Wednesday, June 4, 2014

My forms

I love Tai Chi and I have been working on my form for several years. It feels like each time I fix something, then I notice something else that needs my attention. At first, I really struggled with always fixing something, I sort of had that I'll never get this right feeling. As I have grown with the form and in my kung fu, I realized that I will always be working on something in all of my forms, just not always the same thing. In the beginning, I needed to learn the moves and the stances and then I needed to learn the form (it takes some time) and after that I needed to get in touch with how it felt to do it right and now I am focusing on my Chi and how it moves. I think that if I could apply this same focus and concentration to all my forms they would vastly improve.
I chose the Tai Chi Broad Sword form this year because the movements are similar to the Tai Chi form that I love. I am really enjoying doing Tai Chi with a weapon, it feels flowy and elegant. I can't really say how it looks when I do it but I know that I like how I feel when I do it. I can feel my Chi moving around, I feel in control of the movements by letting them happen instead of making them happen and I feel good when I do it.
I also chose a hand form that is very different from our usual forms and very different from Tai Chi and I am struggling to make it mine (even after all this time), it still feels like it doesn't belong to me. I think that I will try doing it slow like Tai Chi and see if I can get a sense of it. I know that I keep repeating the same mistake but I am not really sure how to stop it. Perhaps the Tai Chi idea will work, any thoughts from my team will help. I know a few of you have struggled with forms before!

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