When practicing Tai Ji, it is important to relax and calm, and make sure to have the right postures. During the Tai Ji movement, your eyes should follow the movement of your hand, transitions from one posture to another should be slow and smooth, and the shape and trace of your movement should be round.
Here are some common problems in practicing Tai Ji, and some suggestions to overcome them:
1. Stiffness
The whole body is tight up, the movement is rigid and uncoordinated. Try to loosen up, let your shoulders down relaxed, and practice with the first posture of the Tai Ji form.
2. Shrug
Shoulder shrug. Try to drop your shoulder and shrug your shoulder. Repeat it several times. It could help you to loosen up the shoulder.
3. Elbow is too high
Elbow is raised too high. Elbow should feel like dropping. One way to correct it is to pay attention to your elbow and make sure that your elbow is not too far away from your rib but never touch the rib. One measure to the angle of your elbow is to see if your underarm could hold a ball the size of a fist. Repeatedly practicing ‘white crane to spread the wings’ is a good way to solve this problem.
4. Bending over
Bend over the hips. One solution to overcome this problem is to increase the strength of the lower limbs. You can try to practice a single whip repeatedly.
5. Overly Kneeling
When lunging, the front knee is over the toe. One solution to overcome this problem is to practice ’wild horse tiller’ repeatedly. When practice, make sure the front bow leg feels like pushing up, the back leg is sunk down.
6. Floating
The foot is not rooted to the ground, the movement is not stable. The suggestion is to pay attention to how you make movements. When turning your body, turn your center, and make sure that the angle of your foot is correct. When you step, bent your knee, lose your waist, let your waist follow your foot.
7. Swaying
Front and back tilted left and right, hips twisted. Suggest practicing ‘jade female shuttle’ repeatedly. During the practice, and make sure your head is straight, chin pull back, and use your waist as the axis.