I was not sure what to think about my Tai Chi classes. Even though they are interesting, they do feel slow compared to my Karate classes. I knew that going into it and one of my reasons for taking it was to slow down and relax but I was still a little unsure about it.
Tonight was a little different. We have been doing the same movements for all of the classes and although I feel that I am progressing, I am used to doing something a little different. Tonight, we did the same movements, called our preparation movements, like we do each week but after we finished those, we did one of the first movements in our first form.
A form in Tai Chi is much like a kata in Karate. It is a series of movements with a meaning behind them. It can be a type of self defense movement where the person uses the opponents energy against them. It can also be considered an exercise or a way, that some feel, to increase the flow of energy in the body.
After doing this first, simple movement, I am starting to understand a little more about what we are doing. The movement reminds me of a short back stance with a knife hand block although the movement is distinctly different. Instead of using power and force, we slowly move into this short stance and turn our body at a 45 degree angle. The front hand is held below chin level and loosely open and the other hand is about rib height and loosely open. We then move from facing forward and then into the 45 degree angle while lowing our stance. I cannot remember the name of the movement and I will ask again in my next class but to make a long story short, I am starting to become more interested now that I am seeing some of the movements that I will be learning as time goes on.
When I started taking this class, I thought that it would be much easier than my Karate training but I am finding that the movements are so different and using different muscles, it is much harder than I expected. I do feel there is some benefit to my Karate training by taking these Tai Chi classes and I think I will keep it up for a while longer before I decide if I want to keep doing it or not.