The first Tai Chi Q&A live webinar is going ahead Saturday 10th April at 6pm BST.  Join me as I squirm uncomfortably and duck and dive my way through a series of questions sent in by members of the academy on the following  - 

• Balance/Tai Chi Classics/the art as a Martial art/ the art as a Health art
• What is the future of online training after the lockdown is over? 
• The new 37 Step Course - details, feedback options, starting times
• The Academy - taking our training one step forward
• Open Q&A (responding to submitted questions)
• The meaning of life, the universe and...

This year the Tai Chi survey is not just focussing on platforms and courses, but exploring what we think the world will look like for teachers and students after the vaccination is rolled out. What, if anything have we learned, and what do we expect will be the new normal?
Have your say by filling out the Google Survey linked here and stay in contact if you wish to be notified when we discuss the results (anonymously given I should add) on a live webinar coming next month. 
​Thanks to everyone in advance for filling it out. 

As the world adjusts to local and national lockdowns, it becomes increasingly difficult to plan how and when to practice Tai Chi.  If you are an existing student, your class may be been suspended, reduced to Zoom sessions or social distancing in a local park. 
For anyone wanting to start (or to repeat the basics of the art), there are, however, other options. Back in the first lockdown I recorded live on Instagram and Facebook 5 sessions on different aspects of Tai Chi. These are recorded in Portrait mode, so they are good to watch on your smart-phone. 
I've assembled these 5 Videos in order, labelled them and now offer them to you all as a mini-course that you can complete in just 5 Days. 
There is no sign-up, no email required - nada. Nothing.
Just enjoy. Want more? Check out the optional add-ons below. Happy Holidays. ​

How has the mind/body community responded to the changes brought about by Covid, social distancing and the dependency on technology?  Catch-up with the live Q&A that took place December 12th on Youtube (teapotmonk channel) or watch it below, in which a panel of 9 practitioners of diverse disciplines discuss a way forward from Covid and the domination of the tech industry. You can discover more about the guests over on this page  - leave a comment below about future discussions or themes. 

Back in the 80s I started learning with Sifu Yin Yang Eyebrow and a style that was so flowery that you could have planted it in a window box. I loved its exotic hand and wrist moves that appeared to have been borrowed directly from flamenco dancers. Eventually, I dropped the style, it was poorly taught and I slowly began to realise that the arms appeared unrelated to the moves. They reminded me of a back alley fight from Way of the Dragon and as much as I wanted to imitate Bruce Lee, doing so would not help me understand the role of the waist. 

So I dropped the classes with SIfu Yin Yang Eyebrow, who had looked great doing his flashy moves, but when I asked "Don't the arms derive their strength from the waist?" he said stop asking stupid questions and to keep practising my Inner-Aardvark breathing.. 
At home, I looked at the Tai Chi Classics and read that the waist followed the mind, but this didn't help much. It might as well have been written that the waist follows the whim of Neptune's Trident or the breath of Saturn's rings.
In the next class I looked at Sifu Eyebrow and wondered if his waist followed nothing more than his rather dubious dietary habits. He scoffed at the idea (as he did with pies and puddings before each class) and pointed out that his belly was full of Qi. At that point I changed classes.. 

Connecting the movements of the limbs to the centre axis of the body makes sense to me. Forget thinking about it, just relax and let your waist express itself through your limbs. If you want to really understand this, try practising with a sword, as - paradoxically - using an object in your Tai Chi really helps you take your mind out of your limbs and back into your centre.
And being centred will help with any mind/body activity - and by that I don't just mean tai chi, yoga or meditation, I mean washing the dishes, walking the dog or overthrowing a corrupt regime.
Obviously, some may point out that the easiest way to connect your arms to your waist is though birth. This is true but If that's out of the question, then surgery might help. Failing that you could try these few simple exercises that will help reconnect your disparate limbs to your body. ​ 

Then when you are moving as a single unit and ready to take on the world with loose shoulders, a loose tongue and slippery hips, try this yielding exercise below. In these days of social distancing it may prove useful when confronting mask-less crowds in supermarkets, coffee queues, or when storming the Winter palace with your local vanguard friends. 
Check out more waist exercises and for more on watery analogies, revolutions and street exercises check out the course that engages with all 3: The Complete Tai Chi Course.  or  visit the mOnks library for books.

What is the next step for teachers and students of mind/body practices such as Tai Chi, Qigong, Yoga and many of the martial arts? Faced with restrictions on traditional class sizes, locations and with a "hands-off" curriculum how is the community responding to these new challenges? After six months of experimentation there are two broad responses - the first has been to try and reproduce the classroom experience, using all the new technology available, and the second, to listen to our hearts and rethink it through from scratch.

Not too long ago, "serious" Tai Chi instructors spat on the screen of online schools, mocked their methods and swore that only marketeers would dane to step in front of camera. These critics felt that they should only teach in the same way they had been taught - unwavering from the original 18th century scrolls, or engraved tablets by grandmasters from generations long passed. Consequently, new schools were created based on a photocopied list of attributes, copied and then pasted onto the lives of new students,
However, it was only ever the expression of an art from another time, another place. Some of course loved it, others questioned it, asking themselves, "where is the beating heart of this ancient art?"
That Was Then 
Now, of course all has changed for everyone has to adapt. These schools still hope that yesterday will return tomorrow, but in the meantime, they reluctantly offer Zoom classes or private Youtube channels. But is it a worthwhile effort? In trying to simply reproduce the classroom online, are we missing something important? Could we not rethink not only how we do the things we do, but also why we do them the way we do? After all, our arts are meant to symbolise the notion of change. It is, let's not forget part of the lifeblood and energy of everything we teach.​

Re-evaluation
If ever there was evidence that something needs changing, you'll find it in the ferocity and defensiveness of the old order. When concepts are tenaciously clung too irrespective of changing circumstances, then that is the red warning-light. If our training methods, teaching practices, language, means of communication are not updated with each new generation, then complacency and stagnancy inevitably creeps into the art.
This doesn't mean ditching the old, rather than engaging with an ongoing process of evaluation. And let's be honest, arts like Tai Chi have a tendency to wallow in such pools, shrouded by mysticism, shackled by rigid structures of lineage and styles for a simple reason: it sells well on these very qualities.
But now times they are a changing.  
​It is no longer valid (if it ever was) to judge competency by the ability to emulate someone further up the hierarchy of authority. The closer you resemble Sifu, should not be a shortcut for obtaining that sash or teaching certificate. Unless you get your kicks from authoritarian regimes and practices cleverly concealed as ritual and tradition. Let go of the nonsense. Diversity and individual expression are the new kids on the digital block and it is this that will feed the spirit of the curious practitioner. in these challenging times.   

Evolution is long overdue. 
Let's not wait for the return of yesterday, but instead grasp the moment now and make that the best of it. Let's do it with enthusiasm, energy and a sense of play. For who amongst us, be honest now, ever wanted to teach or Ward off Left, ad infinitum? (insider tai chi joke).
Now, technology enables us to record it once and let our students play it back as and when necessary.  And the time that is restored - can be invested in sharing knowledge, skills or exploring in greater depth the idiosyncrasies of our practice. We can connect with each other, spend more time with new students, dismantle the walls between schools and slowly learn to build new bridges.

If you are like me and see more benefits in cooperation that competition, then there are no limits to what we can do together. There is a wealth of ideas and practices springing up everywhere that we can all benefit from. Join the FB group or add your contact details below and I'll get back to you with details of how we can connect. One of the first proposals is to bring people together in an online conference to hear how everyone is adapting to the new times. Real strength was never found in individual campaigns, but in the sharing of ideas, help and support given to one another. If this is you, and you want to connect with a wider and more diverse world, then get in touch.  

1. Ligament Strength: 
This may seem obvious, but you need to work on holding those tai chi postures, gently moving through the transitions and trying to slow down. They won't strengthen with speed, you'll need to take it easy. But that's what we are trying to encourage, so that the ligaments and tendons in the ankles, the knees and the hips will get stronger and enable you in time to glide, rather than stumble from move to move. 
2. Movement and Breath:
Coordinate the two. If they are out of sync then your movements will be fragmented and you will always shift from one position to another like kangaroo rather than a dolphin. 
3. Be HERE now:
Obvious really, but your teacher can tell if you are thinking about the next episode of Peaky Blinders rather than the next posture. Focus!
4. Stillness:
In order to find flowing movement, look to the quality of stillness. It may seem a contradiction, but it is only in stillness that our minds quieten and the nonsense bubbles to the surface. When it arises, let it go, let it slip slide away. Glide on. 

5 & 6 Echoes of others
When the mind is quiet, and the nonsense far away, you will hear your own voice coming clearer and clearer. The nonsense that makes up the echos of our mind, and even the words of our teachers (mine too...watch out!) begin to fade when we are quiet. Once more, when you practice , just practice. Don't get distracted by that last tweet you read. 
7 & 8 Laugh and Play
If we study too much, we only become stiff and unyielding. When we play, we experiment and taste the pleasures of both success and failure - two sides to the equation of learning. When we let go of "trying to be good" and just "do" we live in the moment and we laugh and we play. And in those qualities, we discover the torrent of energy within us to glide over the obstacles of life. ​

Here are two simple exercises to help you explore and develop your sense of Spirals in Tai Chi. 

The energy of a Spiral can be found within our DNA, within the expression of a galaxy or the shape of a lightbulb. And that should be a clue for us to take with a pinch of salt the claims by many in Tai Chi that the use of spiral energy is something bordering on the mystic. More often than not, this is just a fanciful demonstrations of structure and compliant students rather than a special energy force generated by secret practices. Spiral movements simply prioritise actions that are curved rather than angular and they prefer to utilise the opening and closing of the joints in sequence rather than all together. In effect you get something that resembles a snapping force, like that of a whip as opposed to that of a hammer or a stick. 

Irrespective of style, temple, cult of the personality of satin suit, you can work on sequencing your joint action by taking things slowly and adding movements one by one, until you feel comfortable with the technique. Take a look at the two video snippets below. They are part of a session I gave on Spiral Energy as part of the Single Whip Workshop. (Find out more below). 

Want to learn the secret of Tai Chi? Well, it's all in the waist and I'm going to teach you 2 exercises that will not only bring back a flow to your form, but by extending the practice elsewhere, will unite everything you do . 
Want more exercises to help with your Tai Chi? Check out this post on Energy Work Video Exercises too. 

"Hey mOnk! What style do you practice?"
Over the last 30 years I have had more people ask me this than I have had hot dinners. My answer is never to name a style or a school or a lineage, for that would be playing into the game of comparisons and judgements. That is not the Way. 
Instead, my answer is to talk about the waist in Tai Chi, for although the classic texts talk about the importance of the waist, rarely do you see it demonstrated. 

I began my Tai Chi journey back in the early 80s and with a flowery style (that shall not be named) overflowing with gentle wrist moves and arm swinging, finger-circling and Buddha smiles, but all unrelated to the waist. I loved it, until I began to wonder where the strength for the moves came from.

From there I flirted with other styles, more powerful and demonstrably energy packed. Feet were stomped, fists pounded and even little energetic shouts accompanied the explosive moves. But I'd only just left a decade of karate classes and had had enough of all of that. I was looking for another expression and another source of energy. 

It was then that I discovered the basis of what would be my practice for the rest of my life: the power of the waist. I learned 3 simple exercises that I could then relate to all the moves, the footwork, the arms and all the Tai Chi postures. I suddenly realised how to move as a connected human being.

Try them yourself. Note that when you turn, your upper body is soft, and flexible and your lower half heavy and grounded. Note where the sense of connection comes from and look for that sense of momentum and swing that I talked about in this post
And  note that the waist leads, the body follows and the rest all alls into place. Remember, Tai Chi is not just about technique, it is also about principles that can also be applied to almost any other physical practices, from tying your ponytail into place, to cooking a dhal or even to walking (or gliding) down the road. 

So here they are, (well here are 2/3, but you'll find the other on my web site tucked away somewhere) Exercises that once learned, you will be able to apply to life itself. These exercises feature as just one small part of one exercise video of over 100 in the Complete Tai Chi Course. You can learn more exercises here and here, download the Beginners Guide PDF for even more exercises or just jump right in and start your training at home today. Enjoy and don't forget - apply the principles beyond the exercise. (That, if anyone asks, is the real secret to tai Chi)  

Learn other great Tai Chi Exercises in this video series  
Or jump straight in and start learning at home today in the best course online in the known Solar System: The Complete Tai Chi Course - guaranteed to not only teach you Tai Chi, but all the related areas of study too. And Check out all the ebooks you get too (see below) 

How is it that Tai Chi practitioners seem to glide, effortlessly as though their joints have been injected with Virgin Olive Oil? Why does a good practitioner, irrespective of style or suit, lineage or look, move like a smooth operator?

• It’s often talked about but little explored - this elusive source of flow and energy. But it is not magic or mystical.
• It's simple, mechanical, and attractively juxtapositional.
• It is the juicy embodiment of opposites, favoured by those that opt to embrace rather than confront.
• It’s that polarity and plurality underneath all styles and school that define the art of effortless movement in Tai Chi. 

Forget everything else. 
Forget notions of internal fire energy and explosive jin.
Forget diagrams with arrows and geometrical positions.
Forget anyone that says its all about tapping into Ley-lines or Qi rivers. 

1. Sink your weight
2. Relax your upper body, especially arms and shoulders
3. Follow your waist

Forget everything else. Start with these basic ideas, and then let them grow. watch the mini 3 part series below as visual guides. ​

These 3 short videos are excerpts are taken from longer videos on this theme, each exploring in greater depth the idea of Swing and Momentum. They are taken from the Complete Tai Chi Course - 12 months of exercises, Tai Chi breathing, Form practice, applications, poetry, music, art, and documentaries. Find out how more here.