Some Advise for beginners of Taiji Quan

1,PLEASE LEARN WELL ON THE FOUNDATIONAL MOVES OF THE BODY, THE HANDS AND THE FEET.

Such moves will appear in the whole taiji form time and time again. Thus when we master them well, we will have accomplished 50% of the form. All other postures or movements are derived from these basic moves. In the beginning, the learning process seems to be very slow, but once the basic moves are understood and mastered, the progress will be a lot faster resulting with much greater health benefits. We will break down a new movement into sections for easier learning. With more complex movements, we will first learn the upper body moves and then the lower body moves. Afterwards, we combine the upper and lower body moves into one big movement and practice it until it is done very well. As you have mastered all the basic stepping, all you need to do is to concentrate on learning the upper body moves of any new movement, section by section. Try to learn each movement (form) well before moving onto a new one. Otherwise, just copying somebody doing the form will just lead you astray, getting further and further away from the real Taiji Quan and its true meaning and purpose.

2,IT IS VERY DIFFICULT FOR BEGINNERS TO RELAX,TRANQUILIZE THE MIND AND BE STILL

When performing the movements, their hands and feet, the upper and lower body are unable to co-ordinate in unison, but move rather awkwardly. Training in Taiji Quan is about eliminating old and bad habits and it cannot be achieved in a day or even months. Therefore patience is of utmost importance. Contemplating the taiji principles and paying attention to the correct postures of the movements are very essential. In order to quiet one's mind, a beginner can pay attention to his hand movement by looking at his lead hand as it moves.

3,PRACTISING TAIJI QUAN ONLY ONCE A WEEK AT THE SCHOOL WILL NEVER PRODUCE ANY SIGNIFICANT HEALTH BENEFITS OR GOOD SKILLS.

It requires daily practices. Due to the busy lifestyle of our society, many people do not practice taiji at home but rely on the school. This is not good enough. When the teacher is teaching a new move today and you are busy trying to remember the move from last lesson a week ago, you will be losing your concentration on learning. The teacher is trying to teach you a new move and you are trying to remember the previous move from a fellow student. Such playing catching up is not the right way to learn taiji. The correct way is to re-arrange your priority so that you can squeeze a little bit of time in your daily schedule to do taiji. Writing notes are invaluable. If you do forget the previous move or miss a class, do not worry about it when the teacher is teaching the new one. Learn the new one well first then ask the teacher about the previous moves and re-learn them." It is pointless to tear down the new wall in order to mend the old wall. "The sequences of the Taiji Quan form is not important. Learning the moves from the ending part first will not affect the learning of the beginning moves. PRACTISING WELL THE FOUNDATIONAL MOVES (THE BASICS ) is the most important. Therefore newcomers do not need to try catching up with the class, just learn and master well the basics.