Taijiquan relaxing & sinking & dissipating rather than feeling stress – Fairfax lawyer (Pictured is squatting single whip)

Fairfax criminal lawyer on relishing the courtroom battlefield experience

Taijiquan relaxing and sinking is the key way that I remain powerfully calm in even the most otherwise trying situations in and out of the criminal courtroom. As a Fairfax criminal lawyer, I know that the concerns voiced to me by some excellent civil trial lawyers about handling the stress of criminal defense can be an entrée to the t’ai chi ch’uan practice of relaxing and sinking.

Virginia criminal attorney on the essential role of taijiquan in his trial practice

Ralaxing and sinking is one of the five main principles of the taijiquan/ t’ai chi chu’an yang style short form martial art developed/modified by legendary Professor Cheng Man Ch’ing, that I have been practicing since 1994, when I started as a student of wife-husband team of Ellen and Len Kennedy, followed by some live classes with Benjamin Lo (amazing senior student of Professor Cheng), and next as a student of the amazing Julian Chu. The remainder of those four principles are keeping the body upright, turning from the waist (never twisting), separating one’s yin and yang (also known as separating the weight of one’s body), and keeping the wrists gently unbent. When handled by such a master as Professor Cheng and Master Lo, taijiquan at once is a powerful approach to living a harmonized life and a lethal internal martial art.

Fairfax criminal attorney on the magic of applying taijiquan to every aspect of his life

Among the important reasons for me to practice taijiquan daily is to be as calmly powerful in deflecting and dissipating opponents’ proverbial bows and arrows as is the fictitious Kwai Chang Caine in neutralizing the increasingly violent attacks by a racist in a Wild West saloon.

For me, the practice of relaxing and sinking involves being powerfully relaxed with every movement I make, sinking powerfully into the ground with each step taking strong and flexible root into the ground, and taking any negative energy that I receive by transforming it into neutralized or positive energy and sinking it to my tan t’ien, which is characterized as a location in the abdomen where ch’i is accumulated and stored.

Virginia criminal lawyer on relishing the battle towards victory

As a Virginia criminal attorney, I relish the battle towards victory for my clients. I dig the rush of brainstorming with colleagues who feel the same, including one of them loving the approaching trial battle when settlement negotiations do not work, by proclaiming “Lace ’em up.”

Lace ’em up is right, all the while powerfully relaxing and sinking.

Fairfax criminal lawyer Jonathan L. Katz loves battling through achieving powerful calm in the eye of the storm. To discuss your case with Jon, please call his staff at 703-383-1100 to schedule a confidential consultation.