Basic tai chi standing posture~
Stand with both feet pointing forward and shoulder width apart.
Your weight should be evenly distributed between your feet. Your weight should be evenly distributed across the bottoms of both feet. Don’t lean forward onto the balls of your feet. Don’t lean back on your heels.
Imagine the crown of your head being suspended from above by a string. Tip your chin slightly down and inward. Relax your neck muscles.
Relax your shoulders.
Relax your elbows.
Let your chest be slightly concave. ..like at the end of a heavy sigh… but don’t collapse.
Unlock your knees.
Relax and unlock your hips.
This posture creates a straight line from the crown of your head through your shoulders, hips and heels.
An often used metaphor in tai chi is that of a string of pearls. With the feeling of your head being suspended from above and unlocking your knees and hips, let your spine relax and hang like a string of pearls.
A hanging spine, along with unlocking and relaxing the muscles around your hips results in your pelvis having a kind of hanging basket effect.
When in the relaxed standing position the pelvis hangs naturally. Don’t try to tuck the hips under, it will ruin your alignment.
While moving during tai chi practice the hanging basket effect allows for a wide range of waist motion.
Lower your center of gravity. let your thigh muscles take on the load. Now you have a strong base. Your relaxed torso can easily move on top of this base.
Relaxing the joints is key in all tai chi postures. Chi will not flow through a tensed up joint. Relaxing does not mean being limp. Your muscles should relax without losing the structure of the posture. Actually, there is a nice energy and vitality that comes with relaxing. Learning to relax, or being ‘sung’, or ‘song’ in tai chi language, is an ongoing practice. You may think you’re completely relaxed but you can always relax a little bit more.
As you stand at the start of each form practice go through this checklist of requirements. eventually it will become second nature.
~Jill