Note: This section has continually added and revised content.

This section is mainly for the students at the Niagara Taiji Center, used as a sequential learning aid as one progresses through the tai chi curriculum. However, anyone who practices tai chi may find the content useful, although it only supplements personal teaching and should not be considered as fully comprehensive on it's own. Understanding and incorporating the concepts in your practice is vital to developing tai chi skills, and gaining the full health benefits through the art. As I have often mentioned, with incorporating the concepts, you might as well just go for a walk, same health benefits, you are outdoors, it is much easier and it's free.

Yi - Intent.

Qi or Chi - Life energy. Notice the different spellings, this is due to different translation systems, and dialects. Most of the time I use chi, as it is still the common way of spelling.

Yi qi - This term is often used as it combines intent with energy. A common phrase is that energy goes where the mind focuses, and that the mind leads the chi, the chi leads the body. To explain this, I use the analogy of when a police cruiser has a car pulled over and it's lights are activated, there is a dangerous situation because drivers tend to focus on the cruiser, and automatically they start to steer right to cruiser.

Jin - This term is refers to a force, power, or skill in combination with yi-chi (intent and energy).

Concept 1 - Dui la (dwee la).

Dui la refers to internal stretching. There is a strong emphasis in all movements, to fully stretch your tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments) to open your joints allowing for increased blood and chi flow, over time this will greatly enhance relaxed movement, suppleness, and strength. To understand this better, think of stretching an elastic, this is what you are doing with your tissues. To stretch your tissues, you need an anchor point such as your shoulder, then stretch everything from that point, let's say it's your finger tips.  Until you're use to this, it will feel uncomfortable in the beginning, if it doesn t, you are not stretching enough.

Concept 2 - Sui ling ding jin

Invisible force stretching upwards. Place your focus at the crown of your head, feel as if a hook was placed there and a rope is attached trying to pull you up, from that point,let your whole body sink down to the ground - the crown of your head is being pulled up, but everything else wants to go down. Sinking down is Yin energy, and yin always creates Yang energy, or as Newton's Law states - if there is energy going down, there must be an equal reaction going up.

Incorporating ding jin, allows the stretching and strengthening of your spine, which is so important in maintaining good posture and enhancing energy flow. An important point is that you do not force your head up, have an awareness and feeling that it just wants raise up.   An analogy to help understand this is a slingshot. As I hold the handle and pull the band, the more I pull, the more my hand holding the handle wants to push forward.  This is an integrated concept with concept 1 - dui la.