About Wind River Tai Chi Chuan Practice Group
A typical practice might include:
- Zhan Zhuang - standing meditation
- Chi Gung (Qi Gong) practice
- Yang style Tai Chi Form practice
- Push hands practice
Zhan Zhuang - standing meditation is at the core of our practice. We can’t speak enough about the importance of standing meditation and its many benefits.
There are many interesting stories and antidotes about the health and martial benefits of Zhan Zhuang, standing meditation. When you learn to stand correctly and diligently practice daily, the benefits clearly manifest. Personal experience has demonstrated that standing practice benefits and enhances not only health but potentially any form of martial art and sport.
Health benefits
Many practitioners who have had chronic and nagging shoulder and back problems have found these improving significantly as a result of standing practice. Many students have even seen an improvement in other areas of their lives as result of consistent daily standing and tai chi practice.
Dao Yin training – Dao Yin (Qi Gong) practice provides health benefits by opening all of the major meridians 
of the body, and it facilitates the cultivation, flow and balance of chi (Qi). Master Tam's Dao Yin consists of 5 separate sets of movements that build body integrity and increase the strength of joints and tendons.
Yang Style Tai Chi Chuan is taught and practiced in each practice sessions. The form is practiced with emphasis on the principles of integrated whole body involvement in each movement, posture and transition. Tai Chi Chuan is a beautiful flowing set of postures that are also the basis of an effective martial art. When practiced less precisely without whole body integration tai chi can provide some health benefits, however by adhering to the principles of integrated holistic movement the form becomes much more powerful in its ability to cultivate chi, strengthen and coordinate the body. This is where the form holds the most promise for health and martial benefit, as without this integrated holistic body involvement the feeling of "aliveness" is broken and the flow of chi is also broken.
Push hands (Sensing/sticky Hands) is practiced at almost every practice session. Push hands provides the laboratory for development of Tai Chi application, and also the garden from which the standing, chi development and Tai Chi form practice grows and develops. Practicing Tai Chi without push hands practice is like only half filling your lungs each time you breath, you only get some benefit.
We meet twice weekly at the Tucson Chinese Cultural Center on River Rd. For more information
Windriver Internal Martial Arts Association is a non-profit organization and many of our members our also members of IMAAHE.
