The overlooked exercise

The inflexibility I see frequently makes me sad. Stress and being sedentary allows tension to accumulate in the muscles and constrain the channels and joints. The body freezes up and it loses it expressiveness.
Most qigong and internal martial arts forms take as a starting point a degree of flexibility that most people simply don't have. Without that, the postures need to be adjusted, and as a result, the focus of the original posture shifts.
Stretching includes relaxing joints as well as lengthening muscles & tendon. Many internal martial arts emphasize joint rotations over stretching muscles since this opens the channels and lubricates the joints. Once this happens, muscles and tendons can be lengthened & stretched without injury. Combined I think both offer more in the way of health benefits, if practiced conscientiously, than aerobic or anaerobic exercise. So counterbalance stressing your tendons through cardio and straining your muscle with weights with an overall stretching regime. Your body will handle stress better, perform with greater ease and stay supple.

Eyes, Strength, Qi

Recently by Taiji teacher, Jack Yan mentioned the phrase,
"Yan dao, li dao, qi dao"
"Eyes arrive, strength arrives, qi arrives"
He explained that this refers to the timing of intention, movement and Qi. Intention must move first, followed by the body. Finally the Qi flows, supporting the posture. The mind needs to stay focussed on the form, the body can't rush the sequence and both mind and body must be relaxed and open to allow the Qi to move freely.