~ ~ special thanks ~ ~
to
Michael W and Shar'n
for making free cyberspace available
for MORE Playshop lessons at
www.caliban.net !
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please visit bill douglas' wonderful site to promote
World Tai Chi & Qigong Day
at
http://www.worldtaichiday.org

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a thought about t'ai chi and our modern lifestyle

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here are some good warmups for s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g

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the story so far...

the practice of wu style t'ai chi ch'uan has benefited my health, more than anything in my life.  it is for this reason that i desire, as much as anything, to give back (real shareware :+O)  some of the joy and energy that t'ai chi has given to me.  please accept these modest instructions in the spirit that they are offered, and feel free to share them with any body.

my friend michael taught me one of the most practical concepts i have learned in t'ai chi
(it is also very practical, generally, in life):

do not over-do     do not under-do

all of us are shaped from our 'individual' life experiences; like snowflakes, in that regard, no two are alike...yet, in more important regards, we are as ONE. whether short, tall, thin, fat, old, young, white, brown, or yellow (or any other distinctions), we share some common strand in this universe...we MOVE as one.  t'ai chi is the movement of our combined energies (which include, but are probably not limited to: breath, blood, water, electricity, peristalsis) as ONE: grounded, balanced, and whole.

the person in a wheelchair may have to exercise the chi primarily with the mind...yet this can be done, a sort of mental set *, if you will.  *(a set is what most t'ai chi students call the series of movements connected together, also called doing the form.)  a blind person can learn t'ai chi as surely as a sighted one; whatever condition we bring ourselves to t'ai chi ch'uan in,  it's benefits will accrue.  it is a healing art designed to accommodate the strengths and weaknesses of all individual practitioners.  so no matter where one is 'coming from', improvement may be had. 
 however, one must not over-do and one must not under-do.

each person alone can measure this.  the popular adage of recent times, "no pain, no gain", must be replaced with,
"don't over-do, don't under-do".  only you yourself will know
if you have stretched your chi 'enough', 'too much', or even 'not enough'.  what we desire to achieve with t'ai chi is balance: to get there, moderation, not excess, is required; as the 'baby bear' said in an older, more profound maxim,
'mine is just right'.