2018.03.10

Background

My dad has practiced Tai Chi for more than 40 years, and I've been exposed to Tai Chi since I was around 5 years old. I still remember when I was 12 years old. That was the first time I watched my dad practice Tai Chi in the living room and thought to myself “Oh, this is cool”.

Now, 15 years later, I realized that I wanted to be cool too ;)

Before I start elaborating on why I want to practice Tai Chi, there are some disclaimers I’d like to share. I’ve worked as a solicitor for 3 years (first starting as a trainee solicitor in 2014), so I have limited time to practice Tai Chi. Secondly and elaborating on the first point, I’m a total beginner in Tai Chi. I’m useless at practicing the different forms of Tai Chi, I’m going to embarrass myself, but I’m going to love sharing my journey with you because I find Tai Chi just so exciting! Lastly, the Tai Chi you’re going to read here is going to be different to what you find elsewhere. Let me tell you why.

Dtaichi (or dottaichi) is a philosophy that talks about how to bring you to enter the doors of Tai Chi (that is, to enter the Tai Chi state). By adopting a scientific approach and leveraging on my exposures to both the English and Chinese cultures, I’m here to share with you my unique viewpoint on Tai Chi

So when I try to answer the question, “Why do I want to practice Tai Chi?”, the actual statement I’m making is “Why do I want to practice d Tai Chi”.

Why Practice Tai Chi?

I want to practice d Tai Chi because it is healthy. Right now, I do about 30 minutes of cardio exercise every day. I’ve been doing this practically every day since November 2017. That’s doing cardio exercise for 30 minutes a day, for 120 days. And let me tell you cardio exercise is great. My heart rate gets jacked up, and the increase in oxygen delivered to my body gives me some sort of coffee-induced-like-high. Once I train my heart muscles up, my heart beats per minute becomes slower during my resting states, and that's healthy.

With such a healthy exercise option (i.e. Cardio Exercise) already, why would I still want to practice Tai Chi? Firstly, I find that Tai Chi is something that helps me deeply relaxed. That’s something cardio exercise cannot. Tai Chi relies on borrowing the earth’s power, quite literally. For example, Tai Chi uses gravity to increase blood circulation in our body without needing our muscles to contract. The ATP usage when practicing Tai Chi is lower than in cardio-exercise. This means that you can practice Tai Chi when you’re old and frail, unlike cardio exercise (which is the more advocated form of exercise in Western societies). You can also practice Tai Chi when you catch a cold. It increases blood circulation and its very easy to unclog your blocked nose. Trust me, I’ve done this plenty of times and that’s actually one of the reasons I keep coming back to Tai Chi… I'm a walking sneeze-ball xD

You may know that running or just exercising on the elliptical machine is very common in today's society. It’s both cheap and easily accessible. But did you realize that Tai Chi is even cheaper, and even more easily accessible (and practicing Tai Chi is even more common in Chinese societies)? For running, you get some running sneakers, hope that it doesn’t rain outside, and pray your knee injury doesn’t act up during your run. But with Tai Chi, the pre-requisite is simply that you are able to stand. The rest is just to re-calibrate your body to develop body awareness.

One similarity between Tai Chi and cardio exercise is the fact that you get to know your body better. I’ve been told that once you enter the doors of Tai Chi, your body functions better. When you practice Tai Chi, you have develop an increase in stability (both physical stability and mind stability). You rely on your stable body structure to enable your body to relax. And by developing your own body awareness, you can experience the Five Point of Gravity in your body. You know you have entered the doors of Tai Chi (and experienced its benefits) once you’ve entered the doors of Tai Chi. And this is the final reason why I want to practice Tai Chi.

I want to see for myself what it means to achieve the Tai Chi state (where there is an increase in circulation in my body, and bringing nutrients to the different parts of my body to enable self-healing). I like this statement because it encompasses both the Buddhist philosophy and the Taoist philosophy. The Buddhist philosophy states that to reach Nirvana, you have to experience it for yourself. That’s like Tai Chi. To know what Tai Chi is, you have to develop body awareness and enter the Tai Chi state and experience it for yourself. The Taoist philosophy is equally applied to Tai Chi. We enable our body to follow the laws of nature (e.g. experiencing gravity), and this in turn allows our body to self-heal. 

Conclusion

I find that learning Tai Chi is easy, but mastering Tai Chi is incredibly hard. Literally the Chinese saying, “Easy Learn, Hard to Master“ (易学难精). It’s like me learning badminton. I’ve learnt how to serve, rally, smash… but my younger cousin who is only 10 years old still kicks my butt, haha.

Then remind myself that I don’t need to compare my own journey with others around me (and that I really shouldn’t play badminton ;P).  

D · TAI CHI

Home > Why Practice Tai Chi?