Yin body
How do yoga and
tai chi compare?
Here is a very simple way to explain the difference: in tai chi, you relax to
stretch; in yoga, you stretch to relax. Tai chi emphasizes stretching through
sophisticated dynamic fluid motions rather than by holding static postures. Yoga
tends to use more extreme stretches than tai chi and some postures lock the
joints and arch the back, which never happens in tai chi. These poses can be
difficult for those with back or joint problems.
(Bruce Frantzis)
External ways
Shaolin and wushu schools emphasise large postures with low stances.
Such stances are similar in nature to yoga: they can provide a marvellous
stretch but not in a tai chi way.
If your health is not so good, they may even damage your body.
It is relatively easy to get a good stretch by outwardly stretching, but far
harder to do it internally.
Neigong is the key to internal stretching and to employ it correctly your body
must soften.
Yang body
The external arts train what might be called a 'yang body'; with deep stretches,
forceful exercise and muscular contraction being the focus of the training.
Emphasis is placed upon stamina, high repetitions, going further: it is
willpower-directed exercise.
A yang body is hard, contracted and tense.
Tai chi is different; it requires you to have a 'yin body'.
Yin body
A
yin body is soft and flexible.
It never tenses-up the muscles and only occasionally assumes a seeming hardness.
Solidity is achieved through other means, in particular: spiralling, connection
and sinking within the frame.
Reliance upon the soft tissue of the body is essential, not upon bone or
muscular tension.
Stretch too far, lock a joint or tense a muscle and you are no longer performing
tai chi.
Rubber
A tai chi person should have good muscle tone. The body should be quite rubbery
and firm.
There is always 'give', yet beneath this there is solidity without tension.
Classics
Consider the tai chi classics:
A feather cannot be placed, and a fly cannot alight on any part of the body.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
From the sentence "A force of four ounces deflects a thousand pounds"
we know that the technique is not accomplished with strength.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
The spectacle of an old person defeating a group of young people, how can it
be due to swiftness?
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
Empty the left wherever a
pressure appears, and similarly the right.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
The opponent does not know me; I alone know him.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
Walk like a cat.
(Wang
Tsung-yueh)
Remember, when moving, there is no place that does not move.
When still, there is no place that is not still.
(Wu Yu-hsiang)
In motion the whole body should be
light and agile,
with all parts of the body linked as if threaded together.
(Chang San-feng)
The ancient masters understood mystery.
The depths of their wisdom were unfathomable,
so all we have are descriptions of how they looked...
Careful, as if crossing a frozen river.
Alert, as if aware of danger.
Respectful, like a guest.
Yielding, like melting ice.
Simple, like a valley.
(Lao Tzu)
These quotations all have a common theme: lightness, softness, agility,
connection, unity. Yin qualities.
Tai chi exponents should carefully avoid the trap of physical tension and
holding.
The need for physical security and comfort should not lead you to be resistant.
If your body is not soft and loose, you cannot yield or express jing with ease.
If someone exerts pressure upon your body, do not let it exceed 4 ounces. Yield.
Soften. Melt away.
Muscles
Your
muscles must be free to move the bones without impediment; a smooth action is
necessary to ensure rapidity of movement in self defence.
This is accomplished through slow-motion practice, rather than fast; it is
challenging to move slowly.
Your awareness improves and it is easier to address faults in your alignment.
Spiral
Spiralling the muscles will help you to move the body in an integrated fashion.
Once you can tie the arms and legs into the waist, many of the neigong will
start working together.
A turn of the waist should affect the arm and the leg, drawing the limb inward
or turning it away.
Intent
It is easy to move the body in an unconnected, flamboyant way, but this
is not tai chi.
The mind must always lead the movements.
You must imagine that each movement is either pushing-away, drawing-in,
lifting-up or pushing-down.
These are the four primary directions.
Intent can make the body feel substantial, yet no tension is actually present.
Sinking
Let
your elbows become heavy and they will relax the shoulders, and allow the wrists
to settle.
Feel the muscles relax all the way down into your hips and then down into the
ground.
When you can drop the root into your feet with very little outward movement, you
are internally stretching your body.
If your arms are not relaxed and your elbows are not heavy, look to the hands.
Make sure that your hands are passive.
Extreme yin
When
yin reaches its extreme, it will seem to be very hard and unyielding.
If you were to push the body or strike the lower torso, it would feel extremely
hard and rooted.
Your body eventually attains the solidity of a yang body, but without the need
for tension or holding.
This solidity is inherent and relaxed.
Despite being solid, it is not tense. You can yield when pushed or you can
remain solid.
Remember that the aim should be never to resist incoming force.
Relative yin
Imagine filling a football with sand?
A small amount of sand will leave the football pliable, whilst a large volume
will make the ball feel solid.
A yin body can fluctuate between pliability and hardness, relative to
requirement.
Typically, you are more pliable when encountering a blow, and firmer when you
deliver a strike.
But the impact itself should never be hard or jarring.
Intention is the key. And jing.
Stiff?
It is important to emphasise that if you have not trained this neigong
thoroughly and lack the preceding 31 neigong skills, you are probably just going
to tense up.
Being tense in any fashion is not tai chi.
Page created 5 August 1999