TAI CHI MOVEMENTS AND STYLES

I often hear people asking what tai chi styles is the best and how many tai chi movements is ideal. The truth is all tai chi styles are the best and if one understand tai chi principle, even no movement is ideal movement. Tai chi chuan is not about style. It is also not about how many movements. Taoist sage Chang San Feng said tai chi chuan is 13 postures (internal force). They are peng (ward off), lu (roll back), ji (press), an (push), chai (pluck), lieh (stroke), zhou (elbow), kau (shoulder), move left, move right, advance, retreat and center. All these 13 forces arise from one fundamental force and it is the peng jin (ward-off force).

Don’t be mistaken that peng jin is the ward-off movement. The ward-off movement or posture is just one of the movements that physically demonstrates peng jin in a more obvious manner. The truth is peng jin is the mother of all the other forces. If a movement is without peng jin, it fall short of tai chi’s requirement. Yang Cheng Fu once said tai chi movement without peng jin is not tai chi.

Tai chi classics tell us that tai chi chuan movements must be smooth, continuous and unbroken. Unbroken means every inch of the movement must have peng jin. Even the starting standing posture must be filled with pengjin. Now, how you get peng jin?

The answer is with Yang Cheng Fu’s tai chi 10 essentials. You must be loose (song) and body must be in proper alignment as described in tai chi classics. You will be able to notice your peng jin when you are loosed, in proper body alignment and aware. How many movements are unimportant once you know what is peng jin.

Next time before you start your tai chi movements, spend time knowing yourself in the standing posture and find your peng jin. If you can find it and know it, you don’t even have to move much. Once you know what is peng jin, you will know the rest of the other jins.

Movements are mere manifestation of internal force in tai chi, remember that and focus internal. Once you can feel the internal movements, you are doing right tai chi chuan.

ROOTING

With proper rooting according to tai chi standard, you should be as steady and firm as a mountain and your opponent should feel you are unmovable, literally. This rooting skill is sometime demonstrated by a tai chi expert withstanding push from a few people. It is amazing to watch but there is nothing mysterious about it. It is all about letting loose and proper alignment of body so that the oncoming force is channelled through the body into the ground. The strength of tai chi rooting depends on Song (looseness) and correct posture.

When we are able to let loose, our upper body weight will drop. The weight will be carried by the legs. When we can also loosen the leg muscles, this weight will drop even lower to the ground. This makes our rooting very strong. It is scientifically proven that our leg bones can withstand up to 2 tons of weight. If your upper body is so relaxed that all oncoming force can be transmitted down the skeletal structure to the leg and then to the ground, your rooting will naturally becomes very strong to the pusher. When you re bounce this oncoming force from the ground up through the body back to the opponent, he will definitely be pushed away a great distance.

In summary, rooting comes from 2 very important factors. One, you must be very song. Two, you must know what is correct posture.

YIN YANG SECRET OF TAI CHI CHUAN

Time flies so fast and before I noticed it, 7 months had passed since my last article. Last week I was sharing push hand tips with one of my disciple. He has problem neutralizing my force sticking and sealing his shoulder. During push hands, he always get caught when I stick to his shoulder, sealed it and apply press. I then showed him how to neutralize a few times and he still can't escape from my press. I showed him a few times by asking him to do the same thing on me band he couldn't get it. I paused and tried to analyse his problem.

then I realised he has been doing all the movements right save for one thing, there is no yin yang in his application. After long time practise I have taken this concept for granted as it has been internalized in my movements but I forgotten this may not be so to novice. I guided him to apply yin yang in his techniques and to his surprise, my press to his shoulder is neutralized easily. This instigated me to right a bit about yin yang concept in this article.

Tai chi chuan is all about yin yang. Every movements in tai chi must have yin yang otherwise it will not be effective. What I meant by yin yang is having substantial and insubstantial complementing each other in every movement. One clear example is found in the case of my student. He tried so hard to neutralize my press on his shoulder by letting loose his shoulder (yin) but there is absence of yang to immediately counter me, hence at best his movement is pure defensive and destined to fail if face with an experience fighter. The right thing to do is while his shoulder is loose (yin) to neutralize me, his another hand should add 4 ounces of strength to extend my pressing force, this is the complementary yang. By doing this there is yin yang in him and while neutralizing my force (yin), he is also extending me with very subtle force (yang) as offensive. I will be easily handled and uprooted.

This is the same with every tai chi movements. I urge you to analyse your own movements and see if you can clearly identify the yin yang. Example; when pushing your palm stick gently (yin), your whole body is relax (yin), but your sticking is not flimsy and clumsy (yang), your force generated from body is strong (yang). Yin Yang must exist to make a successful and forceful push. There are many more example in your tai chi chuan that must have yin yang to be effective.

Next time when you do tai chi form or push hands, try to understand how yin yang at play and you will gain real skills. Happy training.