Tai Chi Training Techniques: Movement Requirements
by Sifu Kwong Wing Lam Founder, Wing Lam Kung Fu

The requirements of the overall movements of Tai Chi are also known as "training techniques." Although different styles of Tai Chi have their own specific characters, their training techniques are similar. This article will cover these topics broadly so that all students of Tai Chi can become familiar with them.

Posture
When practicing Tai Chi, you must stay calm and relaxed. First, calm your mind, loosen your body, and relax your muscles, joints, and internal organs. Second, hold your body naturally straight, so that the crown of your head is lined up with your perineum. To do this, avoid sticking out your chest, stomach, or buttocks, lowering your head, bending your waist, or arching your back. Third, breathe naturally, using the stomach muscle to inhale and exhale, keeping your stomach full and chest empty. Even when turning or moving you should try not to break this posture; your lower body should be steady while your upper body is agile.

Performing the Movements
Stay focused from the beginning until the end of the practice session, always using your mind to lead your movements. Tai Chi movements should be soft, even, and done with ease and agility; do not use muscle power. The movements must follow an arc or circle, moving every muscle and joint smoothly. When practicing, you must slowly exercise your inner layer of muscle as well as the outside layer. The movements must have equal force, and be linked together slowly and continuously. Poses and movements must be perfect so that nothing is awkwardly sticking out or bending in, and the flow of the movement must be unbroken.

Upper Body Movements

The Waist:
The center of all movements is the waist, which makes it crucial for the waist to stay loose, steady, and erect. Your waist must not sway, and your sacrum must be steady and powerful, resulting in a low center of gravity. When moving, turn your waist slowly, moving your arms and legs with it.

The Head and Neck:
Keep your head straight; the Baihui (located directly above the middle point of the anterior hairline, at the middle point connecting the apexes of both ears) must always point up. When moving, your eyes must move first to the point where you intend to go, but your eye must always follow and look at your outstretched hand. When stopping at a pose, look forward beyond your hand while keeping the middle and index fingers in sight. Slowly looking further, you should become aware of your surroundings. Your neck should turn with the direction you are looking. The neck must not be stiff, but yet be powerful. Your lips should open or close naturally, with the jaw slightly pulled inward. Press your tongue gently against the ceiling of your mouth. This causes an increase in the secretion of saliva, which helps to keep the tongue moist when training. Make it a habit to inhale and exhale with your nose.

The Arms and Shoulders:
Your shoulders must be relaxed and parallel. Your elbow must be loose and slightly bent, and you should use your mind to focus your energy at the tip of the elbow. This will make the movement of the arm light and sensitive, yet strong when moving forward, backward, or turning. The wrist must be flexible, yet powerful. The forearm bone must follow the movement with sinking energy. The fingers have to be relaxed and extended. When executing a palm push movement, the heel of the palm needs to be slightly extended forward. If the middle finger has power, then all the other fingers following it will have power also. Moving the arms requires turning the wrist and twisting the forearm. The arm movements can either turn clockwise or counterclockwise. Those are the requirements of the movements of the upper body.

The Back and Chest:
Empty the chest and stretch the spine. Emptying the chest means relaxing the chest muscles and pulling the rib cage slightly inward, so that no tension is present in your inner body. Both shoulders push slightly downward, and the spine should be kept straight while the back muscles are relaxed. Once you have done this, both shoulders should feel linked together and full of internal energy.

Lower Body Movements

Dan Tian:
Use your lower stomach to breathe; it is much more natural. Breathing with your stomach muscle will make your Chi sink to your Dan Tian area, which allows your stomach to contain more air. When Chi is in the lower body, you have more time to convert Chi into oxygen. That way, you will have more endurance and gain the center balance point of movements.

Tailbone:
The tailbone has to be in line with the spine at all times and should be curled slightly upward. This will help you to keep your body straight and center your balance. It will link the energy in your body from top to bottom, unifying your entire body as one.

Legs:
The legs must show the weight distribution of heavy and light. The hip joints have to be relaxed and the knees must be slightly bent. When stepping forward, your weight should be shifted to either the front or the back of one foot. Stepping movements must be light and sensitive, and should follow the shifting of weight. Shift your weight from one leg to the other, keeping the center of balance straight. This will make your stance stronger and root your body to the ground. These are the lower body requirements.

General Training Movements

Three Points Stay in One Line:
This is a requirement for any movement. The three points are the nose, the fingertip, and the toe. These are called the three external harmonies. In addition, your mind, Chi, and power have to be in harmony. These are called the three internal harmonies.

Speed:
When practicing the form, each movement follows another. They should be linked together smoothly and with liveliness. Movements must be performed slowly, so that your body can feel each movement and sensation. For example, the Yang Style Tai Chi has over 80 movements. The slowest performance of the entire form takes more than 20 minutes. If it is too slow, however, the Chi flow will be loose and the body movements stiff. The fasted performance takes about eight to nine minutes. When the movements are too fast, one is not able to complete them, and the energy will be too light and unable to sink. You should practice breathing deeper, longer, slower, evenly and naturally, so that the internal organs can be strengthened.

Stances:
The same form can be trained at three different stance heights: high, medium, and low; which height you choose will be determined by performance speed, physical strength, and how well one knows the movements. Higher stances or a faster training speed trains the body less. Lower stances and slower training will build up more physical strength. The height and the speed must be even from the beginning of the form to the end.