Body Structure

For both qigong and taiji the lower half of the body needs to be stable and grounded while the upper half of the body should be open and fluid. If the base is solid then its possible to use structure rather than tension to hold the body.

The only trick is to remember that stable is not the same as immobile, and fluid is not the same as limp.

Here are two statements by Wang, Zong-yue (trans. by Yang, Jwing-ming):
"Stand like a balanced scale, (move) lively like a cartwheel"
from Taijiquan Classic

"Calm like a mountain, move like a river"
from 13 Postures

History of the 18 Postures

Eighteen Postures for Daily Practice (Lian Gong Shi Ba Fa) is a relatively recent Qigong sequence. It was compiled by Zhuang Yuan-Ming in the early 1970's. A doctor of Chinese Medicine, specializing in Traumatology, Dr. Zhuang was also an accomplished martial artist. He was a student of Wang Zhi-Ping and in 1953 was awarded a gold medal in China's National Games.
He compiled the 18 Postures sequence drawing on his knowledge of Wang Zhi-Ping's '20 Exercises' as well as reviewing classical forms such as the Eight Silk Brocades (Ba Duan Jin). In fact, 6 of the 8 movements of the Ba Duan Jin are incorporated into the Eighteen Postures.
This happened during Dr. Zhuang's time working at the Dong Chan Hospital in Shanghai and the sequence was refined through his work with patients. In 1980 china's Ministry of Health selected Lian Gong for nation wide popularization. It has since spread in popularity across China and world wide.

Tipping point

This weekend the price of gasoline went up by 13 cents a litre. It was attributed to the shut down of oil refineries across Texas in anticipation of the damage that hurricane Ike would cause. These fears were no doubt hightened by the increase in extreme weather that has been happening because of climate change. Why do I bring this up in a blog about Qigong and Taiji?
Because we can ignore interconnections like these for only so long before they force us to pay attention to them.

from fused joints to focussed mind

This is a quote from Iyengar yoga instructor, Ramanan Patel. It is about the goal of yoga practice, but I feel applies equally to Qigong and Taiji.
"When people begin practice, their minds are scattered in a thousand places and their bodies are one big lump. The goal of practice is to focus the mind and bring awareness to the thousand parts of the body."