Comments on: Looking Forward to Tai Chi Classes

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 23:47:32 +0000

I believe that a good teacher can modify the form to their students’ needs, although it should probably remain consistent and not so much an “improvisation”. And isn’t the point of adjusting the form for the benefit of the students, and not the detriment of their joints?

By: Pearl

Pearl — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 15:15:32 +0000

Good your teacher is aware like that. I had a couple Tai Chi teachers who didn’t know body or thought they could improv and riff with the form. To my knee’s detriment. A third teacher was keenly aware of inner and outer forms.

By: Edrei

Edrei — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 04:22:35 +0000

Martial arts and extreme sports. I used to push myself a lot as a kid, even though I couldn’t really take it, physically. The end result are a whole lot of bumps, bruises, scrapes and broken bones. Some healed, some got worse over time, primarily my knees which haven’t healed in years.

I wouldn’t know much about Tai Chi forms. I used to see a lot of old people practicing it every morning around where I used to live. Slow meditative moves that work up a sweat.

I miss those days when I could let my anger out. Better in practice than unintentionally.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 18:13:32 +0000

@Kate Saltfleet — Absolutely…and the only things that can do this for me are Tai Chi and games.

@Edrei — Why can’t your body handle the physical strain anymore? Is it because of your previous martial art training? Many of my Tai Chi classmates are afflicted from things related to their days of learning hard “external” martial arts. From what I know, the Yang style of Tai Chi is much easier on the body, as long as your teacher is very aware of how to take care of the knees and prevent any damage from bad habits or sloppy practice.

By: Edrei

Edrei — Sat, 04 Oct 2008 00:12:06 +0000

You have Tai Chi, I had Karate and Tae Kwon Do. The side benefit to being able to defend myself against bullies when I was a kid was to get rid of those excess anger that I always had pent up.

Eventually though, it help me control and focus my anger and frustration to what it is now. Like all forms of martial arts including Tai Chi, it’s more about the discipline of mind rather than just the body.

Sometimes I think I should take up something like that again, while my body can’t really handle so much physical strain theses days, maybe there should be an equal alternative.

By: Kate Saltfleet

Kate Saltfleet — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 19:55:04 +0000

Isn’t it an amazing feeling when you find yourself doing something that’s so absorbing that everything else melts away?