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Tai Chi Chuan & Internal ArtsA chance to meet the instructing members of the Tai Chi Union for Great Britain - Carolyn Howell 1. How many years have you been practising Tai chi? Since 1984. 2. What stimulated your interest in Tai chi? Attending classes that also explored the meaning and spiritual discipline underlying the movements. And of course, experiencing the benefits right from the start: renewed health and vitality, feeling calm and centred, and feeling the awareness growing in oneself and the group. 3. What does Tai chi mean to you? The natural harmony and flow of energy within and without. 4. What is the most important aspect for you? To practise Tai chi as a moving meditation integrating all levels; a tool for developing mastery, and awareness of one's own Te (virtue/true nature), of the cycles and rhythm of energy flowing through and around one, of the profound wisdom behind the sequence and movements of the Long Yang Form. But to enjoy the vitality it engenders too. So that all aspects of daily living come to express Tai chi! 5. Do you have any personal goals in Tai chi? To explore these aspects as deeply as possible – the more one's awareness evolves the more there is to learn. And hopefully to always be able to share – doing Tai chi in a group or mirroring with a partner, is even more enriching. 6. Who or what has inspired you most? Lao Tzu, the Classics, the I Ching. The teachings of Chungliang Al Huang, Beverley Milne, Gerda Geddes, Mantak Chia. 7. What do you make of Tai chi's current popularity? With all the speed and ‘doing' that is characteristic of our lives today, I feel people are needing to create space for letting go, emptying out, ‘returning to the source'. Tai chi Chuan is exercise based on the basic rhythm of nature, the breath. Unlike some exercise which may exhaust the body's energy reserves, it replenishes and restores the flow of energy through the body, anchors us in the centre of our being and reconnects our feet with the earth. And, while we develop inner awareness, we also develop awareness of energy around-about; Tai chi connects the individual in a positive way with his/her environment and the people in it. 8. As a teacher what do you feel about the martial aspect of Tai chi? I certainly feel it is valid as it has been developed with great skill. It depends where your interest lies. But to me it seems quite a masculine oriented way of approaching Tai chi, which I acknowledge must be necessary in times of war and struggle. I personally feel the art of Tai chi incorporates feminine aspects too: of softness and sensitivity, of nourishing the space around one and harmonising with the environment – aspects that especially need to be cultivated in this day and age. 9. What are your views on competitions? Again I feel that is primarily the masculine way – a display of prowess. I do however believe in sharing, that we can learn from each other, and events where this can happen should be encouraged. 10. Which direction would you like to see Tai chi going in the future? I would like to see it being used for more subtle use of energy flow eg healing, raising the energy in places or amongst groups of people, enhancing space for spiritual questioning, sharing, tolerance and creativity. Tai Chi Chuan & Internal Arts, (TCUGB Magazine), Summer 2003, No.17 |