My recent trip to Europe allowed me to meet some very cool people and to do tai chi in some beautiful places. I will be back in Europe this autumn to work out with teachers and students, and to promote my new courses. So far, I have scheduled dates in Antwerp and Cornwall. Other locations . . . read more

This is moment from a talk I gave recently in Sweden. An effortless push can be said to involve removing all the parts of the push that are not contributing to the result you want. This is in contrast to increasing the pressure so that most of the effort is wasted.

This is the extended version of the foundation routine that I teach to my students. The 10 form and 24-form are good for beginners. But this routine has the elements of the traditional routines, taught in a way that they used to be practised in the old days. You can play one section at a . . . read more

In this exchange, I was reminded of teacher Yang Yang when he spoke of the subtle, profound, and mysterious experiences of tai chi. I also wanted to remind people that what looks magical or mysterious is often just subtle, and not even profound. The mind can be easily deceived by preconceptions about Newtonian mechanics and . . . read more

While touring the city, we found some young people doing what looked like tuishou. They invited me to join them. It was impressive to see this young man improve in a short time.

Mastering the mechanical principles is far more important than practising technique. But one can lead to the other. Peng and Lu (aka bump and roll-back) are two well-known tai chi techniques. But they are best used as archetypal representatives of a mechanical principle. Peng is the centripetal tensile geodesic, while Lu is the low shear . . . read more

This lesson started with a funny story about a student who went to get checked for a possible stroke. Part of the assessment was a test for muscle strength and symmetry. The student’s training kicked in automatically. The “stupid master tricks” of tai chi can seem “so niche” and so specific to particular aspects of . . . read more

Internal martial arts, like tai chi, explore the tiny changes that have the greatest effect. This is done while exposing the disadvantages of depending on great effort. This is not to say that size, power and great speed do not have their place. I am saying that those big movements are made of much smaller . . . read more

I will be in Europe this May and June. Does anyone there want to go for coffee. ( I will be in UK, France, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, and more…. ) seeing the sights, making videos, attending conferences, visiting old friends making new friends, and possibly teaching. If you want to host me, (on your couch, . . . read more