Tai Chi And Piano

Six months ago I took up tai chi (in part thanks to your books Alan), and have been enjoying it as a great way to unwind after a long day, to get me going in the morning, or in between practice sessions (when my neck/shoulders tend to get sore). All this is absolutely awesome, I recommend it! (FYI i use an ipad app to learn the movements, combined with youtube. not ideal probably, but easy on the wallet) anyway, my question: how to integrate tai chi into piano? - while playing? - while sitting at the piano? (also nice to know how to do something in the car while commuting, without being too much of a hazard!) - or anything else that comes to mind. Any thoughts? thanks tom

That is a VERY big question. Years ago I remember playing the Debussy Images Book I and my teacher at the time, Lauretta Milkman, telling me I wasn't playing the piano, I was doing Tai Chi at the piano. She meant it as a compliment, and I took it as such. There was a sense of the graceful, flowing movements of the form creating sonority and phrase shape at the piano. That was 30 years ago. I am still finding new and deeper ways of integrating my Tai Chi practice into my playing. The sense of Self I acquire in the Tai Chi form transfers well into my playing on so many levels that it would take a book to describe it. In short, the form helps me experience the functionality of skeletal connection, and I then bring that same sense to the way in which I join myself to the keyboard to create sonority. AFF

Thank you Alan for your reply... So it is like water, spilling over naturally into different parts of life? Or does it need someone with a bucket?