How to Improve our Stances and Postures in the Form

There are different ways to improve our stances and postures in the Chen Tai Chi form. Each and every class, Shifu will talk about the same corrections over and over. The most difficult thing is to learn how to feel and gauge/judge our personal body awareness in space. When we are NOT sure how our alignment is, it helps to have visual cues. A large mirror comes in handy to give us immediate feedback to how we are positioned. The first thing I check is foot position. It is important to know, which direction are our toes/feet pointed in? Shifu often will say, more open here, or more closed here when looking at the feet.

There are common points of tension when we do the different motions found in the form. Neck and shoulder tension are very common. When these areas are tense, we tend to be somewhat shoulder shrugged or upwards or our head is forward. We need to look and see if we notice that we don't look natural.

Chest more open is another thing Shifu often wants us to be aware of. Sometimes, our arms are too close to the body, and that may mean that we are using the wrong muscles to do a movement; learn to relax the arms/shoulders and expand the chest to a more natural motion.

Shifu always wants us to have our hips down, and lowered. Many of us don't position our legs/hips wide enough, and then don't bend our knees outward. Some of us, like me, sometimes moves our hips/knees too wide.

If a mirror isn't available, have yourself videotaped! This way you can pause at the conclusion of every move and examine how you look. If video isn't available, use a still camera and catch the images and examine your positioning. At all times you correct yourself, try to recognize how your body is and how it feels.

You can also ask a senior student to look at your uncertain postures and ask for feedback.

Of course, asking Shifu will also give him an opportunity to give you correction and ensure that he has a chance to direct you to your best postential. Don't by shy about asking him, Shifu WANTS your skill to improve!

Chen tai chi isn't all about static postures though, alot of times, it is how we move incorrectly that causes frustration and difficulty in learning correct motion. One of the things I was taught to do was, at any given problem area, do it with the opposite foot forward and perform a given motion on BOTH sides to figure out what it is that we are trying to lean and absorb.

Those are just a few pointers. Hope that helps!!
J