How to Link Seated Tai Chi Moves Into One Slow Flow

To link seated tai chi moves, end each move in the exact shape where the next one begins, then travel between them on one slow breath. Finish every move on the side the pictures show, keep the same speed the whole way through, and treat the in-between part as a move of its own. Do that, and twelve separate chair moves turn into one calm, flowing form of about five minutes.

What a link is, and why it matters

A link is the small bridge from one move to the next. Sometimes the palms turn. At other times one hand sinks while the other rises. It's quiet and short, so beginners often rush through it.

That rush is what makes a routine feel choppy. The arms stop, drop and start again. In tai chi the hands rarely stop. One shape melts into the next, and the link is where that melting happens.

Inside Chair Tai Chi for Seniors, each link gets its own strip of three drawings. Look closely and you'll see the first drawing of a link is the same as the last drawing of the move before it. The link begins exactly where the move left off.

Before you start

Pick a sturdy chair without wheels. Sit near the front edge of the seat with both feet flat. If your shoulders feel tight, keep the arms at chest height or lower. Rest at once if you notice sharp pain, dizziness, chest discomfort or hard breathing. Ask your doctor first, especially after recent surgery or a fall.

How to link seated tai chi moves, step by step

For every step below there's a cue to feel and a mistake to skip. Practice them with just two moves at first.

1. Finish on the side the pictures show

Nearly every tai chi move can be done to the right or to the left. When you practice a move by itself, do both sides. Then end on the side shown.

• Feel: your hands settling into the final shape of the drawing.
• Avoid: stopping on the "wrong" side. The next link won't fit, and you'll have to fix your hands before you can go on.

2. Treat the last shape as the first shape

Hold the end of one move for a moment. That pose is already the start of the link.

• Feel: no gap. The move ends and the link begins in the same instant.
• Avoid: dropping your hands to your lap between moves out of habit.

3. Give every link one full breath

Most links happen on an in-breath. Let the breath begin as the hands begin, and let it end as they arrive.

• Feel: the hands and the breath finishing together.
• Avoid: treating the link as a gap to hurry through. It belongs to the form.

4. Let your breath choose the pace

If your breath runs out while the hands are still traveling, the hands are too quick.

• Feel: an easy, unhurried breath that is a little longer on the way out.
• Avoid: stretching or holding the breath to keep up. Slow the hands instead.

5. Keep one speed from start to finish

Tai chi has no fast parts. Cloud Hands moves at the same pace as the first quiet lift of the arms.

• Feel: a steady pace, the way a slow clock hand moves.
• Avoid: speeding up on moves you know well and slowing down on the ones you don't.

6. Keep your eyes soft

When a move says to follow a hand, look a little past it.

• Feel: the hand at the edge of your sight, the way you sense a doorframe as you walk through it.
• Avoid: staring at your fingers. It pulls the head forward and stiffens the neck.

Try it with three moves and two links

The first three moves of the seated short form make a good practice chain. If you are new to seated practice, these six beginner chair moves are an easier place to begin.

Commencement. Start tall, palms resting on your legs. On an in-breath, the arms drift up in front of you until they reach shoulder height. On the out-breath, the elbows sink and the hands come down, stopping an inch or two above your lap.

Link one. Lift the hands slightly so they float in front of your belly. Rotate the palms so they look at each other. This happens on an in-breath.

Hold the Ball. Bring the right hand up to chest level with the palm facing the floor. Turn the left palm up below it, as if you hold a large ball. End with the right hand on top.

Link two. Now flip the ball. Your right hand drifts down as the left one comes up, each staying on its own side, until the left is on top. Breathe out as the ball turns.

Part the Wild Horse's Mane. Your lower hand, the right one, sweeps upward and outward until it reaches shoulder height, palm facing the ceiling. Meanwhile the left hand sinks and settles on your left thigh.

Rest for one breath. Then go through the chain once more.

How long the seated short form takes

The full seated short form in the book has twelve moves joined by links. At a steady pace it takes about five minutes. A gentler version, with smaller moves and a rest breath wherever you need one, takes about six.

There is also a harder round for later. You do the whole form twice, the second time on the other side, as if reading the pictures in a mirror. It asks more of your memory than your muscles. Save it until the steady version feels familiar.

Build the chain a few moves at a time

Nobody links twelve moves on the first day. The book adds them in small steps. By the close of week one you join four moves. By Day 14 you flow through eight, and by Day 21 you can try all twelve with the pictures open beside you.

The last week adds no new moves at all. It is only for flowing. That week is where the form starts to feel like one long, slow movement.

Curious how this seated form compares with standing practice? Read how tai chi walking differs from classic tai chi.

Where to go from here

Start with the free starter routine, five easy moves with drawings. Chair Tai Chi for Seniors has all twelve form moves, each link in its own picture strip, and a large-print 28-day plan to put them together.

Your next step: tomorrow, sit tall and link Commencement into Hold the Ball three times, one breath for each link.