It took me a long time to get this. In a lesson with Ma Lee Yang we were talking about the differences between mol gik, tai gik and tai chi.

Mol gik is the infinite and tai chi movement creating yin and yang and tai gik inbetween the two. I asked if tai gik was the intention to move and Ma Lee said “no it’s when tai chi arrives”. This really troubled me, did it mean that I was to wait for tai chi to arrive? What happens if it didn’t? I realised the idea of ‘you don’t do tai chi, it does you’ but waiting for it to arrive?

Eventually I realised that by internalising the tai chi skills and concepts and understanding how to develop the yi (intention) and chi (energy), to stimulate, alchemise and educate my ability to store and move the energy, that the standing posture at the start was to prepare the body, energy and mind and when it was ready tai chi would naturally arise. In the end whenever I had the intention for tai chi it would naturally arise in an instant.

Then I finally got it.