Introduction
Sometimes we learn Tai Chi just because we are desperately searching for a cure for what ails us. That was my experience. Now I would like everybody to know how powerful Tai Chi is in healing my students and me (please see Actual Student Comments).
Tai Chi was never on my life’s to-do-list while growing up in Hong Kong (when it was governed at that time by the British). Like many people, I thought Tai Chi was for old people who had nothing to do but to wave their arms and legs and look silly in the park. I never imagined that I would one day do just that when I grew older.
All my life, I lived in a bubble, well protected by my late father and then my husband. I did not know there were so many evil people in this world and how foxy and ruthless these people could be. I was so naïve that I thought evil people and tragedies were only in soap operas.
Unfortunately, tragedy affected my late mother and me. I was totally in shock. I really did not know how to handle life and fell into a depression that lasted 8 years. No doctors could help me because I was sensitive to medicine, which always made me drowsy, sleepy or upset my stomach. I could not lie down or sleep because I had to take care of my 4-year old baby boy. My depression and anxiety caused me numerous health problems, one after another.
I was moody and isolated myself from everybody. I could not read because all the words looked like squiggly little worms to me. I was very forgetful and could not remember anything. I almost caught my house on fire when I forgot that I was cooking and walked away. I could not understand what people were saying. They all sounded like a radio out of tune. My doctor said I was suffering from a post-traumatic stress disorder. My past was so painful that my body was shutting down in order to block the pain.
I tried counseling, but the counselors did not know what to do or say other than to let me talk it out or cry my heart out in their office. Luckily, I have a very loving and wonderful husband and children who always stood by me and cared for me. They tried to sign me up for classes in stain glass, cake decoration, shirt decoration, gym, dancing and many other activities in the hope of seeing me happy again. They even took me on many vacations, including Europe, but to no avail.
Finally, my husband heard many good things about Tai Chi. He signed me up and paid for 3 months of the Tai Chi lessons because he heard that if students stayed in it for 3 months, then most likely they would stay in Tai Chi even longer or forever. More importantly, only by staying in Tai Chi would one see and receive the health benefit it offered.
When I started taking Tai Chi, I did not like it at all and always wanted to drop out. My husband kept encouraging me to try it a little longer. He said that taking Tai Chi was just like taking vitamins or medicine. I had to give it time to work in my system before it could improve my health.
Luckily, I met a good Tai Chi master in California who trained me well, from his heart, and stressed the Tai Chi principles in every movement. I learned to relax, let go, and regain my concentration and focus in life. In short, Tai Chi saved my life by improving my health, when doctors could not help me. It also improved my confidence and courage and helped me become a stronger and a happier person.
Tai Chi gave me a new lease on life and a new future. I became not only an achiever, but also a Tai Chi teacher and an international Tai Chi medalist with the valuable knowledge my master passed down to me. He always wanted me to teach what he taught me and to promote Tai Chi for its healing benefit.
Since Tai Chi originated from my own culture, and I have personally experienced its great health benefit, I feel that I must pass on this legacy that our ancestors bequeathed to us and try to become a good Tai Chi teacher. I want to help my students improve their health through my experience and benefits from Tai Chi, specifically from the Chen Style Xinyi Hunyuan Tai Chi Chuen.
Now, hearing the compliments on my teaching, especially from my students who took Tai Chi classes from other instructors, and the feedback about their amazing health improvements, I feel rewarded. I feel like I have not only achieved my goal of becoming a good Tai Chi teacher, but also achieved my master’s goal for me – to promote Tai Chi for healing.
I hope everybody will try this unique healing art and receive the many health benefits it has to offer. I wish I would have acknowledged this powerful art and started learning it earlier. Perhaps, the movements in the forms, with its hidden self-defense meanings, might have saved my late mother and me from the evil people, like it did for my Tai Chi sister, whom I mentioned in the Testimonials. She defended herself from her attacker with just a simple Tai Chi movement although her intention of learning Tai Chi was for relaxation.
Tai Chi is very amazing because when you practice it, you are actually practicing a 3-in-1 art. You do not have to practice its martial art aspects, but will receive the same health and self-defense benefits. Its Tai Chi principles and movements can be applied in our daily lives and can improve the quality of our life on a permanent basis.
Tai Chi advice from the Energy Anatomy by Carolyn Myss, who states that:
- Tai Chi was a way to escape from reality.
- Relax, don’t resist and don’t break contact.
- If you try to unbalance me, I simply avoid your energy and turn it back on you.
- Keep your balance while unbalancing your opponent.
- Push hands was a way to avoid other people.
- With the loss of tension, we attain concentration.
- To study the “Soft internal style of strength”: We pursue more refined states of being.
In the beginning, it is not unusual to feel awkward, not completely relaxed or unable to see the beauty of Tai Chi immediately. The key to taking Tai Chi is to give it TIME, BE PATIENT, BE DEDICATED, DELIGENT, PERSEVERING / PERSISTENT and PRACTICE. DO NOT GIVE UP. HAVE FAITH in TAI CHI. Tai Chi will help everybody someday and in some way, in health and in life.
Tai Chi Classic states that, “without perseverance there can be no gain” and “learning Tai Chi is like rowing a boat against the flow of water, if you do not go forward, you will certainly drift back.” In order to attain the benefits of Tai Chi and achieve a high level of skill, you must have will power to carry on despite the hardship, frustration, boredom and/or sore muscles, which might happen at the beginning of ANY physical training.
With time, relaxation and diligent practice, learning Tai Chi will become much easier. Taking Tai Chi is just like learning a foreign language or a new subject in college. It takes courage and time for you to learn, understand and practice right. Only by practicing it right will you achieve the health benefits.
If you try to learn Tai Chi too fast or take only a few classes or for a few months, it is like traveling to a foreign country for only few days; you cannot possibly enjoy and know everything about that place. If you travel too fast, you will miss the details and the beautiful scenery (which might be very important to your health).
Therefore, in studying Tai Chi, it is important to know the why and the concept behind the movement so you can fully integrate it into your body and feel its benefits. Tai Chi Classic states that, “slow is better than fast.” So take your time, relax and enjoy the beauty of this art. Its miraculous benefits will come soon enough. If you focus only on the final product, you will miss the big picture and the health benefits it has to offer.