Energy Tai Chi Chuan is often called “meditation in movement” because it shares many characteristics with traditional seated meditation practices.
Here are some reasons why the Energy Tai Chi Chuan routine can be seen as a form of moving meditation:
- Mindful Awareness: Like meditation, Tai Chi Chuan cultivates mindful awareness. Practitioners focus on the present moment, bringing full awareness to each movement, breath, and sensation. This heightened mindfulness allows practitioners to develop a deep connection between the mind and body.
- Inner Calmness and Relaxation: Just as meditation aims to bring about a sense of calmness and relaxation, Tai Chi Chuan promotes this state through slow, flowing movements. The gentle nature of the practice encourages practitioners to cultivate a relaxed body and mind, releasing tension and stress.
- Stillness within Movement: In Tai Chi Chuan, there is an emphasis on finding stillness within movement. While engaged in continuous motion, practitioners strive for internal tranquillity and stability. This harmonises with the meditative principle of finding inner stillness even amidst external activity.
- Breath Awareness: Both meditation and Tai Chi Chuan place importance on breath awareness. Conscious breathing patterns are integrated into the practice, aiding relaxation, energy cultivation, and overall body-mind coordination.
- Single-Pointed Focus: In Tai Chi Chuan, practitioners focus on their movements and internal sensations while letting go of distracting thoughts or external distractions. This concentration parallels the focused attention cultivated during seated meditation practices.
- Embodied Presence: Moving meditation brings mindfulness into physicality by integrating it with bodily movements. It encourages practitioners to fully inhabit their bodies, promoting a sense of embodied presence that enhances self-awareness and connects them deeply with their experience.
- Transcendence of Dualities: Meditation seeks to transcend dualistic thinking and dissolve the separation between self and other, subject and object. Similarly, Energy Tai Chi Chuan embodies the concept of yin and yang, integrating opposing forces into a harmonious whole. The practice encourages practitioners to unite their physical, mental, and energetic aspects, fostering a sense of unity within themselves and with the world around them.
Combining movement, breath, mindfulness, and relaxation in a flowing sequence of postures, Energy Tai Chi Chuan offers a unique form of meditation that cultivates inner stillness and develops physical health, balance, and martial skills.
