People come to Tai Chi from many different backgrounds and for many different reasons.
My own particular reasons were two-fold.
Firstly, I had suffered some spinal injuries whilst playing football (not at any serious level of footbalI I might add) and had allowed them to worsen and start having an impact on my daily life. My back had seized and subsequently my mobility was being restricted. So much so that I could not perform simple tasks, like putting socks on without a real struggle and enduring pain.
Secondly, I had always wanted to learn a form of self defence, after a few confrontations where I wasn’t sure what to do.
I was introduced to my first Teachers, Des Lawton and Barry Little, through a good friend. They ran an internal arts school in East Kilbride, Scotland, where they taught very effective self defence, using techniques from Tai Chi, Hsing Yi and Bagua. This was called Ni Chia
I remember the first night vividly, because I looked around the class and saw all of these people throwing others about and practising lots of different applications to overcome opponents. I thought to myself, “I will never be able to do that. I might as well go home”. The first thing that struck me though, was that smaller people were overcoming far bigger opponents. Size didn’t seem to matter! As someone who was never particularly muscly, or into body building, that gave me a little insight and lots of encouragement.
Underlying all of these applications was the Tai Chi form, the wonderfully soft, flowing movements that become part of you after plenty of practice. In case you were wondering, that is the secret – practice!
Des used to say that the form was your musical playbook. Each move was a note and once you had learned the notes you could then start to play tunes. I threw myself into practice and loved doing the form, and especially loved the effects it was having on me, both mentally and physically. I became calmer, less stressed and the parts that were becoming seized started to loosen off and work again.
No matter what your particular reason for wanting to try Tai Chi, it is important to remember that everyone had their first class, everyone looked around and saw people who were further along in their own experience, but the important thing is not to let that put you off. Over time, and with practice, the long term effects of Tai Chi are wonderful, but you can only experience it by coming along and doing the practice. Simples!