Tai Chi Chuan: Pacing and Parsing

Tai Chi is a beautiful art. Its slow, graceful movements are a pleasure to watch, and a pleasure to practice. From the smooth, hypnotic pace of Yang to the combat-ready Sanduk form, Tai Chi is great stuff! And it’s great for health. But wait – there’s more…
Because Tai Chi Chuan (“grand ultimate fist”) started as a martial art, any of the forms can be adapted to combat techniques. But why do people practice so slowly? You can’t fight at that turtle pace, can you?
Only if your opponent is a turtle.
There is an old saying in the martial arts: “If you want to move quickly, practice moving slowly. If you want to move like lightning, practice standing still.” Stillness teaches relaxation, and the more you relax, the less your antagonistic muscles are fighting what you want to do. Thus speed improves.
The slow, even pace of Tai Chi lends itself well to learning the skill of relaxing. In the same way, absolute stillness of body and mind allows readiness for quick action, mentally and/or physically. Now, your body and mind can get only so still. If your heart or brain stops entirely, you’re in trouble. But relaxing – letting go of tension and distracting thoughts – allows our mind and body to do what they were meant to do when we’re not fighting ourselves with worry or tension.
Tai Chi practice lets us approach this state. We repeat the movements so many times that our mind is no longer involved in the process: the body remembers and simply moves without much conscious effort. Some people get so good at this that they almost literally do Tai Chi in their sleep, or at least a deep meditative state such as alpha or theta. Now that’s relaxed!
Do we want to practice Tai Chi only at a turtle’s pace? In my opinion, no we don’t. Especially when a beginning student is trying to remember the sequence of a form, going that slowly can undermine our natural memory processes. Some people will never learn a form going that slowly – too much time for distraction while they’re getting wound up for the next move.
And as we mentioned before, nobody fights at that pace. So sometimes it’s a good idea to use explosive pacing to simulate combat. How many moves you do in a row at this pace is up to you – that’s what I mean by parsing – breaking the form into smaller parts and thus analyzing the "syntax" (structure) of the form.
You can also use dynamic tension, which will be covered in another article.
So keep reading! And keep practicing your Tai Chi, like a turtle and like a wildcat!
Juli Hartmann
Master Instructor and Owner
Texas Holistic Arts Center / Sacred Source
For more information about martial arts classes, tai chi classes, kickboxing classes, kung fu classes, massage, Reiki and holistic healing in Leander, Texas, visit http://www.texasholistics.com, or feel free to call us at 512-778-5778
Texas Holistic Arts Center offers kung fu, tai chi chuan, kickboxing, yoga, massage, Reiki and special workshops, including weaponry and Reiki instruction. www.texasholistics.com
Also visit www.SacredSourceHealing.com
Copyright © Juli Hartmann 2009