Tai Chi

[Bring4th_Austin]

Thanks for the response guys.

Tanner do you practice at home? is there any good sources on youtube?

I'v had a look but haven't' found something that has felt right.

I am not sure about youtube as I haven't looked but there are some great books available that cover many of the ideas that are part of it although the most recommended path is to find a teacher. I do just practice at home but I have sort of my own style and method I am working through so I can't say I have any real authority on the traditional practices, I just make use of many of the concepts and see many parallels in my own natural techniques and those of these practices.

I think that our bodies have a great capacity to communicate to us effective methods for this type of practice.

Not long ago I was experiencing some serious hip and back pains. I intuitively determined that the best way to heal the pains was intensive stretching. I didn't do any kind of research on the best stretching methods - I would simply lay on my floor every morning and night and just allow my body to tell me how to move to help heal the pain. I discovered new ways to stretch muscles and joints and after a couple months, my pains were gone completely.

I noticed near the end, as my methods had developed more fully with each stretching sessions, that a lot of what I was doing seemed to be similar to yoga. I did a bit of research to see how similar my own stretches were to yoga stances and I was shocked at the similarities. Without watching any videos or having any instruction, my body was able to naturally find these different stances taught by yoga instructors, and it put my body back into a healthy configuration.

I think that learning from an instructor or master can be beneficial as it helps to have live feedback, and it is probably more motivating when you are in a teacher/student relationship. But if desired, I think that if we request of our bodies to intuitively show us the best practices for us, it will guide us to whatever movements we need to get a desired result.