This is a famous photo the Taiwan Tai Chi Chuan Association started in 1949 by Cheng Man Ching. In this photo are many famous tai chi teachers, including my grand teacher Tchoung Ta-Chen who is sitting in the second row. Although spelled differently when their names were translated to English, Tchoung and Cheng share the same family name and were occasional training partners in Tai Wan. They sometimes were referred to as "Big Cheng" and "Little Cheng" because they both were skilled in push hands. More history of Tchoung Ta-Chen can be found in the book "Seattle Tai Ji History Explained". He lived a fascinating life. He spent time in the nationalist military and then as a bodyguard for Chiang Kai Shek. After living in Taiwan for sometime he immigrated to South Africa to teach Tai Ji and open a business. His success there paved the way for him to immigrate to North America.

The first part of this statement is a classical saying associated with Tai Ji while the addition of “learn to play with gravity” is something my teacher in Beijing, Zhang Wei Dong, would add. He never said whether it was his own or something he heard from somewhere else, but to me it always fit perfectly with the classical phrase. Does this statement resonate or inspire you? Does it make you think of any particular part of your practice? I will get started first below in the comments!

Hey everyone, whether you’re starting fresh because you just arrived or you’re restarting like me to re-establish your practice, this is our spot. The 7-day challenge always feels more grounding when we move together, so this post will stay pinned for our daily check-ins. Let’s show up, keep it simple, and take it one day at a time. ✅ How to Check In Each Day After you finish your practice, follow these three steps: 1. State which day of the challenge you’re on. Example: Day 1, Day 3, Day 7, etc. 2. How you felt before and after. One short sentence for each. 3. Screenshot or photo: A quick picture of your screen, TV, or you practicing. Feel free to leave encouragement for others. A little support goes a long way. ✨ Sample Check-In 1. Day: 1 2. Before: Feeling tight 3. After: Calm and relaxed 4. (Photo attached)

I just finished Day 6 and I think I might be addicted. No day is complete without hearing Sonny's voice during practice. And I'm feeling so much different already!

I think consistency is a really useful quality to cultivate. Even a few minutes a day. I kid you not! I honestly think 5 minutes a day will give more value than a single session of 30m a week. I like baby steps to build consistency. Most of the time I prefer to start slow, whether its in time or distance, reps etc and slowly but surely build up. The first question I ask myself is how long, or what distance am I willing to do without any resistance? It doesn't matter how small it is, the sole purpose is to eliminate all resistance and create a very doable starting point. Seriously, it can be a minute. There are no rules. Next I slowly and surely increase the time or distance etc. Whether I increase daily or every few days or weekly depends on what I'm doing and how I feel. No rules. I say goodbye to "should" "ought" etc. The goal is steady improvement - there is no hurry. I like pit stops or consolidation points. As an example, once I've hit a time, say 10m or 15m, I stay there for a few days or a week, whatever it takes. No pressure to move on. Once this time is consolidated I move on. I was once taught "always make sure you want to practice tomorrow. This is achieved by working within my limits. In Qigong a recommendation is use 80% effort, less if injured. No reason why I can't do this in life. No reason why I can't do this with baby steps. By practicing at 80% most of the time I will always want to practice tomorrow. If for some reason I start having some resistance, I can either go back to when I was happy to practice tomorrow or go back to one of my consolidation points. Baby steps. Baby!