DSLR – Pentax Body

I have been practising Tai Chi (or Tai Ji) for over 4 years now, and I simply love it. It’s part of my life. I walk up the stairs, open doors, turn and step to the side while squeezing through crowds and I use Tai Chi principles all the time.

Tai Chi can help you become a better photographer via the following benefits:

1. Improved posture (you don’t get tired quiclky carrying equipement).
2. Greater relaxation of muscles (easier to take photos from uncomfortable positions).
3. Appreciation of your body.
4. Improved health and well being.
5. Greater control of your breath and muscle tension (hand held photos with long exposure time)
6. Coolness.

There are 5 main families, with variations between teachers, so there’s a lot to choose from. But they have one common denominator: the principles they follow. Make sure that you find a professional teacher (not someone who does it only as a hobby) and you’ll see benefits after a few weeks.

There are a lot of web resources, but I can recommend you http://www.taijipedia.net/ as it has a lot of films explaining how to do techniques (come on, you can’t learn that from a book). There are things for both advanced practitioners (like me) and for complete beginners. Give it a go and let me know what you think. It’s completely free, and the guys are professionals with almost 20 years of experience.

Enjoy

Kamil