Shen (Spirit) Yi (Intention)

The other day in class, I just realised that when performing the taichi routine, there are 2 aspects to it:

1. Technical

2. Psychological or Spiritual

The technical aspect is like having the correct body alignment, feet to knee, knee to kua, kua to waist, waist to back, back to shoulder, shoulder to arms, arms to hands. This is important for one to have a strong body structure.

The psychological aspect is that of Yi(Intention) and Shen (Spirit). In chinese there is a saying, 全神贯注, which literally means to do something with your whole Shen(spirit)\concentration.

In my opinion, this is should be the motivation behind all the movements of the taichi routine. To do every movement with your full concentration, with your whole heart and soul, with your whole mind, with all your intention. That's why everything is done slowly, to focus your Yi (Intention), to focus your Shen (Spirit) to focus your Qi, to give a focused punch, kick, throw, hammer, whatever! And in every movement, your Shen and Yi should follow through with the movement. I think that would definitely improve the attack. I cannot say for sure, because I have never really sparred using taichi....still not good enough. Train! Train! Train!