The first principle of Tai Chi movement is to relax and a balanced posture is vital to this. A good first step is to stand with feet apart and knees bent, then imagine a bungee attached to the top of your head, pull up the bungee until you are upright and attach it to an imaginary hook, then drop your knees and bounce on the end of your bungee.
To refine this you can tilt your pelvis up and down while feeling the lower back muscles, when they feel soft at the mid point then relax in that position. Pay attention to the chest and shoulders by letting them sink – do a similar forward and back exercise to find the soft mid point and let your shoulderblades sink down your back.
This should release your neck so that the head can rise lightly.
Further attention may be paid to releasing tension from the centre – ie hips and lower abdomen by imagining the pelvis to be a bowl holding water, then pull out the plug and allow all the tension to flow down your legs to the ground. Moving up we do the same with the chest and shoulders – again remove the plug and let all the water/tension flow down to the ground. Repeating this for the head/neck/face will drain the head so it feels light and can float up.
Savour the experience for a while and repeat frequently and observe changes in your usual posture. Better yet work with a friend who can give you feedback – like my friend Judy Hammond who does Alexander Technique and Moving Mindfully among other things
