Form visualization

[fazhou]

Hello all. I have a question about how you practice Tai Chi form visualization. Basically, first person or second person? Do you actually visualize yourself (seeing your person) or do you visualize from your point of view? Make sense? Do you think it matters? Any advice you could give on the subject would be appreciated. Thanks.

[taiji1983]

I would suggest you visualize in first person. Your fighting multiple opponents when you do the whole form. Then you do each movement individually visualizing doing each movement against 1 or more opponents. The more realistically you can visualize the movements and doing the applications, the better chance you have at using it in a real fight. But you also have to remember that every movement has more than 1 possible application, and you should not stick to one movement in 1 situation. Each movement has strikes, kicks, shuai jiao and qinna. and more importantly, all the movements come from the 13 movements, so thier all veriations of the original 13.

Also remember to keep the proper posture, Sink, eyes look into infinite, and never look down during the form, and feel when you do the form. Take your time, and make sure your posture and stance is always comfortable, if its not comfortable, and you dont feel like your anchored to the ground, theres probably something wrong, and you will not be able to use the maximum amount of power... hope this advice helps.