Strong or tense? | ||
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A big impediment
The largest impediment faced by a student of tai chi is their
own perception of strength. Invariably, the student is convinced that their
physical experience of strength is strength.
Quite often they are wrong. What they are feeling is not strength at all. It
is tension.
Muscles
If your muscles are working optimally, they should move your body around
without there being any sense of work taking place. Everything will feel
comfortable, easy and smooth.
When you are chronically over-working your muscles, this is not the case at
all. You exert constantly.
You apply vast amounts of energy to the performance of simplistic tasks that
require almost no energy to accomplish.
You don't want to be fighting biceps against biceps, the best techniques are the ones that the opponent gives you.
(Geoff Thompson)
Tone
Tense muscles are in fact weak muscles.
They are not healthy, balanced and toned. They are
over-working and straining. Your nervous system is sending and receiving
faulty information from the muscles.
This is not good for your tai chi.
Fitness
People are often not quite as fit as they may imagine.
This fact might not seem important in tai chi because a lot of the work is
slow, but the truth is that you cannot reasonably hope to defend yourself if
you are out of shape.
Stamina and endurance cannot be ignored.
Condition
The form is more about psychological fitness than physical, the partner work
is another matter entirely. Most of the martial drills are vigorous,
cardiovascular workouts. You need to be in good condition.
Strong?
When people are tense is it often because they are unfit. Instead of feeling
comfortable, relaxed and easy, the body is awkward, jumpy and under
pressure. The only way out of this situation is to exercise.
Try committing to a daily tai chi workout. If you tire easily in class, you
may want to consider walking more and building up your strength.
The source
Most people's arms are extremely tense and they don't even realise it.
Why? Why are people's arms tense?
Your hand is the primary tool employed by the mind for the exploration of
reality. You touch, you hold, you press, you pull, you manipulate most
things using your hands.
Jacob Bronowski wrote "The hand is the cutting
edge of the mind." There's your answer. A tense arm is the
by-product of a mind that is not in any way relaxed and at ease.
Introductory form
When you are initially taught the form, the pattern is exaggerated for your
benefit. The movements are deliberately shown in a large, ungainly way, with
the arms quite far out from the body.
This is partly to help you 'see' the movements. It also serves to tie the
arms into the spine. This is the 'square' form.
How
we move conveys energy and
youth – not how buff we are.
(Anne Elliott)
Martial
When training for the higher belts you need to become softer and gentler.
Start with form.
Make it soft and relaxed, smooth and
slow.
Ensure that you can keep your balance when you
step and pay close attention to your shape. Are you upright or leaning, sitting into
the hips or bending from the lower spine?
Appropriateness
Appropriateness is about the when and the how.
Applying all your strength against a stable, rooted, prepared opponent is notsmart.
Force against force is not tai chi.
You must learn to be subtle. To be sensitive. To listen. To feel. To yield.
To trick your opponent's nervous system.
The application of 13 methods depends upon
your ability to apply your strength at the right moment. If you get it
right, 4 ounces of pressure will be all you require.
Misapplication
Tensing, forcing, pushing, controlling... these are external attitudes.
Tai chi is not about prolonged fighting. Your
aim is to avoid conflict, to yield to force and to be adaptive.
Beginners often do not like the sound of this. It sounds weak and
vulnerable. It is not macho enough. As soon as you ignore the tai chi
principles, you are training incorrectly.
Yielding
Softness in the body is important. You cannot have a stiff, solid torso and
hope to succeed against a more serious attacker. Tai chi teaches the yin
body.
You need to be loose, soft, folding. Going with the force, not against it.
Find space in your stance. If you become accustomed to finding space, you
will find that there is always room to move.
Maintain distance
Standing head-to-head with an attacker is not the tai chi way. You need to
maintain distance initially. Move in once you have neutralised the threat.
Skilful, light steps will enable you to glide softly and easily away from a
threat without becoming entangled. Silly, stylised steps will simply
backfire.
Do not seek to meet strength with strength. Be circumspect.
Whole-body strength
Performed correctly, whole-body strength should feel to come from the entire
body, not just an isolated limb. There should be no sense of which muscles
are producing the power.
At a later level, the strength should feel to be coming through the body.
If you let go of your
muscular strength your body will start relaxing.
(Bruce Frantzis)
Page created
3 March 2000
Last updated
16 June 2023
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