Tai Chi Daily Blog

TAI CHI AND BACK PAIN

back pain

This post was written by LK who is a guest blogger on Taichidaily.co As I continue working on fine-tuning my Yang style short form, I am experiencing mild but annoying pain in my lower back after each tai chi practice. To relieve the back pain, I was advised to “relax at the end of each movement and let go of unnecessary muscle tension”.  The big question is how to do it. We are often told to relax, but rarely are we taught any practical tips on how to accomplish it. Learning muscle relaxation as a general skill can transform our motor...

Read more →


STILLNESS IN MOTION

The discoveries I made during my first 2 years of practicing Tai Chi ChuanThis post was written by LK who is a guest blogger on Taichidaily.co I came to Tai Chi Chuan by chance and stayed because I loved the exquisite beauty of its flowing movements and its calming effect that I felt right away. At the time, I saw it as an alternative to traditional sitting meditation (which I tried to master many times over many years and only ended up torturing myself), as well as one of somatic arts, a kinesthetically intelligent and beautiful movement system that could...

Read more →


TAI CHI ON LONG ISLAND

tai chi long island world tai chi and qigong day

TAI CHI ON LONG ISLAND

"On the last Saturday of April each year at 10 am, tens of thousands in hundreds of cities, in over 70 nations come together... to breathe together... to provide a healing vision for our world." — WTCQD World Tai Chi & Qigong Day on Long Island, NY Shorefront Park in Patchogue Long Island is one of the many locations around the world to hold the World Tai Chi & Qigong Day annual event. World Tai Chi and Qigong day is a great day to take advantage of free Tai Chi classes on Long Island. There are quite a few Tai Chi instructors...

Read more →


TAI CHI EXPAND AND CONTRACT

tai chi expand and release

When I began my tai chi journey I would often use the image of the carnival water gun game as an analogy to understand how to form each tai chi posture. In the balloon water race game, each person sits at a table pointing a water gun at a plastic clown head or other toy-like figures. You aim the water gun at the mouth opening and when the bell rings shoot water into the mouth to inflate the balloon. The balloon is attached behind the toy head on a pipe. The first one to fill the balloon with air and...

Read more →


BREATHING EXERCISE

floating tank how can I relax tai chi relax

Recently one of my friends came up to me holding a Groupon ad. She said, "Can you believe they have floating tanks for relaxation". She showed me the advertisement which was a photo of a tank that looked like a horizontal capsule. The tank was large enough for one person, filled with salt water and temperature controlled. It seemed like the perfect atmosphere for relaxation. At first, I was like wow, another gimmick but after some thought, this really sparked some ideas for me with regard to Tai Chi practice. To really reap all the health benefits of Tai Chi...

Read more →