Yesterday in class, I discussed thigh rotation during Tai Chi movements. In the illustration from Chen Style Tai Chi, it depicts how your body should coil during most movements.
One exercise I use in my warm-ups is the reverse punch (Seen in the illustration below). Many people think the reverse punch is obsolete and a waste of time. However, they miss an important point, it is not directly for fighting but for training the body to coil, which is storing and releasing power.
In fact, most of the reason why Tai Chi is performed slowly is to understand how this spiraling force is transmitted from one part of the body to the other without having gaps or hiccups, which can be exploited by an external force. This slow spiral movement also "ties" up the joints to protect them by keeping them aligned. This is why Tai Chi is particularly good for balance, because it develops a counter spiral which "locks" the body into a stable structure. The lines in the Chen Style illustration show how force moves through the body, and of course, it is a spiraling motion, which follow patterns found in most organic structures because we live in a spiral universe and on a rotating planet.
When performing the reverse punch over time you will see every part of your body from your feet to your hands embodying a spiraling motion.
