What is Qi and what does it mean for Tai Chi?
If you don’t practice, how would you know? If you practice, why ask about it?
What bothers me is teachers who speak a lot about qi and intellectualize it. I’ve had a few such teachers. They are many. There’s a whole bunch of them on internet communities and in Facebook groups. They write about it and some of them speak about it in demonstrations on the YouTube. But as a teacher if you want your student to internalize the art, why continue to intellectualize these things and why not instead teach and speak from a practical, hands on manner? Theory won’t help anyone feel what only hours and hours of practice can achieve. They lead their students the wrong way, into making them believe that Tai Chi is about thinking and understanding theory.
As a student on the other hand, you really need to take your own responsibility for your own learning and stop listening to all of the fancy speak you hear from your teacher or read in books. Instead, approach the art from a practical standpoint. Sure, you can read a lot of theory on Qi in this blog. Just make a search. But to feel Qi or to understand what it is to feel Qi, you really don’t need to understand anything intellectually. You don’t need to understand any theory. If you think too much just tell your own thoughts to stop speaking, tell your brain to have a nice cup of STFU and keep on practicing.
Thoughts On Tai Chi 