A more open mind. Anyone silly enough to think they can learn with a closed one will soon discover otherwise if they’re training in a good traditional class. You’ll be learning some confoundedly tricky new ways to move and generate “Chi” (the essence of existence) and you’ll need to cope with your own ego in the process. As you get used to that, so your outlook on your place in life and this Universe will mellow.

Complaining muscles and aching limbs but a nice warm feeling in the process. A good instructor will soon spot if you are putting undue strain on your joints as you move, helping you to realise that moving carefully and taking your weight properly makes the muscles develop and gently pressurises your bone structure into better health.

Very little if you don’t practice. Endless people think one Tai Chi class per week (or less if they get a better offer that night) is going to transform them. Some even think that just paying for the class is therapeutic, even if they don’t go back! Once you’ve understood what “cumulative benefits” means you’ll either join the lazy hopeless majority or you’ll go through your Tai Chi and Chi Kung every day.

Improved posture. “Head up, chin in, bottom lightly tucked under, move as if someone is gently pressing the small of your back” Of course, you’ll soon be slouching again as you work or as you submerge into a chair but return of that aching back and strained neck should remind you of what you are learning in Tai Chi!

Relaxed and alert. These are the key words. They are what you will gradually learn to achieve, until the day comes when you remain in that state in the face of something that would have previously turned you apoplectic. What’s more, you’ll be more likely to see trouble ahead and avoid it.

Flowing and co-ordinated. Every Tai Chi student has their favourite tale to tell of the experience that got them completely hooked. Its usually something quite simple but amazing to them. Something they never thought they’d ever do, like facing the boss or overcoming fear of flight or catching a plate as it falls or … You can’t predict what it will be but you’ll feel you’re suddenly at a higher level when it happens.

Less vulnerable. Your aura will change and your immune system will function better. That won’t stop you from being infected by bugs but you’ll bounce back more readily and you’ll be less likely to be perceived as a soft target on the street too.

How to find the best Tai Chi class

It should be affiliated to the UK Tai Chi Association otherwise you’re more likely to be taught by a weirdo or crackpot who’ll allow you to damage your knees, your hips or your mind.

It should teach you. You shouldn’t be expected to scramble to keep up with others or learn ad-hoc parts of the “form”. The instructor should be keeping track of your progress with reference to a properly structured syllabus. It’s normal to work in small groups but making allowance for holiday or illness absences, (which should subside as the Tai Chi becomes more effective!). When you have to miss classes it should be possible to slip back into a group that joined after you, or maybe get extra tuition.

It should be proud but not preposterous. The instructor should refer enthusiastically to his or her lineage and should not attempt to deny Tai Chi martial arts origins. Tai Chi masters are rare but your instructor should either be one or still working with one. Those who aren’t usually try to make up for it by behaving bizarrely and cloaking their lack of authenticity with mystery, haughtiness and mysticism.

It should teach traditional Chi Kung and Chi generation techniques but not by trying to use them with the Tai Chi movement. At the outset it should be explained that such techniques will be learnt to enhance your Tai Chi through becoming adept at energised and relaxed alertness.

It should offer a path to more advanced Tai Chi, plus “pushing hands” and meditation and weapons for health, particularly traditional Tai Chi sword routines.

It’s normal to wear a uniform and to pay an annual membership in addition to training fees. Good schools don’t charge that in the early stages and defer uniforms for at least a couple of months and then supply them at reasonable cost.

The class should not be aggressively noisy. In a good class people find themselves happily bowing to each other, realising how it adds to the cheerful calm and purposefully friendly ambience.

What was it like for the Egyptians serving the Pharaoh’s to build their empires and their tombs? What was it like for the Romans serving their Emperors, or the Chinese, or even the Danes or the early Anglo Saxons? O.K. they didn’t have mobile phones. They didn’t have nuts and bolts either but they achieved many amazing things. The questions are whether we’re really more pressured than they were and whether they knew more than we do about leading successful lives.

Perhaps it’s a matter of degree. Perhaps just some of them were exceptionally cool and perhaps just some of us are too. How many of us really spend more time than they did actually achieving anything? How much more time do we spend merely responding to others or agitating them to respond to us? Are we actually using our modern methods of communication to achieve more or are our gadgets simply aiding our laziness and making us more neurotic?

How did they measure achievement and how should we?

Many of the methods developed and used by people in the past to cope and find their way were lost in succeeding chaotic times. Nevertheless, the principles can still be detected in the surviving artistic legacies. Artistry was everything.

Those who were accomplished did far more than merely sustain themselves. They flourished by using artistry in their approaches to each other and the World about them. Through their arts they could support and protect their sustenance, both through the weapons and implements they produced and through the various ways by which they communicated. They used their artistry to convey what they wished and in turn detected, interpreted and measured the artistry of others. Emails and video links are still clumsy modern substitutes for the latter!

At their best, everything they did was an expression of their inner selves – the combination of their understanding, their inspiration and their skill. Others equally discerning could read all about them through their presence, their products and their actions. By working accordingly every day they gained the spirit to excel. What we may refer to as an adrenalin buzz they could regard as the norm, making them aware of gradually being closer to their soul.

Ultimately, that same approach, woven into the necessities of martial arts for preservation, led to the range of internal arts known as the grand ultimates, renowned for their amazing toning of both body and mind. In the modern World the most well known survivor is Tai Chi Chuan, spread around the Globe from its roots in China. Daily practise of the open hand movements and use of sword renews the spirit just as in the past, inspiring ways to avoid the clutter of another day and do what is worth doing.