I tell my t’ai chi students often “The feet are more than a place to hang your shoes!”
The idea is that as we increase our awareness of the how the body works, it is essential to include the FEET in our awareness. So often in our daily lives the only time we consider our feet is when choosing a shoe or if the feet are in pain. By keeping the feet in mind while we are moving, especially in the slow, deliberate AWARE state of T’ai Chi Chu’an, the benefit to our stability and balance is remarkable.
Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (the founder of the system I teach), first brought this to my attention in his article “60 Movements” (see article here: http://www.williamccchen.com/60Moves.htm) where he explains his system. He speaks of the toes “crunching” which is a description of gripping the ground with the toes. By energizing and activating the toes through “crunching,” the joints of the legs are brought into alignment, the stability of the knee is improved and tone and strength of the legs are engaged and can be improved over time.
See this video for a demonstration of this quality of the engaging the toes.
A key principle of T’ai Chi is moving the body as a unit. This is impossible without engaging the feet. As we slowly shift the weight and take the steps of the form, the feet must engage. I have found that the folks that struggle the most are those that have tight or rigid shoes. For the practice experience I highly recommend a loose fitting shoe (not so loose as to not stay on the foot on its own) or one designed for martial arts movement. Training in bare feet is also an option. A floor training shoe or the cloth bottomed kung fu slippers are very much the preferred footwear for T’ai Chi Chu’an practice.
Grandmaster Chen also championed the concept of the “Three Nails of the Foot.” This is closely related to energizing the foot, but gives more detail. His “three nails” are the the big toe, the ball of the foot and the inner part of the heel.
In addition to the benefits above, by bringing our awareness to these three points (nails), our entire body’s alignment improves, and any unconscious tendency we have to lean over in an direction is lessened.
Overall awareness is a critical part of T’ai Chi Chu’an practice. Expanding our awareness to the activities of the foot, down to the muscle seems like a frivolous, non-important thing. My experience is that it is one of the most important concepts if our goal is to improve our balance.
The idea is that as we increase our awareness of the how the body works, it is essential to include the FEET in our awareness. So often in our daily lives the only time we consider our feet is when choosing a shoe or if the feet are in pain. By keeping the feet in mind while we are moving, especially in the slow, deliberate AWARE state of T’ai Chi Chu’an, the benefit to our stability and balance is remarkable.
Grandmaster William C.C. Chen (the founder of the system I teach), first brought this to my attention in his article “60 Movements” (see article here: http://www.williamccchen.com/60Moves.htm) where he explains his system. He speaks of the toes “crunching” which is a description of gripping the ground with the toes. By energizing and activating the toes through “crunching,” the joints of the legs are brought into alignment, the stability of the knee is improved and tone and strength of the legs are engaged and can be improved over time.
See this video for a demonstration of this quality of the engaging the toes.
A key principle of T’ai Chi is moving the body as a unit. This is impossible without engaging the feet. As we slowly shift the weight and take the steps of the form, the feet must engage. I have found that the folks that struggle the most are those that have tight or rigid shoes. For the practice experience I highly recommend a loose fitting shoe (not so loose as to not stay on the foot on its own) or one designed for martial arts movement. Training in bare feet is also an option. A floor training shoe or the cloth bottomed kung fu slippers are very much the preferred footwear for T’ai Chi Chu’an practice.
Grandmaster Chen also championed the concept of the “Three Nails of the Foot.” This is closely related to energizing the foot, but gives more detail. His “three nails” are the the big toe, the ball of the foot and the inner part of the heel.
In addition to the benefits above, by bringing our awareness to these three points (nails), our entire body’s alignment improves, and any unconscious tendency we have to lean over in an direction is lessened.
Overall awareness is a critical part of T’ai Chi Chu’an practice. Expanding our awareness to the activities of the foot, down to the muscle seems like a frivolous, non-important thing. My experience is that it is one of the most important concepts if our goal is to improve our balance.
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