How to practice tai chi

For most of my life I equated practice with repetition. I never learned the richer meaning of practice as refinement and cultivation. My challenge is 'how to practice' as much as 'how to do tai chi.' The question I ask myself is how to make each practice a step in my development—a step which offsets the progress of MS.

In my first four years of doing tai chi, I practiced with a group. Practice was directed by the instructor. We worked on what the instructor thought important for the group. The group energy sustained my practice. Without the society, my tai chi would have faltered.

As I came to understand practice as a form of training, individual practice became more important and its own reward. I regularly attended workshops and intensives for four years, learned additional forms, always looking for individual correction from advanced instructors.

Then I moved to Taos and my group practice ended. For the last six years my practice, exclusive of my teaching, has been individual. I attended several workshops, read extensively about tai chi, and began experimenting with different techniques.

Now my practice focuses on one or perhaps two aspects of the form. Sometimes the tai chi movement itself suggests what needs to be done and sometimes I bring the idea and intention to the practice. I both need and enjoy the practice. I also feel there is something missing.

I often think that I should find a tai chi master willing to make the corrections and give guidance. And just as often, I think it is up to me to find the next step, to make the next adaptation, to explore the next possibility.

My answers to the question – how to practice tai chi –are provisional and as much mental as physical. Perhaps that is the nature of practice—to always be provisional.