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| Empty the centre | ||
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The three main internal martial arts have different attitudes concerning the centre:
Xingyiquan firms your centre and attacks the opponents centre
Bagua moves your centre and circles the opponents centre
Tai chi empties your centre and destabilises the opponents centre
This is quite a
simplistic summary but serves to illustrate a broad difference in approach.
A tai chi person must make their own centre intangible, whilst simultaneously
disrupting their opponent's centre. This is not as easy as it sounds.
Central equilibrium
Central equilibrium asks you to maintain your centre but this does not mean that
you should be tense or in any way resistant.
Tai chi is all about yielding, and sometimes the best way to maintain your
centre is to give it up.
This may sound paradoxical or contradictory...
6 balanced pairs
Emptying your centre is not the same as losing balance or falling over.
You must initially move past the notion that your centre is solid, like a tree
trunk.
Your vertical centre is not contingent upon the torso being solid and your body
immovable.
To maintain your vertical centre you just have to keep your shoulders above your
hips.
This is part of 6 balanced pairs and is a basic requirement in tai chi.
So, providing the hips and shoulders remain in harmony, you are free to flex
your spine and skeleton to whatever degree seems appropriate.
Yielding
Beginners loathe the idea of yielding. It has a connotation of failure and
submissiveness.
These perceptions are a serious hindrance to the student, because yielding is
what the art is all about.
Water yields without exception and is always powerful.
Tai chi takes its lessons from water.
Letting go
When somebody exerts force upon you, do not allow more than
4 ounces of pressure
to be applied. Soften your body and allow it to fold and move.
By drawing deeper into your centre, you will take your opponent further out of
theirs.
Being in the centre of the circle is powerful. Being on the circumference is
weak.
Consider the Long Yang form
If you look at the first few movements of the form - right up to brush knee and
twist step - how much stepping is there? Not much really.
That whole sequence involves almost no movement in terms of physical space.
Repeats
Most of the movements from section 1 are repeated throughout the Long Yang form.
Why?
Because the principles are significant and worth
practicing.
This is why students need to know the pattern of
section 1 pretty well.
Power
Section 1 of the form requires you to generate
power within each movement.
This entails movement between the feet, within the kwa, the spine, and the
various joints.
Your body must undulate and flow in order to produce each unique kinetic wave.
Where are you finding the power?
You create space by emptying the centre, by opening and closing, by
reeling
silk.
Empty vessel
In Taoist and Zen literature there is a common motif:
the empty vessel.
Only when a vessel has been emptied can it be used for something.
Being empty means that it has potential.
It has function and purpose.
Full is no good
When the vessel has been filled, the potential is gone. The vessel has served
its purpose.
It cannot be used again until you empty it.
Sung
If you practice tai chi with stiff legs,
fixed joints and an unyielding torso,
you may well feel strong but you are doing it wrong.
What you are feeling is your own tension. Nothing more. Tense muscles are weak
muscles.
If your body is toned and relaxed, you will feel the movement itself rather than
your body producing the movement.
This is part of sung.
Shock is a result of your own resistance to an external
force. When you allow this force to come into you and spin around with you, you
can have fun with it. This is an example of being vulnerable, of not being
afraid to be flexible, and open to receive.
(Chungliang Al Huang)
Page created
18 April 1995
Last updated
16 June 2023
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