Tips for Taiji Beginners to Avoid Injury

You came to a park and saw a group of people doing Taiji, the slow and gentle exercise from China. You were curious about it and thought you could do it, too. It looked easy. You joined the group. After a session, you felt your knees hurt and there was some back pain, too.

As a Taiji beginner, if you do not pay attention to your body postures when you learn Taiji, you may hurt your knees and back.

Here are some tips for you when learning and practicing Taiji:

1. Warm Up

You must do some warm-ups before you start doing Taiji. Taiji routines have a lot of foot work which requires bending knees slightly and sometimes squatting. The movements are slow and the body weight shifts from one foot to another constantly. Warming up your lower body part including lower back, hips, knees and ankles is especially important to prevent injury. Suggest you do 10 - 15 minutes warm up every time you start doing Taiji.

2. Relax

You must first relax your entire body and mind before you start doing Taiji. Spend some time to check from head to toe and relax every part of your body. Completely relaxing your body is extremely important for beginners to avoid awkward postures and movements.

3. Keep Your Back Straight

Even though you should relax your body but it does not mean you should slouch your back. You must keep your back straight all the time. Check your lower back when in movements and transitions from time to time. Keep it straight and relaxed. Think about the head is leading the way making your spine straight.

4. Do Not Bend Your Knees Too Much

All most all Taiji poses and movements require bending knees. Advanced Taiji practitioners can bend their knees and squat to a very low position but you should not to do that. You should just bend your knees slightly. If you do not even feel comfortable doing that, keep your knees straight first. The goal is to be able to easily move without hurting the knees.

Make sure you do these checks every time you learn and practice Taiji. Once you have learned basic movements and can feel your body move smoothly and comfortably, you should learn more Taiji principles and incorporate them into your postures and movements. The goal is to exercise your body so that they will become more flexible, stable and can move uniformly and gracefully.