Tai chi is an ancient Chinese martial art and exercise that has shown to improve health and wellness.  Harvard medical school has said that “Tai Chi is not only meditation in motion, but medication in motion.”  There have been several studies that Tai Chi has been effective to help with balance, heart conditions, immune system, and stress reduction.  It is a fantastic exercise and martial art.

Master Lu at Master Lu’s Health Center in Salt Lake City has been teaching and practicing Tai Chi for over 40 years.  Master Lu’s Health Center has classes throughout the week to help you learn and experience the health benefits of Tai Chi.

When practicing Tai Chi there are several essential elements to pay attention to when practicing.  When you follow the essential principles to the best of your ability, your Tai Chi practice and skill will deepen. You will also feel better, energized, and balanced.

The Essential Principles to Tai Chi Practice

1. When Tai Chi Chuan is practiced, you practice according to principles of the abstract and the concrete. The excellent changes you make are in accordance with natural tendencies. During practice you should feel no imbalance—up or down, left or right, high or low, forward or backward—each movement must incorporate certain principles. Movements of you hands, eyes, torso, waist, and steps must all be consistent. In turn, the spiritual essence of power you feel will accumulate.

2. Your body will follow natural lines that continually change. You should do each movement calmly, as you employ the natural tendencies of movement externally for the limbs and internally for the organs. Following the natural lines introduces eternal happiness.   The heart introduces the qi, the qi moves through the body, and through an entire cycle in which it exercises the bones, the tendons, and the muscles. The hand, eye body movements, and stance are well tempered. Proceeding from the heart, through practice, this refinement is achieved; an endless natural energy fills the body.

3. When you practice Tai Chi, don’t be sloppy. The internal and external are one; breathing and movement never separate. Moderate your temper for this is an accomplishment. Anyone can practice Tai Chi, the old, young, or infirm. Don’t practice in an imbalance way, for this will cause exhaustion. Don’t practice to the point of physical distress for you will have a chance of injury.

4. To practice Tai Chi you first must be committed. Later, constancy of purpose must be used. Be sincere and investigate thoroughly with diligence. In four months, the heart gains an impression of Tai Chi. Within six months, the whole body and mind come to enlightenment. Lightness of heart develops, as well as a free and relaxed intelligent energy. The spirit comes to move in accordance with the qi, and the body is exhilarated and at ease, filled with ample strength. A thorough understanding comes upon the body and an exquisite state of being. Eventually you achieve a divine understanding.

5. Tai Chi is practiced not only to maintain the body, but also to prevent or remove invisible sickness. Where drugs may be ineffectual, Tai Chi may control sickness. The body and mind together look after the health in accordance with principles of physiology and hygiene.

6. When you practice Tai chi clear the mind of worldly thoughts. The spirit and heart become peaceful; the whole mind is devoted with a settled, inflexible will. Move your feet high and low, extend and bend slowly, steadily, and gently. Inhale and exhale in an even way. If the center is stable, the skill will become level and even the movements are arranged with what is right.

7. Practice these three principles of movement:

• Bend and move circularly
• Move uniformly, with aroused, wavelike energy
• Allow elasticity to permeate the revolutions of energy

From the beginning to the end, be consistent and unchanging. Practice daily, in the morning and evening. Study and imitate a teacher’s style, contemplate his carriage. Gradually, the vitality will become excellent, and the energy doubles. This phrase of the process is incomprehensible, though natural, and exquisiteness of energy is the result of the process.

8. As you practice Tai Chi, pay attention to these points:

The qi sinks to the dan tian (the area below the stomach)

• Pay attention to the general and the particular
• Move slowly in a circular way
• Be relaxed, yet bright and lively
• Upward movements accompany downward movements
• Internal awareness and external movements correspond
• Intention and qi are mutual
• Moving and resting are one
• All movements are even paced
• Don’t stop practicing daily; a complete understanding you will eventually achieve of the whole concept, and eventually the hidden meaning becomes apparent

9. Exhale through your nose, and inhale to fill the diaphragm. The temper stays even. The root of movement is in the feet. The energy is dispatched to the legs, and the waist is the controller. The energy moves through the arms and permeates the hands and fingers. Movement up and down, forward and backward, to the right and the left, internal and external; a unity of body is accomplished. Every movement is a change in perfection. The energy first opens out and expands, then embraces and gathers a profound silence again and again.   The effect is long lasting: if the effort does not slacken, the self becomes satisfied with the genuine meaning of movement.
10. Do not practice Tai chi after drinking wine: that would be of no benefit. Do not practice after having eaten to satiation: the intestine is constricted, and practice will injure the stomach and intestine. Do not practice when very hungry, for this will inure the stomach wall. When practicing Tai Chi, don’t cry for crying opposes the qi. When practicing Tai Chi, don’t laugh, for laughing is uneven with the qi. Don’t practice when angry, for this will make the qi contract. Don’t practice Tai Chi if there is a feeling of melancholy in the heart, for this practice will be unsuitable. Practice is most rewarding when done in the morning. Intermittent practice is of little benefit. Excessive practice will lead to fatigue. Regard with the eyes, and remain firm when at rest.

Come and learn Tai Chi to start your path better and increase health and wellness!