Relax cleanly, Relax fully.

Relax cleanly, Relax fully, Relax deeply, Relax thoroughly, Relax and sink. Once strength is used, you become a solid structure waiting to get beaten and broken.

Last Sunday at lesson, my teacher was saying that he noticed we were all still too stiff and hard with our movements. Like while we were performing our motions, he could see the muscles in our arms all tensed up. Not good! So he demonstrated some moves and his arms were really relaxed, muscles not showing! Damn!

Another thing, he said that in taiji, your true intention is hidden, so do not display your intention explicitly in your moves. You must be like " want, don't want, want , don't want", and not show them like, ok i am going straight for your chest here!(Step Forward into Seven Stars)

So I reflected on myself and my form. I found that, true, my muscles were not exactly tensed, but they were taut throughout. And I sort of tend to tense them up a little like maybe at the end of a movement or something, or when I try to stretch my arms in some motions or when I try to focus my intention at that point. But then I realised, ya, focus intention does not mean to tense muscles! A common pitfall.

So today, I decided to try his method. Leave the arms as arms, relax them, go through the motions, enjoying them, like you are moving through the clouds. Then I realised, hey, some of my movements now have to be generated by my waist, for it to be effective. And so, I start to train and move with my waist and not my arm muscles. Then I realised, hey, the power is going straight into my arms and expressed in them! Incredible! As such, my movements became slower, fuller and more complete with substance.