I’m sure there’s a discrepancy between levels of “easy” as well, although I probably shouldn’t get into that, for fear of over-analyzing.

It’s the part about not obsessing that’s the hardest for me. When I’m into something, I’m really into it.

Hmmm… sounds like something I might say but it’s important to invest a slightly sarcastic tone to the word “easy” to get my probable implication that a competent form of taiji is anything but easy which helps explain why it can be very difficult to find a legitimate traditional expression of the art locally — even though many people teach it at a community-center level as a feel-good exercise suitable more to the elderly, the infirm and the lazy.

On the other hand, I suspect that an old-style taoist might also well have suggested that the reason so few people do it well is because it is so easy! Those who intellectualize may miss the forest for the trees and complicate their training with overly stylized, wasted effort because they won’t accept that “it can’t be that easy!”

With a little diligence and competent instruction taiji at its core is simple: be balanced, be upright, be light on your feet without compromising your ability to stand your ground, relax appropriately, learn many techniques and choreagraphies at a reflexive level — without obsessing about them — and then transcend those so your body moves intuitively.

What can be easier?