Attentions & Intentions for T’ai Chi Practice in 2025
Our Intermediates class has been setting their learning goals for 2025. Thank you to those students who have shared their ideas either during our class discussion or afterwards.
As promised, here are our collective observations and ideas –
1. Learning intentions
Continue/ deepen breathwork practice, connecting the movements to the breath, allowing the breath to dictate pace
Lifting the eyeline, increasing peripheral vision & increasing awareness
Extending awareness into openness to learning
Embracing philosophy, theory and principles of T’ai Chi
Joining Book Club discussions, e.g. on The T’ai Chi Classics.
2. Bringing mindfulness/ presence to our T’ai Chi practice
Being in the present moment
Resting into the stillness at the end of meditative walking
Preparation before class – find a way to prepare the mind. This can be spending a quiet 10 minutes before you leave the house/work, or it can be as simple as looking up to the sky and notice one thing about the sky, the weather, the seasons
Use the Holding the Tree Trunk Stance to build awareness and mindfulness.
Prepare the night before – on a practical and mind prep front.
3. Setting Pace
We enjoy a slower pace when we practice at home alone. We are setting the intention of bringing some of this to class. We will name a week when we particularly allow for our own pace. We notice that we don’t have to run at exactly the same time as others. In class, we can use the pause moments to allow for everyone to ‘catch up.’
It’s our choice whether to practice more – or not! If we want to get more out of TC, we need to put in more time
If it’s our perspective that we are ‘too busy,’ there’s a light invitation to consider whether adding T’ai Chi practice to our day actually helps us develop perspectives and use T’ai Chi practice and principles to manage our energies and time better!
4. Bringing Patience
We acknowledge that learning T’ai Chi is a longer-term journey. Keeping a T’ai Chi diary helps us observe and appreciate how far we have come.
With patience comes Acceptance. For example, we can have pain and exercise – or have pain and NOT exercise. How can we go about establishing which is better for us as our own unique individual selves?
A big piece for students learning T’ai Chi is Frustration at not being able to remember the moves. Here it’s helpful to explore what type of learners are we? And to think about how does that inform us and our practice? For example, using the stories and symbolism of T’ai Chi can help us to remember. And then tapping into our muscle memory, whilst also staying alert will provide a good base for establishing good practice of the sequence.
Acknowledging here the Presence piece - if we are rested and prepared before class, everything is easier to retain.
5. Increasing Practice
It is our choice to practice more. We can start small, e.g. just the Holding the Tree Trunk posture for 60 seconds, or two minutes of Cloud Arms or meditative walking.
We remind ourselves that managing our energies means we enable ourselves to manage our time better. Start with your energies – and use the Holding the Circle as the prompt to ensure that we do not allow our energies to become depleted (Gerda Gedddes refers to this in her Allegorical Journey).
We can do at sunset or sunrise – both of these options help our wellbeing (setting us up for a gentle day, and providing a sense of calm before we sleep).
Make it easy! Decide when is your ‘best time,’ make it regular, make it a habit, e.g. connect it to other activities
The DVD was recorded to support your learning – some students have set their intentions for 2025 to use the DVD a couple times a week.
Develop a deeper sense of mindfulness during practice.
Use T’ai Chi to release tension in injured areas.
Photo: Thanks to sasint, Pixabay.
