Maintaining the Four Points in Tai Chi
Recently, the question of “should I rotate my spine in Tai Chi” has come up frequently and led to a lot of confusion with some of our students. We are told to maintain the “Four Points” - a sort of internal frame that runs between the shoulders and the hips, forming a box that keeps the spine from rotating or side bending while you practice Tai Chi. Some people hear this rule and think, “but the spine has joints that rotate and bend in more than one plane” or “show me any athletic movement that doesn’t make use of the rotational movement of the spine to generate power.” ...