Tai Chi Chuan – Why Study A Form If What You Get Is A Process?

Tai Chi Chuan – Why Study A Form If What You Get Is A Process?

I’ve suggested that studying tai chi form is not to learn a form but to learn a process. If that is so, then why do we take so much time to learn such a specific form? Why not just work with the process and dump the form?

Oddly enough, we need that form because it verifies our process. If we don’t have some tool to test the process, we won’t be able to tell if we have mastered any of that process. Hence, the form is the test.

Even from the start, we are learning principles and applying them to the very beginning of the form. Often we then get confused and think that the shape of the form, the form of the form is what we are trying to achieve. Nope. We are applying some principles to help ourselves learn these principles onto a template.

That template has to be very specific. For one thing, it actually helps us learn the process because it requires us to be aligned and relaxed. By separating it out from regular activities and being very specific, we are challenged to maintain these principles in a prolonged act of creating and practicing this form. If the form is working along the lines of the principles, then we are learning the principles.

It takes a long time to really learn what it means to fully relax. Some would say this takes a lifetime. So with a form in hand we work over and over and over again to fully explore these principles in many different shapes. And in doing so, we are polishing the jewel that we already are. It is like the sculptor who removes all that isn’t to reveal all that is.

After this, we take these principles onto the mat. We use them in push-hands which is a modified combat form. Can we maintain these principles through the infinite variations that are presented to us by our tai chi push-hands partners?

This all requires a sustained effort and great attention. Those are qualities that are often missing in our lives, except where we are forced to engage them. But tai chi is an activity that we elect to learn to add health and vitality to our body and mind. In addition to those reasons, it is a fantastic place to learn life altering principles.

These principles work everywhere, but since the form of life is very very grand and complex, the principles are hard to articulate, let alone actually practice. With a specific form to engage in, we can more easily work on the principles as specific challenges within a specific form. In that way, it is very small, but extends outward infinitely to potentially affect everything you do. Tai chi functions as a microcosm of life.

Another reason to practice tai chi.

Another reason to be in awe of the principles.