Everything we do, see and experience falls under the principle of Tàijí 太極, if it does not then it will not last long or not exist at all.
When we practise Tàijíquán 太極拳, we will use the circle that is Tàijí. The circle has two ways, one way is outward, which we call Shùn 順. Shùn means flow normally. The other way is inwards, which we call Nì 逆. Nì means flow against. We can see this if we circle one or both hands. Circling outwards feels easier than circling than circle inwards. This is why outwards in Shùn and inwards is Nì.
Whilst doing our forms, we should keep the mouth closed and breathe through the nose. This will make the body respond more internally and the organs will be more affected. During the whole practice, we should not think about our breathing, instead we should let the body guide us and we will sometimes breathe in and sometimes breathe out.
Grandmaster Tse’s Tàijí Fist 291
If we keep developing it, then we will become spiritual and wiser. If we develop our Qì in our physical body, we will have more power for martial arts.
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This is why we must have a good Sīfú 師父 – Teacher who has higher level skill than us. Whatever we learn, if we want to be good, we need a teacher so that we can learn the proper skill. So, we need a good Sīfú to teach us the proper skill and then we can go and practise ten thousand times and get it right.
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The other side of Tàijíquán is the fighting skill. The fighting skill also has a theory and follows the principles of Yīn 陰 and Yáng 陽. This means that when we are fighting, we can use the soft skill and the hard skill.
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First thing we notice is we start to feel healthier and so for most things we feel more positive. Then we look good and our spirit is strong…
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