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.
2 comments:
You have wonderful insights and wisdom sharing your Tai Chi experience. I just started to learn Tai Chi. Do you do a lot of standing meditation? I find it hard to understand the idea of sinking the Chi and also of rooting. Thanks again for sharing your knowledge in Tai Chi.
Hi sorry for the late reply. Standing meditation or zhamzhuang is an inherent part of tai chi training and yes, I do it very often. Tai chi follows the concept nature. Chi will automatically sink to dan tian when you are relaxed and peaceful. The key is to let loose, relax and put your intention at the dantian, chi will naturally sink. Rooting is similar. When your upper body is loosed and relaxed, the body's natural skeletal structure will carry the weight of the body. All weights will drop down to the feet, hence your rooting will be very strong.
The key is to concentrate on letting loose so that all the upper weight drops to the hip. Put your mind into feeling your hip and with training, you will know there is something there.
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