Art of Balancing the Tai Chi Way
Tai Chi is all about balance — finding and maintaining it for a healthy life. The universe around us has abundant examples of the same — the Ying and the Yang; good and evil; positive-negative; male-female; left-right.
A couple of months after I started learning Tai chi, I completed my first set of forms on my right side. It had been a tough couple of months. Contorting and flexing my body into becoming flexible. Unlearning and relearning the correct postures so that the chi flows uninterrupted through the chakras. So naturally, I was elated and eager to move on to the next, more interesting and bit complex set of forms. And that was when my sir calmly informed me that we wouldn’t be moving further till I balanced my body!
At first, I didn’t get what he meant. What did he mean — balance my body? I looked at myself, half expecting to see myself tilting and leaning towards the right. But I had not turned into a replica of Leaning of Tower of Pisa or rather Aarthi. So I looked at him puzzled. Taking pity on me, sir elaborated and explained the importance of balancing the left and the right sides of the body so that the body posture improves. Still finding me puzzled, he put it in simple words — we wouldn’t be moving further till I mastered the same set of moves on my left side.
Soon as the mystery cleared up, I gave a careless shrug and started the movements on my left side. I thought it would be a piece of cake, doing it on the other side since I had already mastered the movements on my right side.
And soon I had to eat a humble pie as I struggled with my left side. But the excitement of something new. The challenge of mastering the difficult movements had me persevering and soon I mastered my left side. Now when I did my forms, my body felt new. It felt more energized. I felt more balanced!
