Friday, September 30, 2011

Linking Hands and Feet and 上下相随

Previously, I have talked about linking hands and feet. I have been making it the focus of my practice and I think I am starting to get a better understanding of this concept. In taiji, it is important for the body to move as a whole, for the top and bottom to follow each other (上下相随). Once I started to focus on linking my hands to my feet, this concept of 上下相随 came in quite naturally as well. I start to feel how the movements of my legs will actually bring about the movements of my hands. It is still quite in the infant stage, I would say, but at least it is a start of something new. I guess it is always easy to talk about the concepts of taiji, but how to actually put it into practice, and more importantly, the key to being able to put it into practice (like this concept of linking hands and feet is the key to putting 上下相随 into practice) is very important. If anyone has similar practice suggestions to share, do feel free to do so!