Basic Rules for Tai-Chi Practice

1. Have faith in this exercise and maintain a good mood while you practice it. Enjoy your exercise.

2. Relax. Imagine you are weightless or boneless, or that you are just like a feather

floating on a gentle breeze. Avoid any nervous or muscular tension.

3. Empty your mind. Let no distracting thoughts occupy it.

4. Concentrate. Focus your attention on what you are doing.

5. Control your body movements with a calm mind. Direct each movement with your

will and not your muscular force.

6. Keep your head straight as if it is hanging from above. This will help raise your

spirit.

7. Drop your shoulders, sink your elbows, depress your chest, and raise your upper

back slightly.

8. Keep your stomach in and do not protrude your buttocks.

9. Keep your spine erect and in a central position.

10. Loosen your shoulder joints, hip joints, and all other joints in your body.

11. Your breathing should be deep, long, slow, even, and abdominal. Your inhaling

and exhaling should be in proper accord with your body movements (inhale while

closing, emptying, or storing, exhale while opening, solidifying, or delivering).

12. Make your "chi" sink downward into your "tan-tien" (an imaginary spot located

below your navel) and let it flow freely to any part of your body at the command of

your mind, without hindrance because of stiffness or rigidness in your body.

13. Move slowly, as slowly as a caterpillar edging along a leaf, inch-by-inch.

14. Move smoothly and evenly. Keep the same tempo throughout the exercise, and

avoid jerks, sudden action, or temptation to hurry.

15. Move continuously. Always make the end of one action the beginning of the next.

16. Follow the Doctrine of the Mean, and never push any movement to the utmost. Do

not step or push your arms as far as possible, and do not fall short in any of your

movements..

17. All your movements should be in the form of arches or circles. Avoid any straight

or flat movements, sharp angles, or “dead ends”.

18. All your movements should be performed softly and peacefully. No conscious

strength of force should ever be exerted. As the tai-chi classics say, “ The intrinsic

strength is rooted in the feet, developed in the legs, guided by the waist, and

expressed through the fingers.”

19. All your arm movements should be subordinate to your waist, and all part of your

body should be strung together to move as an integrated unit without the slightest

break. Remember that the waist is like an axis of a wheel, and controls the

delivery of strength and all body movements.

20. Shift your body weight from one leg to another properly. Distinguish a solid step

from the empty step clearly. Most of the time your body weight is carried by a

bending leg on a solid step.

21. Maintain perfect balance in all your movements at all times. The exercises should

look pleasant and graceful.

22. Remember, Tai-Chi is a total exercise and its movements are whole body

movements. When one part of the body moves, all other parts of the body move.

23. Practice at least twice a day, once in the early morning and once in the evening. If

possible, choose a place where there is plenty of fresh air and an atmosphere of

serenity. Dress lightly and comfortable that you may execute movements easily

and smoothly.

24. Do some basic exercises to warm up your body before you begin Tai-Chi.

25. Practice one movement at one time. It is only when you are able to memorize the

movements well and execute it smoothly that you should attempt the next one.

And devote more time to practicing difficult movements than easier ones.

26. To assure the utmost results, it is advisable to incorporate the Tai-Chi movements

and philosophy into your daily life.