Tai Chi
| https://youtu.be/DKYCSTRx9kw |
Hi, this is Bill Chan again with The 5 Elements of a Fulfilling Life at 5Element5.com.
Today I want to talk to you about one of my favorite exercises called Tai Chi Chuan, also known as Tai Chi.
Tai Chi is an ancient Chinese martial art. It's been around for centuries. It's all about using softness against the opponent's hardness, diverting all the energy, and then feeding it back to the other person.
Besides being a martial art, it is an excellent form of exercise; I've been doing Tai Chi for 20 years plus and every day, I work on Tai Chi for an hour and a half, doing stretches, forms, and weapons as well in the old days when I was living in Shanghai I used to work out also with my classmates on pushing hands for another half an hour.
Now in America, I don't have Partners to help me push hands with, so I skipped that but still did all my forms.
If you know anything about Tai Chi, it's a very slow-moving internal martial art coupled with deep breathing, so it's very relaxing. I used to have hectic jobs doing training from one city to another, one country to another, and sometimes it gets very stressful standing in front of groups all the time.
So, Tai Chi helps me to relax; I used to be like type "A" personality; go go go.
I have no patience whatsoever and want things to happen now or yesterday.
But Tai Chi helps me to calm down quite a bit, living in the present and being with me instead of doing it all the time.
Now I am much calmer, allowing people to finish unlinked sentences. In the old days, I tended to interrupt people in the middle of their sentences.
So Tai Chi builds a lot of patience in people; you can see that many older people in Asian park work out in Tai Chi which help them to improve their health.
According to Harvard's recent report, Tai Chi and a healthy diet could reduce many chronic illnesses; we are talking about hypertension, heart disease, diabetes, lung disease, and liver problems.
We're talking about mental issues like dementia, Alzheimer's disease, elderly diseases like arthritis, and even inflammation; these are the reasons we see a lot of elderly practicing Tai Chi.
However, I also see a lot of kids nowadays practicing Tai Chi; they practice Tai Chi for a different reason because Tai Chi is traditionally a martial art, it's a soft martial art, but it's all about how you use circles against linear Force, how to use your concentrated, smooth movements to divert the other person's energy, the other person's Force and using slow movements instead of fast movements.
So that you can revert the opponent's energy and force; this takes a long time, and it's not easy, so you have to start young; if you want to use it as a martial art to Master Tai Chi, it takes about 30 40 years before you can be good with the fighting part of the martial arts.
But most of us practice it for health reasons, and you can see n China, for instance, these elderly Gentlemen practicing in the parks.
I have noticed one guy in his late 90s; he's still coming to the park, practices every morning, and doing some pushing hands with the younger people.
So it's an exercise that could last you a Lifetime.
Tai Chi is not only an exercise; it's also a philosophy in life; it is all about the yin and Yen of opposites. Tai means extreme, and Chi implies the balance of negative and positive, so intense polar means day and night, soft and hard, and speed and slow.
When looking at Yen, Yen is vibrant, you know, sunny power.
Yin is all about darkness, softness, and relaxation.
Isn't that what life is all about, right?
A balance between the two can't be one way or the other, you have to have a perfect balance, so when you look at the Tai Chi symbol, two fishes swimming in synchrony, perfectly matching, that means in life, you have to be able to have that balance; both leadership in Communications, in a relationship, and everything you do in life.
When a person attacks you verbally or physically, you must be able to divert that; you don't want to fight force against force; it's a non-violent communication style.
You recognize their and your needs, then try to have a perfect match of diverting their aggressiveness and calming them down simultaneously.
In leadership, you must use Tai Chi when dealing with subordinates and supervisors.
You don't want to go Force against Force; at times, you want to save face for them and be able to use softness to help them recognize their issues and resolve that on their own.
That's what coaching is all about.
Also, we must have that self-acceptance in life and know "Who We Are." We can achieve a lot. Still, it requires patience; we can achieve anything we want in life, but you have to have patience, and nothing comes all at once. It doesn't happen today or tomorrow, but you must work on it slowly, like Tai Chi, one step at a time.
Be mindful of your gradual improvements and achievements, and eventually, you will get what you want; it takes time, just like Tai Chi takes time to do every movement and every form, and also, you must be focused.
Concentrated in whatever you're doing, Tai Chi is all about concentration, using your internal Force instead of external.
When you do your movements, you got to focus.
Tai Chi is a philosophy of life I apply daily in what I do, and it helps me build better relationships with people. It allows you to achieve a lot in life, so next time, I will talk more about applying Tai Chi in different areas of your life. For now, look on YouTube, look at some of the videos, read some books about Tai Chi, and then, if you're interested in finding an instructor.
Start practicing it; it's one of those exercises that you will love for the rest of your