My Little Gems of thought

by Lynne Byrne
(Trafalgar)

When I first began Tai Chi I had difficulty in remembering all the advice given during a lesson. Let's face it, in the beginning if you can remember to: connect the right and left side of the body, keep the upper and lower parts of the body as one, remember to breathe, to establish body flow in your movement, keep your elbows down and air under your armpits, etc... you are doing very well.

Then during an enlightened seminar with Grandmaster Dr.Pier Tsui-Po, his advice and instruction for the class was to keep a journal. Acting on Dai Sifu's advice I filled my journal with these 'little gems of thought', on Tai Chi Chuan. To my surprise I found that jotting down these various sayings expressed by the Masters, while they often didn't mean much at the time while I was learning, these 'little gems of thought', became clearer and proved to be invaluable later as I furthered my knowledge in Martial Art.

I have since been able to prove many of the sayings, implementing them to my advantage in my own training, "Sinking Chi improves your balance" a very important lesson to learn. Reminders like, "your posture is your power" and "Tai Chi puts you in the centre, right here and right now".

Others were "correct breath technique is the most powerful tool", "Tai Chi intergrates the mind, body and emotions", Tai Chi facilitates the flow of Chi and health to you cells", and Tai Chi provides an acupressure like treatment and organ massage, while promoting circulation and centeredness".

These empowering statements, remind me constantly to not forget and always implement them in my routines. They are also, only a few of the 'gems' that I have gleaned from the Masters and written in my journal, as a constant reminder that aids and improves my Tai Chi.

So to all you budding practitioners out there, my advice is to listen to your Dai Sifu and start your own lists of 'Little Gems of thought'. Tai Chi teaches that life is limitless! Enjoy!