Tai Chi is like “following your heart”

Doing Tai Chi is like following your heart. You don’t just learn the routine and purely memorise the steps by heart. Practicing Tai Chi is evolutionary. It took time to comprehend what you understood in the class. Knowing the steps does not mean you are actually doing Tai Chi. Tai Chi, like any sport, you must go where your heart goes. By having said that, I mean you flow where the movements go – your energy, your feeling, your heart and your soul go with the direction where the movement is. You always imagine that you have an opponent in front of you and you need to keep an eye on your opponent at all time. Or you could imagine you have a lover in front of you, and you want to send and pass the energy to your partner. By thinking like this, you will feel the flow of energy like the curls of ocean waves. Each stroke does not go with an even pace, some a tiny beat faster than its own, while other strokes are a beat faster than the other ones, and most of all, not a single stroke stops. It continues whether it’s a slow stroke, a slight “picking-the-pace” stroke, or an extremely slow stroke. You could feel the heart beat of Tai Chi on its own.

I am a beginner. But once a teacher told me that he is teaching me how to do it well, not simply memorizing and anticipating in the routine. I began to understand the essence of his teaching. He is teaching me to follow my heart, feeling it, touching it, listen to my soul, my mind and every energy passing through my body. I never thought this is very important until I am able to apply to Tai Chi.

Sometimes, following our heart is the hardest thing. We forgot how to be just ourselves sometimes (i.e. sometimes it’s ok to be completely relaxed your mind). Everything is a distraction and also an challenge. Sometimes when we treat it as a challenge, we forgot to be ourselves (we get tense up and stress), as we see the challenge as something we want to achieve or meet the ends. But in actual fact, if we loosen up and just feel and follow our heart, we are able to perform each stroke of Tai Chi movement gracefully like the flowing water.

The secret lies in our heart. Listen and follow your heart. Imagine only you and your opponent (or your partner), you would want to face at the direction of your opponent (or your partner). If you are passionate, everything is possible.

- Written by Shirley, 2010