Waterbending 🌊 | My progress with Tai Chi ☯

Hello peoples!

One of my new year resolutions for this year was actually getting started on Tai Chi. And I'm glad to share that I did start going to some classes from a little school/club that is one block away from my place, since January, and I like it very much :D

Not so long ago I moved to my favorite district in the city, the bohemian and historical center, the old town; so I started wandering through the streets and surroundings on the first days and that's when I found this little school/club of Tai Chi and Kung Fu. Several years back I used to meditate much more than I was doing it now and also I've been struggling with doing exercises in a consistent way because of work, my usual messed up sleep schedules and some more; but Tai Chi classes was the opportunity to do both exercising and meditation at the same time, so I decided I would start on January. It's been pretty awesome so far!

According to Wikipedia, Tai Chi is an internal Chinese martial art practiced for defense training, health benefits, and meditation; and by internal it refers to Neijia, a term in Chinese martial arts that is usually translated as internal martial arts (literal meaning of the word is "internal family") involving spiritual, mental or qi-related aspects, as opposed to an "external" approach focused on physiological aspects; it's one of those martial arts "applied with internal power". So, basically in Tai Chi it doesn't matter if you aren't big or strong as it is more of a breathing, meditation and spiritual practice discipline.

As I mentioned before, I've been struggling with doing exercises consistently for quite a long time, there's been periods of time in which I start exercising and then after a month or a little more I quit, because something happens, as always, because #life of course, or... maybe I'm just not disciplined ~~didn't like it~~ enough, lol. I also said I used to meditate but I stopped for very personal reasons like ~~not being able to work with internal shit~~"not having time" for it, lol. But also, I found that I enjoy the most activities that require some movement ~~like dancing(?~~ even though I don't consider myself a very active person. So, this for sure was the perfect fit for me, I found a way of doing some kind of kinesthetic meditation, and with additional benefits.

As you probably know, Tai Chi originated in China and its global following may be attributed to overall benefit to personal health, and this is why health is the main purpose of Tai Chi for many people, especially elderly people. Tai Chi is very similar to Chi Kung or even Kung Fu, almost the same, but this is a typical "soft style" martial art, so even though other purposes of Tai Chi are sport, self-defense and even aesthetics, most of people you'd find interested in Tai Chi became practitoners mostly because of the health benefits; which would be my case, I got in for health purposes ~~and yes, also for the aesthetics✨ lol~~.

I think that the thing that I like the most in Tai Chi's health aspect is that it not only focuses on releiving stress on the body but also on the mind. Tai Chi's low-stress training method for seniors has become better known, which I guess explains why most of people I'm with during the classes are elderly people, I sometimes even think this is why the instructor at some point was encouraging me to try Kung Fu (or maybe because of the crackling of my knees on the first classes lmao ~~they still crackle sometimes tho😅~~).

What is more, regarding the sport and self-defense aspect, I really like and calls me out that Tai Chi emphasizes defense over attack and replies to hard with soft, actually the ability to use Tai Chi as a form of combat is the test of a student's understanding of the art. In the classes, instructor often makes us practice defense and attack movements in pairs, like tuishou (pushing hands), constantly reminding us that Tai Chi is an actual martial art and not only focuses on meditation or simple exercises.

There are two main forms, which are: taolu, the "solo" form that is the one we mostly do in the classes, a choreography that serves as the encyclopedia of a martial art, the slow movements Tai Chi is often characterized by and are to develop body awareness; and tuishou and sanshou, the "partnered" form that sometimes we also do in the classes, here it focuses more on the martial aspect as it relies on the sensitivity to the opponent's movements and center of gravity, which dictate appropriate responses, here disrupting the opponent's center of gravity upon contact is the primary goal.

There are several styles and even some variations in which weapons are used. Also, Tai Chi doesn't specify a uniform, but better use loose and comfortable clothing as well as flat-soled shoes (which I had to buy after a month of experimenting with practicing barefoot). In Tai Chi, the body's movement are characterized by the circular motion and rotation of the pelvis based on the metaphors of the pelvis as the hub and the arms and feet are akin to the spoke of a wheel. Also, the respiration of breath are coordinated with the physical movements in a state of deep relaxation, rather than muscular tension, in order to guide the practitioners to a state of homeostasis.

In almost all of the classes there's this moment in which we just do meditation on an specific position called tree hugging where we just bend the knees a little, focus on the pelvis as a our center and put our arms round as if hugging a tree, it is hard at the beggining as your knees may start hurting at some point as well as the forearms, a really good exercise to gain arm strength. Thus, I can confirm Tai Chi involves five elements: taolu (solo hand and weapons routines/forms), neigong and qigong (breathing, movement and awareness exercises and meditation), tuishou (Push Hands drills), and sanshou (Striking techniques).

Tai Chi or taiji means "the relationship of Yin and Yang", it's a a Chinese cosmological concept for the flux of yin and yang, the concept for the "Supreme Ultimate" state of undifferentiated absolute and infinite potential, the oneness before duality, from which Yin and Yang originate, represented by the taijitu symbol ☯. The movements in Tai Chi are slow and must be tension-free and fluid, just like water or those two fish swimming in the fishbowl.

And yes, as the water ~~fixiated person~~ fan I am I cannot skip mentioning that, and even more, how I was inspired by this element also to learn Tai Chi. As you can see, water can be pretty much like Tai Chi or even martial arts in general (or, better said martial arts can be like water), as Bruce Lee once said, but it all started when I saw Avatar: The Last Airbender, especially when I found out that the "bending arts" in the series were based on Chinese martial arts, such as Shaolin Kung Fu (for Firebending), Pa Kua Chang (for Airbending), Hung Gar (for earthbending) and finally Tai Chi (for waterbending); the movements you see characters do in the series are actual martial arts movements.

I've always been a fan of this series and I find it one of the most beautiful and full of knowledge series ever, a really well done work with great storytelling and character development where you can endlessly notice new things every time you watch it. In the series, there are some people that can telekinetically manipulate one of the four elements through the bending arts. Totally recommended. So yes, I literally wanted to do waterbending too, just like them, for a long time, lmao.

It's been three months now since I started learning and I'm really grateful that I did, I never noticed any improvements regarding my physical state but now that I think of it while writing all of this I think I manage stress better now and maybe gained a bit more of strength on my legs, ~~I still suck at being body aware lol~~ and regarding my mental state, I also think it has defenitively helped me be more in the now, aware of my being and just chill mostly emotionally. The fact that I can meditale while moving helps me to not get distracted, something that usually happened to me while meditating by just sitting and closing my eyes.

Also, the overall energy we get on some days while "tree hugging" is really nice, and even experiencing how my instructor one day had a counsciousness expansion moment after was simply cute. I'm the youngest in my group since most of them are very old people, and this is why sometimes when my knees crackle I can't help laughing a bit because f..k my knees are the only ones crackling! all these people pros already! 😂

Since the very first class, we've been learning "the form", that solo routine that is to retrain posture, encourage circulation throughout the body, maintain flexibility, and familiarize students with the martial sequences implied by the forms (so great for memory too!). As we memorize and practice, we are adding new movements to the sequence, the one you've been watching me do in all these gif images, each gif is one specific movement.

Though, I'm just showing you less than half of the whole sequence that I learned so far, I used to practice it in my room but now it's long enough for the space of my room to not be enough, lol, so this is why I asked a friend of mine to record me doing it in the park; of course I'm not doing the movements perfectly, I still lack a lot of technique, but I'm glad to say that the more I practice the more I feel I'm getting closer to it :) and that I enjoy a lot trying to sync the movements with my breath!

We recorded more than one take but this was the one I liked the most and where I think I did the movements the best, and as you'll notice, in the end a man carelessly stepped in fron of the camera, this is the reason why you're not watching the full sequence. Also, it is now while making this post that I realized that I was dressed in the colors of taijitu: black and white! lol

In any case, here it is the video aesthetically edited for better appreciation :D