Tai Chi

The Art of Tai Chi contains ancient tools that are essential for resolving the conflicts we face every day. But Tai Chi isn't just conflict resolution theory.... You train your nervous system at the deepest level to respond to threat and pressure in the graceful, relaxed way that has made Tai Chi famous for centuries. Check out these playful "under pressure" partner practices: You learn to: Handle incoming force, whether it's a shove, a verbal threat, or an electronic one (hello, 10pm email!) Neutralize threats by finding your root and learning to respond flexibly -- you practice this physically, but the payoff is also more energetic and emotional flexibility! Sense subtle, underlying tension that the other person is projecting at you before they even realize it It all starts with the Internal State that you create....then each encounter becomes a chance to practice and refine your response, until you move through your day unfazed by the world coming at you. ...

Thanks for signing up to learn more from DanKleiman.com....but there's one more thing! We just sent you an email to confirm your address. Please click on the link in the email so that we know you're a real person interested in hearing from us. If for some reason you don't receive the email (did you check your spam folder?). Thanks!

At the center of Tai Chi practice, you cultivate your ability to listen – to your own internal state, to the energy of other people, and to the world around you. When it comes to interaction, and intense interaction like conflict, your internal state matters. The very first lesson you learn in Tai Chi Push Hands is that the outcome of an interaction is determined by your reaction, your internal state – whether you manifest tension or relaxation. ...

One aspect of Tai Chi that tends to get overlooked is testing. I don’t mean testing for rank or belts. I mean testing the smoothness of your nervous system that should be evolving as you go deeper into your practice. In this video, Tai Chi Master Bruce Frantzis demonstrates an exceptional degree of smoothness. Even though he is demonstrating a Ba Gua rolling exercise, all of the internal arts aim to cultivate this degree of fluidity: ...

Movement can be a powerful tool for creating a calm mind, but only when you follow some very specific rules. Tai Chi was designed with these specific movement rules because the goal is to take you from tense to relaxed and from relaxed to vital and strong. When my Tai Chi teacher, Bruce Frantzis explains the learning progression for Tai Chi, he makes it clear that when your primary focus is on the mind, and your goal is to calm your mind, you must follow this progression. ...

As you cultivate the mind-body benefits of Tai Chi, you will likely focus on solo training and interactive two-person practices like Push Hands. There’s a third kind of Tai Chi training, though, that will make the link between the other two stronger, Tai Chi Equipment Training. Using stones, balls, disks, belts, and other objects you find in nature, you can develop important attributes of the Tai Chi body and mind. ...

When you really find the groove with your Tai Chi practice, it’s like listening to a piece of music. The rhythms, riffs, and notes phase in and out, sometimes blending, and sometimes really standing out on their own, and even though there’s a lot going on, you can soak it all in at once. Can you practice Tai Chi the same way? This isn’t just an analogy, there’s a major lesson buried in here. Can you spot it? ...

I remember the first time I really got a sense for “opening and closing” my joints. We were on a qigong retreat and the person who was helping me probably spent 20 minutes “pulsing” my wrist, so that the fluids in the joint were moving in a smooth, even way, alternately creating more and less space between the bones. When you pulse, you’re manipulating the fluid flows inside your body so that the spaces inside your body compress and expand. ...

Try a guided practice with these exercises: Format: Audio (mp3) Duration: 32 minutes Cost: $4.99 [paiddownloads id=“1”] When you click “Buy Now” you will be redirected to Paypal to complete your purchase. A download link will be emailed to you after you complete the transaction.

To get the most of your Tai Chi Cloud Hands practice, use these audio clips to guide your practice. The audio practice sessions below cover the exercises featured in this video: Prep Exercises This 25 minute audio practice session takes you through a complete set of the Cloud Hands prep exercises. You'll go through each exercise and get reminders on what to focus on as well as how to coordinate them. ...