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Beginning with taiji

If you haven’t practiced taiji before, the experience of it will feel new and initially strange. After due time though, you will get accustomed to the way of moving that is typical for taiji and also to the consequences of the energy flow inside your body. Always try to practice taiji in a relaxed manner and to develop your interest and involvement in a natural pace of your own. Try not to learn any new postures until you are completely certain of the motions you learned before.

Work on your own level en keep in mind that not everything needs to be learned during the first lesson.

Philosophy

Taiji is a learning process, not a religion. You don’t need a specific belief or certain ideas or wishes to practice this art and experience its advantages. Even so, you can find a lot of beliefs and theories in taiji referring to the Chinese culture it originated from. daoist thinking especially influences the art.

Learn more about taiji

The best way to start with taiji is learning more about it. Do some research of your own and then visit some local taiji associations. To find a suitable association and/or instructor, you can base yourself on the following: “ Finding the right teacher ”.

What does taiji implicate?

Learning traditional taiji implicates a commitment. You can’t expect to make progress by appearing in class once a week without also exercising on your own. Just like with every other discipline, it is regular practice that leads to progress.

Individual exercise

Start the process of taijiquan by creating a quiet and undisturbed space you can call your own. A 15-minute haven of refuge where you can physically and mentally rejuvenate by practicing the art. Soon you will see that taiji means more than just 15 isolated minutes a day, but that it can be integrated in every aspect of our daily life.

The importance of exercise

To make progress in taiji, regular exercise is important. At first it can be difficult to find time for yourself, away from all distractions, but regular exercise will make the energy of the qi flow and the associated benefits will follow automatically.

Perseverance and obligation

Learning traditional taijiquan is not easy. It takes a lot of dedication, perseverance and regular exercise to reach a high level. This under constant guidance of a well informed taiji instructor. Without good guidance your progress could be very slow or even negligible. taijii is a very subtle art and details are essential to it. It has to be taught properly, otherwise its essence will be lost and valuable time will be wasted. As the saying in one of the taiji classics goes: “Miss by a millimetre and you’ll miss by a thousand kilometres.”