Key points
In zen practice, we don't
ignore confusion when it appears; we actually welcome it. When confusion arises
in our practice, it means that we have discovered something new. The feeling of
confusion is an indication that we are trying to understand something. So
welcoming confusion is actually an expression of wisdom.
(Les Kaye)
Concerns
Here are the key points for
new students:
If you do not sink your body weight
down into the ground, your tai chi will not work.
You will be top-heavy, flighty and weak.
Sinking is accomplished by relaxing mentally and physically.
Your mind needs to feel downwards, without tension, without pushing. Become
heavy.
Relax the back of the knees, loosen the joints and let tension leave your body.
To sink properly you need to be exceptionally soft, loose and relaxed.
No matter how relaxed you imagine yourself to be, think softer...
▲
Without a stable
foundation, nothing you do will have any significant effect.
If your opponent is aggressive enough, they will snatch your balance away and
your strength with it.
Sink.
Having sunk, you should possess root.
Do not throw your root away by stepping unnecessarily or by shuffling your
feet in anticipation.
Eventually, you must maintain root whilst moving your legs rapidly. But first
you need to stay fairly static.
Step reluctantly and cautiously.
Like 'eyes-closed walking' exercise?
Lose your root and you lose your power.
▲
(i) Lower body
The lower body is the strong part, not the shoulders and the arms.
No matter how strong you perceive yourself to be, a slap, strike, seize or
cavity press can rob you of your strength instantly.
Pain takes the attention immediately.
Drop into your lower body.
Make sure that all movement is initiated by the lower limbs, hips,
buttocks and waist.
(ii) Striking
When you strike someone, do not resort to using your arms.
What has changed? Nothing.
Channel your power through the entirety of your structure.
▲
One-pointedness
Your eventual aim is whole-body
movement (neigong). This is not so easy.
It is necessary to bring your attention to the moment, to what you are doing.
You cannot afford to be thinking about anything.
Be here. Right now.
When your actions are grounded in the immediate event, you can channel your
body, mind, emotions, sexuality into each single action.
If your one movement contains everything you have, it will be very
powerful.
Sparing yourself robs you of power.
One-pointedness is life affirming. Your very existence can be felt through the
expression of your movement.
This action is everything you are.
▲
Tension
Tension is your biggest enemy.
No student in the school is free of tension - physical, psychological and
emotional.
And the more tense you are, the less you understand.
Do not trust your own ability to gauge tension. That would be be like an
alcoholic telling you when they've had enough to drink.
Unless you relax, you cannot use your body weight successfully.
Body weight is your greatest ally. You need to work with gravity, not against
it.
Every single thing you do in life can be gentler, softer, smoother. Consider
this.
▲
Without composure you cannot act.
A calm, still mind enables you to fall without pain, move without impediment and
see opportunities as they arise.
Any form of emotional tension ruins everything.
Upset - whether anger or crying - makes you weak. It dumps unhealthy
chemicals into your body and narrows your perception.
You need clarity. You need presence.
▲
Sifu is the most
graceful member of the whole school.
He accomplishes martial skill without any recourse to tension or forcing.
If you have any doubts about his self defence skills, you have clearly not been
on the receiving end of much.
Direct transmission shows you just how soft, smooth, flowing and calm sifu's tai
chi really is.
There is no obstacle.
Grace is found in the effortless application of the tai chi principles, the
yielding, the slowness, the control.
Yet, there is nothing in sifu's practice that you cannot possess. It is not a
question of strength.
You need to have faith in the tai chi, and apply it precisely as indicated by
sifu.
▲
Learn to take the initiative.
If the attacker is using momentum, use that to put them on the floor.
If the attacker is being forceful, lead their mind elsewhere.
Pain is not something we seek to use frivolously.
The pain applied through striking is very strong and totally absorbs the
attention. This is real pain, not discomfort.
We use pain in order to take the initiative.
Once you have asserted and succeeded, cease the application of pain.
▲
If your only thought is to
evade and compromise the attacker, you will not experience
any fear at all.
Fear arises from thinking about pain, and about consequence.
It has no value in self defence, and will only served to make you hesitant and
half-hearted in your application of the tai chi.
▲
Unless you practice
the qigong, form and partner work regularly, you will not get the skills.
Habit is the outcome of familiarity.
▲
Page created 5 August 1999