Tai Chi for Beginners: 10-Minute Flow to Release & Renew

Hello and welcome. You may have heard before that Tai Chi is good for your balance, it's relaxing, that it's good for strengthening, and it is all of that. So let us do an exercise where you will learn to really relax, to release all of the tension and the thoughts and the energies, and to find real balance, not just in yourself but beyond yourself, with the environment, the energies around you, and real power, not just muscle tension, but an inner strength that makes you vibrantly yourself. And that means you don't have to worry about the details, the movements, because inside of the movements, what really matters is your intention, your willingness to really release, your willingness to extend your awareness to find the balance between you and the world, your willingness to let your inner strength come forth, come out of and fill your body. So with that being said, let's get started. Stand with your feet shoulder width apart, knees relaxed and bent slightly. First we're going to release. And what do we release? Muscle tension. And beyond that, fascia tension. And all that really means is that you really let go and let it all hang out. So let's start from the top of our body. With your head, close your eyes, tense your face, make a funny face, tense, tense, tense, and relax. Feel your weight going down from your head, down through your head to your face, from your scalp down to your neck. And as you do, you can feel a sense of your face relaxing, easing, and opening up. Next is your chest, shoulders, and upper back. Tense, tense, tense, and relax. Let your weight sink down through your upper torso, down from your shoulders to your chest, down, and like a bean bag that's being placed on the ground, feel your weight sink down as your body expands and opens up comfortably. Your arms, tense, tense, tense, and relax. Let your weight sink down through your arms. Let your blood flow to your palms, till you feel a gentle expansion in your palms, forearms, upper arms. Next, your stomach, your low back, and your hips. Tense, tense, tense, and relax. Feel your weight drain down, all the way down through your lower torso and hips, until you feel your stomach, your back, your hips, gently expand outwards. Your thighs, your knees, tense, tense, tense, and relax. Let the weight drain down through them as well. Gently flowing down, till you feel your thighs, softly loosening up, expanding, opening. Finally, your shin, your calf, your feet, and your toes. Tense, tense, tense, and relax. Let your weight drain all the way down through them, all the way to the bottom of your feet, and even beyond them, into the ground. Feel your calves relax. Feel your feet expand inside your shoes, or wherever they are, gently opening up. Let's go upwards. Your thighs, relax, sinking, expanding. Your stomach, your low back, your hips, release even more. Feel your weight drain down through them, flowing down, gently expanding. Chest, shoulders, upper back, flowing down, letting go, gently expanding, easing. Both arms, let your weight flow down through them, all the way down, gently opening up, expanding. Your face, your head, your scalp, let go all the way as your weight flows down, through your body, down. And now, as your body has released the tension, you've released the blockages to your energies. So let yourself notice, starting from your head, any emotions, thoughts, energies that you feel that are in your head. Notice what shape they may be, what color they might be to you, how they feel, warm or cool. And as you become aware of them, let them flow down, just like your weight did, down through your body, through your torso, your legs, your feet, and into the ground that receives it. Next, scan your chest, shoulders, and upper back for any thoughts, feelings, energies. Notice their color, the way they feel, and let that drain down, all the way down, through your feet to the ground. Both arms, scan them for the energies, feelings, thoughts. Let them flow down, all the way to the ground, through your feet. Your lower body, your stomach, low back, and hips. Any stresses, thoughts, feelings, and energy you don't need anymore, let them flow down, sinking like your weight did, through your legs, through your feet, into the ground. And all along your legs, thighs, knees, shins, calf, even toes. Any thoughts, stresses, feelings, and energies you don't need right now, you can let them go. Let them drain down in that same familiar path now, all the way into the ground, because the ground has always been there to support you, to receive you. So let it drain down, through the roots beneath your feet, into the ground. And as you let go of all this into the ground, really letting go, all the way letting go, you'll notice a feeling of support from the ground. It's always been there for you, supporting you upwards. Feel that support flow up through your body, along the outside of your body, up your legs, up your thighs, hips, torso, through your shoulders, supporting and lifting your arms, through your chest and shoulders, to your neck, your face, and your scalp. Feel this upward lifting energy from the ground, that we call Peng in Tai Chi. Throughout the rest of the exercise, I want you to maintain this floating, gently inflating feeling from the ground, the energy that Mother Earth gives you, to float, to gently expand, to support your body comfortably. Let's do our first movement now. Gather a ball of qi, before you, any color, any element. Feel that Earth support you as you gently inflate and float. Float up now, to your chest, and share this feeling out to the world, all the way out, as far as you can reach with your mind. And then gather it back into your world, feel it fill your body, helping you to inflate, being full of energy, this vibrant lightness. And let it sink down through your body, all the way down to your feet. Again, gather, float, an uplifting feeling that spreads out from you, shared with the world. Gather it back, feel it fill your body, and let it sink, without deflating, sinking yet full. One more time, gather, and float, share, gather, fill your body, and let it sink, still full of you. First movement, take your right foot out, a little bit, feel the fullness in your body, full and uplifting calm, a lightness, and share, outwards, and then come back, receiving, like you're receiving a hug, not deflated, full of this lightness, share, and receive, share, receive, floating, and share, come back, receiving, float, and share, come back and receive, share it outwards, all the way out, full of lightness, and receive, big and full of lightness, step back, other side, step forward, feel your body fill with its energy, share, and receive, body big and ready for their hug, share, receive, expand forward, expand backwards, expand forward, expand backwards, expand forward, expand backwards, expand forward, and expand backwards, and step back, very good. next movement step out again gather feel yourself inflate full of energy as you float and then sink float sink without deflating like a hot air balloon cooling down float warming up and sink cooling down but still full float all the way up feeling inflated as you sink float sink once more float and sink back other side step out gather and inflate float and sink float and sink float all the way up stay full as you sink all the way down float sink stay full upwards sink once more float and sink step back step out with both feet feel your body inflate floating and uplifting calm your body rotate to the right and rotate to the left feel fully inflated let your eyes look right as it carries you guide you to the right feel guided to your left rotate and rotate feel yourself inflate like a balloon and feel the air gently blow and carry you rotate carry you carry you floating inflate and float once more each side inflate and float and inflate and come back stand naturally let's finish like we started gather a ball of qi feel that floating inflation as you float all the way up share this nice feeling to the world feel it return to you stronger than before filling your body full as it sinks down again gather and float share all the way out gather all the way in receiving fully as it sinks once more gather and float filling your body and sharing it all the way out receive it completely filling you up fully and sinking all the way down through your body down to your feet into the ground all right congratulations you finished practicing this Tai Chi exercise about release about balance about feeling that inner power that supports you all the time that's always available to you whenever you're accessing it as you let go and release so I hope you enjoy your practice and have noticed what a difference it made for you because what did you feel when you let go of everything how were you being when you felt supported comfortable like this because these are the clues to who you really are and what you are really capable of so I hope you enjoy exploring that and enjoy your practice as always see you next time