Go "off-kilter" to not fall

Go "off-kilter" to not fall 

"𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝, 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐧𝐤 in Tai Chi 𝐲𝐨𝐮’𝐫𝐞 𝐩𝐮𝐭𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐀𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐢𝐧 𝐚𝐧 "𝐨𝐟𝐟-𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

Dr. Elizabeth Eckstrom, Geriatrician, Oregon Health & Science University.

Go "off-kilter" to not fall (video of Seniors practicing falling for safety)
I consider the following to be why we have a Tai Chi group. I want everyone to try my following suggestions here; it could save some broken bones. When I did freestyle push hands at Wu's, there were couches and chairs in case one was pushed hard and lost balance. I think I heard someone say Grandmaster Young had the same setup. The problem is, what does one do with the feet when they are falling? Well, the logic is there for a solution. If one can be trained well to "break fall" safely correctly in Tai Chi, Judo, and Aikido when thrown, one can train not to fall when losing their footing. Master Stephen Hwa is touching a post as he "sits back". For the following instruction, I recommend you "sit back" a foot in front of a couch. That way, if you fall, you end up sitting on the couch. Anyone can train their body well to fall a certain way in Judo or, in this case, take a supporting step to prevent falling. You'll need enough space in front of the couch to step backward, and the sofa does not interfere with the action. Just sit back until you reach a point of no return, and you have to step back. Sit back till you deliberately lose balance.  He is not doing this exercise and keeping his footing but do it as you see Master Hwa doing it in the N, S, E, W picture.  You can also tilt forward in the forward position till you have to step forward. Do it as you see Master Hwa tipping forward in push hands with me. Do it over and over and over; it's good training for CTC as well. As you see from the video link, a senior citizen learned how to keep from falling in just a couple of tries. None of us probably has a treadmill and harness, but we do have our Classical Tai Chi to train this. You can do the "sit back" each day with your training and do it numerous times so your "muscle memory" works with the subconscious; when you stumble, you take a saving step in the right direction.