T’ai Chi Chih Movements - Instruction
In these instructional videos, each movement is broken down for beginners and is easy to follow and learn. After learning several movements, practitioners may then turn to a related “Consolidation Practice” video. Consolidation Practices group movements together in a short practice session encouraging review and integration.
Justin Stone often said, “The jewel of T’ai Chi Chih is its Teachers.” If you are drawn to this practice, I strongly encourage you to find an Accredited T’ai Chi Chih teacher in your area by accessing this list to support your learning.
Please note, though no particular effect is guaranteed, the flow of the intrinsic energy through the body as activated, circulated and balanced through the safe and gentle T’ai Chi Chih practice can express itself as a feeling of warmth in the body or hands, tingling in the hands and eventually fluttering of the fingers. The fluttering in my fingers observed in these videos is not voluntary, rather simply an expression of the energy moving through the body, and should not be emulated. Most importantly, if you feel any of these (and other) pleasant effects while practicing, as soon as you notice, simply return your focus to the soles of the feet.
To all new practitioners, I welcome you to this practice and invite you to find out for yourself the experience of the energy activating, circulating and balancing in your body through the safe and nourishing mindfulness moving meditation practice of T’ai Chi Chih. Keep your awareness in the bottoms of the feet at all times and Enjoy!
Videos by Amy Tyksinski
T’ai Chi Chih Full Practice — Accompanied by “Music for T’ai Chi Chih and Restful Listening”
Composed and performed by Justin Stone (the originator of T’ai Chi Chih). Can also be done as a silent practice by turning the sound down as movement reminders are written at the bottom of the screen. 6 repetitions on a side.
T’ai Chi Chih Full Practice – Tuesday Morning with Justin
This full practice reflects how we used to practice T’ai Chi Chih with Justin Stone on Tuesday Mornings. We started with 36 Rocking Motion and continued from there with 9 repetitions of the forward-backward movements and 3 sets of the side-to-side movements.
Introduction
“’I don’t know now but it will come to me. I will know,’ is a good attitude to take in practicing T’ai Chi Chih to counteract a lack of confidence. You must have confidence in yourself.” — Justin Stone
Related Article: Interview Questions
Yinning and Yanging of the Legs
“What is the difference between releasing tension and actions which express a combination of form within the formless and hence, are more powerful?” (From Tension vs. Form by Amy Tyksinski)
Related Articles: Adjustments & Jellyfish & Tension vs. Form
Rocking Motion & Bird Flaps Its Wings
“Softly, evenly the heels return to the floor and the essential, subtle but important release occurs: that of the knees. The instant the heels touch down, the backs of the knees must soften to absorb the weight shift backwards, to allow the balance to remain centered, to ground the movement.” (From Teaching Rocking Motion by Amy Tyksinski)
Related Articles: Teaching Rocking Motion
Consolidation Practice: Rocking Motion & Bird Flaps its Wings
“…as the weight comes forward enough, the heels may rise, more as a response to the weight shift (and the chi) rather than a self-propelled pushing with the toes…Softly, evenly, the heels return to the floor and the essential, subtle but important release occurs: that of the knees….” (From Teaching Rocking Motion by Amy Tyksinski)
Related Articles: Teaching Rocking Motion & Continuity – Push Pull & Rocking Motion Through the Lens of Expansion and Contraction
Around the Platter
“The opening in the wrists cultivated by lifting the hands slightly is what I like to refer to as ‘vitality’ in the wrists. This slight muscular engagement opens the meridian channels in the wrists and invites the chi to flow much more strongly through the system.” (From Wrist Vitality: Feeling the Chi by Amy Tyksinski)
Related article: Wrist Vitality: Feeling the Chi
Around the Platter – Variation & Bass Drum
“Most beginners do not use the wrists and hands enough, preferring to make cumbersome arm movements…. Fingers are slightly spread apart, the hands slightly cupped as though around the sides of a ball, and there is complete relaxation from the waist up. Conversely, the foot that is flat on the floor is firm, as though gripping the ground with the sole of the foot” (17). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Daughter on the Mountaintop & Daughter in the Valley
“In T’ai Chi Chih, most movements are circular….This circularity is one of the secrets of the energy generated, and is part of the ‘continuity’ I so often speak of” (17). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Consolidation Practice: Around the Platter, Around the Platter – Variation, Bass Drum, Daughter on the Mountaintop, Daughter in the Valley
“This feeling of swimming through very heavy air, with the resultant surge of energy and tingling in the fingers, will eventually bring us the firm conviction that this seemingly ‘empty’ universe is actually a vast continuum of intelligence and energy” (16). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Carry the Ball to the Side – Part 1
“How can we love ourselves exactly where we are, regardless of what is going on around us, yet still remain open and receptive?” (From The Popping, The Fluttering (And Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My) by Amy Tyksinski)
15. Carry the Ball to the Side – Part 2 – Hip Swivel (mirrored)
“Turn now to the t’an t’ien. Are we not expanding and contracting in accord with nature, like the Jelly, whether we know it or not?! (But how exciting that it can be consciously felt….) (From Adjustments and Jellyfish by Amy Tyksinski)
Push Pull
“As the T’an T’ien shifted the body forward, I paid particular attention to the slightly downward-pointing curve of the ellipse that the wrists traced, the subtle tug in the wrists as the finger tips pointed upward. An exquisite awareness began to infuse each millisecond of Push Pull as a fuller embodiment coaxed the vital energy to circulate more strongly and teach me about itself.” (From We Need Each Other by Amy Tyksinski)
Related article: Continuity – Push Pull and Rocking Motion Through the Lens of Expansion and Contraction and We Need Each Other
Pulling in the Energy
“As we circle the hands…we visiualize the energy from the most distant star coming in through the fingertips. This visualization is very important” (56). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Basic Pulling Taffy
“I learned to feel and rest into the impersonal stream which was guiding me and supporting me more than I realized, this stream that we all ARE. There is something bigger going on and gradually it is joined with and includes all of our humanness.” (From TEDx: The Growth of Certainty – Including it All TCC Teachers’ Conference 2013 – St. John’s College, Minnesota by Amy Tyksinski)
Pulling Taffy Variations: #1 Anchor Step; #2 Wrist Circles; #3 Perpetual Motion
The high school students “are learning a new language, one of heightened awareness and energy flow. And with the cultivation of heightened awareness, students are naturally led to heightened focus and increased powers of concentration. They are learning to be present within their bodies, not just in their minds. This alertness and engaged presence (of their whole being) then spills over into the rest of their academic day and their lives!” (From the TEDxABQED Talk: The Effects of T’ai Chi Chih on High School Students by Amy Tyksinski)
Consolidation Practice: Carry the Ball to the Side, Push Pull, Pulling in the Energy Basic Pulling Taffy, Variation #1 – Anchor Step, Variation #2 Wrist Circles, Variation #3 Perpetual Motion
“’T’ai Chi Chih is calming for me and helps create a moment of peace. It has helped me in situations of stress or anger to become more cool-headed and handle these emotions better in that moment. I feel the ground below me and the air touching my skin while I practice and the sounds of people and buildings fade away and the white noise of the area comes forward. T’ai Chi Chih has helped me in many ways and is beneficial in helping me become a better version of myself in this world.’ – I.M.” (From 10th Graders Speak on T’ai Chi Chih)
Working the Pulley
“T’ai Chi Chih becomes a way of life. It is true that the gentle movements of T’ai Chi Chih form a moving meditation and an exercise of great efficiency – exercising the inner organs and promoting healing – but eventually it goes beyond these and permeates the life-style of the practitioner” (23). (From Spiritual Odyssey by Justin Stone)
Light at the Top of the Head; Light at the Temple
In T’ai Chi Chih, we place our attention in the soles of the feet. Justin comments, “The soles of the feet are very important in the study of T’ai Chi Chih. They are called the ‘Hsueh’ (‘Bubbling Spring’). I think of them as the ‘Fountain of Youth’” (52) (From T’ai Chi Chih Teachers’ Training Manual by Justin Stone)
Joyous Breath
“Joyous Breath requires some pressure from the muscles, the only movement that does. We push vigorously down to the ground, breathing out deeply as we do so, and then pull up vigorously to the top of the chest as we breathe in deeply” (91). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Passing Clouds
“With the gentle movements of T’ai Chi Chih, even if we do only a few of them repetitively, comes a quieting of the emotions as the Chi (Vital Force) circulates and is then balanced” (25). (From Spiritual Odyssey by Justin Stone)
Related articles: 10th Graders Speak on T’ai Chi Chih & Dear New T’ai Chi Chih Student
Six Healing Sounds
“For Full integration of mind and body, it is best to practice both function and essence, or movement followed by stillness. The ‘Cosmic Consciousness Pose’ will help effect this balance…” (19). (From T’ai Chi Chih: Joy Thru Movement Photo Text by Justin Stone)
Related Article: The Nei Kung: Snippets from Saturday Night
Consolidation Practice: Working the Pulley, Light at the Top of the Head – Light at the Temple, Joyous Breath, Passing Clouds, Six Healing Sounds
“Have Patience & Courage (the courage to doubt your own doubts!)…How you learn depends on what you give to it. In learning something, motivation is everything. Put that in your minds: motivation. The opposite of motivation: impatience. The thing that keeps you from being motivated is impatience. If people doing T’ai Chi Chih would realize what the real meaning of it is, I think they would be more motivated.” - Justin Stone (From The Nei Kung – Snippets from Saturday Night by Amy Tyksinski)
T’ai Chi Chih: Full T’ai Chi Chih – Joy Thru Movement practice – 19 Movements & 1 Pose
“So often it is easy to forget that T’ai Chi Chih is more than 19 movements and 1 pose. It is more than 9 (or 6) repetitions on a side. It is more than Graceful Conclusion pauses in between movements. T’ai Chi Chih is one whole. It is, in effect, One Movement.” (From One Breath, One Movement, One Life by Amy Tyksinski)
Related article: One Breath, One Movement, One Life