I began curling at the age of 10 and maintained my curling practice every winter through the age of 17. I played an additional half-season in my early twenties-unfortunately financial cost combined with limited time and energy have kept me off the ice since then, but I still love watching the sport.
I began practicing taijiquan (aka tai chi) at the age of 12 and have maintained my practice ever since. Tai chi has become my primary movement practice and has been a consistent orienting discipline.
Together, curling and tai chi helped me through some of my times of worst mental health and marked a shift towards embracing my body. Before discovering curling and tai chi, I primarily viewed my body as an enemy and thought any forms of movement with a group element was beyond me with my dyspraxia. Through curling and tai chi, I learned that my dyspraxia was far less limiting than I had assumed, my body was not my enemy, and that I was capable of moving with others in a group setting.
While I was never especially good or consistent with my curling skills, and while I am definitely not the best or most natural taijiquan practitioner, both forms of movement bring me great joy and I hope to resume curling again one day in the not-too distant future. As such, I’d like to unpack a few reasons why I love them both, and why they might have more areas of overlap than you’d first expect.
Balance
Curling involves wearing surfaces on the feet which can slide on the ice. Oftentimes, one shoe has a grip (a surface with more traction) and the other has a slider (a surface that slides smoothly over the ice). Players require this arrangement to throw the rock, and some prefer to sweep with that arrangement as well. This requires significant skill in the area of balance. Taijiquan’s primary goal in combat is to maintain one’s balance while upsetting the balance of the opponent. This is accomplished via principles of physical structure and movement. Balance is one of the few physical traits I was innately blessed with, and so these two forms of movement that emphasize balance appeal to my strengths.
Heart and Lungs
Curling involves an oft-underestimate element called sweeping, where the sweepers use the broom to influence their teammate’s rock, speeding it up and directing its path. Sweeping puts significant demands on one’s cardiovascular and aerobic systems. Taijiquan, especially when practiced with martial applications in mind, requires the ability for deep, even, controlled breaths and a calm, steady, heartbeat. As someone who generally finds cardiovascular/aerobic exercise more natural and appealing than strength training, these forms of movement appeal to my strengths.
It’s All in the Legs (And Hips)
Curling involves being able to kick off the hack with a variety of intensities and maintain a lunging position while sliding over ice for several seconds. This requires significant leg strength and hip flexibility. Similarly, taijiquan relies on a strong base-generating and dissipating force via a connection with the ground that relies on strong legs and flexible hips so that the lower dantian (an area between the waist and groin) can direct force along the desire pathways. I’ve always been stronger in my legs, so the physical requirements for both curling and taijiquan played to my strengths in this area as well.
Wude and Sportsmanship
Curling, at both the recreational and competitive levels, places a high value on sportsmanship. There are a host of norms and mores which make curling one of the most relational sports even between opponents. As someone on the autism spectrum with dyspraxia, curling was one of the few sports atmospheres which I always found welcoming. Taijiquan, like many Chinese martial arts, also encourages civil virtue (wude) alongside martial skill (wushu). For a host of reasons, taijiquan tends to manifest this in a very approachable way. While there are exceptions to the rule, taijiquan rarely requires formal martial dress, and instructors often allow a greater degree of informality than gongfu and karate schools. This emphasis on mutual respect, expressed in both informal and formal norms and mores, made both taijiquan and curling relatively safe spaces for my neurodivergent self to grow and develop.
Awareness and Skill
Curling’s relatively slow pace and strategic considerations favour awareness and skill over brute strength. This awareness is also emphasized by the small team size requiring more communicaion, collaboration, and sensitivity to manifest great results. Taijiquan beings by practicing slowly to build that same awareness and skill; as training progresses, one develops the ability to maintain awareness and skill even at fast speeds. One of taijiquan’s great strengths is that it cultivates a martial practice in which the seemingly weaker opponent can overcome the seemingly stronger opponent. The emphasis on awareness and skill favoured by both curling and taijiquan appeal to me as someone who is unlikely to ever be the strongest and fastest in a given space.
Invitation
If you are a curler, I highly encourage considering adding taijiquan to your movement practice. It may benefit your curling due to these and other areas of overlap, and it has the advantage of year-round practice capability.
The Dreamers' Corner 