Being in the presence of Tai Chi Grandmasters at the International Tai Chi Symposium was a privilege. Most of the keynote speeches and class instruction were in Chinese. It was amazing how clear and captivating it all was – there was no language barrier when it came to Tai Chi Chuan.

Each master stressed relaxation. Relaxation helps us:

-root. When we’re tense, too much energy is held in the top half of the
body.
-unify energy. We internally release energy from the tan t’ien.
-be agile for change. Otherwise, we can’t distinguish from full and empty,
know where the energy is.

The body becomes steady. The upper body is light; the middle body is agile; the lower body is rooted, energy sinks to the tan t’ien.

A main theme I derived from all the Grandmasters was that Tai Chi is more about learning and understanding our energy rather than performing movements. The movements are important to provide a structure and sequence for directing our mind and energy, but movements are not the goal.

Learning about and understanding our energy is much broader than Tai Chi. For each of us, how we understand and use our energy helps determine our quality of life, every day.