Living Healthy NC

True Taijiquan should have a martial arts aspect to it. Taiji evolved as a
martial arts branch of Qigong after all. Remove the self-defense applications
from it, andyou may be practicing Qigong, but certainly not Taijiquan.
Unfortunately, the majority of Taiji teachers that I have come across
in America are lacking the knowledge of how to apply this art
properly. What is even more shocking to me is the number of Taijiquan
teachers that have no understanding of Qi! The forms will be empty
and at best you will be receiving some physical benefit from the
movements. My first piece of advice is find a good teacher. They do
exist, but are hard to find!

To be considered Qigong there are 3 things that must be present.
Breathing, intention, and movement. If you are not doing all of these
things you are not practicing Qigong. So if you are just meditating
you are not practicing Qigong. If you are just breathing you are not
practicing Qigong. If you are just moving you are not practicing
Qigong. All 3 things must be present. Allow me to explain a bit further.

Any one of the 3 elements can be big or small, internal or external.
If we are doing a movement form such as the 8 Pieces it is easy to
spot the fact that we are moving. We should also be mindful to
breathe naturally whether the breath is coordinated with the movement
or not. Finally we should have an intention. Our intention can be as
simple as "I am practicing Qigong". Every time our mind is distracted
we remind ourselves that we are just practicing Qigong and nothing
else. This keeps the monkey mind from wandering and keeps us present
in the moment. We can also use our intention to benefit our organs as
we learn the form more.

We can also practice meditation or standing post and make it Qigong.
First, we can have a focus on our breathing. Focus can be light or
strong depending on our intention. If we have the intention of
starting a fire in our lower belly, we will need to have a strong
intention and strong wind (breath). Strong wind is created through
very relaxed breathing though, not forced breathing. Finally we need
to have movement. When we are standing or sitting the movement will
occur more internally than externally. Externally we may still have
the movement of our lower belly, but we will have internal movement as
well as the Qi flows between our lower dan tian and mingmen.

So no matter what you practice just try to make sure that breathing,
intention and movement are present. Try to find the movement in your
stillness and the stillness in your movement.