Sunday, September 23, 2012

Relax to Give Yourself Space

Another inkling of mine, while I was talking to another fellow student. In pushing hands, we are told to relax. Why? I think it is because only when you relax, can you actually move. A rigid person is locked in whatever posture he is in. Only when he relaxes, can he change his posture. So we are actually relaxing to give ourselves space to move.

Example: When two persons are locked together in a test of strength, if one suddenly relaxes, he is able to then divert his opponent's force to the side, causing his opponent to fall forward. This is what relaxing can do. Just that in taiji, we try not to get into this "test of strength" in the first place. We try to start off with the relaxed state, so that we are always ready to divert whatever force we encounter.

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