If you've ever been to an osteopath or an Alexander Technique teacher, you will probably have had the experience of having your legs 'pulled out'. It's a great feeling. You lie on your back on the couch, the practitioner takes hold of your ankles, and very gently leans away from you, as though trying to pull your legs away from your body. For those of you who haven't experienced it, it might sound slightly bizarre, but, if you are able to release your hips, knees,

In Tai Chi and in Qigong, it is not uncommon to have to turn and step at 90º to the left or right. This is where balance, good posture, and leg strength become very important. Falling into a step. What tends to happen when stepping to the left or right is that people tend to 'fall' into the new step, they do not step under control. This means that, for the briefest of moments, just before the stepping foot arrives on the ground, they are falling and therefore unable to sto

In Tai Chi & in Qigong, we are always moving forward, backward, left and right. If you can understand the differences and similarities between 'ordinary' walking, and Tai Chi & Qigong walking, it makes learning those arts easier. How you step one pace forward when walking. You place (e.g.) the right heel and move the weight forward towards the ball of the right big toe. As the weight transfers forwards on to the ball of the right foot, the body elongates on a vertical axis.

When practicing taiji and qigong, we are often conscious of the forwards/backwards and the left/right of the movements, but it’s easy to for

The part of our brain that memorises events could never be said to be reliable; we remember the parts we want to remember (and even then ...

Your neck controls your future comfort. It’s never too late to do something about your posture, although it’s probably true to say that the

How do you position your neck? How does it sit on your body? How does it control you? How does it affect your comfort or discomfort levels?

We don’t usually think much about the way that we move around in our everyday lives; we just do it. However, when people take up tai chi or

When you first begin tai chi and qigong, you spend most of your time trying to remember the positions of arms and legs in the various ...

Quite regularly, a beginner in tai chi or qigong is put off from continuing classes because he/she is experiencing a bit of discomfort.

How do you get your pelvis to tilt? I’ve found that for most people, it’s very difficult to move the pelvis (other than turning it to ...

Whilst teaching, I’ve noticed that people do a number of unusual things when turning their heads. Some tilt one ear nearer the shoulder ...

From a standing position: 1) Suck in your abdominal muscles, (thereby connecting the upper thigh to the torso). 2) When you can, draw...

I’ve often noticed when teaching the Yang 24 that balance in certain movements often causes a problem for students – incidentally, this isn’

The classics say: “Head upright to let the shen [spirit of vitality] rise to the top of the head. Don’t use Li [external strength], or ...

‘Balance’ in taiji One of the aspect of taiji is to allow ‘freedom of movement’, so that the body never inhibits itself. ‘Freedom of move...