The Empty Leg, The Full Leg

After reading one article by Dong Ying Jie a few weeks ago, I started thinking about this 虚实, empty and full thing. I think I have got something, but still not everything.......

In every movement, be clear where is empty and where is full.

I realised this is very important, especially in transition movements.

The thing is when you are stretching out your leg to take the step,

is your leg stiff and full?

Or is it empty and pliable?

When you first put your feet down, before you transfer your weight over, is your leg stiff and hard?

Or is it soft and pliable?

When you transfer your weight over, is it quick?

Is it smooth?

Does your leg immediately shift from empty to full?

Your intention shift from leg to leg?

Did you leave anything behind?

Was there reluctance in your movement?

Was the transfer just nice?

Did you go overboard?

Slow motion Kungfu: Tai Chi Chuan

Recently, I have laid hands on the english translation of Yang Cheng Fu's 太极拳体用全书 (Tai Ji Quan Ti Yong Quan Shu)/The Essence and Applications of Taijiquan, by Louis Swaim, which cost me 30+bucks by the way! A high price to pay for a book of that length! But what the heck, it is a classic!
Reading through it, I found myself slowing down tremendously in practice. It can't be helped! In order to do every move correctly, following the name of the move, with the correct 意念, intention, with the correct jin, which goes through the correct pathway, which ends at the correct place, it can't be helped! I had to go slower! But the experience is totally different, it is total immersion, Total 100% Taiji!!

Thoughts of a Sickly Taiji beginner!

For the last 2 months, after I started working, my schedule have been as such:

5.50am Wake up, brush teeth

6.00am Start taichi practice

7.00am Breakfast

7.15am Shower

7.30am Out of house to work

Result: Frequent bouts of flu and fever

Well, if you notice, shower is just 15 mins after practice and everytime I turn on the shower, I get goosepimples. So those of you who want to try something like what I did, I warn you:

DO NOT SHOWER TOO SOON AFTER PRACTICE!

The Mystery of the Turning Waist

The other day, i was reading through a post on wujimon's website about the waist being independent of hips: http://wujimon.wordpress.com/2006/05/12/waist-independent-of-hips/

Experiment time!

Now, as you sit on the chair, try turning to your right, does your hip turn as you turn as you turn your waist?? No right? So this is how it should be or at least how it is taught to me. Turning of the waist should be turning of the waist only and not turning of the hips or buttocks. These should be kept separate. In the classics, they always refer to the waist and not the hips. If they wanted you to turn your body by the hips, they would have said so!

Imagine a rod and a rope of the same thickness, a rod, when you take one corner of it and swing it around, the whole rod gets swung around. But this cannot be considered as " when one part moves, all parts move" right?

On the other hand, if you take a rope at one end and swing it, when one part moves, the power is passed through the whole rope and the whole rope moves! This is what we are looking for. every part of the rope can move independent of all the other parts but can also move together with all the other parts.

Similarly, we should be like that, we should be so song until we are able to control and move all the different parts of the body individually but yet maintaing the link with all the rest of the body. One thing my teacher always demonstrates from his leg up to his kua, waist, chest, shoulder, arms, hands...etc. Which causes us to look like stick men doing taichi.

The reason it is kept separate so that the turning of the waist would not affect your overall centre of gravity or your leg base when you neutralise so that your opponent would not be able to catch your base and throw you whole. The thing is to be dynamic and fluid in your structure and not stagnate in one structure, although it may hold up quite well to attacks. However when you attack, the power should come from your leg base(kua included), passing through and ampifying by your waist all the way to your hands. However this should be done in a split second motion after you listen well to your opponent and see a chance. But then in attacking, you must listen too, at the same time, for any changes in your opponent's movement and deal with it appropriately.

对拉 (Pulling in Opposite Directions) Sun Style

Recently, while we were performing our Sun style routine, my teacher came up to us and told us about this 对啦：Pulling in opposite directions.

He demonstrated this with Playing the Lute(手挥琵琶 ) where, as he moves his left hand forward, and his right hand backward, his back area actually seems to be moving backward, centralising his body. Next, when he does the Block Parry and Punch(搬拦捶) this is also shown. He says it is the pulling in opposite phenomenon in taichi.

According to him, the benefits of this pulling action is:

1. Stablises the person
2. Keeps you with rounded shoulders and in the Contain your chest, Stretch your back (含胸拔背) position.
3. Gives you a better structure, be it for defense or attack purposes.

Actually, he says this is applicable not only for Sun style, but througout all taichi styles. But as you can see from how I am writing this post, I don't really get the whole idea of what he is saying. So those who know, please enlighten me, and those who don't, food for thought!

Shen (Spirit) Yi (Intention)

The other day in class, I just realised that when performing the taichi routine, there are 2 aspects to it:

1. Technical

2. Psychological or Spiritual

The technical aspect is like having the correct body alignment, feet to knee, knee to kua, kua to waist, waist to back, back to shoulder, shoulder to arms, arms to hands. This is important for one to have a strong body structure.

The psychological aspect is that of Yi(Intention) and Shen (Spirit). In chinese there is a saying, 全神贯注, which literally means to do something with your whole Shen(spirit)\concentration.

In my opinion, this is should be the motivation behind all the movements of the taichi routine. To do every movement with your full concentration, with your whole heart and soul, with your whole mind, with all your intention. That's why everything is done slowly, to focus your Yi (Intention), to focus your Shen (Spirit) to focus your Qi, to give a focused punch, kick, throw, hammer, whatever! And in every movement, your Shen and Yi should follow through with the movement. I think that would definitely improve the attack. I cannot say for sure, because I have never really sparred using taichi....still not good enough. Train! Train! Train!