T’ai chi is a soft, flowing martial art. How is that so? Think of energy as directional. Electric currents flow along wires. Water flows along the riverbed. Blood flows through the circulatory system. Infusing the body with a stem-like quality allows the idea of a flowing, powerful channel of chi, connecting all your physical, mental, emotional and spiritual components.
If you’ve watched a movie or TV program about nature, you might have enjoyed watching a speeded-up version of a plant growing and blooming. They are upright but not fixed, and they move with the wind and the light.
To move like this is to invite the body to be flexible, open and fearless. Forces come and go, and every episode of yielding and rebounding is a learning experience for your balance and sense of proprioception—that is, where you are in space. If you and the space are both semi-fluid but not shapeless, the dance of harmony is endless.
