Large rhythm, small rhythm
Where's the elegance, where's
the grace, where's the art, where's the expression of what it means to be a
human being in movement?
(Paul Gale)
Beginners syllabus
In the beginners syllabus the emphasis is upon gaining scapula connection.
This is intended to stop you from using your arms independently of the torso.
Column 1 of the ticksheet and form are your main tools for developing this
important skill.
Unfortunately, people develop the habit of over-stretching and pretty soon they
are exerting themselves.
This leads to muscular tension, and you are right back to square one again.
Column 2
Column 2 of the qigong/neigong ticksheet encourages you to start relying upon
alignment for power.
The danger here is that you begin to see the alignment as being fixed.
Nothing is fixed in tai chi. Fixity is stagnation and death.
We want a mobile network of associated body parts. Not a rigid cage.
Tai chi zombies?
In the quest to move from the centre, some people keep their arms outstretched
at all times and focus upon moving from the hips.
This is incorrect.
Yes, the hips should be involved, but where is the 'folding'?
Whole-body movement involves all joints and all muscles in motion. A whole-body
undulation wave.
It is not just a hip turn.
If you are just turning the hips, you have confused tai chi with karate.
The arms must come in and out, naturally extending and naturally returning.
Otherwise you are straining the muscles and the joints.
You also look like a zombie. See Shaun of the Dead for zombie examples.
The arms are not limp, passive and dead, nor are they independently active.
They are thrown out from the centre and drawn back by the action of the entire
body moving as one.
Cycles
There is a real danger in tai chi of listening to someone else rather than to
your own body.
Many tai chi people keep their arms far out from their bodies for a sustained
period of time, oblivious to the ongoing strain in the muscles of the back,
neck, shoulders and arms.
The resultant physical tension is inevitable and unavoidable. It is a natural
by-product.
The human body works in cycles.
Your tai chi should reflect this.
The arms should draw in and reach out and draw in again with every movement.
Not as some contrived arm-only action, but as a consequence of the waving motion
of the entire body.
Please do not try and contrive this.
If your tai chi keeps the arms outstretched most of the time, the chances are
that you are fundamentally tense and also have very poor kinaesthetic awareness.
If your sensory appreciation has been damaged by bad tai chi habits, you
probably feel just fine and don't even notice the strain. But it is occurring
nonetheless.
Natural body
The natural elbow position is at the side of the body.
Lifting and stretching the arm out from the body creates dynamic tension in the
shoulder, chest and back.
The weight of the arm bones and muscles is considerable. Gravity is pulling the
arm down.
Reaching out is fine. Providing the arm returns to the centre.
Sinking
When you sink the body weight internally, you start to release the upper body.
The arms become extremely heavy and powerful.
The elbows drop and this draws the arms closer to the centre.
Although we seek to keep the armpits open, we must allow the elbows to fall.
Elbows
Watch out for the elbows.
Leading with the elbow is a major error in tai chi practice. Your elbow must
hang.
It anchors the arm.
If your elbow is lifted, closed or tense, energy transmission will not occur.
The elbows are particularly prone to tension and this will stop you from
delivering an effective whole-body elbow strike using gravity (intermediate
syllabus).
Without a heavy, loose elbow you cannot have sung. You also cannot strike
through the elbow.
Do not strike with your elbow. Strike with your body. Through the elbow.
Opening & closing
The beginners syllabus lays the foundation for opening & closing to occur.
If you think about form, it is simply not functional to keep the arms
outstretched all the time.
It wastes energy and tires the body. Plus, what purpose does it serve?
For every posture, the arms draw into the centre, move outwards and then return
to the centre again. This is a kind of opening and closing.
Later, this becomes folding.
Partner work
Large rhythm, small rhythm is especially pertinent to partner work. The rhythm
pertains to your moving relationship with the attacker.
Your frame and circle changes relative to the needs of the situation:
fluctuating from large, to medium, to small, depending upon what is appropriate.
If you have a fixed frame and/or a fixed circle, you cannot adapt, change and
improvise.
Frame is the size of the postural structure.
Circle is the degree of waist movement, and the arc of the circular movements
you perform.
The first drill to really address large rhythm, small rhythm is silk arms,
although hints of this skill exists in most of the beginners partner drills.
Striking & reaching
If you reach your arms further and further from the centre, you become weaker
and weaker.
Gravity and fatigue defeat you.
Instead, you must reach out - like a stinger or a tentacle - and then
immediately withdraw the limb.
This is energetically economical and martially sound. It reduces commitment and
lessens the risk of becoming tired.
Standing qigong, moving qigong, slow motion form and pushing hands ensure that
your extended arm is not fatigued. And that upon extension it is connected and
has power.
Your centre, their centre
Your aim must typically be to draw the attacker's limb towards and around your
centre, pulling them out of their own.
There are exceptions when it is advantageous to seal the attacker by taking
their limb closer to their centre rather than away.
In practice, you seek to balance the relationship of attack and defence by using
the opposite rhythm to your assailant.
If they are large rhythm, you are small. If they are small rhythm, you are
large.
This will clearly take considerable training for you to fully understand the
ramifications.
Page created 5 August 1999