Originally posted by Bosse de Nage
There are various forms but probably you would benefit from the simplified 23-step form devised 'for Westerners'. It's far from simple but you can get moving from the start -- and the movement is the thing. For someone like you with ants in his pants, it's better than assiduously cultivating the lotus lumbago.
But find a group -- you can't do it by yourself and the social aspect may well also be something you could use.
Well said. I studied with two teachers, one short-term, one a couple of years. The second school was very traditional (Yang style). I had completed the short form, but the second half was still in the “where do I step again?” stages. We moved and I had to leave; and there is not another school nearby (that has been 10 years ago now). Despite my best intentions, I gradually quit; we had moved to an old place in the country, and there was so much work to do…etc., etc.
I have an old back injury, and all the time that I did tai chi, it didn’t bother me. Then, after a couple years not doing tai chi, I re-injured my back. Then I did it again. And again. (A torn and re-torn ligament, that likely will never knit properly now).
So, I started up tai chi practice again—but I soon realized that I had forgotten so much. There were movements that I couldn’t remember at all, and some that I knew just weren’t right when I tried them (and had no one to give me correction). So I got books, and began to cobble together a small-circle form that includes both classic tai chi and chi gung movements. And that is what I now do. Every once in awhile, I’ll work to expand it a bit; but the base is there. As a circle form, I do it first one way round, then the other (left and right sides for everything).
I can now do it without thinking, and sometimes I find that the form is just “doing itself”. If I start to think, I find that I start to speed up, rather than moving and breathing slowly and deeply—so it’s a kind of self-monitoring meditative exercise in that way. I do it every morning, and sometimes more often; I’ll do bits of chi gung throughout the day, especially if I’ve been sedentary, or if I start to stiffen up after things like splitting and stacking wood.
But, if nothing else, if one is sedentary, one should stretch (any way the body wants to stretch, without forcing; and without imposing any movements that one has not studied well) as often as possible. Ultimately, that’s what a lot of chi gung is based on (at the physical level).
Has tai chi healed my back? No. Does it help to keep me from re-injuring it? Yes. Also, it’s just a good mind-body meditative exercise. I started quite late: around 40 or so; wish I had started earlier.
[NOTE: If you do it without a teacher (or even with) be careful especially of the knees. There are movements that, if not done properly, can cause injury. I was fortunate to have teachers who stressed that.]