The value of weight shifts in Taiji Chuan
27/10/17 09:23
This is a discussion between myself and a Master of Guang Ping Yang Taiji Chuan on the small frame approach to the practice.
Although this material is covered in the book, the subject matter is, I think, important enough to put in this blog for all
Taiji Chuan practitioners no matter their style or approach to training.
Every movement in small frame Taiji Chuan concentrates
the expression of energy through fa-shing. There is a difference between
the long push and a strike. Single whip can be a push driven
by the back leg's momentum and energy can be released but its moment of arising
is in the change of pressures between one leg and the other. As for ‘punch’,
the leg that stabilises and drives the strike is the opposite leg from the hand carrying the strike. It is
helped by the closing, guarding or pulling the opposite hand that can close the energy loop or take the opponent’s energy and
redirects it through your forearm or hand strike or push. This is an expression of the wheel. The shifts
change your center through pressure that directs the strike.
Our bodies are neurologically constructed so that the right brain controls the left hand and the right leg
and vice-versa. Energy is an expression of the nerves.
You see this as a balancing in walking but it’s far more complicated than this; energy is
driven through subtle weight shifts. Whether you think of body weight at 51-49% weight front
or back leg or 55-55% front or back leg is not the point. [This applies to all weight and leg separation standards among the various styles.]
Once you train the thrusting vessel, you may do as you like as the mind is aware and action is driven by intent.
The point is how to train others to find the subtle pressures that help us understand and refine our art.
When we think of 55% to 45% weight ratio between legs in training everyone can feel this change.
We are not simply talking about the idea of weight change but instead define the area
where the spine vibrates as the body engages in fa-shing through
subtle weight changes from front to back leg as shifting helps drive energy through
the spine. Before one releases energy from the spine, they first have
to let go of tension in the back and then shift and strike which is a tightening. This action is very subtle.
What is beautiful about movements #54 downward punch and #63 Bend bow, Shoot tiger is that
these movements, when done properly, train the body to vibrate the spine
and conjoin the expression of energy in the spine. Movement #
63 Ben Bow, Shoot Tiger, is the best example of this coming together …
as one shifts, the forearms pull inward together in spirals. If practitioners do not study rotational shifting in this process
they will not develop the expression of energy the practice offers. If one does not train to lift the
thrusting vessel at the right moment, we will not bring the ‘conception vessel and governor vessel
together to express energy. Lifting the thrusting vessel is ‘plumbing the spine’
in classical terms.
The longer people train the thrusting vessel in any energy art, the easier it is for the process
to occur as it becomes engrained and can be so small a movement that it is impossible to see.
Although this material is covered in the book, the subject matter is, I think, important enough to put in this blog for all
Taiji Chuan practitioners no matter their style or approach to training.
Every movement in small frame Taiji Chuan concentrates
the expression of energy through fa-shing. There is a difference between
the long push and a strike. Single whip can be a push driven
by the back leg's momentum and energy can be released but its moment of arising
is in the change of pressures between one leg and the other. As for ‘punch’,
the leg that stabilises and drives the strike is the opposite leg from the hand carrying the strike. It is
helped by the closing, guarding or pulling the opposite hand that can close the energy loop or take the opponent’s energy and
redirects it through your forearm or hand strike or push. This is an expression of the wheel. The shifts
change your center through pressure that directs the strike.
Our bodies are neurologically constructed so that the right brain controls the left hand and the right leg
and vice-versa. Energy is an expression of the nerves.
You see this as a balancing in walking but it’s far more complicated than this; energy is
driven through subtle weight shifts. Whether you think of body weight at 51-49% weight front
or back leg or 55-55% front or back leg is not the point. [This applies to all weight and leg separation standards among the various styles.]
Once you train the thrusting vessel, you may do as you like as the mind is aware and action is driven by intent.
The point is how to train others to find the subtle pressures that help us understand and refine our art.
When we think of 55% to 45% weight ratio between legs in training everyone can feel this change.
We are not simply talking about the idea of weight change but instead define the area
where the spine vibrates as the body engages in fa-shing through
subtle weight changes from front to back leg as shifting helps drive energy through
the spine. Before one releases energy from the spine, they first have
to let go of tension in the back and then shift and strike which is a tightening. This action is very subtle.
What is beautiful about movements #54 downward punch and #63 Bend bow, Shoot tiger is that
these movements, when done properly, train the body to vibrate the spine
and conjoin the expression of energy in the spine. Movement #
63 Ben Bow, Shoot Tiger, is the best example of this coming together …
as one shifts, the forearms pull inward together in spirals. If practitioners do not study rotational shifting in this process
they will not develop the expression of energy the practice offers. If one does not train to lift the
thrusting vessel at the right moment, we will not bring the ‘conception vessel and governor vessel
together to express energy. Lifting the thrusting vessel is ‘plumbing the spine’
in classical terms.
The longer people train the thrusting vessel in any energy art, the easier it is for the process
to occur as it becomes engrained and can be so small a movement that it is impossible to see.