Taichi is for Everybody

This afternoon, a Chinese female martial artist arrived at the CIEE building to teach us about 太极拳 (TaiChi），a  form of Chinese martial art. It focuses on 阴阳 YinYang，the opposite of each other. 阴 represents female and 阳 represents the male. People of all ages and genders can learn 太极拳. In the beginning, the master demonstrated both slow and fast 太极拳, leading to my extreme excitement. Yet, when the master started teaching even just the slow form of Tachi, it turned out to be extremely tiring.   

First, we learned how to do "horse stance" 马步 and "front stance"工步 which was very much like our squat and lounges. The master walked around ensuring everyone is doing the 马步 and 弓步 correctly. If your position was incorrect, she would correct it using her foot. While she checked on others, we had to remain in the position until everyone does the 马步 and 弓步 exactly like her demonstration, which turned out to be some form of stretch and warm up for 太极拳.

The first movement of 太极拳 is raising both hands up straightly from sides of body stopping when it aligns with your shoulder. Then, we slowly dropped our hands and bent our legs to move into the next position in which the left foot is an empty step and the hands form the character, 人. The most painful thing is to hold the movement until the master moves on. Since there were lots of students, our program leader did 太极拳 with the master and explain every movement step by step, making it easier to follow.   

    After many times of practice of the movements, the program leader divided us into three groups to compete for a compliment from the master. In my group, we chose the person that knows the movements the best as our group leader, setting our pace and guiding us throughout all the movements. In the end, we all received compliments from the master for learning beyond her expectations.   

In a week later, we will have another martial art class. Although it's tiring, our effort is rewarded with the master's compliment and our personal improvements in the activity.   

Written By: Caiwen Wu, Oakland, California (Oakland Technical High School)