Keep Your Knees Safe During Tai Chi - Part 2 | Taiji Basics 

My pleasure. I am glad you enjoyed it. :)

So glad to hear that this was helpful for you! I hope your knees feel less-bothered in the near future. I have heard from students that it can take a little bit of time for the knees to get used to this weight distribution, but they start feeling much better in the long-run after the initial adjustment phase. I have used the weight on the ball of the foot approach in the past and it never left my knees feeling particularly good. I wish you all the best in your training!

@@AndrewPlitt Okay - good to know. I was feeling wobbly as I redistributed. Will keep at it !

That is a great question. There are mixed opinions about the knee circles that are used frequently in Tai Chi class warm-ups. I used them when I was training in China and I had my students do them at the beginning of class when I was teaching in-person. It is true that the knee is primarily a hinge joint and lateral flexion and rotational motions tend to be less safe for the knees. That said, I have never seen nor experienced any injury from this warm-up exercise. That does not mean it is not possible, but it probably is not highly likely if the knee circles are done in a sensible manner. I have seen some practitioners do this warm-up by pushing the knees into the largest circles physically possible. That, to me, is just asking for an injury. The most important thing is always for people to listen to their own body when doing any exercise. If knee circles feel unsafe or make a practitioner's knees feel uncomfortable, they should use a different knee warm-up exercise. If a practitioner likes using knee-circles, they should do so carefully with small circles to encourage fluid exchange in the knee joints, but never to push the knee to anywhere near end-range motions. It is not a knee stretch, it is just supposed to be a gentle joint massage to encourage fluid exchange in mostly avascular tissues and to encourage blood flow to the surrounding tissues. I have used the knee-circling exercise less and less as time has gone on and I now just use silk-reeling exercises as a general warm-up for Tai Chi because it warms up pretty much all of the joints simultaneously and instills correct body structure and safe motion patterns while warming up. If I were to start teaching in-person classes again, I would not use the knee circles anymore and I would have students to do silk-reeling instead. I hope that answers your question. Stay safe and healthy!

@@AndrewPlitt Thank you, yes, I appreciate your detailed answer - very helpful.