Meandering 5:
Tai Chi cannot be practised using the rational mind. Beginners try to make the movements with their minds, and they cannot. Hands, feet, timing, balance, speed etc. - these cannot all be controlled by the mind. Just leave the body alone! When you do not interfere with it your body will move spontaneously and naturaly with the Tao.

Meandering 6:
The Tao is the Void to which all things come to and come from. The nature of the Void is silence and emptiness. Tai Chi is physical imitation of the Tao and for this reason you should go to it alone.

---

Meandering 7:
The Oriental discipline of Tai Chi must not be considered as either a hobby or a sport. In each case the essence of the art would be lost and render it to be of no benefit, perhaps harmful; probably pointless.

---

Meandering 8:
You will not gain wisdom from books or words, on screen, in print or spoken. Only experience can give you knowledge. The Tai Chi person does not waste too much time talking because the best help and assistance is given by example.

---

In Buddhism, "emptiness" is called sunyata. click here for "Shunyata" link Sunyata, (Sanskrit, Pali: suññata), or "Emptiness," is a term for an aspect of the Buddhist metaphysical critique as well as Buddhist epistemology and phenomenology. Shunyata signifies that everything one encounters in life is empty of soul, permanence, and self-nature. Everything is inter-related, never self-sufficient or independent; nothing has independent reality. Yet shunyata never connotes nihilism, which Buddhist doctrine considers to be a delusion, just as it considers materialism to be a delusion. see also: Meandering 17

---

Meandering 9:
If you have any reason whatsoever for doing Tai Chi - you are not doing the sort of Tai Chi that does you the most good. You must study until reasons disappear. Only then will it flow from your nature and be 'your' Tai Chi. Study without goal to become one with the movements - and you 'are' Tai Chi and not just 'doing' Tai Chi. This art is not something you can do; it is something you must be. "Home" is defined as both a place of arrival and a place of departure. Have no interest in where Tai Chi might take you or when you will arrive - wherever.

---

Meandering 10:
The ability to increase the efficiency of the respiratory system is real health benefits derived from the practice of Tai Chi as a dance like art Form. This is not to say there is anything wrong with "Chuan" as this includes all of that and more. It's just that the fighting forms go a little beyond the necessary for the average westerner who, let's be honest, are not called upon to lay there lives on the line every day of the week!
Form practice concentrates upon techniques that utilise this increased capacity over the long term; Chuan adaptations can produce instantaneous bursts of energy. In the case of the latter, energy may also be 'stolen' from an opponent.

---

Meandering 11:
In tradition Chinese and Japanese landscape paintings there are usually mountains, valleys and rivers. Somewhere on one the winding paths or in a boat on one of the rivers there might be a tiny human figure. High in the mountains there will be a temple. The mountains represent Yang, the valleys Yin. The river represents the flow of Chi energy through the world. The winding path is the Tao, the Way. The temple represents oneness with the Universe.

---

Meandering 12:
The simple in-out breaths of Tai Chi Form are imitations of the Great Breath of Tao; therefore correct breathing is central to Tai Chi Form. To do it "correctly" is to 'tune in' to the rhythm of the Tao.
Tai Chi breath must be deep, full, spontaneous and natural and in accordance with the yin and yang movements of the body.

---

Meandering 13:
Get rid of those things around you that shine so brightly that they disturb and cause discomfort to others. The Tai Chi person should at least attempt to merge with the Tao - which is - to be as humble as dust. The accomplishments of a Tai Chi person should thus not dazzle or cause resentment in others.

---

Meandering 14:
You can feel emptiness. You can hear silence.
You can do tai chi -
you decide - whenever.

---

Meandering 15:
The Universe is impartial and follows certain principles in its movement.
Be in accord with these principles and the Universe will provide you with all that you need. "Draw from it all you wish; it will never run dry".

---

Meandering 16:
The Tao is emptiness, nothingness, the Void. From the Void comes all that is. Nature is emptiness. Nature is nothing-much-ness and everything-ness!

---

Meandering 17:
Tai Chi is ... not trying to be anything; it is just 'being'.
Empty yourself of ego, ambition, attachment and fixed ideas about the way the world is. It is ... as it is. Come to terms with this Truth (it is as it is) and life can be faced with tranquility and be neither pessimistic or optimistic
... just realistic.

---

Meandering 18:
When the mind, body and soul (some may say 'spirit') become united in the Tan Tien (Chi center) you may, like a tree; and with deep roots and extending branches become a connection between heaven and earth - and be as one with all things.

---

"Draw from it all you wish; it will never run dry". Tao Te Ching verse 06 @ thebigview.com "The nature and meaning of the Tao received its first full exposition in the Tao Te Ching of Laozi, a work which along with those of Confucius and Mencius would have a far-reaching effect on the intellectual, moral and religious life of the Chinese people. Although a book of practical wisdom in many ways, its profoundly metaphysical character was unique among the prevailing forms of thought in China at that time."

thebigview.com Buddhism Tao Te Ching

---

Meandering 19: The ancient Taoist believed that we all had only so much "essence" and breath was considered one of the most vital and precious of these essences. They believed that when one's breath became completely depleted ... one died. Therefore, the breathing techniques used in co-ordination with Tai Chi movement exercises are specifically designed to persevere what breath we do have and continue to further expand the lungs so more breath might be produced, accumulated and stored.

Meandering 20: I learnt how to play the guitar when I was a teenager and then, for a year or two, about a decade later, I earned a living as a jobbing musician. These days I earn my living away from recording devices and PA systems. Nevertheless, here and now another couple of decades later, rarely does a day go by without me being inclined to find a room in the house where I can be alone for just half an hour or so and simply "play guitar".

There should come a time when you can say that you "play" Tai Chi and not forever "practie" it.

Further reading @ | Cultural bias | Shunyata or "Void" | "Mu" | Bagua | Goodness and value theory | Book of Changes | Five Elements | "Tao Te Ching |