The 10 Key Points of Tai Chi: A Guide to Mastery

Tai Chi is more than a series of movements; it’s a practice of harmony, balance, and inner strength. Mastering Tai Chi requires attention to its 10 Key Points, foundational principles that deepen your practice and help you flow with grace and purpose.

Let’s explore these timeless teachings, handed down through generations of Tai Chi masters.

1. The Head is Upright

Keep your head gently upright, as if suspended by an invisible thread. This aligns your spine, promoting balance and allowing Chi to flow freely.

2. Sink the Chest and Pluck Up the Back

Relax your chest to keep your center of gravity low and stable. At the same time, pluck up the back to maintain an open, supportive posture. This key point direct the lifeforce/chi into our spine and back, nourishing your internal system. 

3. Differentiate Yin and Yang

Understand the balance of opposites in your movements—soft and firm, open and closed, fast and slow. This dynamic balance is the essence of Tai Chi. A useful Tai Chi exercise is "Holding the Moon". Watch video demonstration of 'Shifting Yin Yang' here. 

4. Relax and Engage the Waist

Your waist is the pivot of movement in Tai Chi. Keep it relaxed yet engaged to direct energy smoothly through your body. Why it's important to engage the waist? Watch our video tutorial here where Jingjing explains in details using the sequence 'brush knee and push forward' as an example. 

5. Sink the Shoulders and Elbows

Let your shoulders and elbows relax downward. This releases tension and improves fluidity in your movements. letting go of shoulder and arm tension opens the door way to mental clarity as well. 

6. Use Mind, Not Force

Tai Chi is a practice of intention. Instead of relying on brute strength, guide your movements with a focused and calm mind.

7. Upper and Lower Body Follow Each Other

Harmonize your movements from head to toe. The upper body and lower body should flow together as one unified whole. This relies on engaging waist again! Watch more demonstration in this video, where Jingjing explains how engaging waist can naturally helps with your Tai Chi posture by using  the example of ' Part the Horse Mane'. 

8. Inside and Outside Coordinate

Balance your internal energy (mind and breath) with your external movements. This coordination is key to achieving true Tai Chi flow. Essentially Tai Chi is internal bodywork. The internal guides the external. Internal means your anatomy, your feeling and needs. External is the form we see.

9. Unbroken Fluid Movement

Tai Chi is like a river—smooth and continuous. Avoid jerky or disconnected movements to maintain a steady, flowing rhythm.

10. Stillness in Movement

Even as you move, cultivate inner calmness. This state of relaxed alertness is at the heart of Tai Chi, blending motion and stillness seamlessly.

Building Your Tai Chi Whare (House)

These 10 Key Points are the “pou” or pillars of your Tai Chi practice. Strengthen them, and you’ll build a solid foundation for your journey. With consistent practice, you’ll experience the physical, mental, and emotional benefits of this ancient art.

Are you ready to put these principles into action? Join us in Christchurch and start exploring the beauty of Tai Chi today!

Jingjing Jackson
Bringing the wisdom of Tai Chi to your everyday life.