many things to think about when you start tai chi.  Where are my feet?  What are my hands doing?  What movement comes next?  It can seem overwhelming at times.

It's like trying to eat a big elephant - where do you start?  In fact you may feel inclined not to start at all seeing the size of the task ahead.  So you need to break it down into bite size chunks...

One way is to choose just one movement and then focus initially on just one element at a time within that movement...

Starting in the basic upright stance, try these suggestions and repeat before moving to the next one:

• place the feet until you feel stable and the movement is smooth
  
• positioning and alignment of the knees until you know where they are
  
• moving the torso and the head together
• moving the arms paying attention to keep the shoulders down
  
• twisting the hands and be careful not to tense the wrists unnecessarily
• breathing easily and relaxing

Once you can do all these individually and in a relaxed fashion, then you are ready to work down the list building on the movement as you go from the ground upwards.  

Remember it is the repetition that is important in feeding the awareness into the body.  It takes about 7 repetitions  for the neural pathways to start laying down the pathway.  Try to "feel" and enjoy the movement.  

Let me know if this helps...

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