Daily Mindfulness of Tai Chi & Qigong

Why do we practice or why are we even interested in chi arts to begin with? As fellow humans, we all seek wholeness, balance, wellness and also a deeper, meaningful life. Let's face it: we all LOVE the goosebump effect of something striking home inside of us. Every-day activities are important to take care of the body in this world - washing clothes, eating, walking to the car and establishing enough income to have comfortable shelter. These are all important tasks that must be accomplished, despite how spiritually elevated we might perceive ourselves.

Chi arts (chi kung & tai chi) offer us a practical way to bring awareness and deeper meaning into these necessary activities of daily life. We become aware of breathing while sitting in the car at the stoplight--thus we breathe deeper and slower and feel more patient with traffic because of that breath awareness. We notice the contrast between walking on asphalt, walking over rocks and being barefoot--thus we move more efficiently and don't stumble over curbs. We lift boxes at work with efficient body mechanics that we've habituated into ourselves from our daily practice--thus we no longer strain our backs. We live consciously instead of half aware, half awake, stumbling into frustration and injury.

It's estimated that 90% of people spend 90% of their lives focusing on either the past or the future. That means only 10% of people are fully aware of the present moment and what's going on right now. This is the "deeper meaning" so many of us crave: to be aware, to be knowing and connected to What Is. When we carry around stories from our past as though they are still happening (old grudges, beliefs from the "good old days" or even in some cases stuck in chronic pain that we haven't worked through) - we are living in the past. When we catastrophize our possible futures with worrying "what if" scenarios, we live in the future. When we plan in advance, we live in the future. Many people's schedules are so full of plans (from the past) that they cannot manage to be spontaneous and do something that calls them in the now, even something they might really want to do.

However, when we take our few moments a day to practice, to become aware of breath, aware of body, we deepen our experience of being human. With enough personal practice, we make mindful awareness a daily habit and start to see magic all around us that we never noticed while living in the past and the future. Synchronicities begin to become common place. Our life becomes magical. Eventually we start to recognize our old patterns that are no longer useful and leave them to become a newer, fresher, more contemporary version of ourselves -- in short, we grow.

The stereotype of the wise old tai chi master who is happy and content with few worldly goods starts to make sense to us when we realize how little we need to be at peace. But contentment with the now is not the eternal consumerism society has conditioned us to. We've been conditioned to buy for fear of doing without (remember those who had to go without toilet paper during Covid due to others' hoarding?). We've been conditioned to shop for more comfort (really?!! How much comfort do we need to roll around in?!!) We've been conditioned to buy this or that new thing for more convenience; MORE convenience at the only time in history that we can have an entire meal ordered, made, paid for and derived to our home all while sitting on an overstuffed couch. It seems that most of us Americans are willing to shop ourselves into storage facilities and conveniently stuff ourselves into coffins at an early age all the while we complain that life's not fair and it's the fault of manufacturers and politicians. Yet we are the ones who make each and every choice in our adult lives, no one else to blame.

If we are not aware of the moment we are in, we will never see if we are "caught in the Matrix." When in the moment, like Neo, we can consciously choose differently for ourselves, realizing that all the rules we follow are simply made up and can be rewritten. We can choose to be present and aware of What Is, instead of what we were conditioned to believe (that may have once served us) in the past.

Why do we practice chi arts daily, even when we don't really feel like it? Because we long for a life with meaning NOW, not sometime in the distant future or from our past. We practice chi arts to be fully alive, aware, awake and present to the mundane and mysterious wonders of daily life. We practice chi arts so that the wonder of the sun rising doesn't go unnoticed but still gives us goosebumps and makes the day more meaningful.

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If like many others you haven't found a chi arts class or teacher you resonate with in your local community, but you still want to learn and practice tai chi and/or qigong, BeachsideQigong.com offers a host of online courses built for you. While it's always more meaningful to practice with a local, live community, our online courses have garnered praise from many who use them to build their own mindfulness practice. In fact, there are so many videos already uploaded in the library, you could follow a different one every day for years. Here's one of the latest emails I've received about the Sun 73 Tai Chi Online Course: "I finally have the time to dedicate to your Sun 73 course and my goal is to complete it. I am really enjoying learning the form. Although I would love to learn from you in person, your online course is the next best thing for me. Your instruction is very clear and easy to follow. It's also really fun!" -- Suzanne S. Aug. 2025

Check it out for yourself here: Online Courses

Courses are available for individual purchase or access them all with a $7.99/month Video Membership. First day free to check it out; easy to cancel at any time.