Tai Chi Chuan by Douglas Lee

The philosophy of yin and yang and its application

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

i. Mottos

ii. Foreword

I. Tai Chi Chuan

II. General Principles and Rules

III. Tai Chi Chuan’s Solo Exercises

i. Mottos

1. First, we crawl. Then, we walk.  Then, we run. Therefore..
2. Stillness precedes motion.  Slowness precedes speed.  Softness precedes strength. Because..
3. Stillness, softness and slowness are the foundations of motion, speed and strength.

Table of Contents

ii. Foreword

1. ‘Soft Fist’ designates all schools to the left. ‘Hard Fist’ marks all schools to the right.  The schools toward the center incorporate elements from both extremes.  In soft fist schools movements are slow, relaxed, continuous, even and soft; emphasis is on the inward movement of the mind toward quietness, tranquility and meditativeness; training does not necessarily demand hard physical exertion.  Hard fist schools are: fast, tense, hard movements; emphasis is on the outgoing mind, competing and sparring with an opponent; training demands great physical exertion, the conditioning of all areas of the body for striking and blocking through the use of punching bags, etc. is a necessary part of training.
2. The term ‘internal’ refers to all methods of breathing designed for the sole purpose of developing ‘Chi.’ “Chi” means vital force, internal power, or intrinsic energy.  “Noi-Kin” means inner force, inner strength, or internal power, implying both the method and the result.  “Internal”, “Chi” and “Noi-Kung” are used interchangeably.  All soft schools (and many hard schools) practice internal methods,  the only means of cultivation of ‘chi’ or ‘noi-kung’.  
3. ‘External’ refers to all methods and techniques designed to harden and condition the body from a physical standpoint  (the internal method stresses a psychophysiological view).  All hard schools (shaolin) and soft schools (mol-don) employ external methods.  The approach determines whether its a hard or soft skill.
4. The vastness of martial arts schools runs from hard-hard, to hard, to hard-soft, to soft-hard to soft, to soft-soft.  The purpose of this book is to clarify the philosophy and principles of the ‘Art of the Soft Fist’ (Tai Chi Chuan, Bak Kwa Chang, Ying Yee Chuan, Judo and Aikido.)
5. To know the differences between the fundamental principles of both fists, allows one to recognize when (s)he is practicing Tai Chi Chuan properly.  Understanding the principles along with their application through meditation, health and self-defense lead to mastery.
6. Tai Chi Chuan consists of solo empty hands exercises as well as join-stick-push hands practice, sensitivity practice for two and solo forms of weaponry practice.  Understanding the principles of Tai Chi Chuan can benefit meditation, health, sensitivity, human relationships and master-pupil relationships.
7. Mottos

First You Crawl.

Then You Walk.

Then You Run.

STILLNESS precedes MOTION

SLOWNESS precedes SPEED

SOFTNESS precedes STRENGTH

Stillness, Slowness and Softness

Are the Foundations of

Motion, Speed and Strength

Table of Contents

I. Tai Chi Chuan

1. A Brief History - The Taoist schools practiced forms of exercise that combined breathing movements with animal forms.  Chang-San Feng took the best methods and techniques from each school at the time, combining, systematizing and codifying these elements.  The resulting art, Tai Chi Chuan has been passed down through the generations and has spread across the globe.  
2. The Concept of Yin and Yang -   The Yin (black area of the circle), can represent anything in the universe as female, passive, negative, night or soft.  The Yang (the white area of the circle) represents the opposite as male, active, positive day or hard.  The serpentine line signifies the flow and eventual synthesis of one area into the other.  The black spot in the white area and the white spot in the black area indicate that everything includes its own opposite.  Yin and Yang are a pair of complementary forces that act in the universe unceasingly.  They indicate that everything appears to be half of a pair of opposites: left and right, up and down, forward and backward, yet it is impossible to have one without the other.  The balance between opposites indicates their essential interdependence and the existence of a common ground on which they stand.  This common bond is the circle, representing the whole that contains and gives birth to the parts: Yin and Yang.  This whole is Tai Chi.

3. The Meaning and Relationship of Tai Chi to Chuan - Tai Chi Chuan represents a fusion of spiritual culture with physical culture.  Spiritually, it incorporates the principle of non-doing (Taoist) and the principle of serenity (Buddhist).  Physically, it utilizes the principle of health based on the strengthening and relaxing of the whole human body. Tai Chi is the grand ultimate, the beginning and the end.  It is timeless, the infinite, the eternal.  Tai Chi is reality, truth, God. Chuan means fist, representing the total physical being.  The practice of Chuan is the development of the complete being physically.  The practice of Tai Chi Chuan is the practice of a complete physical culture.  Its purpose is to use ‘chuan’ as a vehicle for experiencing Tai Chi.
4. Tai Chi Chuan and Yoga - Both are designed for meditation, self awareness and enlightenment.  Both stress good breathing techniques around the psychic navel center (tanden or hara.)   They both stress softness, pliability and total relaxation as essential techniques to bring the body and mind in harmony by making them one (satori).  

1. In yoga, softness and flexibility is developed by holding postures for as long as possible, concentrating movement flow and breathing to bring the different biorhythms of the body in harmony.  Good breathing practice leads to good biorhythms.  Good biorhythms integrate body and mind.  This harmony relaxes the body and mind and brings peace.
2. To develop pliability and softness in Tai Chi Chuan, one enters a form through slow movement, goes through the form then slowly leaves the form and continues without stopping, going through a series of forms and postures until the whole set is completed--like a rubber band pulled taut, released and pulled taut again, released again.  This is the principle technique of Tai Chi Chuan.  Tai Chi Chuan uses its flowing movements to create good biorhythms, producing good breathing naturally--a coordination of all body movements with breathing, like an efficient runner who makes it look effortless.  A static posture is never held. Therefore, yoga is an internal activity (actively focusing on the breath) creating external serenity (the ability to relax into a pose), while Tai Chi Chuan is external activity engendering internal tranquility.

5. Meditation, the First Basic Essential Element - In the beginning we come out of the world.  At that time we are barely aware of the world around us.  There is no ‘I’ who is aware of the world, no me, no self.  There is only awareness.  There is no center from which to be aware.  

1. Eventually we have many experiences and as these experiences are thought over, related and evaluated, the thinker, the experiencer, the self is born.  Thought creates a feeling of the center which in turn becomes the self, the “I”, the “me”, the sense of ego.
2. The self is all that is known.  All that is known creates a past.  With a past we are also able to think of a future.  The past and the future create time.  The self is time.  With no memory and no thought, there can be no time and no self.  Self is always bound in the realm of the known and time.  Time cannot know the timeless, but the timeless contains time.  Finite cannot grasp the infinite, but the infinite contains the finite.  The limits cannot contain the limitless but the limitless encloses the limits.  It is not for the ‘self’ to seek ‘truth.’ The timeless, eternal and unknown will be when the ‘self’ is not.  This knowledge and understanding of the ‘self’ is the beginning of meditation.
3. Meditation breaks down the wall the ‘self’ has built out of it’s knowledge, experiences, beliefs and ideals to give itself permanency, security and fulfillment.  Once the wall is broken, we are free to step into the river of life.  Moving with life with no resistance is to be completely open, sensitive and vulnerable.  Meditation is this state of freedom, openness, sensitivity and vulnerability.
4. Meditation is not a path to a fixed point.  The fixed point is the past.  Life is movement.  When the meditator is not, time is not.  Meditation is the timeless.
5. Tai Chi Chuan is a system that teaches body awareness, kinesthetic perceptions, sensitivity to the world around and sensitivity in relationship to others.
6. The Art of Join-Stick-Push Hands tests the sensitivity between two persons.  If each one has the proper attitude and proper approach to relationships.  Push Hands practice cannot be performed correctly if either partner has an incorrect attitude.  Meditation embodies the proper attitude and the correct approach to life.

6. Health, the Second Basic Essential Element - Good health may be perceived on two levels: the mind and the body. The mind influences the body as much as the body influences the mind.  When the mind and the body are in harmony, good health results.  Tai Chi Chuan is divided into several levels of training.  On the first level the training is done gently, slowly and softly.  As you continue, the training becomes progressively more intense and rigorous.  By following the progressions, it serves as an excellent system for getting back in conditions.  Endurance exercise builds up the respiratory and cardiovascular system.  It has splendid relaxation potential for those who lead tense lives or suffer from hypertension.  The exercises are such that intense concentration is necessary to perform the movements properly, so motivation is always high.  The system stresses the training and conditioning of the mind and body equally.
7. Self Defense, the Third Basic Element - Tai Chi Chuan is a proven system of self defense, a martial art.  The attitude of a Tai Chi Chuan practitioner when attacked is that the person who attacks is a living being, exuding life force.  When he attacks, it is his life force that is concentrated and swiftly bearing down on me.  Life force does not oppose life force, therefore do not oppose the attacker’s force.  Those who love do not destroy.  So, step aside and allow the attacker’s force to pass through.  As he comes flying by,  give him a little nudge to help him get where he is going more quickly.  

1. All phases of training must be mastered by first practicing them slowly, softly and with complete relaxation.  The Tai Chi Chuan student may later learn to apply the techniques with speed and power, but must still be able to remain relatively relaxed.  In the pushing hands section, the student must maintain his soft touch even though he may be moving extremely fast.  All blocking action in the pushing hands should be soft.  The blocking han or arm should feel hardly any resistance to any incoming force.  All self-defense techniques should be executed and comp;leted in one continuous flow.
2. In learning the system of self defense in Tai Chi Chuan, the student must progress through five stages of training:

1. Practice breathing while sitting in a moving straddle leg stance to develop both physical strength and Chi.
2. The student learns the solo, formal exercises.  These teach the student balance in motion, basic striking and soft parrying techniques and basic principles of softness.
3. The student learns the pushing hands exercise which teaches balance against an opponent, sensitivity of touch, timing and distance appreciation.
4. Learn the 88 movements, an integrated script of attack and defense, applying all the knowledge and techniques acquired from the first three steps.
5. Integrate and intermix all patterns learned from the first four stages, so that he can flow spontaneously from one pattern to another and from one form to another.  The goal is for the student to be able to defend himself completely and efficiently according to the principle of softness.

8. Meditation, Health and Self Defense are Complementary and Compatible - The practice of all three involves the training of both the body and the mind. In meditation the mind is very much involved with the body.  When the mind is disturbed, the body is disturbed.  Mental conflict is reflected in muscle tension and tightness.  In meditation, learning to relax the body relaxes the mind and helps to make the mind tranquil.  The mind uses the body as a mirror, reflecting itself.  The mind becomes more receptive.  Self defense, like meditation, requires awareness of the body.  To defend oneself from physical harm, the body must be conditioned to become flexible and strong.  A mind and body in harmony deny contradiction and incompatibility.
9. Meditation & Self Defense: Practice and Integration - Tai Chi Chuan is both meditation and self defense at the same time; the two are inseparable.  When you are practicing one, you are practicing the other.  System implies structure.  Structure implies form.  All the physical forms of Tai Chi Chuan are based on self-defense forms, expressing its martial arts origin.  Self defense forms are predicated on the principles of kinesiology: of balance and body mechanics.  The movements from form to form express the meditative attitude and approach in physical terms.  In all phases of Tai Chi Chuan training, the practices of meditation and self defense are intertwined.
10. Chi - Chi is an aspect of life force.  It is intrinsic energy, inner power, a vital force that is inherent in all beings.  Once released, this force brings robust health, strength and longevity.  Chi brings enlightenment.  The principle means of Chi development and cultivation in Tai Chi Chuan is the practice of the 82 movements.  Practice properly, this combo of relaxation and proper breathing within the movements is the key to Chi.  One is to bring one’s breath into a circular flow traveling from a point approximately 3 inches below the navel, up one’s back, to the brain and back down one’s front to the point of origin.  Along this path lie 12 centers.  Each of these centers acts as a filter.  Each time the breath makes its cycle, chi is stored at the psychic navel center.  Because breath is purified by traveling through the blood, lungs and mind, chi can be defined as psychophysical energy associated with the three.  The technique of relaxation releases chi energy.

II. General Principles and Rules

1. Psycho-Physical Relationship ~ The Eleven Key Points in Mind-Body Relationship

1. Be Soft (Relax) - To be soft is to relax, to yield, Softness serves five major purposes:

1. Promotion of Muscle Pliability and Flexibility - every muscle of the body is in a state of permanent, partial tension, even during rest (muscle tone or tonus).  The performance of any exercise requires the exertion of force and a corresponding increase in tension.  This focus or tension comes about naturally from the contraction of muscles.  For each contraction there must be complete muscle relaxation, otherwise residual tension remains, builds up, constricts and hampers muscle flexibility.  Then movements become jerky, inhibited and awkward.  If there is complete relaxation after every contraction, movement will be free, smooth and flowing.  Softness gives immense mobility.  Remember to do all exercises ‘softly’.
2. Minimum Effort for Maximum Results -  Softness promotes efficiency.  If tense all the time, force will be exerted continually, expending an enormous amount of energy.  To use only the muscle required to perform an action and not use muscles unnecessarily is efficient.  Learn to relax, to conserve energy and to utilize it more efficiently by expending only the amount really needed to perform a task.  Softness promotes efficiency.
3. Improvement of the Limitations of the Respiratory System - Softness improves function of the respiratory and circulatory systems.  Hardness impedes function by preventing the diaphragm and other respiratory muscles from becoming flexible.  To be soft is to have efficient muscles that promote flexibility.  Softness improves the function and tone of the circulatory system by making respiratory and skeletal muscles contract more efficiently.  This aids the return of venous blood to the heart by increasing the pressure gradient between peripheral veins, the vena cava. Respiration increases the pressure gradient between the peripheral and central veins.  Every time the diaphragm contracts the thoracic cavity expands and the abdominal cavity contracts. Thoracic cavity pressure decreases as abdominal pressure increases.
4. The Development of Clear Thinking - Softness aids clear thinking.  When the mind is quiet and calm, it is receptive and responsive.  The mind is soft (relaxed).  Only clear thinking can handle and cope with anxious moments and situations as they arise.

1. Acquiring relaxation takes perception, practice and willingness to train the mind into new habits of thinking and the body into new habits of action.  Complete habitual relaxation with no unnecessary tension is improbable for most individuals, but the ability to relax the body voluntarily, even occasionally, is well worth the effort and practice involved.
2. In the beginning, the mental state will be used to control the physical state in order to relax. In the latter stages you will discover that true relaxation comes from the mind literally letting go.  All effort, all thought, all desire prevents mental and physical relaxation.  It is only when one acts without conscious thought, without apparent effort that one is truly relaxed.  In that effortless area lies spontaneity, the heart of real relaxation (and performance.)

2. Be Slow -- Do formal calisthenics (Tai Chi’s 82) slowly.  Slowness serves seven purposes:

1. It gives the beginner time to think, that is time to concentrate on the execution of each form as it's being done.
2. It forces complete attention on the form as its being performed.
3. It prevents damage to tissues from sudden exertion and gives the muscles time to warm up.
4. It makes it easier for the instructor to note and correct errors in execution.
5. It prevents the use of momentum to help.
6. It teaches good balance through muscle control and coordination.  It develops kinesthetic perception (the ability to feel muscles contract and relax, to know what a muscle is doing and to know and feel the position of every muscle and bone while in motion.)
7. It prevents a person from becoming hard (building residual tension).  It is very difficult to be soft and relaxed when doing something fast.  In the modern world we have become conditioned to a faster tempo.  Tai Chi helps decondition from this fast moving pace, allowing us to find our own individual tempos.  In the beginning you will notice yourself tensing up if you rise above or below your natural pace.  Through constant awareness of a slightly slower tempo, eventually you will be able to be relaxed even at an extremely slow tempo.  In advanced stages, perfect control and coordination can be maintained whether moving slowly or rapidly

3. Be Non-Aggressive - When we ‘try’, it implies that we are ‘this’ and wish to become ‘that.’ While trying, we are still in an aggressive state.  You cannot ‘try’ to be non-aggressive.  You can only be non-aggressive.  Desire is aggression.  Aggression comes about when we feel empty and lonely.  These feelings create fear.  To overcome fear, see what you are at this moment.  Trying to become what should be, what you want to be, is merely an escape.  The struggle to be what you wish to be, the conflict between what you are and what you wish to be, creates anxiety or pain.  Possession, both psychological and material, gives momentary security but is  actually a source of pain.

1.  Non-aggressive does not mean passivity in self-defense but it does mean that you will not even think of harming or attacking anyone. Externally the look is composed. Internally, the mind is alert, open, responsive, and receptive, always aware of everything that is happening around you.
2. Non-aggression is established on a defensive principle, the logic being that if you do not try to oppose anyone or hurt anyone, no one will try to hurt you. It is applied to exercises through the technique of advance and retreat. If the opponent advances, retreat. If he retreats, advance. Left and right, forward and backward, up and down, hard and soft, all represent motion from one side to the other, stressing a balance of opposites. From the circle of Yin and Yang, female and male, soft and hard arises the principle of no struggle, no conflict, only union, harmony.

4. Be Natural (spontaneous) -  Every movement should be comfortable. If it is not, it is wrong. The limbs should never be held dead straight. They should always be slightly bent at the joints, with all the joints forming natural curves.

1. Breathing should never be forced. To force it is to tense the chest muscles and make breathing hard. If it is hard (creating residual tension)  then you will not feel relaxed after exercising as you should. You will feel tired. Breathing should be done naturally and easily through the nose.
2. A conditioned mind--a mind shaped by cultural, heritage, political, social, religious, economic and scientific--is shaped to conform to all past knowledge. A conditioned mind can only act according to its own conditioning.
3. A free mind can only exist through understanding of the conditioned mind. All conditioned responses are old. Conditioning restricts and confines.  As long as thought and the past act in the present, there's no freedom to respond spontaneously. Spontaneity is without preconceived thought patterns.
4. All thinking and motion should be natural and spontaneous. There should be no conceptual reflection. Everything should be automatic. To become automatic, understand the role technique plays in the totality. Technique or method is only a part. Once the value that technique plays in the totality is fully understood, you will have gone beyond technique and a method. You will be spontaneous and natural--perfection of method without apparent method. Outer form and inner significance merge into one unified whole.

5. Be Sensitive -- We respond to the present through the screen of past thoughts and emotions, often preventing us from seeing clearly. Because experience is fragmented, so is the response. To be sensitive is to see everything instantly and objectively and to respond wholly and automatically.

1. In the practice of physical culture you work to develop two main perceptions: the sensitivity of touch and feeling.  Through the skin, the sense of touch is developed.  Through the development of the entire organism, feeling is developed. Develop all the senses for a balanced awareness of surroundings.

6. Be Moderate (Avoid Extremes) -- Yin includes some Yang.  Yang includes some Ying.  Everything includes some attribute of its opposite.  The Tai Chi symbol represents the principle of moderation which, when practiced and applied in the formal calisthenics, gives a feeling of wholeness, unity and oneness.  The application of moderation is accomplished three ways:

1. Never step as far as possible.
2. Never extend the arms as far as possible (never lock the joints).
3. Reserve a part of the end of each movement for the beginning of the next one.

7. Be Always in Motion (Flow) -- Life is impermanent. It is forever changing, forever transforming, forever flowing. Life is never stale.  Whatever is static is dead.  Adequate muscle tone and a well balanced interplay of tension and release are usually associated with general well being and emotional stability.  From motion, serenity and stability are obtained by the release of tension through the continuous shifting of weight from one foot to the other.  Through this shifting, one side of the body becomes soft (muscles relaxed) and the other side hard (muscles contracted).  As a result of these skeletal muscle contractions, circulation is improved and the body feels relaxed and not fatigued.
8. Maintain Continuity - Continuity is applied in calisthenics in three ways:

1. The same tempo is maintained throughout each movement.
2. From the beginning to the end there should be no break.  To move smoothly and evenly is to emerge uniform and strong.
3. The beginning is the end and the end is the beginning.  That is the circle and cycle of nature.
4. In formal calisthenics (exercises to achieve bodily fitness and grace of movement) finish the same way you started.  By doing so, you return to the beginning, to your origin, you complete the circle of life.
5. Uniform tempo and speed contributes to an even flow, thereby preventing any breaks and aiding in the continuity of the whole.

9. Be Timeless - Time is memory.  Without thought, there is no memory, no time. Give complete attention to  each moment. You must not think about what you have just done or what you are about to do.  Otherwise, these thoughts will fragment attention.  Fragmentation divides the mind and wastes energy needed for attention.  You must ‘die’ totally to each form as it is completed.  Let go of the past completely.  Pay attention to what you are doing now and the present will ever be fresh and new.  The beginning is the end and the end the beginning.  All is timeless and eternal.
10. Be Attentive (Alert, Aware) - Attention is complete when the mind is not distracted and fragmented.  Attention gives the mental connection to a physical exercise.  Attention is the integration of the mind and body.  Attention encompasses concentration.  In sparring, use the peripheral vision of the mind and not its central vision, to not over-concentrate, otherwise you see only the hands of your opponent and not his whole body.

1. Attention equals spontaneity and harmony.  In perfect attention everything is done naturally, a union of mind and body occurs.  The mind is the body.  The body is the mind.  They are inseparable.  All physical things are done automatically, naturally and spontaneously.  When the mind does not think about what it is doing, then everything is done quite readily without any delay or doubt.
2. Use the mind: intelligence, ingenuity and skill overcome brute force.  Use soft to overcome hard.  True strength lay not in the brute exertion of the physical but in the effortless execution of the mental.

11. Harmonize - Life is consciousness. Yet, the mind of man divides the world.  But reality is not an image, a symbol, a word.  Reality is everything. It is all of life: animate and inanimate, culture and environment, abstract and concrete, chemical and biological, mental and physical.  A whole, completely integrated person is able to confront and resolve challenges wherever he goes in real time.  A mind that is completely open faces any decision in life and responds totally.  An open mind sees any particular challenge from the proper perspective in relation to the whole; and therefore, gives that part its appropriate value.

1. This is the importance of being an integrated person.  An integrated human being lives in harmony with reality.  Harmony has wholeness and unity.  Union has no division.  If there is no division, there is no struggle, no conflict.  The softness, lightness, gracefulness and the perfect coordination of all movements reflect the thorough integration of mind and body.  This integration harmonizes you with the universe and gives you peace.

2. Physical Principles and Rules: Balance and Body Mechanics

1. Footwork

1. Stepping - Always lift the feet.  Never drag them.
2. Stepping and Turning - Keep the feet as close to the floor as possible.
3. Stepping and placement -  Be sure that you have firmly established all the weight on one foot before stepping out with the other.
4.   Placement - the feet should be placed coming down heel first on forward movement and toes first on backward movements, except where specially noted to the contrary.

2. Keep the shoulders and hips level and the torso perpendicular to the floor as you twist and turn.
3. Maintain an erect posture.  The head, neck and spine should form a line that is perpendicular to the floor.
4. Do not permit the knees to extend beyond the toes of the feet, one loses balance if the center of gravity extends beyond the base of support.
5. Do not lock any joint of the body. If a joint is in a safe position for the body, it must be able to give any direction in order to absorb the force of an unexpected blow.
6. A wide stance results in a lower center of gravity and a wide base of support.  It increases stability but decreases mobility.  A narrow stance results in a higher center of gravity and a small base of support.  It decreases stability but increases mobility.  Either is desirable depending on the circumstances.
7. The muscles surrounding the thigh are the strongest set of muscles in the human body.  Utilize the power of these muscles by concentrating all movement around and through the turning of the hips.
8. For maximum effect when turning, twist the whole torso as a unit, not isolated parts.
9. If subjected to pushes, pulls or blows with a strong horizontal component, greater stability is obtained if the feet are separated in a stance parallel to the direction of the line of force.
10. Do not neglect head and eye movements.  They should face straight into the direction you move.  The head leads and the rest of the body follows.
11.  Arms and hands usually describe a circle or part of a circle (an arc) through any number of places: horizontal, vertical, frontal or coronal.  

3. Breathing Methods and Rules

1. Breath through the nose
2. When breathing in, expand the abdomen.  When breathing out, relax. Center breathing around the tandem (the point two inches below the navel.)
3. Breathing with movement

1. Raise the Arms - Breathe in, Lower the Arms - Breathe out
2. Open the Arms - Breathe in, Close the Arms - Breathe out
3. Push Out - Breathe in, Withdraw - Breathe out
4. Kick - Breathe in

4. Deep Breathing of the Diaphragm -  There is no way to exercise the diaphragm except by breathing.  Unless it functions properly, deep breathing is not possible.  Proper muscular relaxation is the technique to help remove all obstacles that prevent the diaphragm from functioning well.
5. Do not force breathing to fit into form and movement.  Form and movement must follow the rhythm of breathing.
6. Do not force breathing at any time.  The human body is so perfectly synchronized that the need for oxygen in the body cells and the rate of delivery by the respiratory and cardiovascular systems to these cells is automatically regulated.  The two main problems caused by forced breathing are ‘hypoventilation’ and ‘hyperventilation.’Both upset the natural balance of carbon dioxide and oxygen necessary for normal function of the body and brain.

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III. Tai Chi Chuan’s Solo Exercises

1. The Approaches to Practice - Tai Chi's solo exercises vary in length from 24 to 250 movements, depending on the particular school.  Regardless of the movements practiced, approach it according to the following principles:

1. Know the general principles and rules of Tai Chi Chuan thoroughly.
2. In practice, first concentrate on the principles of balance and body mechanics.  Second, stress the three principles of softness, slowness and flow of the 11 key points.  Third, apply the principles of self defense to the forms.  Fourth, concentrate attention at all times on your three main centers:

1. Center of gravity
2. Psyche-navel center
3. Center of mind

3. Concentrate equally on the technique of movement and the technique of form.  Movement is the coordination of hands and feet at any point in movement.  The position of the foot determines balance and direction of force.  The position of the body determines balance and the efficiency of the force applied.  The position of the arms and hands determines the efficiency of a particular block.
4. Master the complete section of Tai Chi's 82 before proceeding on to the next one.
5. Once the complete set has been learned, concentrate on beginning and finishing on the same spot.
6. Take as much time as possible to complete the set.  The 82 movements should take at least 30 minutes when one has become proficient.
7. Learn to do the movements to the left as well as to the right.
8. Practice the solo sets at least two times a day.
9. If little time is available, practice one of the three sections separately.
10. Performing a separate section of the long form both to the left and to the right enables beginning and ending on the same spot.
11.   The principles of the art of joined hands  also apply in the solo exercises.  Give complete attention to the forms and the movement from moment to moment.  Not to resist is to be receptive and open to let go and flow with the movement.  
12.   Wait to practice at least a half hour before rising, one hour before eating, one hour after eating and one hour before going to bed.

2. Philosophical Significance - Practice the movements by moving from form to form without break or change in tempo or rhythm.  The many forms symbolize many living things, continuous movement can be taken to mean that all life is in movement.  Beauty does not lie in any one particular form, but is found from beginning to end.  The beauty of life does not lie at any one of it's stages but in the whole movement from birth to death.
3. Tai Chi's 82 - Illustrations

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