What is tai chi and what is it for? Tai chi is a relaxation technique from China that consists of performing delicate movements in unison that seem to caress the air, not only with their hands, but with their body. Bare feet – or wearing flexible slippers – They slide smoothly across the floor. Practicing tai chi is almost a ritual that is repeated every morning in many cities on the planet, both eastern and western. The placidity that their movements give off fills us with tranquility.

Taichi means «what came first», «the most essential». Chuan It means «fist» but also ««concentration or gathering of energy». Tai chi chuan means «the meeting of the most essential energy». To abbreviate and popularize it, it is called tai chi.

In this article we discover what the tai chi for beginners and we explain various exercises that allow you to apply the teachings of tai chi to the most common problems of daily life: against anxiety and over-stress, to relieve back pain, to relax, clear the cervical spine or even to combat insomnia.

Keys to Tai Chi for beginners

If we have always been curious to know how tai chi is practiced, here are some keys to understand what people who practice tai chi are really doing. By observing them carefully, we can understand it.

1. Position and disposition

Every inhabitant of this planet, whether animate or inanimate, needs to root themselves in the earth and have a position consistent with it. A building needs its foundations, a tree its roots and a table its support in the form of legs.

Human beings depend on the position of the feet, hips and legswhich act as transmitters between feet and hips, to collect and react to gravity.

If we observe the position of the tai chi practitioners, we see that their feet delimit a grid, which receives the force of the earthand through the legs, which are slightly bent, it leads to the hip, which houses it in its circular sinus, and circularly directs it throughout the space.

It is a position common to all those activities that need gravity: chen we run, walk or climb a staircase; when the tennis player waits for the ball, when skating, or when surfing.

In this position the center of gravity located in the pelvis is attentive without being tense and, by letting gravitational energy pass in any direction, it helps us relate better to the earth and the environment.

We gain balance, orientation and stability. With the addition that a good body position facilitates a good disposition in all senses.

2. The rhythm and the spiral

What most characterizes those who practice tai chi is their rhythm: soft, light, chained movements that caress air in a fluid and calm sigh.

They paint the space with their body, without any type of syncopation. They flow like the sunbeam that filters through the trees, and runs through the forest throughout the day. They are following the rhythm of the earth.

Imitating the rhythm of the Earth, they relate to it, its changes and transformations, and to the solar system to which our planet belongs. But also with the majority of the internal organs of the body and with themselves. So They balance internally and externally, toning themselves.

Another characteristic that surprises us is that its Evolutions in space are based on curved shapes: spirals, circles and arcs.

They are the movements and structures that constitute the basis of any vital manifestation..

Celestial phenomena (storms, tornadoes, etc.); the marine (waves, tides); the that are an intrinsic part of nature of our cells (DNA); those that allow the growth of vegetables; those that serve for the transmission and reception of sound, and those that They produce heat and energy from magnetic fields.

When we practice tai chi, through spirals and circles we modify the force that comes from the earth. We are increasing our chi or vital energy.

3. Concentration for expression

Finally we must refine our perception to observe an invisible qualitybut what accompanies all tai chi practitioners. Their look gives them away: they are there even though they seem not to be.

Their eyelids are half open and they see everything that this overture lets pass without focusing on anything in particular. They look in and see out, they feel and look at the same time.

They try to keep their attention on the line that delimits the inner world from the outer world. Which makes it possible to accompany the weight of the foot, the movement of the hip and arms with thoughtwhile seeing what is happening around them.

Thus they establish a relationship between thought and weight, between mind and body. From this relationship that enriches both, a unity results: the entire human being, including as part of that whole the integration of the human being on Earth.

Whoever practices tai chi is with his thoughts in the physical center (in the center of gravity, in the gut) and follows his breathing, concentrates, is here and nowin a word: meditate (which means to be in the middle, to be in and with the center). With the consequent reduction of stress, anxiety and increased concentration.

Tai Chi: exercise for beginners against anxiety and overstress

1. Stand with your legs approximately hip-distance apart. Stare at a point ahead. Try to open your field of vision without taking your eyes off the dot.
2. Feel your feet. Transfer your weight from one foot to the other, appreciating all its parts. Root yourself, bending your knees (the knee should not go beyond the big toe), feeling a path to the center of the earth and, at the same time, its opposite to the sky.
3. Walk, from this position, listening to how the weight of your feet comes and goes. Make a fluid movement. Include your arms and perform the wild horse. Listen, see, smell, taste, live.

Tai chi: exercise for beginners to relieve back pain.

1. We start as in the previous case, but with our feet and back against the wall.
2. From these two or three points of contact with the wall (the hip, the shoulder blades and perhaps the head), when we root, the hip curves slightly forward to bring the lower back closer to the wall and open them. Perform the overture.

Tai Chi: exercise for beginners to relax

1. We lie on the floor on a mat, face up, with a pillow under our knees to arch our hips slightly. It should be a comfortable position. We listen to the inspiration, the expiration and the pause. We try not to control the process.
2. We concentrate on the exhalation. With it, we begin to feel the weight of the feet, we compare them. The more precise we are, the better.
3. Next, we feel the weight of the calves and knees, until we reach the thighs and the entire leg. Let’s compare them.
4. We continue gradually releasing the weight of the body with the exhalation. Feel it pulsating with your breath, sheltered by the earth. Don’t worry if you fall asleep, five minutes of restful sleep can be worth more than a whole night of poor sleep. Then get up and perform the figure Closing the door. Repeat it several times listening.

Tai Chi: exercise for beginners to clear the cervical spine

1. We stand on the edge of a chair with our legs open, with a cushion or a notebook on the floor, next to the legs of the chair. We let the entire spine fall from the head towards the floor, rolling it between the legs.
2. In this position we take the tip of the cushion or notebook and place it in the space between the seat and the coccyx, and we recover the vertical position, unrolling the trunk, sitting on the cushion and the seat of the chair. The entire spine is aligned and rests.
3. We surround one leg below the knees, on the tibia, with the fingers of the hand intertwined we draw the shoulder blades back and down and open them; We stretch our chest and belly and breathe. Breathing manifests in the pelvis. Next we make the figure Hands like clouds.

Tai Chi: exercise for beginners against insomnia

1. When a problem prevents us from sleeping, you will notice that your breathing is not very deep and is also tiring and short and can even be loud. We can restore its qualities by pressing the heels of our feet against the ground.
2. Then enjoy breathing fully, feeling alive: choose any movement from the sequence and do it.

A sequence of tai chi exercises

It doesn’t matter if you don’t follow the sequence, you’ll learn it. The most important thing is, first, slowness and fluidityand these are achieved by visualizing the gradual change in weight on the feet.

Become aware of your entire environment. Throughout the day, look at the sky and the light changes that are projected on the earth, they possess the secret of tai chi and the essence of life.

The wild horse shakes its mane

1. Stand with your weight supported on your right leg, your knee slightly bent, and your right toes resting on the floor. Place your arms in front of you as if they were holding a «ball of air.» Turn the trunk on the left foot and leg about 45 degrees, until the trunk, head and gaze are facing this direction.
2. Take a step with your right foot in the same direction, starting with the heel. The width of the step will be that of your hips. Shift the weight to that leg and release the «air ball», opening your arms.

Move your knee away with one hand and push

1. Starting from the same starting position as the previous exercise, place the palm of your right arm in front of you, at ceiling height, facing the floor. Bend your left elbow and place your palm facing right, at the height of your head.
2. Then turn your trunk 45 degrees to the right, place your right heel and then your foot, shifting your body weight towards your right leg. At the same time, the right arm and hand descend in a wide circle around the right knee, stopping next to the hip; while the left arm goes down, placing the hand to the right of the body at head height, with the palm still facing the ground. The movement must flow.
3. To do it on the other side, shift your weight back and turn your trunk 45 degrees, returning to the starting position but reversing right and left.

Closing the door

1. Open your legs hip-width apart. With your body weight resting on your left foot, lift the toes of your right foot, resting your heel on the floor. Place your two palms on either side of your hips, facing down.
2. Bring the weight forward and, simultaneously, push the air with your hands forward, up, at shoulder height.
3. From there, shift the weight back, to the left foot, and at the same time change the direction of the hands, which will be with the palms facing the sky, and let them fall gently, along with the arms, at the height of the hips.
4. Repeat the movement from the beginning. To change feet, when you drop your arms, gather your back foot next to the front foot and when you push, take a step forward.

Hands like clouds

1. Open your legs to…