The Importance of Form Training

So why do we even do form training in the first place? Can't we just keep pushing hands and learn how to use taiji from there?

I think form training is still very important. It provides the basis, the foundation, for taiji. Taiji's force comes from the legs; form training is about how to manifest that force into something that we can use.

In form training, power comes from the legs. We use the power to turn the kua, which must be relaxed in order for it to turn, and through the turning of the kua, the torso turns too. The turning of the torso then brings about movement of the arms, allowing us to utilise the force generated by the legs.

Through such training, we learn to relax our kua, we learn to push with our legs, we learn how to link our arms to our legs, our hands to our feet. We learn how to move continuously without breaks. We are actually learning about some of the basic principles of taiji. And this will then help us during pushing hands. It allows us to practise taiji and get better at it without a partner. And I guess that is why form training remains an important part of taiji.

Using Circles To Return Force

I like to tell my fellow pushing hands students that pushing hands is about moving continuously, to keep turning and moving. It is about being dynamic; once static, it is resisting, you are being rigid.

This reminded me of two previous posts:
方中带圆，圆中有方
圆化方进

When you feel force contact you, turn it back towards your opponent. That was how I used circles to return force towards my opponent. For example, when my opponent pushes my forearm, I peng and turn my forearm outwards, maintaining contact with his force and turning it back towards him.

Relax to draw his force in and stick to it. Then turn it back towards him to use his force against him. I am going to experiment with this idea for a while.

Relax Kua to Relax Shoulders

My teacher used to tell me that the key to relaxing the shoulders is actually to relax the kua. I have always wondered why, but I stuck to his teaching and focused on trying to relax the kua. Today, I have an inkling of why.

For us to move our arms, we usually end up using muscular strength, which starts from the shoulders. But if we can relax our kua and use that to move our torso, and use the moving of our torso to move our arms instead, then we can move our arms without having to use muscular strength. Instead, the movement will originate from the legs, using the torso as the transmission medium, to end up at the arms.

And in order for us to be able to use the torso as a transmission medium, first, our kua must be relaxed, so that we can then use our legs to turn our torso. And therefore, once you can relax your kua, you can use your legs to move and that movement will be transmitted by the torso to the arms, allowing you to move your arms without muscular strength, which means your shoulders won't be tensed up.

Connecting Force

During a pushing hands session, I got an inkling of how to use my opponent's force against him. It is not just enough to relax, but there is also the need to connect with his force. I have read before about "bridging" and I finally think I felt something close.

But still, the first step is to be relaxed. No relaxed state, no connection. Once relaxed, I kind of felt his force connecting to me, from the point of contact at the hand and then travelling down all the way to the sole of the forward foot. And once I got that feeling, all I did was use my back leg to push my kua forward a bit, and my opponent moved. He was only resisting a bit, but I was still able to use that small bit of force to cause him to move.

I shall try to focus on this inkling for a while, to see what I can make out of it.

What is Authentic?

I was reading a book on the history of Chinese martial arts by Peter Allan Lorge. Inside, he discussed about authenticity, about how people try to say their martials arts is authentic by tracing it back down its lineage. It reminded me about what I had thought about lineage before in this post and this post.

This quest to trace back lineage can actually hinder one's progress. Why? Because while forms are passed down the generations, there will always be changes, as students alter what they learn based on their experiences, their skills, their knowledge and their own understanding. While you may be able to trace lineage back to some founder of the school two centuries back, it does not necessarily mean that the form being taught now is the exact same thing being taught two centuries ago. In the quest for authenticity, in the quest for lineage, we may be overlooking the important things.

The important thing is to find a teacher who can help you learn what you want to learn. It is like the "coffee in different cups" story. What you want is good coffee, don't get distracted by what cup it comes in.

The 4 tigers of Chen style can all trace their lineage back to the same founder, but look at their forms now. So which one is authentic?

It is not important in what form the forms survive, what is more important is the set of techniques that gets passed down the generations. These are the techniques that have stood the test of time.

Take Your Time 2

I have written about the need to take your time when learning taiji. It is important to reaffirm this time and again, because I keep seeing fellow students who keep wanting to progress faster. They keep asking others to point out all their mistakes, and when you only tell them one or two same ones, they keep demanding for more. They want to know everything so that they can work on everything at once, thinking they can thus shorten the learning time.

It takes time to learn a skill. But there are many things that we start out not being able to do well. While the fundamentals of taiji are simple (there's only 10 of them), being able to do them is not. It takes time and effort to be able to achieve them.

So if it takes a year of practice to be able to correct a mistake and achieve one fundamental, it will take 10 years to achieve them all.

You can takes things one step at a time, work on one fundamental/mistake at a time, and make one achievement every year until you finally reach your goal at the end of 10 years.

Or you can work on all 10 of them in parallel, make no achievement along the way but at the end of 10 years, finally get them all right at one go. The former gives you a sense of progress along the way. The latter can be difficult to manage (too many things to watch out for each time) and demoralising (no noticeable progress).

My advice (which was actually what my teacher used to tell me) is to work on one thing at a time. And that is what I try to tell my fellow students, but somehow, they want to learn everything at once. They want to know how to improve in all areas at one time. My only fear is that, they may know more, but they won't be able to work on them all at the same time, and end up being frustrated with the lack of progress and end up giving up on taiji.

One step at a time. That's how people got to the top of Mt Everest. That's how people got to the South Pole.

Kua and Relax

Another inkling on what it means to relax and how the kua fits in.

Some weeks back, a friend of my teacher told me that I looked a bit stiff when practising my routine. He advised me to relax a bit more. I then tried practising with a more relaxed upper body, but it seemed like I was just swinging my arms around. Instead of being relaxed, I was soft and just throwing away my arms.

So I thought, maybe it is because I am too focused on getting rid of force in my upper body. Maybe the key is not about how to move the upper body as softly as possible, but how to use the kua to move the upper body. So I started focusing on my kua instead, on how to link its movement to move the upper body and the arms and hands. It seems to work. At least for Yang style. Chen style seems okay too, though I think I am a bit rusty due to lack of practice. It is harder to try to link the movement of the kua with the upper body in Sun style, because the movements are smaller and the stance is higher, but I think I will be able to do it with time. Wish me luck!

Watching Others

I had a chance to see others (practising at another location under another teacher) practising today. While the details of the routines were slightly different, the principles of taiji are the same and thus, to me, it was still a meaningful learning experience, just by looking.

I saw common mistakes like straightening the joints (elbow mostly, but sometimes the knee too), the arms still continuing to move even after the legs have stopped moving (which means the hands and legs are not linked in their movements), leaning forward, and drooping hands. It was a good reminder for me to watch out for these common mistakes during my own practices.

Also, some of the details in the movements were different. While I do know that different teachers will have slight (sometimes big) differences in how they teach the movements, each movement has a meaning. For example, 山通背 is about throwing the opponent, so when the throw does not get manifested in the practice, it brings me to think, is there a mistake here? In our learning journey, I think we need to be able to challenge authority too. Our teachers are not always right. So when our teachers teach us something that doesn't look right, we need to have the courage to ask and clarify. Blindly following what your teacher teaches does not make you good, it just makes you make the same mistake. I think that's another big lesson that I learnt today watching others.

Style Versus Strucuture/Form

There are many styles of taiji, though there are 5 main styles, each unique in its own way. For example, Chen style taiji has a good mixture of fast and slow, and the signature silk reeling. Yang style taiji has big movements and uniform rhythm.

The structure/form of each style usually serves to highlight these characteristics. The movements in Yang style routines are big. The movements in Chen style routines have a lot of silk reeling.

By practising the forms, we are eventually able to realise the styles.

But sometimes, we try to use form/structure to cover up our deficiencies in style. We are not there yet in style (because we don't practise enough), but we add in a bit more silk reeling into our Chen style routine to make it look like we are good. We deliberately practise our Yang style routine slowly to make the movements seem big and the rhythm uniform. But these are just movements without substance. It is not true style. We look good not because we are skilled in the style that we practise, but because the form that we practise looks good. We end up being satisfied by appearances and not true skill. We can't bring out the flavour in our styles through our practice, and instead make it up by adopting movements that duplicate such flavour.

So a question to ask ourselves when we learn our forms: does practising the form help you in learning the style, or is it just that the form looks like the style?

太极以掤为首

Everything in taiji starts with peng.

Need I say more?

Rigid to Flaccid to Relax

When we first start out learning taiji, we still use a lot of brute force, there is a tendency to be tense and we end up resisting a lot. We tend to be rigid in this starting stage.

Then we are told that we need to stop resisting. To stop using brute force. As we slowly get rid of the habit of using brute force, we have a tendency to swing in the opposite direction. In order not to resist, we end up having the tendency to let go. When faced with force, we run away. We end up being flaccid.

And then we are told to stop running away, to stop letting go. In taiji, just as it is taboo to resist, it is also taboo to let go. There is a fine balance in between in which you do not use brute force, but you are not totally lacking in force. That is when we start to know what relax is all about.

Not too hard, not too soft, just enough to maintain structure.

Passing On Knowledge

I never try to act like I know a lot about taiji. When my fellow students ask me about taiji or pushing hands, I do my best to share with them what my teacher told me. I pass on the knowledge given to me. That is why I am very reluctant to share with them my own inklings.

And whenever I answer their questions, I will find opportunities to talk to my teacher about those questions and how I answered them. Just to make sure that the answers I gave were what my teacher would have said. After all, he is their teacher, it is his knowledge that should be passed on to them, I am just a conduit.

Win, Lose or Draw

Actually, in pushing hands, I don't think there is any win, lose or draw. Of course, in a pushing hands competition, there is always win-lose-draw, but in pushing hands itself, there is no such thing.

Being able to push someone doesn't mean you win. It just means he was unable to neutralise your force. Being pushed doesn't mean you lose, it just means that you are unable to neutralise your opponent's force. Not being able to push each other doesn't mean it is a draw, it just means that neither of you are able to use the other's force against him.

Ultimately, pushing hands is not about being able to push someone. It is about learning how to sense force, understand force and use force. Just because I can push someone doesn't mean I am good; I could be using brute force and he just was not able to neutralise my brute force. Similarly, just because my teacher is able to push me doesn't mean I am not good; it could just be that I have not reached my teacher's level of being able to sense, understand and use force.

The important thing is to remember what pushing hands is about, and continue to work towards that end goal, instead of being bogged down with the winning and losing.

Move Together With Relax

Something that came into my mind today during pushing hands practice. When we first start pushing hands, my teacher kept stressing about "relax". People tend to become limp when told to relax; that's actually wrong. Also, I tend to separate the "relax" from the "push" (or "move"). It was "relax, then push" or "relax, then move".

But actually, I think it should be done together. It should "push together with relax", "move together with relax". As you relax, you are moving/pushing. It is not one followed by the other, but rather, they should take place together. I think this realisation is a small step towards the right direction. And this realisation came because I was watching a fellow student trying to "relax, then push".

So there is value in watching others. Just to see if you are making the same mistakes.

Being Pushed

Part of pushing hands practice is to help your partner to learn too. So sometimes, you need to use a bit of brute force and resist, or become limp and let go, so that your partner has a chance to learn how to use these opportunities. This is especially so when your partner is still new and uses a lot of brute force himself. In order to draw circles with him, you may end up needing to use some brute force yourself; otherwise, the moment you sense his force, you end up using it against him and he doesn't get a chance to learn anything much. This is called 喂招 in Chinese.

My teacher is very good at this. He can draw circles with us, let us take the advantage but still neutralise whatever we can throw at him eventually. But because I am still not that good yet, if I give my partner some chance, I may not be able to avoid being pushed by him. But I guess that's still better than not giving him a chance at all; it becomes frustrating for him to be the one always being pushed.

One or Two Moves

Today, my teacher was helping me improve on my forms, spotting small little mistakes here and there which I usually overlook. After all, it is not easy to try and focus on getting every detail right all the time, and when I am watching out for A, I make mistakes with B, C and D. Like when I try to relax my kua, I end up leaning slightly forward and my backside sticking out.

So my teacher, knowing that I don't have a lot of time to practise with him, recommended that I take one or two moves which I like, and focus on getting that one or two moves correct. Keep practising them, until I get it right. The principles are the same; if I get that one or two moves correct, I should be able to apply that to the rest of the routine.

I guess that's what I am going to do for my daily morning short practice sessions at home from now on.

Moving The Kidneys

I wrote about moving the whole body the other day. Just read a book, it talks about moving the kidneys. Maybe this is something to focus on that will help.

Basically, the focus of one's attention should be on moving the centre of gravity, which is usually along the spine, in between the two kidneys. So that becomes the focus of attention when moving, when shifting your weight. So how to turn? The hint is in focusing on moving the kidneys with the spine as the pivot. Something to try out in future practices.

Taiji Weapon Forms

The other day, I was watching some other students practice weapon forms. Most are not newbies to taiji, having learnt some form or other, and do know the basic principles of taiji. But their weapon forms show many mistakes, very basic mistakes. Like standing on the same line (which means they easily lose balance), straightening the elbow, etc.

I think we need to remember that taiji weapon forms are an extension of taiji forms. The principles are the same. The things to watch out for are the same. So when practising weapon forms, do remember to apply the basic principles of taiji into the practice, else it just becomes a waste of time.

Which Is Better For Training?

Which is better for training pushing hands? To have partners that play rough? Or those who try to push properly using the techniques of taiji?

First, to get better at pushing hands, you must train with the right mentality. If the mentality is "I must not lose", "I must not let him push me", it matters not who you partners are. You will still not reap the benefits of training. So first, you must go in with the mentality, "I will let them push me." That said, which makes for better training?

Actually, there are things to learn from both. When your partners play rough and use brute force, you learn how to relax and use their force against them. When your partners push properly using the techniques of taiji, you have to relax even more than them to sense their force. So in both cases, you do learn more about pushing hands.

However, when your partners are rough and use brute force, all you need to be is more relaxed than them, and you will be able to use their force against them. In a way, you just need to make less mistakes than them and you will be able to use their force against them. But when your partners use the techniques of taiji, then you must not just learn to relax, but you must not have any mistakes in order to be able to sense their force. So while you can learn from both, you learn more from the latter.

The Whole Body Must Move

Something that my teacher told me today during a practice session. I was telling him that I still feel breaks in my movements, in how force is moving. Somehow, I am still not able to move continuously, to flow from movement to movement.

He went on to explain that I am still not moving my whole body. Yes, my legs are moving, and the movement is translated to my arms. But my body, as in my torso, is not moving enough. The "gears" that move are not just the main joints like the knees, hips, shoulders and elbows, but even the muscles and organs in the torso needs to move. I guess this is one area that I will be working on for my practices.

Power From the Feet

My teacher mentioned a small little point today that I thought I should share. When shifting your weight around, such as when you are pushing with your back leg, the power comes from the sole of the feet, and not from the hips. A lot of the time, the kua is not relaxed, the muscles around the hip area thus become tensed and power cannot be properly transferred from the feet up to the rest of the body. I think what he means is ultimately, relax the kua so that the power from the feet can reach the rest of the body, to where it is needed.

It's All In The Kua

The other day, I was pushing hands with my teacher, when I was able to feel that it was my kua that was allowing my teacher to keep pushing me. Every time I was unable to turn my kua properly, I was unable to neutralise his force, and instead there was a slight resistance on my part that allowed my teacher to use it against me.

In the end, it's all in the kua. Whether you can neutralise your opponent's force and use it against him, or not, it all depends on whether you are able to relax and turn your kua. I guess that is one area that I will be focusing on in 2013.

Difference Between Good and Great

The difference between good and great is, one trains until he is tired, the other trains even when he is tired.

It's All In The Practice

No matter what style you do, it is still about how much you practise. No matter how well you understand the principles of taiji, it is still about how much you practise. Understanding is useless if you don't practise it; you won't be able to internalise your understanding without practice. Knowing many styles is useless if you don't practise them; you won't be able to understand what the styles are about without practice.

At the end of the day, it's all in the practice.

Only with practice will you be able to relax your kua. Only with practice will you be able to move your body as a whole, to link the movement of your hands to your legs. Only with practice will you be able to understand the different ways to apply each move in each of the style that you practise. Only with practice can you use what you learn.

Balloon, Not Concrete Ball

One of the principles of taiji is not to let your structure flatten, something which my teacher likes to refer to as "don't let your balloon flatten". But that doesn't mean you go all out to make sure that you maintain the structure as it is. If you do, it becomes a rigid structure, something very against the "relax" part of taiji.

So how do you relax, and yet don't let the structure flatten? Well, my teacher says it best. The structure is like a balloon! A balloon can be depressed, but it then bounces back into shape. So while you relax and allow the balloon to flatten a bit, you must then work towards "bouncing back into shape", regaining the original form.

So when your opponent's force comes, your structure may flatten a bit, but then you turn his force away, and while doing that, move your body to expand back the balloon into its original shape.

The thing is to be bouncy like a balloon, and not rigid like a concrete ball. With enough strength, you can push away a rigid concrete ball, but a bouncy balloon will deflect your force back towards you.

Catching Up

The end of the world (according to some...) saw me catching up with a fellow student of my teacher who has not been able to join us for practice due to personal commitments. It was great to be able to catch up, and instead of the usual practice (form practice), we did pushing hands practice instead. Great to be able to push hands again with someone who has been learning taiji from Mr Kwek much longer than I have. It reaffirmed the importance of a good foundation and learning the right things. Even though he hasn't been practising taiji for a while, because of his good foundation, he was still just as good at pushing hands as he used to be.

All the remains is for him to rejoin our practices!

Stand Closer

The other day, I noticed two of my fellow students pushing hands, but standing a bit further from each other than usual. My teacher advocates that we should stand such that our forward foot is side by side with our opponent's forward foot, at least that close to each other, if not closer. Instead, those two students were standing in such a way that their toes were in line instead.

End results? They can't really push at each other without leaning forward. Yes, standing further apart makes it harder for your opponent to push you, and gives you more space and time to react. But at the same time, your opponent will gain that same advantage (and disadvantage). In the end? You can't properly push each other, and thus you end up not learning how to properly neutralise your opponent's force too. You may not be pushed, but you end up not learning too.

So don't be afraid of being pushed. Stand closer, so that both you and your opponent can learn the right things and benefit from the practice.

Catching It... Again!

Just when I thought I was losing it, I think I have caught it again. All thanks to my teacher. No, he didn't actually answer my questions, but he was explaining something to someone else. And as I ponder over what he was explaining, and linked it with what I was thinking about, I started to see the link.

My problem is with single hand pushing hands. While I can neutralise my opponent's force so that he cannot push me, I have difficulty using his force against him. Just yesterday, my teacher was talking to another student about peng, then turn the forearm and push back. Very simple, very basic, in fact, something that I already know. Then I watched how he did it. He was drawing very small circles near the student, each moving progressively closer to the student. Yup, something that I have seen before. So I didn't think much about it.

Then today, while pushing hands with a fellow student, it came to me that progressively moving closer to the opponent is the key. The moment you sense your opponent's force, you need to peng to draw in his force and stick to it. Then, as you turn your forearm, it must move towards your opponent so that you are actually turning his force back towards him. This in effect is pushing him, but using his own force. And guess what? It actually works!

Catching It

Just when I thought I had made some progress, I again was made to feel that I hadn't.

The other day, while doing two hand pushing hands, I was able to relax, and my opponent bounced off when he tried to use a bit of strength. I was able to repeat this a few times. It seems I am getting somewhere with using my opponent's force against him.

But today, while doing single hand pushing hands, I was not able to do so... instead, while I was able to neutralise my opponent's force so that he couldn't push me, I was not able to use it to bounce him off. I was not able to use his force against him.

Back to the pondering and practice board...

Train As You Fight, Fight As You Train

Something which came to me while practising pushing hands. A simple principle, to train as you fight, but I came to realise how important it really is.

When practising your forms, it is not just about making sure you have the principles of taiji correct (such as keeping your body upright, relaxing the kua, sinking shoulders/elbows, linking upper and lower body, etc.) but also, you must keep in mind how you are going to apply each move. This constant thinking about how to apply each move is the intention (意) part of taiji. So you are constantly making sure your body moves in the manner you want, while thinking about how to use each move.

Then, when applying taiji, not only must you be thinking about how to use each move, you must still continue to make sure that your body is moving in the manner that you want (or rather, have been trained to do). Thus, while thinking about how to push someone, you still need to continue to check to make sure that you are moving in accordance to the principles of taiji.

Otherwise, your practice will be form with no meaning (just an empty shell), and when applying taiji, you may end up being overly obsessed with the end effect and not really apply taiji (end up using brute force because you are too focused on the pushing part, and not pushing in the taiji way).