|
Internet-based Lessons |
| Chen
Family style Tai Chi Chuan - beginners |
| Adjustments to the standing posture by a
second person |
| |
| Note that, unlike
in sitting, the fingers are close together. If a teacher touches
your wrists |
| with a thumb and
finger it means he or she thinks your fingers are not relaxed
enough. A slight tug |
| downward would be
to decrease tension in your forearms. Depending on how limber
the teacher is |
| and how clean the
floor is, he or she may kneel or bend over to adjust your foot
positions. You can |
| check your own
foot alignment and can often verify by sight that the knee is
flexed enough: the |
| outer edge of the
knee cap will align vertically with the tips of the toes.
Sometimes in early training |
| this places a
strain on your inner thigh and calf muscles - if so, ease the
knee back just a little (one |
| quarter inch)
toward straight up and down. So the teacher might adjust one or
both knee angles. |
| Five other common
adjustments are to (1) move one or both shoulders backward -
usually a very |
|
small distance (2) lift or lower one shoulder to get them both
on the same level (3) straighten the |
|
neck in two dimensions (4) move the chin down and back toward
the spine and (5) tuck the |
|
buttocks in and up slightly to align the lower spine. If you are
a parent at home place your palm |
|
on the spine forearm parallel to the floor right about belt
level. If the student's back feels 'rounded' |
|
that's correct. If not, ask the student to try and move BOTH of
his or her hips forward and up about |
|
half an inch. You'll want to make sure the knees and feet and
shoulders don't change much or at all. |
|
Next up: details on the mouth and foot and then the alignment of
the three points |