Cloud Hands & Natural Swings

These practises build on Taoist Natural Breathing and Standing Energy Postures and enable people to extend these natural practises into movement through a very simple set of natural movements (forms).

The movements follow the natural contours and flow of our fluids and coiled tissue structures resulting in fluid, continuous, "circular" movement. They unravel and lengthen tissues naturally as they naturally pump and circulate fluids and energy throughout every little part of the body, feeding and cleaning the cells (a foundation of health).

This gradually restores function throughout the body and dissolves tension and injury from the neck, shoulders, legs, hips and eventually the the core of the body, the spine and organs, enabling all internal and external movement to become more free and natural, as it was when we were children or as you may observe in "natural" sportsmen and women. 

With Natural Breathing and Standing Energy Pstures, these practices form the heart or essence of the Tai Chi form. There being no long and varied set of movements to learn, students are enabled to focus on the internal processes (neigong) contained within Tai Chi much more directly. It is these internal processes which give Tai Chi its much reputed ability to heal the body, generate strength and energy, and release stress. 

In sports, this qigong’s emphasis on body alignment, turning, twisting, and shifting the weight is noted for developing the practitioner’s ability to sink, rise, turn and twist strongly, rapidly and without injury (preventing injury especially to the knees, hips and spine). It develops superior body balance, speed and strength by unifying the body into a highly integrated whole. It is also indicated if the muscles and soft tissues are very bound (as they often are in sportspeople) and/or injured.