Tai Chi principles and Salsa dancing

This article is purely based on my personal experience. People with physical limitations are not recommended turning without proper instruction from a professional. Please discuss with your health care practitioner before following any examples."

Tai Chi has the right principles and internal strength, dancing is just mindless moving and Tai Chi principles is simply alien in this group." A very common, most erroneous statement from those who practise Tai Chi without any connection to the real world. My salsa teacher Oren has proven that it is totally different.

In the first lesson he emphasized on relaxation of the mind and the right posture without technical words like jing or qi. He and his partner were humourous and entertaining, but their teaching was thorough enough to give the students what they expect. He was standing back on to the students, exactly like a Tai CHi teacher.

From his teaching style he reminds more of a Tai Chi teacher than an emotional dancer. HIs explanation of the single turning could have come from a Tai Chi instructor. He broke the movement into three parts. The first part was placing the left foot for the ladies in front of the body. In the next part, the students should pivot on the ball of their feet from their centre(he pointed at the dantien).

Shift weight from left to right where he placed high emphasis on. Prepare for the next 180 degree turn. " You can't turn on a foot when there is no weight on it." he said. Turning should be on the ball of the foot with some weight, but not so much that the foot is planted in the ground. Maybe he does practice Tai CHi because this is taught in many dance studios. No difficult words like yin, yang, little yin in the yang and vice versa.

The gentlemen needed to give slight pressure in order to lead their ladies into turning, while the ladies needed to give slight resistance despite relaxation."No spaghetti type of relaxation." said Oren.The arms well-angled but the ellbows should not be too much out. No words like song and qi.Pink Barbie pushed a little bit too hard and her partner tumbled over very slightly.

The legs should be bent but the knee should not protrude over the foot. Hey.....very familiar. The body will become well-balanced when the hands and feet are in the right position.

Our body responds with the same natural angles to physical motion, so dancing is certainly an excellent way to obtain many of the Tai CHi principles. On the other hand, Tai Chi teaches us so many ways to apply principles and internal strength in our life.

Practise the principles in life

HOw can we practise and embody the Tai CHi Chuan principles? There is no other reasonable answer than going through the form. It incorporates all the principles and with the guide of a good teacher, as time goes by we discover the principles by feeling the changes in the mind and body. The journey is a lifetime discovery, layer for layer within the form and everyday life.

"I work the whole day, coming home with a bad mood walking through dreadful weather." said one of my students. It is only reserved to a few; dedicating our whole life to Tai CHi and practise 8 hours a day like the big guys out there. Most people need to fulfill their daily tasks in family, job and life.

My students come from different walks of life and through them, I could find out that Tai CHi principles can be practised anywhere in any activity. Just a few of the many activities we can practise our principles:


1. Sitting in front of the computer, train, aeroplane, waiting at a doctor's surgery

We practise the head straight like suspended by a thread from above, the back upright, shoulders sunken, mingmen(lower back area acupuncture point) expanded laterally(to the side). Imagine ourselves relaxed and not floppy: Our vertebraes(spinal parts and joints) separating from each other; our spine is stretched and we become taller.

2. Surfing, skating, skateboarding, skiing, walking

My main sports which I competed in the Olympics(figure skating). In these disciplines, maintaining our center and balance is crucial. Those who play these sports hear it all the time from their coaches:" Shift weight!!. Weight on right/left leg, look right or left."

3. Chopping onions

Chefs teach their students similar principles. Relaxed, the arm and fingers only the lead, everything comes from the whole-body movements. The force comes from the center. Keep natural angles in your arms.

4. Vacuum cleaning or pushing a car

Move with the strength of the legs, use the power of weight shifting. Force from the dantien leading to the arms and hands, back aligned with the rear leg. Chen style "Pushing the mountain"

5. Dealing with abusive people

Keep the thoughts on the center and balanced, physically and mentally. Take a deep breath into your abdomen, cleanse your thoughts from all dirty thoughts but maintain focused on your goal. Do not use brute force against brute force. LIsten, find out where the energy is, redirect, yield, use his own force against the opponent after unbalancing him. "Grasping the sparrows tail" Yang style


There are many opportunities in life to practise Tai CHi CHuan principles. It does not replace our daily qi gong and form practise along with push hands and applications, but it is a most effective complement.

Tai Chi woman in South Tunisia

The first tip I would give is: Never rely totally on guide books. Be self- confident, read some books about the culture but do gather your own experience.

A woman travelling alone is much better off when she does not reveal too much skin. Tunisia is a relatively liberal Muslim country but when you are not prepared, you can be harassed or touched by men. Tai Chi principles were truly helpful in getting around without being too discouraged by sexism and how to counterplay against it.

I have been travelling alone through South Tunisia and very much to my surprise, I experienced no more advances than in any other country. The first time I arrived in Douz from Tunis, where I worked in the hospital for 6 months, I was asking for a taxi. " This is not Europe, this is not the North." was the answer, as though North Tunisia was the same as Europe. Later I have been told that the European culture and civilisation has invaded much of the northern part of Tunisia.

It was not until I arrived here that I realized how large the gap between the northern and southern part was. Time seemed to stand still in medieval 1001 Nights' Douz, only 500 km from touristy western-influenced Sousse. Douz is located in the middle of the Sahara desert, a total contrast to the mundaine North Tunisia. It was just after one week that I realized that the Western culture started to infiltrate into this living fairy tale in the middle of the sand ocean.

The South is more conservative and tries to maintain their Muslim tradition in a lot more fundamentalist manner. I asked questions and they invited me into their home to talk to the women. The younger girls spoke very good French and the youngest, Farida, very proudly showed me her French essay about the differences between mammals and other animals. She wanted to become a doctor later.....

The deeper discussions with the family gave me the insight that apparently my half Asian looks protected me a little bit against harassment. I was simply a sexless creature, a figure from a Kung Fu movie. In Tunisia, women are stereotyped: Europeans are easy sex objects, Asians are martial artists and indeed they told me they were afraid I was going to hit them. My daily Chen Tai chi practice including punches, kicks, straightsword and sabre forms with a retractable sword obviously gave them evidence that an Asian looking woman was exactly like the one in the Kung Fu movies.

Many men treated me like a man and called me"monsieur" or "mister", offered me friendship tea and I was nearly always dressed in tracksuit to emphasize their already prejudiced perception. Little boys and even girls were gathering around me as I was practicing tai chi, especially the weapons forms.

My favourite means of transport is the louage or shared taxi. I have a warm heart towards Tunisia and observed locals first as they prepared to pay. One should never ask the driver for the price, I simply paid what the others paid. A nice "S'bah el chir(hello)" instead of the French "bonjour" would win a lot of sympathy . They still recognized me as a foreigner of course and answered in French. But I think they did appreciate my efforts. Many local women commuted on their own to sell their crop.

I became more courageous and started to drink tea in one of the cafes. They told me that they thought I was a foreigner who worked for one of the companies in the big city. I travelled from Douz to cross Chott el Jerid, the great salt lake. My high hope to see a fata morgana(air image) did not come true. It was too cold on that day. The movie"the English Patient" was shot in this area and since then it became more touristy.. I went there by public bus instead of the tourist train and gained some more insight about life and people in the area.

You will see people in their traditional Nomad attire accompanied by their camels. next to young girls in blue jeans talking on their mobile phone, listening to music and smoking in the streets. The German travel agencies told me that I should be aware of people travelling with animals in public transportation. Bogus!!!! They only want to suck the money out of the tourist' pockets.

A policeman told me that it was a law not to take animals in public transportation and it was strictly adhered to. The public buses are totally safe because they are government-owned but share taxis can be dangerous because they are private and dependent on the amount of rides they make. In this country it helps a lot if you speak French because this is the second official language in Tunisia.

Tai Chi chuan, especially the martial Chen style forms, made me more self-confident and gained me some respect of the local men. I would recommend every woman who would like to travel alone to prepare well, prepare her emotions when they are touched by men and do a little Tai chi form martially. Try to find out more about martial applications and pretend that you can do them very well.

Every form including Tai Chi for Arthritis should be practiced with the attitude of a predator. It will make you more self-assertive. Put a wedding ring on in Muslim and Southern European countries. Look for forums to share your feelings so you will never feel alone and experience too much of a culture shock. The teachings I received in Tai Chi has guided me and provided me with both the right martial and mental attitude.

Guide to use Tai Chi principles

We have all read many books and articles, our teachers have been telling us many aspects of the essential principles. The issue is: How many of us are particularly puzzled with the TCM(Traditional Chinese Medicine) terminology and philosophical ideas? It is easy to talk about it but it may take to work on them layer for layer. The ideal way for beginners would be to work on one principle for a set time and then take a journey into its depth. Later when we are more familiar with them, we may work on all of them at once but focus on a specific aspect for a certain period of time, say one week?

My former clinical teacher once told us that we should memorize everything in three main points, then subdivide each again in three main features. This is the way I am going to elucidate a summary of the 10 essential principles standardized by Yang Cheng Fu.

A. Posture

1.Head straight and light, as though suspended by a string from above
2.Shoulders and elbows relaxed and sunken
3.Back straight, waist relaxed, hips flex, imagine the lower back(acupuncture pt. MIngmen)
expanding sidewards.


B. Mind state coordinated with the body

1. Tranquility/serenity of the mind, cleanse the mind from all thoughts
2. The intention/will or implied mind drives the body, not brute force
3. Absolute harmony between the internal and external, all movements come
from within.


C. Whole body coordination and movements

1. Proper weight shifting. Focus on the center(dantien), about 3 fingerbreadth below the belly button. Maintain body balance
2. The upper coordinated with the lower body. The arms should have the same speed as the
legs
3. Absolute continuity like silk being reeled from a cocoon. No stops inbetween, only a halt


You see, a beginner may start with the posture because other sports or physical activities such as singing work with the same posture requirements. It is visible on nearly all good videos.