One of the fundamental Tai Chi movements is the Tai Chi walk and depending on the style of Tai Chi that you are learning it depends then on the variation of the Tai Chi walk that you will be practising. I am going to concentrate on the Yang Style Tai Chi walking. I’m going to break it down into about five easy parts. So let’s get started.
Always remember to practice your Tai Chi with a really good posture. I’ve got a video of that – some top tips for you and always listen to your own body and move within your own limitations and comfort zone.
I’m going to kick this off with our starting position. So if I stand facing centre. Facing forwards, facing you guys at home and I’ve got my hands in this position for now just to demonstrate the point. I’m going to turn this foot out to a 45 degree angle. I’m now, if I was stood in a square, I’m pointing my body, as a whole and that foot to the corner. So a corner of my own square. I’m going to tap this foot in. All my weight now is on that back supporting leg, it’s pointing to the corner, my hips are pointing to the corner, my Dan Tien, all my core, my whole body it’s all to the corner.
My next move is I’m taking my heel out. Now at this point my hips and all my body is still facing that corner but my my heel is planted on the floor here and if I brought it back actually hip width apart so aim for quite a wide position here with your heel.
Third move is that we are going to put this toe down and we’re transferring our weight forward, It all happens together. And we end up in our Bow Stance. Now let’s just break that down. So we’re here facing the corner, as I put my toe down and transfer my weight, my hips, my Dan Tien all power this movement. I’m facing centre. Facing you guys at home, I’m facing the front. 70% of my weight is on this front leg. The front leg is bent. The front foot is facing forwards. Back leg is straight and the back foot is
still pointing towards that corner. So let’s just do that last part again. From our heel, with toe down, transferring the weight into our Bow Stance and I’m moving from corner to centre.
Final part is that I’m rocking back , transferring my weight back into this back leg and the toe is coming up. Then I’m going to
turn my waist, turn my hips, turn my whole body to face the corner on the other side. So from the centre here, the rock back, we turn to that corner and then I’m going to transfer my weight. This time we’re going the whole hog, finishing off the step and tap it in. Then I’m here starting position but with the other leg.
So heel out, all my body’s facing the corner. Then we’re going to transfer my weight, toe down into my Bow Stance. I’m rocking back, hips are still facing forwards and then I’m turning everything to face the corner and I’m standing up, transferring the weight and tapping in. I’m going again. So heel out, toe down, transfer the weight, rock back, turn to the corner and stand up here. Heel out, quite wide, toe down, transfer the weight, so headed for the centre, we’re rocking back, turn to the corner and stand up and tap in.
Now there’s a couple of things to work on, that’s the bare-bones. One is making sure the move suits you so from a health and
well-being point of view we want to make the position of our knees and the use of our thighs safe and comfortable so if you need to make it a small step, a small step forwards and keep the movement quite upright into a very shallow, a very small Bow Stance and then rocking back only ever so slightly, not much bending this knee, turning round and tapping in. The angles may be a bit shallower so we’re not using as much of our movement due to limitations. In that time just listen to your own body, pull up so it’s a bit more of an upright stance and just make the movement small. Don’t step out too far, don’t step out too wide and don’t bend too low.
On the flip side of that, so we can really go low and we’re sinking down this weight, grounding into the floor. Putting our heel out and we’re transferring the weight, powering that Dan Tien from corner to centre. We’re rocking back, still keeping on a very low
level, turn and stand up here. We’re not going tap this foot in and we’re taking it all the way through. Heel out, we’re taking it forward, we’re rocking back keeping it nice and slow and steady continuous movement.
So it just depends what level you are practising at, as to whether you require more modification of this movement or maybe you really want to go whole hog and do it with lots of balance and control.
I’m going to go outside. It’s a nice sunny day and I’m in a video myself just walking up and down. So you can see, hopefully the Tai Chi walk Yang Style in action.
Thanks for joining me. Tai Chi walking is one of the fundamental movements and I hope this video has got some way to break it down into smaller portions. Like I say always listen to your own body. There is always a modification that you can use so that you can practice Tai Chi. It’s for everybody and make it suit yourself.
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