There is mystery surrounding the internal movement in tai chi. How does one develop it and how does one maintain it?
From my perspective of teaching tai chi for years, I have come to realize that students are constrained by the limitations of their bodies. But how do I as an instructor elevate the student’s ability to find and engage in the internal aspects of the movements?
What am I actually looking for? What am I trying to see in the student and how am I trying to change the dynamics of the student’s body and movement so that they can engage internally?
Do I know what is happening in my own body so that I can explain and transfer the principles to their body?
Many students’ bodies are different and will require different instructions, so can I translate principles to be applied to their bodies?
If a student can mimic a teacher’s movement and yet his movement is external and ours are internal, what would be the next step? How do we accelerate their progress to the next level?
Understanding Internal Movement Through Observing External Movement
One can observe what happens with the external movements to determine what is happening with the internal movements.
This can be especially felt in the opening first move of the tai chi form. If the spinal movement and turning is so refined, then the quality and expression of the first move is wonderful to express and mesmerizing to watch.
The skill here of the aspiring instructor is to observe a student’s tai chi movements and know how and where to correct and contain the larger circles and to guide them to smaller movements.
When conforming and constraining the larger moves to smaller moves, a student will project more of the internal movements outwards. The forces within the movement will reverberate out to the arms and limbs and the sensation can be felt as the movement moving itself...like a spin top expressing the forces outwards.
Over time and after a certain amount of practice, we would like to experience and believe that we have progressed in our training and have developed some type of “Internals” with our tai chi. The fascinating part of the journey with tai chi is the progress from an external practice to an internal practice.
One begins to discover the internal spirals that can manifest in a movement almost as if it has its own intelligence. As one student exclaimed on the refined first move, “I can feel the movement move itself.” There is extraordinary self intelligence of the tai chi body telling one what to do.
The spine makes a circular turn on its axis so there is always a very subtle circular quality and expression in the movement if one can be aware of it. Circular spirals from the belly to arm and hand movements may also be detected.
When the spine stretches and rotates, there is more space created in the abdominal cavity. The in-breath lifts and stretches the abdominals and internal structures and aids in the expansion of the stretch. The out-breath relaxes during the outward expression of the move. There is a dynamic process of internal happenings during the transition of the move.
Rotational stretching and turning moves the internal structures when engaged with the internal movements of the tai chi movement. That shift brings about a different feeling and expression in the training of tai chi. It feels even more internal.
When a student experiences this, he is always amazed with the new feelings of internal movements, discoveries and elegance in the new expression of the tai chi move.
Many students may practice tai chi over long periods and be slow to develop the internal tai chi quality in their movements. This is because they are not utilizing the tai chi moves in an optimal way to get full benefit from their movements. This will in turn limit their progress in developing the internal connections in their tai chi.
The tai chi student needs to be adequately trained and corrected in his movements to bring about the development and progress of his internal tai chi moves. If one is practicing the moves externally over a long period, the body must be trained and over time begin to transition more and more into the internal control of one’s tai chi moves. This requires good teaching and guidance from a skillful instructor.
When one gets to this place, the experience of the body can be sublime with positive wholesome sensations experienced throughout the movements. This unified motion is all connected internally and one can enjoy and experience the practice of tai chi engaging and performing itself. Also, many students will experience Qi flow or energy sensations which may appear as tingling or vibrations or a fluid like flow through the body.
