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Photos: Jack Western
One might say Tai Chi is best described as a combination of yoga and a martial art. This may, at first, sound oxymoronic, but this is just the tip of the iceberg of the confusion.
Tai Chi is different. Different in what sense? In every sense. Different in ways you won’t know exist unless you do it or something similarly ‘different’.
There were two reasons why I was not convinced beforehand that Tai Chi would benefit me. Firstly, I am somewhat cynical of disciplines which might be described as ‘alternative’ or ‘spiritual,’ as I am more pragmatically minded.
Secondly, I was loosely aware that Tai Chi had emphasis on progress through relaxation and correct technique, focussing on the internalisation of energy, whereas I am more of a get-stuck-in person. I usually pick up new sports reasonably quickly by figuring out what seems to work for me, irrespective of whether it corresponds with orthodox technique.
To start with the instructor demonstrated how to stand, then how to find our centre of gravity before telling us to locate any points of tension and try to eliminate them. We moved on to a simple breathing routine, followed by a series of simple-looking exercises as the class progressed.
However, each time I tried to replicate the instructor, the others had to correct my position and movements. Trying to blag my way through wasn’t working, so I decided to let my pragmatic side take over; follow each instruction in the recipe and the meal should take care of itself, or so I thought.
Yet every time I tried this approach, I found myself off balance or awkwardly stretched, and it was only when an instructor told me to point my back foot at forty-five degrees, or to put my weight on my legs not my back that things fitted into place, and I felt the exercise become easier and smoother.
I had assumed it would be easy to get a feel what to do, but I was perpetually thinking about making sure the parts of my body were linked up to achieve the fluid motions others in the class were doing with such consummate ease.
That, I suppose, is the essence of Tai Chi, the combination of pragmatic specificity and the ‘feel’ of the motion, both science and art. I think of my body as a lump of matter, a lump that’s useful for walking into town or opening a jar of Nutella, but I do these things without thinking about what it is I’m doing. I’ve just picked up various motions since I was born and now I just do them.
But now you’re forcing what has been subconscious for years into your conscious mind, making it aware of your entire body and what it is doing. a strange sensation it must be said.
There are points when being so aware of everything and moving it so specifically is on such a different plane to what you are used to that it becomes somewhat disorientating and quite mentally draining.
When we got to the self-defence part of the session, I wondered what moves we were to learn. Instead, I was given my very own ‘wax-on, wax-off’ moment. I was shown a move I had learnt earlier (best described here as ‘wipe the window, open the gate’), was in fact a technique to grab the arm of an oncoming attacker, and throw him to the ground.
It was the founder of judo, Kan Jigor, to whom the phrase “Maximum efficiency with minimum effort” is attributed, but it is no less apt in Tai Chi. When I had the technique demonstrated on me by a veteran of the class, it was instantly noticeable how little force he exerted deflecting a punch or pushing me back. Instead he used my own centre of gravity, and the natural levers and fulcrums of the body, to gain the upper hand.
There is the pragmatic side of me which wonders if ‘parting the horse’s mane’ would help in a pub brawl, or how well they would have dealt with it if I had decided to throw down right there and then, and tackled one of them to the floor when he wasn’t expecting it.
However, it is quite probable that my scepticism is born of ignorance, and even if it is well-founded, few would disagree that, in any fight, the more you know, the better chance you stand. As they say, “knowledge is power.”
The atmosphere is not at all formal, the instructors and veterans were more than happy to help me out as I fumbled my way through the routines and I left feeling like I could pop in any week I fancied. So if you like the sound of a truly novel and enriching experience and something that will really test you physically and mentally, there’s no reason not to get stuck in and get involved.
The University Tai Chi Club trains in Hendrix Hall (D/L/028) on Saturdays 9.00-11.00 am and on Wednesdays 6-8 pm. For new students the first two sessions are free.
Great photos!