TaichiFlow outdoor practice — Marina Vela / Mirador Seaside, BARCELONA

James Arax

My name is James Arax. I am the creator of TaichiFlow. For over twenty years, I have practiced both painting and Tai Chi Chuan. These two disciplines share a common ground: in both, gesture does not begin with force or control. It emerges from within, until intention, breath, attention, and movement align.

Over time, my research converged around a shared question: how can continuity be cultivated through practice? In Tai Chi, this led me to understand the Yang Form not as a sequence of movements to memorise, but as an architecture of continuity adaptable to contemporary life. In my painting, the same intuition emerged differently: a painting is never an end in itself, but a space where presence is continually actualised. Across both disciplines, continuity became the underlying thread of my work—a way of understanding movement, creation and presence not as isolated moments, but as a living process of continuous actualisation.

For years, I lived between sharply contrasting worlds. On one side were demanding professional environments in Paris — architecture, real estate, and tech entrepreneurship — shaped by deadlines, mental load, rapid decisions, and constant acceleration.

On the other side was my studio in Dordogne, in the heart of a forest, where time moved differently: slower cycles, solitude, materials, weather, and a direct relationship with the real. I also spent time in highly physical conditions — forest work, cutting, carrying, handling.

Painting

I developed a practice of large-format painting: a work of presence, gesture, and regulation. In painting, balance is not something abstract to think about; it is something the body feels, places, adjusts, and sustains in real time.

This experience deeply influenced the way I later practiced and taught movement: less theory, more precision; less effort, more alignment; less control, more continuity.
Painting taught me that clarity often comes not from adding more, but from removing unnecessary tension until the gesture becomes evident.

Watch James in motion
2-minute signature video

Watch James in motion

Training

My Tai Chi Chuan practice is rooted in a clear lineage. I trained in Paris, notably Anya Méot.

Lineage of practice:

Chen Changxing
→ Yang Luchan (1799–1872)
→ Yang Jianhou (c.1842–1917)
→ Yang Chengfu (1883–1936)
→ Tung Yingjie / Dong Yingjie (1888–1961)
→ Tung Hu-Ling / Dong Huling (1917–1992)
→ Tung Kai-Ying / Dong Kaiying
→ Anya Méot (1941–2022)
École Tung dès 1975 · enseignement 1979–2022
Fondatrice de TOUM · Phénix FFAEMC 2016 · 9e duan neijia FFAEMC 2022
→ James Arax
→ TaichiFlow

In this lineage, movement was not reduced to outer shape alone. Each gesture of the form was linked to an application, to direction, to intention, to a dynamic of relation and transformation. This martial dimension is not the public face of TaichiFlow, but it profoundly shaped the way I understand practice.
A gesture was never isolated. It belonged to a process: entry, transformation, exit, redirection, continuity. That way of learning developed contextual memory, clearer visualization, sharper attention, a wider perceptual field, and a more precise sense of movement as passage rather than position.

My technical foundation is the traditional Yang long form: a codified sequence of 108 movements. Through regular practice, it develops a precise understanding of flow through posture, release, breath, direction, coordination, and stability.
The long form remains the backbone. It is where continuity is trained at length, where structure and release learn to coexist, and where movement becomes a field of attention rather than a collection of isolated techniques.

Transitions

One insight gradually became central to me: what matters is not only the time spent practicing, but the quality of transitions.
Our days are made of micro-breaks and micro-shifts: screen to screen, meeting to street, message to decision, tension to action, effort to recovery. The body never stops receiving these changes of rhythm. It absorbs them, often invisibly. When transitions are not digested, stress accumulates. Attention narrows. Breathing rises. Inner agitation grows. The nervous system tires.

Flow is therefore not approached as an abstract state. It becomes a practical tool to regulate transitions through concrete adjustments: posture, support, release, breath, gaze, orientation, intention. Sometimes a few slow gestures are enough to restore continuity. And when continuity returns, clarity, calm, and the ability to act often return with it.

Reactivating flow

Reactivating flow has been a reliable companion in my own life. It helped me through periods of overload, convalescence, insomnia, and important decisions where steadiness mattered. Repeated over time, this practice turns urgency into a clearer inner space. It gives both body and mind back their capacity for action.
This is one of the reasons TaichiFlow is built around short, reactivatable formats. The aim is not only to practice in ideal conditions, but to recover continuity inside real life.

Practice in Barcelona

Now based in Barcelona, I am launching TaichiFlow through private coaching (1:1 and Duo), progressive cycles, and corporate formats. Many sessions take place outdoors — in parks and by the seaside — where the setting naturally supports breathing, grounding, and a clean, stable energy.
The method is contemporary in its formats, but rooted in a transmitted practice. From private coaching to cycles, from corporate sessions to coworking and club practice, the same underlying principles remain: continuity, clarity, embodied attention, and the intelligence of transitions.

Deeper roots

Wu-Hao / Hao background: openings, closings, transitions

Within the Yang-Tung lineage, there is also a discreet Wu-Hao / Hao background. I do not present TaichiFlow as a Wu-Hao style, nor as a traditional martial system. But this influence helps clarify an important layer of practice: openings and closings, full and empty, internal shifts, and the transformation from one state into another.

This is essential to TaichiFlow. Movement is not understood as a fixed position to reproduce, but as a living transition to refine. In private coaching, progressive cycles, corporate formats, coworking sessions, and club practice, the aim remains the same: to make transitions more conscious, more embodied, and more fluid.

Professional background

For corporate or professional inquiries, please use the TaichiFlow Corporate page or connect with me on LinkedIn.
My painting work can be shared separately when relevant, especially when the connection between gesture, presence, and creative practice is part of the conversation.