Think of walking tai
chi style as gliding the torso-head (consider it a cylinder) from foot to foot
as you step. The reason for writing
torso-head is to emphasize that the head is balanced on the body and moves with
the body. The body moves from its
center, the tan tien, in the middle of the lower abdomen, a little below the
navel.
Walk naturally and
begin to tune into your body (torso-head). See if you can experience your body
being moved forward as you move from leg to leg. Don't move quickly. Try to get
the sense of its moving, from being over one foot to over the next foot, and so
on.
If you know how to
do tai chi, apply this to your practice. Notice how your body glides from one
weighted/rooted foot to the next.
Once you have a
sense of this, begin to increase the speed of shifting your weight
forward until you are walking at a slow but comfortable pace.
You could add
another visualization practice. Imagine
a guide wire (thread, cable, your choice) attached to your tan tien pulling you
forward.
Remember what is
said the in the tai chi classics. "Mind moves chi, chi moves
body." Mind here is yee or will,
and imagination is the intermediary to developing will. "After long time practice, you think it,
you do it." Mr. Lui. In this regard, tai chi is mind more than
body, though they are one. "At its
highest tai chi is Zen." Mr.
Lui. Pure mind.
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