From the hips

It's still early, but this has been an excellent start to my day. First, I woke up and, rather than just rolling over and going back to sleep, I utilized my oft neglected will power to order myself up with the strong intention of starting my day by practicing my tai chi form five times. Typically, I go to bed with that intention and when it comes time to get up I succomb to the sleepies and fail to get out of bed. But today I awoke, took stock of the sleepies and then engaged my will and got up out of bed immediately.
Secondly, I actually practiced my tai chi form. The first couple of times through was rough, I hadn`t warmed up my body or stretched so I expected that. By the forth time through my set I could feel the heat in my hands and some mild tingling. However, it was the fifth set that really was special. I really engaged my intention towards moving through the hips. I used my hips to project and propel my body. Each rotation was deliberate and controlled, and the feeling was far superior to the loose, free flowing style i usually have. i always try for proper structure, but usually I focus more on fluidity. Today, I wanted to focus on connection of the body, on generating power through the hips and proper structure. What a feeling of strength and connectedness. Such a difference from set one to set five. I will defiinitely put more focus on this training and hopefully make it a regular part of my practice....hopefully I make getting up earlier than I need to a part of my practice as well.