This is in response to the article on Weightlifting and Tai Chi.
Joe from Long Island writes:
I just read that Professor Cheng suggested that beginners practice standing on one leg using the ring and middle fingers on a table top for support to improve balance and rooting. This I would like to try, and wonder if you have any advice on the best way to practice this, as well as are there any other axillary exercises that I might perform at this early stage to improve my Tai Chi.
As always, thank you for your time.
Joe
Thanks for writing again, Joe. I would suggest that you stand on one leg behind a chair or a table if you might have a balance problem, that is the reason for the fingers on the table top in the advice. As you improve, keep the fingers an inch or 2 away from the table and at the first sign of lost balance, brace on the table. You can also do standing postures, like Play Guitar, that keep the weight on one foot and the other foot down, to improve rooting and leg strength.
If you have good balance, you can do the kicks when you get up to them. Play Guitar will not improve balance, just strengthen the legs and improve the root, because the other foot on the floor, just with no weight. The kicks will strengthen balance as well, as you are standing on one leg.
In Tai Chi,
Bill
