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.

TAI CHI PUSH HANDS COMPETITION

Personally, I don't believe in tai chi push hands competitions. I've been to many push hands competitions as an observer and all the times what I see is often the contest of brute force and wrestling. Real tai chi skills are totally non existence in these push hands competitions. In the last competition I went to, I witnessed 3 tai chi chuan veterans embarrassed by youngsters who have only practised tai chi chuan push hands for less than 1 or 2 years. These veterans have been doing tai chi for more than decades.

Most competitors are too eager to win in competition and right from the start they push and struggle with each other hoping to score points and win the competition. Many competitors rely on external techniques to win over their opponents. Hardly do I see any real tai chi skills of adhere, stick, follow, neutralize and fajin.

At one time I have the "privilege" to push hands with one 3 times national push hand champion. He admitted to win in push hand competition, tai chi skills are not enough. The aggressor usually has advantage. We started a friendly match and for a moment it was like pushing hand with a sumo wrestler. He put all his body weights in front and aggressively attempting to push me. I refused to let him land his weight and strength on me, maintaining light contact I can easily neutralized his aggression. many times he almost lunge himself to the ground because of putting too much weight in front.

In that short 5 minutes push hands, I managed to push him away neatly more than 10 times to zero. And he was grasping for air. I am not against push hands competition, but we need to be careful not to neglect tai chi principle of not opposing and let loose. It is better to loss correctly than to win incorrectly. Invest in loss and it will pay you handsomely later.

THE SECRET OF BEING ROUND

How to be round is hard to comprehend intellectually. Only by practise and internal understanding would one be able to know how to be round. Why do tai chi masters want to be round? There are at least two reasons.

Firstly for combat effectiveness. Lets look at electric fan. When it spins, it created a round shape and this round shape is created by the moving of its blades, controlled by the center. Tai Chi works the same way in combat. Imaging our two hands are the blades of a fan and our body is the center. When force is directed at one side, that side will move backwards to accommodate the oncoming force, but because we are round, like a fan, the moving backward of one blade will caused another blade (hand) to move forward at the same time in one integrated motion. When opponent strikes at one side, he will find that particular side move backwards neutralizing his force and at the same time, the opponent is under attack by your another side, making a complete circle....yin and yang. If you are round, your combat skill will be superb.

Secondly, when you are round, your whole posture will be balanced. Right, left, up, front are all balanced at the center. When you are balance, your pengjin is intact and the strongest.

The next timje you perform your tai chi set, try to comprehend the roundness within your form and self.

THE SECRET OF SEALING IN PUSH HANDS

In push hands a student is often told to do these; attach to your opponent, stick to him like a glue, follow his direction of force, neutralized it, lead him to emptiness, uproot him and discharge your force onto him. Very seldom do I hear a student is advised to seal the opponent before uprooting and discharging on him. Sealing is very important as if your opponent is not sealed skillfully, he can easily regain balance and neutralize your force.

Sealing has three primary functions; 1) it destroys your opponent's power structure unable him to generate resistance. Even if he can, forces generated will work against him. 2) it uproots him and 3) it prevents him changing and escaping. If your sealing is good, your push hands will be equally good.

Let me share with you one simplest way to seal; control his elbow. In push hands many people neglected the controlling of elbow. Lead his elbow forward when he push, press his elbow towards his center line when he withdraw. If your own pengjin is strong, by controlling his elbow, your opponent will be helpless against your attack. Now you have this secret, put it in practice and see how it works in push hands. You will be amazed.

THE SECRET OF PENG

It was said Yang Lu Chan won all his fights by only using peng, lu, ji, an in pulling the peacock's tail. Is this possible? I would affirm by a resounding "yes". A skilled taichi master should be able to control his opponent fully upon 1st contact. And most often than not, peng jin (wardoff force) is used here.

Peng is described as having the characteristic of floating by wave. Pengjin should cause your opponent to lost his root and floated, as a result, losing all his strength to attack or counter attack you. How can this possible? Pengjin manifest from your feet, guided by waist and manifest in the hand in a 45 degree angle. Very important is that your wrist attach to your opponent and twist clockwise 45 degree into his center line coordinating with the entire body. This will cause his frame to collapse and spine twisted locking all his energies and severing his root. If you can intercept this way, the battle is as good as won.

Few months ago I joined an Aikido workshop pretending to be a novice. In one exercise, we are instructed to block a punch and follow-up with a take down by executing a neck lock. A paired with 2 gentlement, one of them was a Malay silat master while another was an Aikido 4th Dan black belt. Both were awed by the way I blocked their punches. They said for some reasons my block made them felt almost like spinning and before they know it, their back was exposed to me. I explained to them giving the analog of throwing something to a spinning top which will cause the oncoming force to be rebelled sideways.

Evidently to me at least, peng can be very dangerous and effective in fighting if you know exactly how to use it.