Yesterday I did the form twice; today I tried breathing twice on each posture: in and out, in and out. The result was that I took around 96 breaths to move through the form. And it took 40 minutes to do my morning routine, beginning to end: Druid practice, qi gong routines, and tai chi form. Extrapolating, I think it took about 25 minutes to do the tai chi form. Almost exactly what it’s supposed to take.
So, I think this is my practice for a while. Until I move at the appropriate speed, it’s very difficult to say I’m doing the work. Until I fix the base movements at that speed, it’s hard to move fluidly through the postures. So, work on the anchor points of the form, and then achieve the fluid movements.
This will be challenging. I wasn’t expecting this, but as I type this report today, I can feel my heart pounding in my chest and my breathing shifting lower in my abdomen, to bring in clean air and remove poisons. I got a workout this morning.
