48 Form Tai Chi - Notes for Practicing
(I) Tai Chi Chuan is a kind of sport caring for life and exercising should be done avoiding wind and cold. There is a boxing saying in China, which says: avoid wind as to avoid arrow. When one practice Tai Chi Chuan, he would relax both inner and outer part of the body and maybe. sometimes there is some sweat. So it’s easy to catch a cold. This is called by the traditional Chinese medical science as “inner invaded by foreign evil”. So it is not suitable or maybe dangerous to exercise Tai Chi Chuan in rain or wind. But if you have more clothes and wouldn’t have been rained in the open air you might exercise it too. There is a saying in the past that practicing Kung Fu in the rain or in the wind would be helpful to improve your ability, that was utterly scientific groundless.
(II) One of the advantages of Tai Chi Chuan exercising is the simplicity in choosing exercising place. You may perform some movements at any time and any places. If the room is large enough, you might exercise. When we say large enough, we do not mean to practice the complete routine from the start form to the end. If so, there are some limitations in the choice of place. But at least you may practice some movements smoothly and practice the whole routine segment by segment. If you have to keep moving from one place to another, you couldn’t keep it continuously. Thus wouldn’t be able to embody the exercising property of Tai Chi Chuan routines. Under such circumstances, you’d better just exercise single movements in one place. When the place is wide, you then exercise it continuously. In one word, just take measures suited to local conditions. At last there is an important factor which must be guaranteed when you practice Tai Chi Chuan indoors, namely, ventilation must be good.
(III) Tai Chi Chuan is a kind of very gentle sport. It is not only helpful to improving and keeping health, but also to the recovery of chronic diseases. It can enhance the physical quality of the patients step by step which is why Tai Chi Chuan was incorporated into the health keeping system by the traditional Chinese medicine. As an important means of physiotherapy, a good many sanatoriums and recovering hospitals in China have introduced Tai Chi Chuan exercise. Yet Tai Chi Chuan can’t take the place of traditional Chinese and western medicine in curing diseases. It is advisable for chronic disease patients to be treated scientifically under the care of doctors firstly.
When a chronic disease patient practices Tai Chi Chuan, he should choose the suitable one according to the kind of chronic disease. An ordinary chronic disease patient should choose a kind of Tai Chi Chuan which is slower and unhurried with small rising and falling, such as the simplified 24 Form Tai Chi Chuan. Also one should exercise it aiming at the physical condition. The chronic diseases are diversified and different kind of chronic disease has it’s own character. Some special kinds need special care. For example, for a patient whose lower limbs are not convenient to move, he mustn’t squat as deeply as usual in doing Tai Chi Chuan, he even could just do the higher limbs exercises while sitting. In short, it should be varied with each individual. No special attentions should be paid to in doing Tai Chi Chuan exercise for some ordinary chronic diseases relating to such as heart, breath and nerve, etc. Just do it according to the principles. Maybe a large proportion of Tai Chi Chuan players are chronic disease patients. They have regarded Tai Chi Chuan as a therapeutic means. So the problem is not whether Tai Chi Chuan could be practiced, but how to practice and how to improve. If you suffer seriously by the arthritis of lower limbs, then you should certainly reduce a bit when you bend your knees or kick your legs. Mind not to let it be overloaded. It isn’t an active way to treat chronic disease only depending on pharmaceuticals. We should cooperate some slower and gentle sports. Tai Chi Chuan may be regarded as a kind of medical measure in curing chronic diseases.
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