Basic Body Alignment
Imagine that you are standing on two Chinese bowls turned upside down. Your feet would be resting on the sole on the bowls. (
caution: don't really try with actual bowls it might be dangerous—you might slip off and suffer a nasty fall. The usage of bowls are only imaginary.)If you bent too far forward you would slip off the bowls. This imaginary exercise allows you to learn the relationship between your ankles, knees and hips.
Now, stack your spine on top of your hips like a stack of pancakes—classical Taiji used the imagine of a string of pearls, stacking a string of pearls on top of each other. This means that you should not hold your spine rigid for pancakes are slippery and could easily fallen off.
On top of this long stack of pancakes, you rest your head at the center of the gravity line that runs through your spine. Try to drop your chin and free the back of your neck. Notice you would find that you feel like falling or bending forward—most everyone tends to tilt their head too far backward habitually. Verify your alignment in front of the mirror. Your habitual sense will often fool you.
