A Strong Stance

My teacher talked about the importance of having a strong stance today. In pushing hands, your legs must be strong so that you can achieve a strong stance, yet at the same time, your upper body must be relaxed. That way, you can sense your opponent's force, yet avoid being pushed around.

Of course, the important thing here is that your kua must be relaxed. Else you will end up being led around because your legs, though strong, are stiff.

Strong legs, relaxed kua, relaxed upper body.

Neverending

Yet another inkling... it is still about the always important question about how to peng. We have been told that power is generated from the legs, is controlled by the waist, and takes form in the arms. When we try to ward off our opponent's force, I guess this is the same. We need to use the force generated by our legs to ward off the opponent's force. I guess that this means that when his force comes, we need to move our legs (either forward or backwards), turn our kua accordingly to bring the force to our arms, and ward off his force. In order to do that, we cannot stop moving, for if we do, we will end up resisting.

So what does continuously moving mean? As we move our legs, our kua must move, and our arms must move. In a way, our forearm continues to turn outwards together with us moving our legs/kua. And it is not just our forearm, but our shoulder, our elbow, our forearm, our wrist, our hand. As we move our leg (for example, pushing from back to front), our whole arm spirals out. That may be the way in which neverending movement allows us to let the force generated by our legs to take form in our arms. Guess I will try this out and pay a bit more attention to this over the next few practices.

To Continue Or To Change

My teacher told me not to be afraid of using a bit of strength and resisting a bit when trying to peng. But when I follow what he said, my arms started to get tired again whenever I push hands with an opponent that uses more brute force. Yes, I am able to ward away his force, but I feel that I am missing something, that I have not fully grasped what my teacher meant when he said that it is okay to resist a bit when learning to peng.

When I push hands with my teacher, my arms get tired (he is able to draw me into using brute force). When I push hands with someone who uses brute force, my arms get tired. Only when I push with someone who is trying to relax, my arms don't get tired. Something must be wrong. My arms shouldn't get tired no matter who I push hands with. After all, taiji is about using the least amount of strength to defeat an opponent.

I have been following this advice for some time now, yet I don't seem to be making progress. Why? Is it due to a lack of practice? A lack of a good partner to explore with? A lack of reflection on mistakes? Am I not thinking hard enough? Or am I thinking along the wrong road? Do I continue to follow the advice in hope of a breakthrough in understanding? Or do I adopt a different approach, since this advice is not getting me anywhere?

Lost... wandering around in search of the truth...

Conserving Energy

No, this is not a post about saving the environment. It is about using the least amount of energy when applying taiji.

Taiji is about using the least amount of force to counter a larger force. It is not about not using force at all. If you don't use any force, you cannot move except to fall by gravity, though using zero force (aka falling by gravity) is also part of taiji since the least force you can use is zero.

How is that done? It means moving each muscle just the right amount to achieve the effect/movement that you desire, and not using those muscles that don't need to be used. Naturally, because we are not used to it and also because our joints are not very flexible, whenever we move a part of our body, some other part of the body will move along with it. The aim of practising taiji is thus to learn how to control our muscles and move them only when needed, and independent of each other, such that when one of them moves, it doesn't cause unnecessary muscles to move as well.

For example, when you turn your wrist, there is a natural tendency for you to move your shoulder as well, resulting in not just your wrist turning but your elbow moving inwards (if you are turning your wrist outwards). But with practice (actually, just conscious effort, which is 意), you will be able to turn your wrist without causing your elbow/shoulder to move. You are thus able to turn your wrist without wasting unnecessary energy (and thus you conserve your energy for other movements).

The more energy you conserve, the more energy you have for other things, which means you are able to wear down an opponent if you want (using little energy over a long period), or throw a stronger punch at him (using more energy within a short period).

It also means that we don't beat around the bush. We get straight to the point. We observe. Then we choose a course of action and move in. Even when we move to test an opponent's reaction, it is not a random move but a calculated one, in which we already know in our mind what reactions we are looking for, and once the opponent has reacted, we straight away move in. In this way, no energy is wasted doing anything that is not related to defeating the opponent.

I guess that's conserving energy at the tactical and strategic levels.

Expressing Each Movement

Yet something that I thought of when seeing my teacher do his taiji routine. Again, it is about adding meaning to the movements.

Each move has a meaning to it. Each circle has a meaning. Each circle is either used to ward off an attack, or divert force back at the opponent. Thus, even when it is a simple turning of the wrist, you must imagine yourself warding away your opponent's force. Even when you are opening your arms out to draw a circle, you must imagine being able to draw your opponent's force away. Every move in taiji must be given meaning (because every move has a meaning), else it will be an empty move and your routine will end up looking empty (lacking substance and meaning, what we call 空架).

Once you are able to instill meaning into each move, then you need to go into not being explicit about the meaning. Express the meaning behind each move without being too explicit as to what you are trying to achieve. Each move thus becomes a possibility rather than a fact, because you have opened up options without committing to any.

方中带圆，圆中有方

Another phrase that came into mind recently. "方中带圆，圆中有方", translated, it means "circles within straight lines, straight lines inside circles".

For example, even when pushing in a straight line, your hand spirals out, thus it is circles within a straight line. And when you use a circle to neutralise your opponent's force, looked at from the side, it is actually a straight line.

But looking it at an even higher level, there are circles within circles. For example, when neutralising your opponent's force with a circle (which is a straight line when viewed from the side), if you add in spirals within the circle, your circle will have a straight line that contains even more circles (spiral).

And thus taiji is all about circles.

Now to get down to really understanding and applying this...

圆化方进

I don't know why, but this phrase 圆化方进 kept showing up in my mind as I was driving home from pushing hands class today.

When pushing hands with my teacher, I felt that he was drawing out my strength until my arm grew tired. How? Maybe it is because he could sense my force and kept changing his force, so that no matter how I tried to move, he was always one step ahead and his force ended up at an angle to mine, causing my arm to flatten. In an attempt not to let my arm flatten, I tried to shift my force, and when I shifted, he sensed it and changed his angle of approach to continue to flatten my arm. In the end, in order not to let my arm become flattened, I kept changing my force trying to meet his, simply following and ended up continuously exerting force, and making my arm tired instead.

Maybe the trick is to draw circles, such that my force is always changing, rather than to try to react to his force and end up trailing behind.

Tired is Good

Realised something today, after practising taiji for a total of more than six hours. Tired is good. It makes you relax more, not because you want to but because you no longer have energy. So in order to practise, you have to find a way to be efficient with whatever energy you have left. Thus you try to find ways and means to move without excessive use of strength. For example, if my kua cannot sink down, usually I will use a bit more strength to force it down. But when I am tired, I can't afford to waste that energy. Instead, I try to find a way to sink my kua without having to use strength to force it. I try to relax it. In the end, I try to find a way to move using as little energy as possible (which means I waste as little energy as possible, leaving me with more energy to use when I need it.)

But that doesn't mean we should try to make ourselves tired before we start our taiji practice. Instead, we should keep practising taiji until we are tired. So I guess when my teacher said that he got a better understanding of taiji after he did four (or was it six?) sets of Yang-style 108 routine in a row, he probably meant this.

Hold Your Ground

There is a taiji saying, 虚则守，实则攻。What is means is that you hold your ground when your opponent doesn't use force, and when you sense him using force, that is when you attack. Why?

I have been pondering this for a while, and what I think is that when he doesn't use force, he is ready to react, and thus if you try to attack, you are actually walking into a trap. His force is empty, yet to take shape, and thus can be formed into any shape. Once you move, he can sense your attack and counter it by shaping his force accordingly.

However, once he has made a move, he has committed himself (his force now takes a certain shape), and thus if you can discern the magnitude and direction of his force, you will be able to neutralise it and utilise it against him.

Thus, before your opponent makes a move, you should hold your ground to see what he intends to do. Otherwise, you may end up walking into a trap. Once he has made a move, you must be ready to discern it and react to it.

Moving Together Part 2

One of the basic principles of taiji is for top and bottom to move together (上下相随). Being disjointed is a common mistake, and its disadvantage can be seen during pushing hands. And most of the time, I would say the mistake is because of an unresponsive kua.

For example, when our opponent pushes us, because our arm is more responsive compared to our kua, our arm moves back first before our kua moves. The result? Our arm appears limp and allows our opponent to move in. When our opponent moves back and presents an opening, our arm senses it first and move in, without waiting for our kua to catch up. The result? We are not pushing with our leg (whole body) but pushing with our arm muscles (aka brute force).

So the key is still to train up the kua to become responsive, and that means learning how to relax the kua and how to turn it. Which brings us back to the basic foundation skills.

Lack of Practice... Going Backwards

I haven't been able to practise much lately, due to work and tiredness from jet lag. And of course, without practice, I can't improve. In fact, I have gone backwards. A standard pushing hands session was strenuous for me... I ended up with muscles aches on my legs, something that I haven't felt for some time (at least, not this bad...) Just a week without practice, and my legs are no longer as strong.

I guess this goes to show the importance of foundation skills in taiji (and probably all martial arts). As the saying goes, 练拳不练功，到老一场空。(Essentially, if you practise martial arts without practising foundation skills, you will still not get anything after years of practice when you grow old.) I guess it is back to basics again.

Push On or Let Go

One of the things that I wonder about all the time. Once you have managed to get in close to your opponent and think he can no longer ward off your attack, do you push on, or do you let go?

How do you know that you have really got him, if you don't push on? But what if you really got him? Do you need to push on and make him fall just to make a point? Or is it better to just let go, knowing that you have already gotten him?

Turning My Kua 2

I have written about this before, but after looking at what my teacher was trying to show me, I think I have a better understanding of how to turn my kua.

The kua (both of them) are supposed to be turning inward circles (or outward circles). Just that they are starting at different points on the circle. For example, if the left side starts at the top and turns anticlockwise in, the right side should be starting at the bottom turning clockwise away.

The key to getting this done properly is to relax the kua, such that it is turning as smoothly as possible. At first, because you are not used to it, the circles will be very small (if they can be called circles at all) but after a while, once you have gotten used to relaxing your kua and turning it, the circles will get bigger (or so my teacher told me). This will be the new focus when I do my basic silk reeling exercises.

Moving the Joints

My teacher was talking about peng being turning the wrist and not the whole forearm yesterday, which led to the inkling. I thought a bit about it again today, and remember something that my teacher said before about moving the joints independent of each other. That is, when I want to move my wrist, I don't move my elbow. When I want to move my elbow, I don't move my wrist or my shoulder. Each joint should not move because another joint is moving. That is what relaxing the joints mean. They move independent of each other.

This is important because otherwise, when your opponent is able to move one of your joints, he is able to control the rest of your body. He becomes able to use an action at one part of your body to affect you as a whole, to cause you to move as he wants. If you are able to relax all your joints, when he acts upon a single joint, the action is restricted to that joint and you are still able to control the rest of your body. This is easier said than done, so I guess that is what practice is all about.

An Inkling

Just an inkling... my teacher keeps talking about getting the opponent's force onto the screwthread. Just what is this screwthread? Could it just be the successive turning of the wrist, forearm and then upper arm? Leading to the turning of the torso, kua, knee and ankle? Just a thought that I wanted to keep alive, as I ponder over it in the days to come.

Up Against The Wall

I think everyone has this feeling once in a while. Sometimes, we just run up against a wall. We may start to ask why are we doing this. Or where are things headed.

I try to practise taiji daily, yet I don't seem to be improving. I tell myself to relax when pushing hands, yet when I push hands with my teacher, my arms still get tired easily (which means I am using brute force still). Is all that practice really helping?

A totally unrelated blog (somewhere, forgot where...) helped me to think things through. Sometimes, when we go up against a wall, we should stop and not try to push on. It is time to review what has been done so far, to work on other things, before coming back to the wall and try to get past it.

In taiji terms, if I come up against a wall, it doesn't mean I stop practising. But maybe it is time to change the focus of practice (work on single moves, work on basics, etc.) before coming back to work on the full routine? Maybe it is time to focus on relaxing the kua rather than trying to discern the opponent's force?

Sometimes, the answer is not in answering the question. Because there may not be an answer. Just the question and the process of answering it.

Learning Self-Defence

A fellow pushing hands student was telling me that he intends to take up aikido to learn some grappling/chin-na techniques, so that he can deal with drunks (he comes across them once in a while in the course of his work). Although he has learnt some martial arts before, he tells me that everytime he encounters a drunk, he feels fear and doesn't dare to do anything. I don't understand his intention for learning aikido, but I think he is trying to get some experience and confidence in using grappling/locks/throws/etc against a partner before trying it out for real.

What I fear is that he will still find himself at square one. Fear.

At the end of the day, using martial arts in self-defence is very different from sparring with a partner in a controlled environment. I have written about learning self-defence (or rather, not being able to learn) through pushing hands. In self-defence, there are no rules. You may have all the confidence gained sparring with a partner, but once the rules change (or disappear, for that matter), how confident can you be that you will come out the winner?

What we learn in class improves our techniques. But to counter fear, to gain that confidence needed to face a real opponent in self-defence, you need more than technique. You need the right mentality.

Before you commit to the fight, ask yourself, are you willing to lose (and either end up hurt or worse)? If not, it is better to avoid the fight (which may mean "Run!") But sometimes, we cannot avoid a fight. That is when our daily life will determine if we can counter our fear. If we live each day to the fullest with no regrets, we can then enter the fight knowing that if we die, we die with no regrets.

Thus, we practise the techniques of self-defence in the classroom/dojo, but we practise the mentality of self-defence through our daily lives.

Performance at 慈济

We put up a performance today at Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation in Singapore. It started with a group performance of an excerpt of Yang style taijiquan.
Followed by a performance of Chen style taiji sword.
I think the takeaway from the performance is not the performance itself (though it did give all of us experience in performing in front of an audience), but the additional practice that we went through, which helped us to correct some of our mistakes. Another important takeaway is the ability to practise as a group, so that we follow each other rather than keep to our own individual rhythms.

How to Neutralise Force

A hint provided by my teacher on how to neutralise your opponent's force. You must not resist his force (that has been said so many times before that it is obvious) and you know that you have neutralised his force when you no longer feel it.

Of course, the next thing to do after neutralising his force, is what to do with it. How do you then deflect it away from you, and then back towards your opponent, or use it against him?

Taiji and Music

This came up during one of the recent taiji classes.

My teacher likes to play music during taiji classes. Recently, he had to leave class early, bringing along with him his set of music. We students were thus left "musicless".

Someone commented that it feels weird practising taiji without music.

I think music helps to create a soothing environment for practising taiji. Yet we must not rely on the music to create the environment. After all, taiji is about cultivating the inner self. The environment we create for taiji is within ourselves. Music may help, but ultimately, it is we ourselves we have to find our own means to create that inner environment. With or without music.

How to Improve part 2

This is to add on to the previous post on how to improve.

Besides just practising each move by itself, I need to practise each move many times by itself. Each time, I need to pay attention to certain details to make sure that I am getting it right. I should not pay attention to ALL the details and try to get EVERYTHING right in one go. That is impossible and likely to hinder more than help. Instead, taking it one step at a time, I need to work on a single problem each time until I am able to correct it, and then move on to the next problem.

For example, taking a single move (Single Whip), and practising it 100 times, with the first 10 times focusing on whether my body is straight, the next 10 times on whether my kua is sunk and relaxed, and the next 10 times on whether arm is relaxed, and so on. At the end of 100 times, I would have gone through all the common mistakes. Repeat this for other moves, and repeat over time to revise and review (in case the old bad habits come back to plague me). It is not easy, it is time consuming, but only with hard work, patience and lots of practice can improvements be made.

Force On Force

Someone asked me during pushing hands class about using shoulder to hit someone. For example, when doing single-hand pushing hands, if the opportunity arises, can we use shoulder bash to counter? He proceeded to demonstrate what he meant by shoulder bash, which is basically zhuang 撞. I told him that taiji is about using soft to counter hard, so using zhuang is a bit contrary to that principle. A better way is to use kao 靠.

It got me thinking, though. So why shouldn't we use zhuang but instead use kao? I think it is because if we choose to use zhuang and the opponent returns in kind, one of us will become injured. Why? Assuming my zhuang has a force of 50kg. If my opponent returns in kind with a zhuang of 100kg, the impact will be 150kg. Ouch! And the resultant movement will be against me (because his force is stronger), which means 50kg on force pushing me back. Thus, when we meet force on force, the stronger force wins. The weaker force ends up getting very seriously injured.

I guess this is an oversimplified way of explaining things, but it does serve to illustrate why we shouldn't try to use force, because we never know how strong our opponent can be. If he turns out to be stronger, we end up injuring ourselves instead. So the next time you think about using the hard application of taiji, think again. It may not be worth it.

Chen Style Hu Lei Jia (忽雷架)

This is Hu Lei Jia (忽雷架), which readers of the comic ＜拳児＞ ("Kenji") will know. It is slightly different from what you would expect from Chen style taiji.

Taiji For Health, Fame or Money?

There is a recent taiji boom in Singapore. Not just any taiji boom, but rather, a boom regarding a set of taiji routines developed by a group of doctors, supposedly good for people with arthritis, osteoporosis and even diabetes. I guess doctors, being professionals, know what they are talking about and I don't doubt the results of their research. After all, we all know that taiji, besides being an effective martial art, is also very good for health. I mean, nowadays, taiji is known more for its health benefits rather than its original use as a martial art.

So if you have arthritis or osteoporosis, it may be a good idea to start doing some taiji. Now that research by a group of doctors has proven that taiji is good for those ailments.

What I do not agree with is the method it is being introduced in Singapore.

The People's Association is introducing these sets of taiji routines into all community centres. I applaud their noble goal of making taiji available to the masses, in trying to help the masses overcome their ailments. However, what we have now is a new group of taiji instructors teaching these sets. Till now, in order to teach at community centres, PA required taiji instructors to be qualified by the Singapore National Wushu Federation. To be qualified, would-be instructors have to attend a week-long course, coupled with oral, written and practical examinations by a board of examiners (renown taiji masters). This ensured that all taiji instructors meet certain standards. Yet with this new group of instructors, there is no need to be qualifed by the SNWF. All these new instructors need to do is attend a 2-day training session with the group of doctors and at the end of the session, they are given a certificate authorising them to teach the set of routine for 2 years.

First question is, will this dilute the quality of taiji instructors in Singapore, now that SNWF is no longer the single body handing out qualifications?

Second question is, how well does the new instructor know taiji, to be able to teach taiji to students? After all, he/she only attended a 2-day training session. If taiji can be learnt in 2 days (even if it is only less than 10 movements), no one would spend a lifetime trying to master it. And if taiji cannot be learnt in 2 days, then what makes the new instructors qualified to teach? Won't it be a case of the blind leading the blind? If taiji is not taught properly, won't it hurt the students instead of help them? If that is the case, ethically, shouldn't we stop these new instructors from teaching taiji until they are ready?

Third question is, who authorised the doctors to authorise these new instructors? Doctors, being doctors, are professionals in the medical field. They are obviously subject matter experts on things medical. I have no problems with them authorising people to teach physiotherapy. But doctors are not professionals nor subject matter experts in taiji. It is one thing to share their research with people (so that people are aware of the benefits of taiji proven by research). It is another thing altogether to charge a fee to teach someone something that they have no right to teach. After all, are these doctors qualified instructors certified by the SNWF? How do we know if what they are teaching is even correct?

If the doctors conducted seminars (even charging fees for them) to share their research, I would have no issues. After all, they are sharing the results of their research so that people know the benefits of taiji in helping relief those ailments. People can then find the right teachers to learn taiji to aid their ailments. As doctors dedicated to helping people, this would have been a good approach.

But now, they are charging people to learn from them, and allowing these people to teach others. First, as far as I know, they are not the authority on taiji, so they have no right to charge others. (Maybe the descendants of Sun Lutang should charge these doctors a fee, since the movements are from Sun-style taiji.) Second, as far as I know, they have no authority to authorise others to teach, so they shouldn't charge fees for those as well. Third, how ethical is it to allow just anyone who has attended a 2-day training session to teach taiji? This could cause more harm than good. As doctors having to uphold their set of professional ethics, they may want to seriously relook at how they want to help those with these ailments. It is one thing to have a large following, it is another to have them all doing the movements correctly so that they can benefit from it.

A proposed approach would be for the doctors to share their research results through a series of seminars, target audience being taiji instructors, plus those interested. Participants can then be given a certificate of attendance. Those who want to teach this set of routine can do so, but only if they are already qualified instructors certified by the SNWF. Those who are yet to be certified by the SNWF can of course get themselves certified when they are ready. This way, we ensure that the instructors have a certain standard in taiji and proper understanding of taiji to know what they are teaching, and thus be able to teach it properly to students. The doctors probably won't earn as much directly from this, and are likely to be less well-known, but helping patients is their aim, not fame or money, right?

无招胜有招

A fellow student at pushing hands class asked me if pushing hands is the only way to learn how to apply taijiquan. I told him what I have written about before, that besides pushing hands, there is also the use of sparring routines and learning tecnique application. However, these methods train us to react to certain movements, ie. when the opponent moves in this way, I will counter using this move. This is "有招".

Pushing hands trains in the principles of taiji, the fundamentals of taiji as a fighting skill, which is to know force, redirect it, and use it back against your opponent. There are no fixed moves in pushing hands. Yet without fixed moves, by feeling your opponent's force and sticking to the principles of taiji, you are able to counter your opponent's moves. This is "无招".

So which is better? I think pushing hands will bring us to the higher level, because we will not be restricted by fixed movements. If we learn the applications of fixed movements, when our opponent moves in an unexpected way (which we have not trained to counter before), we will not be able to handle it. But if we train in pushing hands, even if the opponent moves in unexpected manners, we will be able to discern the direction of his force, redirect it and use it back against him. Thus, "无招胜有招".

A Gentle Lock 2

Previously, I have written about my teacher gently locking my arm. Yesterday, during taiji class, he was explaining taijiquan to a few beginners, and was demonstrating arm locks (one hand at the wrist, the other at the elbow). A student commented that the lock felt very strong, which my teacher explained that it was because she was struggling. So she was actually feeling her own force. To show that he wasn't using any force, my teacher proceeded to demonstrate the same lock (one hand at wrist, one hand at elbow), but this time, instead of using his hands, he placed one index finger at the wrist, and the other index finger at the elbow. He was using his index fingers to lock the student's arm!

It will indeed be a long way before I can even get near his level of proficiency.

Yang (Dong/Tung) Style Fast Form 杨（董）氏快拳

Terry asked about the Yang style fast form that I practise. Yes, it is also known as Dong/Tung style fast form, since it was created by Dong Yingjie based on Yang style taijiquan.


This is Master Lin Bo Yan (my teacher's teacher) practising the fast form. You can find more about him here (where I took the video).

Chinese Martial Arts CCTV Series 《中华武功》 and 《武林传奇》

《中华武功》is a CCTV series on Chinese martial arts that was showing in Singapore a few months ago. For those of you who missed the show, it is now available on DVD. I saw a shop at Bras Basah Complex selling it. Of course, if you don't mind the resolution, it can be viewed on the Internet as well.

CCTV 中华武功 page
CCTV 中华武功 videos online

Another series is 《武林传奇》, which you can find here under the broader series《走遍中国》, introducing the history and development of different Chinese martial arts.

CCTV 走遍中国 page
CCTV 走遍中国 videos online

Imagine The Opponent

A fellow student said something which I felt was very good to share with everyone. When you are practising taiji, you need to imagine there is an opponent there. When you are pushing hands, you need to imagine that there is no opponent there.

I think the basic mentality is correct. However, as with all things in taiji, the "between the yes and no" is very important. So while practising taiji, you should imagine that there is an opponent there, you must not be overly focused on the imaginary opponent. This should allow you to instill spirit/meaning into your movements, without them becoming overly stiff. And when pushing hands, while you should imagine that your opponent is not there, you should not be overly focused on ignoring the presence of your opponent. This should allow you to relax while pushing hands, without becoming limp.

Yang Style 13 Movements 杨氏十三式

For those interested in Yang style taijiquan 13 movements (杨氏十三式).

1. 起势
2. 云手
3. 单鞭
4. 肘底捶
5. 白鹤亮翅
6. 搂膝拗步
7. 手挥琵琶
8. 高探马带穿掌
9. 撇身捶
10. 搬拦捶
11. 拦雀尾
12. 十字手
13. 收势