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My Tai Chi learning experience

by Vivien

I knew little about Tai Chi other than what I had watched in some of the Hong Kong抯 Kung Fu drama series. Tai Chi was portrayed as one in the highest form of martial art. The soft gentle movement of the tai chi quan has the appeal of the tranquility. This has always intrigued me to find out more on this soft martial art that used listening and inner strength to counter attack your opponents.

I started learning Tai Chi more than 2 years ago under Master Rennie Chong. I decided to learn Tai Chi Quan primarily to improve stamina and health as well as explore on this ancient art.

I remembered my few lessons were probably not very interesting. The warming up exercise plus the meditation, which had very little meaning to me, took more than half of the entire lesson. I was always wondering, why Master Chong made all his students go through these slow moving drills. Nevertheless, I just followed.

It was only through months of practices and continuous sharing of the knowledge by Master Chong and the 揝hi Siong?that I realized the slow moving drills is to build up our stamina. It is in fact the foundation building to prepare our body for the beautiful tai chi quan movements. These drills have certainly strengthen the core muscle around my legs and my trunk areas.

Tai Chi has also taught me to relax my body and mind. The slow and yet concentrated movements of tai chi quan has taught me to stay focus.

Learning tai chi is also learning to understand how your body function and let the qi circulate in your body. I have yet to fully understand this but I will continue to learn till the day I able to feel and reap the full benefit of practicing tai chi quan. The learning journey is long but worth every minute invested.

2010

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