Finding and then following ideas in Tai Chi, working on them by one-self, within a group or with a single other, may take many directions; we should be open to them. Sometimes it pays to explore and be discursive; at other times to be quick and straightforward. To be in good humour helps and is a characteristically Taoist approach. Here is a pattern of study that has emerged in my own practice.

• From the Mind
• There comes a time of (self) teaching, of transmission
• Before transmission: Skill is needed
• Before Skill:  a repeatable Form
• Before Form:  a vital Posture
• Before Posture: Mind.

This pattern may be followed top to bottom, as shown, by those with experience – or from bottom to top by those just starting out: a neat circularity found in the practice of Tai Chi as in many disciplines. This is the Virtuous Spiral where – even in the continuous walking of a circle, as in Pa Kua – no step identically maps upon another; there is always the penetration of time and of where-ness.

July 2012©