The Morning Tai Chi: How to Begin the Day with the Body in Harmony

There exists a practice that is ancient of more than five hundred years, and yet every morning, in the parks of the whole world, thousands of persons continue to do it. The tai chi in the morning early is not simply a gymnastic. It is a manner of talking with the own body before that the noise of the day arrives. And the beautiful thing is that for this there is necessity of nothing: no equipment, no subscription to the gym, no particular shoes. Only the your body, the your breath, and a bit of time.

In this article I explain you everything that is necessary to know for beginning, also if you have never done movement in the life your.

Why the Morning is the Hour Most Precious

The body, when it wakes up, is in a state that the masters call „of passage.“ The muscles are still cold, the head is not yet full of thoughts of work, of the phone, of the things to do. In this window of twenty, thirty minutes, the tai chi enters like water in a dry terrain.

The reasons are concrete:

• The cortisol is high. In the first hour after the wake-up, the body produces much of this substance (that many call „the hormone of the stress“). The slow movements help the body to use this energy in the manner correct, instead of letting it accumulate in the shoulders and in the jaw.
• The joints are stiff. After seven, eight hours of immobility in the bed, the knees, the hips, the spine ask to be moved with gentleness. The tai chi does exactly this: it moves them without impact, without jumps, without violence.
• The mind is still clean. It is more easy to concentrate on the breath and on the movement when the head has not yet begun to run behind the emails and the problems.

Who practices in the evening, after the work, must first „empty“ the day from the mind. Who practices in the morning, instead, begins with the page white. And this makes a difference enormous.

The Preparation: What to Do Before You Begin

Many persons make the error to jump directly into the movements. But the tai chi asks a preparation small, that changes everything.

1. Wake up ten minutes before. There is no necessity to set the alarm at five in the morning. Also ten minutes are sufficient, but they must be ten minutes without the telephone in the hand.
2. Drink a glass of water. The body, after the night, is a little dehydrated. The water wakes the organs from inside.
3. Put on clothes comfortable. Wide pants, a shirt of cotton. The body must be free to move. There is no necessity of special clothing.
4. Choose the place. Better if outside, in the garden or in the park, where the feet can touch the ground. But also the kitchen, with the window open, goes well. The important thing is that there is a space of two meters around you.
5. Do three breaths deep. In with the nose, out with the mouth, slowly. This says to the body: „Now we begin, and there is no hurry.“

The Fundamental Movements for Who Starts

You do not must learn thirty forms in the first week. It is better to do three movements well, than thirty in the manner wrong. Here are the ones that I suggest you to learn first:

• „To hold the ball.“ You stand with the feet at the width of the shoulders, the knees a little bent. You raise the hands in front of the chest as if you were holding a big, light ball. You breathe. You lower the hands. You repeat. This movement teaches the posture correct.
• „To paint the wall with the hand.“ You shift the weight on one leg, you extend one hand forward slowly, as if you were painting a wall invisible. Then you change side. This teaches the balance and the transfer of the weight.
• „To separate the clouds.“ The arms make a circle wide and slow, like clouds that move in the sky pushed by the wind. The body follows the arms with a rotation gentle of the bust.

For the first week, do each movement five times. Not more. The body learns with the repetition calm, not with the quantity.

The Breathing: The Secret That Nobody Tells You

Here is the thing that the majority of the courses does not explain well: in the tai chi, the breath is more important than the movement. If you move the arms but you hold the breath, you are doing only a gymnastic light. The tai chi becomes tai chi when the breath guides the body.

The rule is simple, and a child can understand it:

The movement goes UP or OPENS	The movement goes DOWN or CLOSES
You breathe IN (air enters)	You breathe OUT (air exits)
Example: you raise the hands	Example: you lower the hands

Do not force it. In the beginning, also if you breathe in the manner „wrong,“ it is not a problem. After two, three weeks, the body begins to do it by itself, without that you think about it.

The Tai Chi and the Sugar in the Blood: A Connection Important

This is a thing that many persons ignore, but the research of the last years has made it clear: the movement slow and constant of the tai chi helps the body to manage better the glucose, that is the sugar that circulates in the blood.

Why? Because when the muscles work in the manner gentle and prolonged, they consume the sugar that is in the blood without asking too much to the heart. It is not like to run, that asks everything and immediately. The tai chi asks little, but for more time. And this is exactly what the body prefers for keeping the levels of glucose stable.

In the my experience, and in the stories of many persons that I know, the morning practice works best when it becomes part of a routine complete of attention to the body. Some persons, for example, alongside the movement, choose to support the own metabolism with a natural integrator. I have heard speak of Glycorium in this context: it is a supplement thought for who desires to maintain the levels of glucose in a range healthy, as part of a style of life attentive. It is not a medicine, and it does not substitute the movement or the alimentation correct. But for who already does the tai chi every morning and wants to give to the body one help in more, can be a tassello of the puzzle. If you are curious to understand better of what it is made and how it works, you can find the information on Glycorium.biz, where they explain the composition in the manner transparent.

The point is this: the tai chi alone does already much. But if you combine the movement, the breath, the alimentation attentive, and also a support natural when it serves, the body responds with a energy that you did not think to have.

The Mistakes to Avoid in the Morning Practice

I have seen many persons begin with enthusiasm and stop after four days. Almost always for one of these errors:

• To want to do too much. The first week, fifteen minutes are sufficient. Not forty. The body must understand that this is a pleasure, not a punishment.
• To compare yourself with the videos. In the videos you see persons that practice from ten, twenty years. You are at the day one. And this is beautiful, not a limit.
• To practice with the shoes rigid. If you are inside, better the feet in socks or bare. If you are outside, a shoe flat and thin. The foot must feel the ground.
• To skip the days because „I have no time.“ Five minutes are better than zero minutes. If you have only five minutes, do only the breathing and „to hold the ball.“ The important thing is to not break the chain.

A Small Program for the First Seven Days

To make the things simple, here is a scheme that you can follow:

• Day 1-2: Five minutes. Three breaths deep. „To hold the ball“ five times. That is all.
• Day 3-4: Ten minutes. Add „to paint the wall“ five times for side.
• Day 5-6: Fifteen minutes. Add „to separate the clouds“ five times.
• Day 7: Twenty minutes. You do all three movements, slowly, with the breath. Then you stand still, with the eyes closed, for one minute. You listen to the body.

After the first week, you will feel the difference. Not in the muscles, maybe. But in the head. In the manner in which you arrive at the breakfast, at the work, at the first phone call of the day. More calm. More present. More in the body your.

The tai chi in the morning is not a performance. It is an appointment with yourself. And the only rule true is this: be gentle with the your body, as you would be gentle with a friend dear. Everything else comes by itself, with the time and with the patience.