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T'ai Chi can Relieve Stress
T'ai Chi has been described as magical, and it certainly feels like magic.
Initially there is some awkwardness, the same as learning any new thing.
After some facility is gained though, it becomes quite magical whether
or not you are "pushing hands" and engaging in an energy conversation
with someone else or whether you are practicing the solo "form." The
magic occurs. There is so much of you recruited into each moment, and
on so many levels that it seems there is a symphony of sensation, perception
and ability integrated into a centrally balanced and fluid consciousness.
You are in charge, yet one with the flow. Quite exciting, while calming
and relaxing. And this brings up another set of distinctions-unity of
opposites.
 PARADOX
AND OPPOSITES
Excited and calm, exercising and relaxed, soft and powerful, yielding and overcoming,
and not moving in movement are a few of the opposites which occur simultaneously.
This very interesting exercise, while never boring, is challenging. It challenges
your preconceived way of being in relationship to gravity, your physical self,
your mind, and with other people. You get to look at choices previously made
on all these levels and rework those choices. This, of course, is growth.
GROWTH
T'ai Chi promotes growth. Sure, other sports do too. But T'ai Chi occurs on
so many levels and reaches so deep inside, you become a better person. (I
know, you don't need to become a better person.) And T'ai Chi doesn't make
you a better person, but it helps you to strip away the armoring and open
up the closed places allowing who you are to emerge, free from the limitations
which keep you hidden, weak and vulnerable. Another paradox, open up and
become powerful.
Imagine doing all this while getting the exercise and relaxation
you need on a daily basis for health. And then there is the cultivation
of energy, Chi Gung--Chi development. Learning T'ai Chi is an
opportunity to learn how to cultivate Chi, circulate it and use
it for health and self-defense. Check other articles like T'ai Chi, T'ai Chi and Recovery from Stress and How to Find a T'ai Chi Teacher. |
