Donovan Waite - Aikido Ukemi - vol 1
The ability to go safely to the ground is one of the most important skills of self-defense. It is essential for students of Aikido, who spend half their practice time being thrown forcefully to the mat. On this video, Donovan Waite Sensei demonstrates his own system of falling -- a system based on seven techniques ranging from standard Aikido rolls to knee-saving side falls and spectacular back drops. In all these falls, Waite Sensei meets the mat softly, not with percussion. After illustrating and discussing the details of the seven falls, Waite Sensei offers progressively structured exercises that allow students of all levels to move toward mastery of falling safely and at their own rates. A large step forward in the development o falling technique, the system presented here should interest students of Aikido, people in other martial arts, and others concerned with developing a friendly relationship to the ground.
http://www.megavideo.com/?d=AR0A5MUO
duminică, 29 august 2010
joi, 26 august 2010
Angular Attack Theory: An Aikido Perspective
Todd Jones in action
Angular attack theory is a conceptual framework that is taught in many martial traditions in one form or another. A fundamental comprehension of attack theory is essential to successfully effectuating defensive strategy and tactics. Ignorance of the construction, tactics, and strategy of attacking guarantees defeat. That said it is a difficult task to convey these concepts in writing, but here goes…
This treatise provides a glimpse into our approach to its study but is by no means a comprehensive treatment of the topic. Angular attack theory serves as a bridge to understanding and communicating strategic and tactical concepts in various martial traditions. An understanding of angular attack theory will help to ensure that applied aikido techniques possess martial integrity and are truly effective.
Before we delve into the intricacies and details of angular attack theory, it is imperative that certain contextual and definitional issues be addressed first: please bear with…
Perception colors perspective. Perspective affects philosophy. What a person believes is a function of their intelligence, experience, education, and circumstance. Disagreement is usually a matter of insufficient commonality. When one or more parties to a disagreement are sufficiently lacking in experience (i.e. maturity and/or patience), we frequently observe physical altercations.
Physical altercation, controlled or uncontrolled, is nonetheless a form of communication that reveals much about an individual’s psychological makeup. As such, karate kumite, aikido randori, and kendo or judo shiai, represent nothing more than physical “conversations.” If you watch closely, regardless of the art being practiced, you will learn much about any participant’s personal style of, or approach to conflict resolution. This ability to observe a personal style of interaction is not limited to activities in the dojo; the way a person walks, the way a person holds posture, the way they speak, are all telltale signs to be observed and chronicled.
In modern budo, we train for many reasons, but all martial arts eventually require some degree of physical interaction. Whether you train for self-defense, general health and conditioning, sportive competition, artistic pursuit, or some combination of the aforementioned; intimate contact with another human will become necessary at some point. And despite that every human body is essentially constrained to a limited set of biomechanical capabilities and therefore limitations; depending on your chosen martial path that contact will be more or less damaging to your body. Every endeavor has a learning curve and every person learns at a slightly different pace. So, no two experiences are, or can ever be the same. Therefore, how we come together is the essential distillate on many different levels.
Human beings are competitive by nature. And although “winning and losing” is a topic worthy of an article, or book, of its own, it is not the central theme of this article. From a competitive perspective, winning or losing is merely the outcome of a game. From the standpoint of discussing self-defense, it is a matter of life or death. Individuals practicing an artistic pursuit may not even recognize the concept as having any validity whatsoever. Perspective can dictate philosophy. Part of learning to be successful and happy in life is learning to understand the perspectives, and agendas, of others whom we encounter and have to deal with. Knowing where they are coming from and what they really want are critical to finding commonality and seeking agreement… ending conflict. Aikido.
The cornerstones of physical interactive success are skill, conditioning, and experience. All things being equal, a shortcoming in any of these three categories virtually insures defeat. A budoka with superior skill, who is in top shape, and is experienced at physical interaction, should never fail. A budoka with superior skill, who is in top shape but lacking interactive experience may fail, but may get lucky if the conversation drags out long enough. Likewise, a budoka with superior skill and experience, who is not in top shape, will prevail over another who is in top shape but lacking in experience. Thus explains the old adage, “youth and exuberance are no match for age and experience!” Of course, even a skilled budoka who is out of shape and lacking interactive experience is doomed to fail.
Before this discussion can go much further it is imperative that certain concepts and terms are clearly understood. Most disagreements stem from misunderstandings…
The Line is simply understood as a ray extending through each partner’s center, regardless of where they move. Angular attack theory advocates that although the shortest distance between two points may be a straight line, it is not necessarily the path of least grief.
The Gap is the space between the two partners. “Bridging the Gap” is a dangerous exercise worthy of much study, and angular attack theory is central to success. Boxing, judo, karate, kendo, and most other competitive arts focus in this area. It is arguably the Achilles heel of most aikido practitioners and the reason many other martial artists criticize aikido training methods.
Zones: there are several types to discuss. Spatial Zones vary, based on person-specific physical and psychological factors. Spatially, the outermost is the Zone of Influence; this is the point at which an advancing individual causes a physical reaction in their opponent. For example, a step backwards, or a raising of the hands, is an indication that the aggressor has entered their opponent’s Zone of Influence, because they have influenced that person’s behavior.
The next closest zone is referred to as the Effective Striking Range; it is the area between the maximum range of a person’s back leg kick, and the maximum range of a lead hand strike in karate. Many aikido and kendo techniques are executed in this range, because it is the range that karate and kendo practitioners are most comfortable at. Finally, the Throwing Zone is the area inside the Effective Striking Range; this is the zone that judo and jujutsu practitioners prefer, for obvious reasons.
Physical Zones include High, Middle, and Low body areas. Most agree that the High zone is above the nipple line, the Middle zone is between the nipples and the groin, and the Low zone extends from the groin to the feet.
Maai is the Japanese term that refers to space-time/rhythm and distance relationships related to “Bridging the Gap.” How one gets from here to there is the real problem in effectively addressing conflict, physical or otherwise. Functions of maai that must be intimately understood include distance, angle (X, Y, and Z axis), rhythm, and speed.
The Compass and the Clockface are virtually identical concepts that relate the two-dimensional spatial relationship between the two opponents or partners. You should imagine that you stand in the center of a giant compass or clockface; your partner is standing at north or twelve o’clock. These concepts are especially useful in multiple-attacker training.
Defensive Footwork delineates three categories of responsive movement and each reflects a particular psychological persuasion. Jamming is any responsive footwork that moves you toward the attacker between the NE and NW compass points. Jamming is irimi. Jamming is endemic to bold, self-assured, or impatient individuals. Blocking is any responsive footwork that tends to hold ground including movement between the NE and SE or NW and SW compass points. Humans are territorial by nature; otherwise we would need national boundaries. Eighty percent of karate practitioners fall into the blocker category of defensive footwork. Running, or Moving, is any responsive footwork that moves you away from the attacker between the SE and SW compass points. Runners are typically high-strung, frail, and cautious people. Responsive footwork is more important to note than attack style; it is the clue to understanding your opponent or partner. Knowing how they are likely to react is key to successfully bridging the gap.
Initial orientation and stance considerations have four components:
1. Posture, attitude, kokoro. In Japanese, the word kokoro translates as both physical and psychological attitude; how adept! What is the initial placement/orientation of the hands (e.g. boxer’s guard)? Is there torso inclination? What is the stance width and depth? Does the particular stance favor power generation or mobility?
2. The initial angle of the feet. Is the person in riding, triangular, or natural stance?
3. Orientation: The relationship of one partner’s feet to the other person’s. Are you in an open-open (gyaku hanmi) or open-closed (ai hanmi) orientation?
4. Vector: What initial stepping movement occurs and at what clockface angle? Essentially, there are only a few different steps to learn. The pivot step is referred to as tenkai in aikido terminology. An avoidance step is called tenkan. The J step is tenshin-ashi, and shuffle stepping (tsugi-ashi) can be done several ways: lunging, shuffling, slide up, or skipping. Alternating or running step (e.g. normal walking or sprinting) is another, sometimes called ayumi-ashi. Spinning step is sometimes called furi-ashi, and also there is circle stepping where one moves along a perimeter.
5. Consideration must also be given to the vertical or Z axis. In aikido we practice hanmi handachi, in judo it’s a little different, in karate and kendo we target high, middle, and lower body targets. A spinning sickle sweep requires a different defense than a flying, spinning horse kick.
Observation: After years of teaching, it has become apparent that it is just as important to teach proper observation of the demonstration because it facilitates rapid understanding. Students should first observe the demonstrators’ initial orientation (i.e. open-open or open-closed relationship). The next point to note should be the stepping employed by each partner. After understanding those elements, the initiator’s (e.g. aite or uke) first action (e.g. grab or strike) should be observed. Finally, the respondent’s (e.g. shite or nage) redress should be noted.
The Risk-Benefit Ratio is a measure of an attack’s relative risk/benefit. A boxer’s jab, for instance, is a low risk, low benefit technique if executed by itself. You will not incapacitate your opponent with a jab, but you will not be very exposed to counterattack either. On the other hand, a jumping, spinning hook kick has a high risk, high benefit ratio. If the kick lands, such a technique can easily disable an opponent; but usually it doesn’t land. A flying, spinning backhand strike, is a good example of a high risk, low benefit technique. Chancing such a feeble attack puts one more at risk than anything else.
Angular Attack
So, finally, we are at a point where we can address the thesis of this article. There are five categories of Angular Attack for bridging the gap.
Now that we have established functional definitions for basic communication, it is possible to address more technical matters. Martial art techniques are like tools in a toolbox; the more you have, the more you can do. Depending on the tool selected, one can build or destroy. That said the process of learning angular attack theory may require a temporary abeyance of ethical considerations in training in order to permit an exploration of the available opportunities. Technical response and target selection in basic angular attack theory training may not present the highest possible ethical ideals only because the emphasis is on technical simplicity and communicating theoretical concepts. Once the concepts are understood, the user will gradually be able to adjust target and technical selection befitting their personal comfort in any given application. The higher the skill differential, the more benevolently one may respond.
http://www.aikidojournal.com/article?articleID=634
luni, 23 august 2010
Saptamana UCHI DESHI Aikido Iwama Ryu
Saptamana UCHI DESHI Aikido Iwama Ryu
Saptamana UCHI DESHI se va desfasura sub indrumarea lui Sensei THOMAS PODZELNY (4 DAN) din Germania. Sensei Thomas este elev al lui Hitohiro Saito Soke, Japonia
Stagiul se va desfasura in doua locatii: Bucuresti si litoral - Techirghiol. Iata programul si conditiile:
LOCATIA 1 : BUCURESTI ROMANIA
Str. Bradistei, nr. 8 - sector 2, zona Lizeanu - Stefan cel Mare, Bucuresti
DATA :28.08.-29.08.2010
PROGRAM:
SAMBATA : 28.08.2010
9H00-10H00 BUKI-WAZA
10H00-11H00 TAI-JUTSU
17H00-18H00 BUKI-WAZA
18H00-19H00 TAI-JUTSU
DUMINICA : 29.08.2010
9H00-10H00 BUKI-WAZA
10H00-11H00 TAI-JUTSU
COST STAGIU : 100 RON.
ACEST STAGIU ESTE ORGANIZAT IN SPECIAL PENTRU MEMBRII IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA CE NU POT PARTICIPA LA STAGIUL DE UCHI-DESHI DE LA TECHIRGHIOL.
EL ESTE GRATUIT PENTRU MEMBRII IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA CARE PARTICIPA LA AMBELE STAGII.
LOCATIA 2: TECHIRGHIOL JUD.CONSTANTA (pe litoralul romanesc)
PERIOADA :30.08.-03.09.2010
PROGRAM:
LUNI-VINERI : 30.08.2010 - 03.09.2010
6H30-7H30 MEDITATIE + SUBURI
7H30-8H30 micul dejun
8H30-10H30 BUKI-WAZA
10h30-10h45 pauza
11H00-13H00 TAI JUTSU
13H45 dejun
PROGRAM LIBER
19H00-20H00 cina
PROGRAM LIBER
CAZARE : PENSIUNEA CLUB M TECHIRGHIOL ( COSTURILE DE MASA SI CAZARE SUNT VALABILE NUMAI PENTRU MEMBRII IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA).
COST CAZARE : 30 RON DE PERSOANA IN CAMERA DUBLA ( LOCURI LIMITATE 10
CAMERE/20 LOCURI )
COST MASA : 50 RON DE PERSOANA PE ZI MENIU COMPLET (3 MESE PE ZI / OPTIONAL)
COST STAGIU : 200 RON DE PERSOANA
CELE DOUA STAGII SUNT DESCHISE PETRU ORICE PRACTICANT DE AIKIDO SAU ALTE ARTE MARTIALE CARE DORESTE SA STUDIEZE IWAMA RYU AIKIDO, INDIFERENT DE ORGANIZATIA DIN CARE FACE PARTE.
PRETURILE STAGIILOR SUNT CELE AFISATE ,FARA A BENEFICIA DE REDUCEREA DE CARE BENEFICIAZA MEMBRII IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA.
CAZAREA SI MASA PRACTICANTILOR DIN AFARA IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA SE VOR ASIGURA PE CONT PROPRIU.
LA ACEST STAGIU SE VOR ACORDA DIPLOME DE ABSOLVIRE A CURSURILOR DE BUKI-WAZA CE SE VOR PREDA LA ACEST STAGIU SI GRADE KYU PENTRU PRACTICANTII DE AIKIDO DIN AFARA IWAMA RYU AIKIDO ROMANIA CARE AU PARTICIPAT FRECVENT LA STAGIILE NOASTRE SI SI-AU INSUSIT TEHNICILE DE ARME PREDATE DE FONDATOR.
Contact: Iulian Stanescu
tel 0723269964, email dinamicaikido@yahoo.com
http://www.iwama-ryu.ro/
duminică, 25 iulie 2010
The secrets of TAIJIQUAN by Kamsang Law Copyright © 2007
The secrets of TAIJIQUAN
by Kamsang Law Copyright © 2007
chapter 1 - Relaxation
chapter 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
chapter 3 - Use of force of gravity
chapter 4 - How to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practice
taijiquan
chapter 6 - More to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 7 - How to move your arms and body
chapter 8 - The principles of Yin and Yang
chapter 9 - How to move your arms upwards when
chapter 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
chapter 11 - How to link up different parts of the body and
limbs
chapter 12 - Joining the different parts of the body and
limbs into one entity
chapter 13 - Borrowing the force of gravity to fight in the
taijiquan way
chapter 14 - How to rotate your arms
chapter 15 - Let the water in the body flow
chapter 16 - How to obtain the force of gravity and to
maximise its effect
chapter 17 - Other essential details to watch when
practising taijiquan
chapter 18 - Power derived from ‘ba men jin’
chapter 19 - Principles behind the ‘ba men jin’
chapter 20 - Power derived from ‘wu bu'
chapter 21 - Why is taijiquan so called ?
chapter 22 - ‘Yi’ and ‘Qi’
chapter 23 - More about YIN YANG
chapter 1 - Relaxation
chapter 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
chapter 3 - Use of force of gravity
chapter 4 - How to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practice
taijiquan
chapter 6 - More to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 7 - How to move your arms and body
chapter 8 - The principles of Yin and Yang
chapter 9 - How to move your arms upwards when
chapter 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
chapter 11 - How to link up different parts of the body and
limbs
chapter 12 - Joining the different parts of the body and
limbs into one entity
chapter 13 - Borrowing the force of gravity to fight in the
taijiquan way
chapter 14 - How to rotate your arms
chapter 15 - Let the water in the body flow
chapter 16 - How to obtain the force of gravity and to
maximise its effect
chapter 17 - Other essential details to watch when
practising taijiquan
chapter 18 - Power derived from ‘ba men jin’
chapter 19 - Principles behind the ‘ba men jin’
chapter 20 - Power derived from ‘wu bu'
chapter 21 - Why is taijiquan so called ?
chapter 22 - ‘Yi’ and ‘Qi’
chapter 23 - More about YIN YANG
THE END
DISCLAIMER
The author, the Registrant and/or the Administrator of this website are not responsible in any manner
whatsoever for any injury that may occur directly or indirectly from the use of this publication. The adoption and
application of the material offered in this publication is at the viewers' discretion and sole responsibility.
CHAPTER 1 - RELAXATION
_____________________________________________________________________
I have heard many people say that practising taijiquan (taiji means universe and quan
means fist or martial art form), which is a form of martial art developed by the
Chinese, is an excellent way to relax.
This is only half the truth, especially if you believe that to relax is just to flop on the
sofa and watch the television. If this is the kind of relaxation that you are after, there
is no need for you to learn taijiquan at all.
Great taijiquan masters believe that in order to relax or to loosen the body, we should
first of all use our mind to let every single cell of the body 'swell' and to increase the
distance of the cells so that all the blood vessels, internal organs and the whole body
become swollen. Note that I have not used the word 'expand' which may lead people
to think that power is required to expand their bodies and limbs. For the purpose of
practising taijiquan, no muscular power should be employed to expand any part of the
body. This requires 100% concentration because when trying to loosen every single
inch of the body, we should only use our mind to control this process and should NOT
use any muscular power to force the body to 'expand'.
If we stretch a rubber band, the rubber band will become elongated and tight.
However, when we examine the molecules in the rubber band, we can see that they
are further apart from one another than when the rubber band is in a 'non-extended' or
loose state.
We should develop our body and limbs to resemble the stretched state of a rubber
band. This can be achieved by using our mind
(a) to let every cell in our body swell,
(b) to let every joint, including those between the vertebrae according the spine, of
our body and limbs swell, and
(c) to increase the distance between the cells.
Our skin will then become stretched, similar to a stretched rubber band. The only
difference is that we should let all our cells 'swell' with our mind, whereas the rubber
band is stretched with muscular power.
This is a very important point to bear in mind. DO NOT use any muscular power to
expand your body and limbs. You should imagine that you are filling up every part of
your body with water or air gently. You should imagine that there is a bubble at every
joint inside your body and the bubbles are getting bigger and bigger. This is all
controlled by your mind and no muscular power should be used.
If every part of your body swells so that all the cells are like the molecules in a
stretched rubber band, your blood will circulate faster and all the muscles which have
been tightened through constant use will be able to rest and recover from fatigue.
After a while, you will feel that your skin becomes stretched and springy, giving you a
more youthful look.
This is a basic but very important prerequisite step to watch when practising taijiquan.
While you are concentrating on this exercise, you can forget about your work in the
office, board meetings or your household chores. This is genuine relaxation.
The cardinal principle of practising taijiquan is to use your mind to control your
movements and under no circumstances may muscular power be used.
CHAPTER 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
_______________________________________________________________
Is relaxation the end or the means of taijiquan?
It depends on what you are looking for?
If you wish to treat taijiquan as a form of martial arts for self-defence purpose,
relaxation is the means. Without relaxing or loosening up the different parts of the
body, you cannot dispatch or push your opponent efficiently and effectively because
any stiff parts of the body will block the smooth flow of energy, thus reducing the
effect of the dispatch either in the form of a blow or a push.
On the other hand, if you wish to seek relaxation from taijiquan, the high level of
concentration required to practise taijiquan and the resultant ‘loosening up’ of every
part of the body will give you what you are looking for. Once again, it must be
emphasized that relaxation is not equivalent to letting the body collapse flatly without
any life and spirits. Many people relax by having work-outs and other forms of
strenuous physical exercises; to them, relaxation is not equivalent to doing nothing and
gazing at the ceiling.
Whatever your purpose of practising taijiquan, the method is the same and the result
is the same.
What result? You will be able to ease off the tension in all parts of your body, to
recover from tiredness quickly, to increase your ability to concentrate on what you
have to concentrate on, to have a peaceful state of mind, to enjoy sound sleep, to feel
happy and confident and most important of all, to enjoy good health. With proper
training and regular practice, you can also defend yourself with taijiquan, which after
all is a martial art.
CHAPTER 3 - Use of force of gravity
_____________________________________________________________________
Contrary to the practice of some authors of taijiquan publications, I am not discussing
the meaning and origin of the term 'taiji' at this stage. For beginners, knowing why this
school of martial arts is called taijiquan is useful but does not
necessarily facilitate the learning process. This should be left to a later stage
otherwise we will get confused easily and find the whole concept too mystified.
Now, let us get back to how to learn and practise taijiquan. I am not going to teach
you how to perform the postures in the sequence of any particular taijiquan style
because people can easily learn this from other taijiquan masters or from some
taijiquan publications and videos. This book will focus on the WAY to do taijiquan and
not the forms and sequence. I will talk about WHAT MAKES YOU AND THE
DIFFERENT PARTS OF YOUR BODY MOVE instead of the sequences, strokes and
postures.
As I have said in the first chapter, you should concentrate on the process of trying to
make your whole body ‘swell’, that is, to ‘expand’ every single muscle and every single
organ, including all the hair on your skin. While you are doing this, you should be
standing upright, with your head floating up in the air like a balloon. However, do not
try to stick your head upwards with muscular power as this will render both your head
and your neck stiff.
Apart from your head which should be light and floating upwards in the air, the rest of
your body should be allowed to have direct contact with the force of gravity. What
does this mean?
Since birth, you have been acting against the force of gravity. For example, when you
raise your arms, you are acting against the force of gravity. When you walk, you are
also acting against the force of gravity. When you practise taijiquan, whether it be for
the purpose of combat or relaxation, you should make use of the force of gravity
which can be translated to mean your body weight. By using your body weight or the
force of gravity, you will be able to move your body and your arms without using
muscular power.
CHAPTER 4 - How to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
When you are preparing yourself to practise taijiquan, you should be standing with
your feet apart, the distance between the inner parts of the feet being the same as
the external width of your shoulders. As I have said in the last chapter, you should feel
that your head is gently floating in the air. As there is now tension between the scalp
and the chest, it is necessary for you to relax the chest at this point by exhaling gently
and also feel that all the muscles around your chest are swelling. You should also
make your shoulders swell; note that I have again used the term 'swell' because
'swell' sounds more passive as you should cause the swelling to happen without using
any muscular power at all. While you make your shoulders swell which really means
that you are relaxing your shoulders, you should feel that your arms are more or less
detached from the shoulders. Your arms and elbows have thus become heavier and
you should allow this feeling to reach the tips of your thumbs and fingers.
If you do not have this feeling on the first few days of practice, do not worry and be
patient. If you persist, the feeling as described above will creep in and will get
stronger by the day.
While you are relaxing your shoulders, the next step is to let your ribs drop, again by
making all the muscles around your chest and on your back swell.
While you are doing this, you should at the same time keep your head floating gently
upwards. You should also feel that the skin on this part of the body is stretched.
According to ancient taijiquan teachings, one should suck in the chest and raise the
back when practising taijiquan. My experience is that we should not do this on
purpose with our muscular power and make the chest appear to be concave and
pluck up the back. If you relax your shoulders and let the ribs drop, in other words, if
you let the force of gravity pull the shoulders and ribs downwards and do not use any
muscular power to hold them back, your chest will automatically sink in and appear to
be concave and your back will become full and round as if it protrudes upwards and
outwards. And do not forget to continue to keep your head floating upwards so that
the whole body does not collapse while you relax your shoulders and the rest of the
body.
What comes next is to relax your lower torso, the part of the body between the chest
and hip. In order to enable this part of the body to loosen up, you should first of all
feel that there is space or indeed air bubbles in the hip joints, that is, the joints
between the thigh bones (femurs) and the pelvis. You should alsouse your mind to tell
you that the muscles surrounding the joints are swelling. This feeling enables the joints
and the muscles in the lower torso to loosen up, thus allowing the torso to drop
downwards, carried by its weight. Beginners tend to withhold the lower torso back
because they cannot loosen the muscles at the small of the back. Your mind should
try to counteract this and try to concentrate on relaxing every muscle by thinking that
every muscle is swelling.
After you have practised this posture for some time, you will feel that all the internal
organs inside your body are pulled downwards by the force of gravity. You will feel
that the abdomen is round and full, and there is a warm feeling in the dantian, the area
which is about three inches below the navel inside your body.
At this stage, both thigh bones should have been wedged open by the weight of the
torso, the spine and the pelvis. You should flex slightly your legs which should curve
also slightly outwards as if they form a circle. When doing so, again, you should never
use any muscular power to achieve this. The mindset should be that let the weight of
the body mass do the work.
If there is real relaxation at this part of the body, the bottom of the spine, that is, the
coccyx, will turn upwards slightly as if it is supporting the dantian. This posture will
provide more sturdy support and balance for the entire body.
Beginners will at this point feel that their knees are under a lot of pressure because
much weight has been placed on them. What they should do is to relax the knees and
use the mind to develop the feeling that the knees are light and are also floating
upwards. They should try to transfer the weight of the body to the feet by simply
placing the feet on the ground. They should NOT under any circumstances use the
muscular power of the legs to press their feet hard against the ground. It should be
remembered all the time that the use of muscular power in any part of the body,
including the limbs, will nullify whatever relaxation that they may achieve in other parts
of the body.
CHAPTER 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
The kind of relaxation or loosening up described by me cannot be achieved within a
short period of time. Furthermore, as there are so many things to remember and to
watch out for, you tend to overlook certain things when practising taijiquan.
However, even if you cannot achieve a high degree of relaxation initially, which can
only be acquired with practice, you can still reap the benefit of the exercise. We can
'accumulate' or increase relaxation gradually.
And not to discourage you from taking up taijiquan as a hobby, may I add that what I
have said in the previous chapter is just the outline. There are even more skills
concerning the mind and the body that we should observe than those I have
mentioned.
When you start practising taijiquan, you should adopt a tranquil and quiet mind but at
the same time, you should maintain high spirits and a cheerful mood which facilitate
the floating up of the head. You should also concentrate on what you are trying to do.
Apart from the tip of the head which should be floating upwards gently, you should
also feel that the upper tips of both ears are floating upwards as well. This is
necessary to enable the whole body mass to be maintained in an upright position. This
is also necessary because taijiquan is based on the concept of YIN and YANG (and of
course there is the CENTRE in YIN and YANG which many people are not aware of)
which I will explain in detail at a later stage.
We believe that everything has roots. A taijiquan practitioner should imagine that his
root is at the head and not the feet. Many people have mixed up the Chinese
characters "root" and "heel" which have the same pronunciation in Chinese, which
is "gen". The Chinese character "root" has the character "wood" as a radical and that
is why this character means the root of a plant. On the other hand, the Chinese
character "heel" has another Chinese character "foot" as a radical and it means heel.
If the taijiquan practitioner's root is at the top, it is not easy to upset his balance and
to make him fall. On the other hand, if his root is at the feet, he may lose his balance
if he is pushed by his opponent.
Although I have said that the root is at the head, it is important to remember that there
should NOT be any root at all. Can you tell me whether a ball can fall after you have
pushed it? It just does not fall because it has no root. When there is no fixed root, root
is everywhere to be found.
CHAPTER 6 - More to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
I appear to have been contradicting myself by saying that a taijiquan practitioner’s root
should be at the head on the one hand and then saying that there should not be any
root at all on the other. The 'root' stage is where you should start from. After you have
practised taijiquan for some time, your body and mind will become one and the whole
body mass will become so relaxed (relaxed in the taijiquan sense) that all the cells will
be linked together like the particles in a slightly stretched rubber band. When one end
of the rubber band is pulled, the force does not only affect the particles at that end,
but it will also affect the entire band. When you reach that stage, the finger tips of
your right hand will be linked to the finger tips of your left hand through all the cells
along both arms and the chest. They are also linked up with the rest of the body,
including your toes. The whole body will just be like a balloon filled up with water. You
can feel as heavy as you like or as light as we would wish.
Let me come back to the way you should prepare yourselves before you actually start
doing taijiquan. While you are following the steps mentioned in the previous chapters,
you should be breathing naturally. You should also be watching the internal working of
the body; 30% of your sight should be following the movement of the index finger that
is further away from the body, while the remaining 70% of your sight should be
'looking internally'. This means that you should be watching or controlling with your
mind the inside of your body and the rest of the body and the limbs. This is important
because whenever you move, you should move (by this, I mean internal movement
and not physical movement, which I will explain later) all the different parts of the body
at the same time so that all the energy (again, not muscular power) can be
summonsed to strike your opponent. I will talk about this when I discuss the practising
of taijiquan, which involves the internal movement of all the different parts of the body.
Although only 30% of your attention is paid to the movement of your hands, you
should be looking with focus.
You should also pay particular attention to hearing. You should use 30% of your
hearing sensation to listen to the outside world while the remaining 70% should be
used to listen to the inside of the body. Here, to make life simpler for you, just
interpret the word 'listening' as 'feeling'.
The tip of your tongue should be touching the part between the palate and the upper
front teeth so as to facilitate the secretion of saliva.
I will discuss how you should move the different parts of your body to practise
taijiquan, starting with the arms, in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 7 - How to move your arms and your body
_____________________________________________________________________
Before I talk about the way in which the arms and the other parts of the body should
be moved, it would be remiss of me not to introduce my teacher, Master Zhuanghong
WANG. Master Wang is an exceptionally intelligent person; he has
profound knowledge not only of taijiquan, but also of classical Chinese, especially the
Yi Jing, Dao De Jing and also the teachings of Buddhism, although he himself is not a
Buddhist. He is also an expert in the appraisal and evaluation of old prints of Chinese
calligraphy stone rubbings and a seasoned Chinese calligrapher. He is able to apply
Chinese philosophy to taijiquan, the principles of which are based entirely on Chinese
philosophical teachings. The style of taijiquan that he teaches is called the WANG
style, which is not named after himself but after Master Zongyue WANG, who is the
author of the Taijiquan Treatise. This treatise is short and concise, I
suppose so concise that many sentences and phrases are subject to different
interpretations. Because of his deep appreciation of classical Chinese, especially
Chinese philosophy, and his profound skills of different styles of martial arts, Master
Zhuanghong WANG is able to apply every single character in the Taijiquan Treatise to
the practice of taijiquan.
As I have emphasized before, the most important and basic principle of practising
taijiquan is not to use muscular power to move the body and arms. Instead we should
use our mind to control all the movements. This is not easy for beginners
who, to begin with, ‘may be allowed’ to use muscular power to assist the movement of
the body and limbs. However, they are expected to reduce the use of muscular power
gradually and to use the mind to control all the movements as they make progress.
The natural question to ask is how to use the mind. As a start, you have to use
imagination and external images to assist you in moving your body and limbs.
Let us start with moving your arms and hands. After you have prepared your mind,
head and body as discussed in previous chapters, imagine that there are ten balloons
each of which is tied to the tips of your thumbs and fingers. Imagine that they are
lifting your hands in a semi-circle to the front until both arms form a circle in front of
your chest. Since you are not using any muscular power to lift your arms, every single
cell in both hands and arms is in direct contact with the force of gravity; therefore, you
will feel the weight of both arms and hands. The less muscular power you use to float
your arms upwards, the heavier your arms will become.
Another way to assist you in moving your arms and hands to form a circle in front of
your chest is to imagine that there is a magnetic force attracting your hands upwards
and to the front until both arms form a circle in front of your chest.
However, these are very preliminary ways of moving your arms and are not really the
taiji way of moving the different parts of your body. You should use the YIN and
YANG principles which I will discuss in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 8 - The principles of YIN and YANG
_____________________________________________________________________
Many people have said that YIN and YANG represent the two opposing ends or
properties of an idea or a substance. For example, YIN represents void or emptiness
and YANG represents solidness; YIN left and YANG right; YIN women
and YANG men; YIN soft and YANG hard, YIN up and YANG down etc. However, let
us take a look at the taiji diagram below:
Taiji Diagram
The area covered
in black is YIN and that covered in white is YANG. Both YIN and YANG occupy
exactly half of the diagram. However, the diagram is not separated into two halves by
a straight line but by an 'S' shape curve. One end of YIN is larger than the other end
and it decreases in size until the other end tapers off. As the YIN reduces in size,
YANG becomes more dominant. The reverse is also true.
Within the YIN half of the taiji diagram, there is a
YANG radical and vice versa. Therefore YIN YANG does not simply represent two
opposing or different properties but represents the constant change of two opposing
or different properties in a continuum. The principles of YIN YANG
were propounded in the 'Yi Jing' or the ‘Book of Changes’ in which divinatory symbols
are used to predict the changes in response to questions on the future. Therefore YIN
YANG does not represent static matters like black and white.
YIN cannot exist on its own, neither can YANG. There is YIN in YANG and there is
YANG in YIN. Without YANG, YIN cannot survive and without YIN, YANG will perish.
They cannot be separated from each other. Their ebbs and surges change as YIN
and YANG alternate and eventually, YIN is YANG and YANG is YIN. YIN and YANG
complement one another and also oppose and counteract one another.
YIN and YANG are the product of taiji (universe). Since the principles of YIN and
YANG are employed as the theoretical backbone of this style of martial art, this style
is therefore named taijiquan. Having briefly explained the principles of YIN and YANG,
we will discuss how to use these principles to practise taijiquan in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 9 - How to move your arms upwards when practising taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
Moving something upwards islifting or raising it. However, I have avoided using the
words 'lift' or 'raise' in the title of this chapter because these two words may mislead
you to think that muscular power may be used to move your arms upwards when
practising taijiquan. Let me repeat here: using muscular power to do anything when
practising taijiquan is against the taijiquan principles. You should use the concept of
YIN and YANG and the force of gravity to move the different parts of your body.
Let us take a look at a see-saw. When one side falls, the other side rises. And when
the higher side falls, the lower side rises. The see-saw is the best example to
demonstrate the principles of YIN and YANG. We can say that the higher side of a
see-saw is YIN and the lower side is YANG. When some weight is added to the
higher side, it falls. The higher side becomes the lower side and vice versa. As YIN
falls, YANG rises and therefore YIN becomes YANG and YANG becomes YIN. The
see-saw cannot be a see-saw without the higher side and the lower side.
Furthermore, the higher side cannot be the higher side without the lower side and the
lower side cannot be the lower side without the higher side. The proves that YIN
cannot be separated from YANG and YANG cannot be separated from YIN.
While the ultimate aim is to move your arms as if they are ribbons or to make them
move or flow like water, let us as a start treat your right forearm and your right upper
arm as two separate entities. Divide the forearm into two halves so that the middle of
the forearm becomes the fulcrum of a lever or the support of a see-saw. Let the
weight of the elbow bring the forearm downwards so that the wrist rises. The
important thing to remember here is that the position of the middle of the right forearm
should be fixed, just like the support of a see-saw which is also fixed. Still fixing the
position of the middle of the right forearm, this time let the right wrist drop by not
acting against the force of gravity, resulting in the elbow rising up.
You have just let the weight of one end of your forearm move your forearm. When you
are doing this, you are making use of the force of gravity to do the work for you,
instead of labouring yourself away.
While you are doing this, try to concentrate on the following:
a. keep all the fingers, the palm and the wrist relaxed, with the feeling that they swell
like the rest of the body. In other words, ‘pay attention’ to them and do not let go of
them.
b. relax the shoulder. Many people have mistaken this to mean the shoulder joint. Of
course you ought to relax the shoulder joint, but it is equally, if not more, important to
relax the shoulder, that is, the part between the joint and the neck.
c. most important of all, remember all the essential points that you have to watch out
for to prepare yourselves for practising taijiquan, that is, float your head upwards,
relax your chest so that it caves in, let your ribs drop as much as possible, relax and
open up your hip joints, relax your knees and rest your feet on the ground.
I am repeating myself many times because it is so easy to overlook some of the
essential points.
After you have practised the movement of the right forearm in this manner,
1. try your right palm, using the middle of your right palm as the centre; then
2. your right upper arm, using the middle of your right upper arm as the centre;
3. after you have tried all three parts, try to do this procedure with all the three
parts linked up together, starting with your right palm, then right forearm and then
upwards to your right upper arm; and
4. while you are performing this continuous movement, try to relax the remaining
parts of the arm and shoulder, and of course the whole body.
You should repeat the whole procedure with your left arm and then do both arms at
the same time.
Important to note: Whenever you move your arms, do not move the upper arm,
forearm and palm at the same time. Move the three joints linking the three parts in
sequence; either shoulder, elbow and then wrist; or wrist, elbow and then shoulder.
This is how a whip is moved. Further details will be provided in Chapter 11.
You may find it difficult to follow the above procedure in the beginning because it
requires an extremely high degree of concentration and coordination to control the
sequential movements fo the three parts. However, if you persist and concentrate,
you will be able to move your arms without using any muscular power at all.
We will discuss how you can cause your arms to rise in the next chapter. Note I have
again avoided using the word 'lift' here. Indeed the best 'verb' for this movement is
'float', that is, you float your arms upwards. The crux is to let the fulcrum or the centre
move instead of fixing its position. This is different from what I have said before and
we will discuss this later.
CHAPTER 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
____________________________________________________________________
What I have said is the way beginners may move their arms. This is not the ultimate
way. One important thing that you have to bear in mind is that when you wish to move
a certain part of your body, you do not move that specific part of the body directly
because if you do, you will have to use muscular power. What you should do is to
move other parts of the body with the assistance of the force of gravity so that the
part of the body which you wish to move will be moved as a result. For example, if
you wish to raise your right arm, you do not actually raise your right arm. What you
should be doing is to further relax the left side of your body and your left arm and feel
that the left side of your body and your left arm are heavier than the right side of your
body and your right arm. By so doing, your right arm will move and with more
practice, your right arm will rise. In the whole process, you must not move the position
of your spine which should act as the fulcrum of a lever, although the spine itself may
turn. Note the difference between the spine itself and its position.
While the Chinese character ‘chen’ is normally used to describe one’s feeling of the
left side of one’s body in the process described above, this character, which means
‘sink’, is most misleading and has caused problems not only to myself when I was a
novice but also many of my fellow learners. The word ‘sink’ in the context of playing
taijiquan really means that while you are relaxing one side of your body, say the left
side, you can feel that the left side becomes heavier but at the same time you should
keep your head floating upwards thus maintaining the left side of your body in more or
less the same position. Since the left side is heavier, it raises the right side of your
body. The right side of your body thus floats upwards without any muscular power
being used. The spine remains in the same position and acts as the fulcrum. If the
process is tampered with by any muscular power, you will not be able to bring about
the desired effect of causing the opposite side of the body to rise. For example, if you
try to assist the upward movement of the right side by lifting it, you will lose the
floating effect. This process is what we call ‘move internally’.
If you combine the movement described in the previous two paragraphs with the
movement of the right arm and right hand described in the previous chapter, you
should be able to float your right arm and right hand without using any muscular power
at all. Of course, this requires a lot of practice and coordination of the different parts
of the body; this also requires the use of the mind. I have bolded the word rise in the
first paragraph above because ultimately, you should feel that the right arm should
float upwards without its weight being reduced by any muscular power. The target
you should be aiming at is to float your arms.
Read all book here:
http://www.chinesechinese.net/Taiji.html
by Kamsang Law Copyright © 2007
chapter 1 - Relaxation
chapter 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
chapter 3 - Use of force of gravity
chapter 4 - How to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practice
taijiquan
chapter 6 - More to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 7 - How to move your arms and body
chapter 8 - The principles of Yin and Yang
chapter 9 - How to move your arms upwards when
chapter 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
chapter 11 - How to link up different parts of the body and
limbs
chapter 12 - Joining the different parts of the body and
limbs into one entity
chapter 13 - Borrowing the force of gravity to fight in the
taijiquan way
chapter 14 - How to rotate your arms
chapter 15 - Let the water in the body flow
chapter 16 - How to obtain the force of gravity and to
maximise its effect
chapter 17 - Other essential details to watch when
practising taijiquan
chapter 18 - Power derived from ‘ba men jin’
chapter 19 - Principles behind the ‘ba men jin’
chapter 20 - Power derived from ‘wu bu'
chapter 21 - Why is taijiquan so called ?
chapter 22 - ‘Yi’ and ‘Qi’
chapter 23 - More about YIN YANG
chapter 1 - Relaxation
chapter 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
chapter 3 - Use of force of gravity
chapter 4 - How to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practice
taijiquan
chapter 6 - More to prepare yourself to practice taijiquan
chapter 7 - How to move your arms and body
chapter 8 - The principles of Yin and Yang
chapter 9 - How to move your arms upwards when
chapter 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
chapter 11 - How to link up different parts of the body and
limbs
chapter 12 - Joining the different parts of the body and
limbs into one entity
chapter 13 - Borrowing the force of gravity to fight in the
taijiquan way
chapter 14 - How to rotate your arms
chapter 15 - Let the water in the body flow
chapter 16 - How to obtain the force of gravity and to
maximise its effect
chapter 17 - Other essential details to watch when
practising taijiquan
chapter 18 - Power derived from ‘ba men jin’
chapter 19 - Principles behind the ‘ba men jin’
chapter 20 - Power derived from ‘wu bu'
chapter 21 - Why is taijiquan so called ?
chapter 22 - ‘Yi’ and ‘Qi’
chapter 23 - More about YIN YANG
THE END
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CHAPTER 1 - RELAXATION
_____________________________________________________________________
I have heard many people say that practising taijiquan (taiji means universe and quan
means fist or martial art form), which is a form of martial art developed by the
Chinese, is an excellent way to relax.
This is only half the truth, especially if you believe that to relax is just to flop on the
sofa and watch the television. If this is the kind of relaxation that you are after, there
is no need for you to learn taijiquan at all.
Great taijiquan masters believe that in order to relax or to loosen the body, we should
first of all use our mind to let every single cell of the body 'swell' and to increase the
distance of the cells so that all the blood vessels, internal organs and the whole body
become swollen. Note that I have not used the word 'expand' which may lead people
to think that power is required to expand their bodies and limbs. For the purpose of
practising taijiquan, no muscular power should be employed to expand any part of the
body. This requires 100% concentration because when trying to loosen every single
inch of the body, we should only use our mind to control this process and should NOT
use any muscular power to force the body to 'expand'.
If we stretch a rubber band, the rubber band will become elongated and tight.
However, when we examine the molecules in the rubber band, we can see that they
are further apart from one another than when the rubber band is in a 'non-extended' or
loose state.
We should develop our body and limbs to resemble the stretched state of a rubber
band. This can be achieved by using our mind
(a) to let every cell in our body swell,
(b) to let every joint, including those between the vertebrae according the spine, of
our body and limbs swell, and
(c) to increase the distance between the cells.
Our skin will then become stretched, similar to a stretched rubber band. The only
difference is that we should let all our cells 'swell' with our mind, whereas the rubber
band is stretched with muscular power.
This is a very important point to bear in mind. DO NOT use any muscular power to
expand your body and limbs. You should imagine that you are filling up every part of
your body with water or air gently. You should imagine that there is a bubble at every
joint inside your body and the bubbles are getting bigger and bigger. This is all
controlled by your mind and no muscular power should be used.
If every part of your body swells so that all the cells are like the molecules in a
stretched rubber band, your blood will circulate faster and all the muscles which have
been tightened through constant use will be able to rest and recover from fatigue.
After a while, you will feel that your skin becomes stretched and springy, giving you a
more youthful look.
This is a basic but very important prerequisite step to watch when practising taijiquan.
While you are concentrating on this exercise, you can forget about your work in the
office, board meetings or your household chores. This is genuine relaxation.
The cardinal principle of practising taijiquan is to use your mind to control your
movements and under no circumstances may muscular power be used.
CHAPTER 2 - Purpose of practising taijiquan
_______________________________________________________________
Is relaxation the end or the means of taijiquan?
It depends on what you are looking for?
If you wish to treat taijiquan as a form of martial arts for self-defence purpose,
relaxation is the means. Without relaxing or loosening up the different parts of the
body, you cannot dispatch or push your opponent efficiently and effectively because
any stiff parts of the body will block the smooth flow of energy, thus reducing the
effect of the dispatch either in the form of a blow or a push.
On the other hand, if you wish to seek relaxation from taijiquan, the high level of
concentration required to practise taijiquan and the resultant ‘loosening up’ of every
part of the body will give you what you are looking for. Once again, it must be
emphasized that relaxation is not equivalent to letting the body collapse flatly without
any life and spirits. Many people relax by having work-outs and other forms of
strenuous physical exercises; to them, relaxation is not equivalent to doing nothing and
gazing at the ceiling.
Whatever your purpose of practising taijiquan, the method is the same and the result
is the same.
What result? You will be able to ease off the tension in all parts of your body, to
recover from tiredness quickly, to increase your ability to concentrate on what you
have to concentrate on, to have a peaceful state of mind, to enjoy sound sleep, to feel
happy and confident and most important of all, to enjoy good health. With proper
training and regular practice, you can also defend yourself with taijiquan, which after
all is a martial art.
CHAPTER 3 - Use of force of gravity
_____________________________________________________________________
Contrary to the practice of some authors of taijiquan publications, I am not discussing
the meaning and origin of the term 'taiji' at this stage. For beginners, knowing why this
school of martial arts is called taijiquan is useful but does not
necessarily facilitate the learning process. This should be left to a later stage
otherwise we will get confused easily and find the whole concept too mystified.
Now, let us get back to how to learn and practise taijiquan. I am not going to teach
you how to perform the postures in the sequence of any particular taijiquan style
because people can easily learn this from other taijiquan masters or from some
taijiquan publications and videos. This book will focus on the WAY to do taijiquan and
not the forms and sequence. I will talk about WHAT MAKES YOU AND THE
DIFFERENT PARTS OF YOUR BODY MOVE instead of the sequences, strokes and
postures.
As I have said in the first chapter, you should concentrate on the process of trying to
make your whole body ‘swell’, that is, to ‘expand’ every single muscle and every single
organ, including all the hair on your skin. While you are doing this, you should be
standing upright, with your head floating up in the air like a balloon. However, do not
try to stick your head upwards with muscular power as this will render both your head
and your neck stiff.
Apart from your head which should be light and floating upwards in the air, the rest of
your body should be allowed to have direct contact with the force of gravity. What
does this mean?
Since birth, you have been acting against the force of gravity. For example, when you
raise your arms, you are acting against the force of gravity. When you walk, you are
also acting against the force of gravity. When you practise taijiquan, whether it be for
the purpose of combat or relaxation, you should make use of the force of gravity
which can be translated to mean your body weight. By using your body weight or the
force of gravity, you will be able to move your body and your arms without using
muscular power.
CHAPTER 4 - How to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
When you are preparing yourself to practise taijiquan, you should be standing with
your feet apart, the distance between the inner parts of the feet being the same as
the external width of your shoulders. As I have said in the last chapter, you should feel
that your head is gently floating in the air. As there is now tension between the scalp
and the chest, it is necessary for you to relax the chest at this point by exhaling gently
and also feel that all the muscles around your chest are swelling. You should also
make your shoulders swell; note that I have again used the term 'swell' because
'swell' sounds more passive as you should cause the swelling to happen without using
any muscular power at all. While you make your shoulders swell which really means
that you are relaxing your shoulders, you should feel that your arms are more or less
detached from the shoulders. Your arms and elbows have thus become heavier and
you should allow this feeling to reach the tips of your thumbs and fingers.
If you do not have this feeling on the first few days of practice, do not worry and be
patient. If you persist, the feeling as described above will creep in and will get
stronger by the day.
While you are relaxing your shoulders, the next step is to let your ribs drop, again by
making all the muscles around your chest and on your back swell.
While you are doing this, you should at the same time keep your head floating gently
upwards. You should also feel that the skin on this part of the body is stretched.
According to ancient taijiquan teachings, one should suck in the chest and raise the
back when practising taijiquan. My experience is that we should not do this on
purpose with our muscular power and make the chest appear to be concave and
pluck up the back. If you relax your shoulders and let the ribs drop, in other words, if
you let the force of gravity pull the shoulders and ribs downwards and do not use any
muscular power to hold them back, your chest will automatically sink in and appear to
be concave and your back will become full and round as if it protrudes upwards and
outwards. And do not forget to continue to keep your head floating upwards so that
the whole body does not collapse while you relax your shoulders and the rest of the
body.
What comes next is to relax your lower torso, the part of the body between the chest
and hip. In order to enable this part of the body to loosen up, you should first of all
feel that there is space or indeed air bubbles in the hip joints, that is, the joints
between the thigh bones (femurs) and the pelvis. You should alsouse your mind to tell
you that the muscles surrounding the joints are swelling. This feeling enables the joints
and the muscles in the lower torso to loosen up, thus allowing the torso to drop
downwards, carried by its weight. Beginners tend to withhold the lower torso back
because they cannot loosen the muscles at the small of the back. Your mind should
try to counteract this and try to concentrate on relaxing every muscle by thinking that
every muscle is swelling.
After you have practised this posture for some time, you will feel that all the internal
organs inside your body are pulled downwards by the force of gravity. You will feel
that the abdomen is round and full, and there is a warm feeling in the dantian, the area
which is about three inches below the navel inside your body.
At this stage, both thigh bones should have been wedged open by the weight of the
torso, the spine and the pelvis. You should flex slightly your legs which should curve
also slightly outwards as if they form a circle. When doing so, again, you should never
use any muscular power to achieve this. The mindset should be that let the weight of
the body mass do the work.
If there is real relaxation at this part of the body, the bottom of the spine, that is, the
coccyx, will turn upwards slightly as if it is supporting the dantian. This posture will
provide more sturdy support and balance for the entire body.
Beginners will at this point feel that their knees are under a lot of pressure because
much weight has been placed on them. What they should do is to relax the knees and
use the mind to develop the feeling that the knees are light and are also floating
upwards. They should try to transfer the weight of the body to the feet by simply
placing the feet on the ground. They should NOT under any circumstances use the
muscular power of the legs to press their feet hard against the ground. It should be
remembered all the time that the use of muscular power in any part of the body,
including the limbs, will nullify whatever relaxation that they may achieve in other parts
of the body.
CHAPTER 5 - More details to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
The kind of relaxation or loosening up described by me cannot be achieved within a
short period of time. Furthermore, as there are so many things to remember and to
watch out for, you tend to overlook certain things when practising taijiquan.
However, even if you cannot achieve a high degree of relaxation initially, which can
only be acquired with practice, you can still reap the benefit of the exercise. We can
'accumulate' or increase relaxation gradually.
And not to discourage you from taking up taijiquan as a hobby, may I add that what I
have said in the previous chapter is just the outline. There are even more skills
concerning the mind and the body that we should observe than those I have
mentioned.
When you start practising taijiquan, you should adopt a tranquil and quiet mind but at
the same time, you should maintain high spirits and a cheerful mood which facilitate
the floating up of the head. You should also concentrate on what you are trying to do.
Apart from the tip of the head which should be floating upwards gently, you should
also feel that the upper tips of both ears are floating upwards as well. This is
necessary to enable the whole body mass to be maintained in an upright position. This
is also necessary because taijiquan is based on the concept of YIN and YANG (and of
course there is the CENTRE in YIN and YANG which many people are not aware of)
which I will explain in detail at a later stage.
We believe that everything has roots. A taijiquan practitioner should imagine that his
root is at the head and not the feet. Many people have mixed up the Chinese
characters "root" and "heel" which have the same pronunciation in Chinese, which
is "gen". The Chinese character "root" has the character "wood" as a radical and that
is why this character means the root of a plant. On the other hand, the Chinese
character "heel" has another Chinese character "foot" as a radical and it means heel.
If the taijiquan practitioner's root is at the top, it is not easy to upset his balance and
to make him fall. On the other hand, if his root is at the feet, he may lose his balance
if he is pushed by his opponent.
Although I have said that the root is at the head, it is important to remember that there
should NOT be any root at all. Can you tell me whether a ball can fall after you have
pushed it? It just does not fall because it has no root. When there is no fixed root, root
is everywhere to be found.
CHAPTER 6 - More to prepare yourself to practise taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
I appear to have been contradicting myself by saying that a taijiquan practitioner’s root
should be at the head on the one hand and then saying that there should not be any
root at all on the other. The 'root' stage is where you should start from. After you have
practised taijiquan for some time, your body and mind will become one and the whole
body mass will become so relaxed (relaxed in the taijiquan sense) that all the cells will
be linked together like the particles in a slightly stretched rubber band. When one end
of the rubber band is pulled, the force does not only affect the particles at that end,
but it will also affect the entire band. When you reach that stage, the finger tips of
your right hand will be linked to the finger tips of your left hand through all the cells
along both arms and the chest. They are also linked up with the rest of the body,
including your toes. The whole body will just be like a balloon filled up with water. You
can feel as heavy as you like or as light as we would wish.
Let me come back to the way you should prepare yourselves before you actually start
doing taijiquan. While you are following the steps mentioned in the previous chapters,
you should be breathing naturally. You should also be watching the internal working of
the body; 30% of your sight should be following the movement of the index finger that
is further away from the body, while the remaining 70% of your sight should be
'looking internally'. This means that you should be watching or controlling with your
mind the inside of your body and the rest of the body and the limbs. This is important
because whenever you move, you should move (by this, I mean internal movement
and not physical movement, which I will explain later) all the different parts of the body
at the same time so that all the energy (again, not muscular power) can be
summonsed to strike your opponent. I will talk about this when I discuss the practising
of taijiquan, which involves the internal movement of all the different parts of the body.
Although only 30% of your attention is paid to the movement of your hands, you
should be looking with focus.
You should also pay particular attention to hearing. You should use 30% of your
hearing sensation to listen to the outside world while the remaining 70% should be
used to listen to the inside of the body. Here, to make life simpler for you, just
interpret the word 'listening' as 'feeling'.
The tip of your tongue should be touching the part between the palate and the upper
front teeth so as to facilitate the secretion of saliva.
I will discuss how you should move the different parts of your body to practise
taijiquan, starting with the arms, in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 7 - How to move your arms and your body
_____________________________________________________________________
Before I talk about the way in which the arms and the other parts of the body should
be moved, it would be remiss of me not to introduce my teacher, Master Zhuanghong
WANG. Master Wang is an exceptionally intelligent person; he has
profound knowledge not only of taijiquan, but also of classical Chinese, especially the
Yi Jing, Dao De Jing and also the teachings of Buddhism, although he himself is not a
Buddhist. He is also an expert in the appraisal and evaluation of old prints of Chinese
calligraphy stone rubbings and a seasoned Chinese calligrapher. He is able to apply
Chinese philosophy to taijiquan, the principles of which are based entirely on Chinese
philosophical teachings. The style of taijiquan that he teaches is called the WANG
style, which is not named after himself but after Master Zongyue WANG, who is the
author of the Taijiquan Treatise. This treatise is short and concise, I
suppose so concise that many sentences and phrases are subject to different
interpretations. Because of his deep appreciation of classical Chinese, especially
Chinese philosophy, and his profound skills of different styles of martial arts, Master
Zhuanghong WANG is able to apply every single character in the Taijiquan Treatise to
the practice of taijiquan.
As I have emphasized before, the most important and basic principle of practising
taijiquan is not to use muscular power to move the body and arms. Instead we should
use our mind to control all the movements. This is not easy for beginners
who, to begin with, ‘may be allowed’ to use muscular power to assist the movement of
the body and limbs. However, they are expected to reduce the use of muscular power
gradually and to use the mind to control all the movements as they make progress.
The natural question to ask is how to use the mind. As a start, you have to use
imagination and external images to assist you in moving your body and limbs.
Let us start with moving your arms and hands. After you have prepared your mind,
head and body as discussed in previous chapters, imagine that there are ten balloons
each of which is tied to the tips of your thumbs and fingers. Imagine that they are
lifting your hands in a semi-circle to the front until both arms form a circle in front of
your chest. Since you are not using any muscular power to lift your arms, every single
cell in both hands and arms is in direct contact with the force of gravity; therefore, you
will feel the weight of both arms and hands. The less muscular power you use to float
your arms upwards, the heavier your arms will become.
Another way to assist you in moving your arms and hands to form a circle in front of
your chest is to imagine that there is a magnetic force attracting your hands upwards
and to the front until both arms form a circle in front of your chest.
However, these are very preliminary ways of moving your arms and are not really the
taiji way of moving the different parts of your body. You should use the YIN and
YANG principles which I will discuss in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 8 - The principles of YIN and YANG
_____________________________________________________________________
Many people have said that YIN and YANG represent the two opposing ends or
properties of an idea or a substance. For example, YIN represents void or emptiness
and YANG represents solidness; YIN left and YANG right; YIN women
and YANG men; YIN soft and YANG hard, YIN up and YANG down etc. However, let
us take a look at the taiji diagram below:
Taiji Diagram
The area covered
in black is YIN and that covered in white is YANG. Both YIN and YANG occupy
exactly half of the diagram. However, the diagram is not separated into two halves by
a straight line but by an 'S' shape curve. One end of YIN is larger than the other end
and it decreases in size until the other end tapers off. As the YIN reduces in size,
YANG becomes more dominant. The reverse is also true.
Within the YIN half of the taiji diagram, there is a
YANG radical and vice versa. Therefore YIN YANG does not simply represent two
opposing or different properties but represents the constant change of two opposing
or different properties in a continuum. The principles of YIN YANG
were propounded in the 'Yi Jing' or the ‘Book of Changes’ in which divinatory symbols
are used to predict the changes in response to questions on the future. Therefore YIN
YANG does not represent static matters like black and white.
YIN cannot exist on its own, neither can YANG. There is YIN in YANG and there is
YANG in YIN. Without YANG, YIN cannot survive and without YIN, YANG will perish.
They cannot be separated from each other. Their ebbs and surges change as YIN
and YANG alternate and eventually, YIN is YANG and YANG is YIN. YIN and YANG
complement one another and also oppose and counteract one another.
YIN and YANG are the product of taiji (universe). Since the principles of YIN and
YANG are employed as the theoretical backbone of this style of martial art, this style
is therefore named taijiquan. Having briefly explained the principles of YIN and YANG,
we will discuss how to use these principles to practise taijiquan in the next chapter.
CHAPTER 9 - How to move your arms upwards when practising taijiquan
_____________________________________________________________________
Moving something upwards islifting or raising it. However, I have avoided using the
words 'lift' or 'raise' in the title of this chapter because these two words may mislead
you to think that muscular power may be used to move your arms upwards when
practising taijiquan. Let me repeat here: using muscular power to do anything when
practising taijiquan is against the taijiquan principles. You should use the concept of
YIN and YANG and the force of gravity to move the different parts of your body.
Let us take a look at a see-saw. When one side falls, the other side rises. And when
the higher side falls, the lower side rises. The see-saw is the best example to
demonstrate the principles of YIN and YANG. We can say that the higher side of a
see-saw is YIN and the lower side is YANG. When some weight is added to the
higher side, it falls. The higher side becomes the lower side and vice versa. As YIN
falls, YANG rises and therefore YIN becomes YANG and YANG becomes YIN. The
see-saw cannot be a see-saw without the higher side and the lower side.
Furthermore, the higher side cannot be the higher side without the lower side and the
lower side cannot be the lower side without the higher side. The proves that YIN
cannot be separated from YANG and YANG cannot be separated from YIN.
While the ultimate aim is to move your arms as if they are ribbons or to make them
move or flow like water, let us as a start treat your right forearm and your right upper
arm as two separate entities. Divide the forearm into two halves so that the middle of
the forearm becomes the fulcrum of a lever or the support of a see-saw. Let the
weight of the elbow bring the forearm downwards so that the wrist rises. The
important thing to remember here is that the position of the middle of the right forearm
should be fixed, just like the support of a see-saw which is also fixed. Still fixing the
position of the middle of the right forearm, this time let the right wrist drop by not
acting against the force of gravity, resulting in the elbow rising up.
You have just let the weight of one end of your forearm move your forearm. When you
are doing this, you are making use of the force of gravity to do the work for you,
instead of labouring yourself away.
While you are doing this, try to concentrate on the following:
a. keep all the fingers, the palm and the wrist relaxed, with the feeling that they swell
like the rest of the body. In other words, ‘pay attention’ to them and do not let go of
them.
b. relax the shoulder. Many people have mistaken this to mean the shoulder joint. Of
course you ought to relax the shoulder joint, but it is equally, if not more, important to
relax the shoulder, that is, the part between the joint and the neck.
c. most important of all, remember all the essential points that you have to watch out
for to prepare yourselves for practising taijiquan, that is, float your head upwards,
relax your chest so that it caves in, let your ribs drop as much as possible, relax and
open up your hip joints, relax your knees and rest your feet on the ground.
I am repeating myself many times because it is so easy to overlook some of the
essential points.
After you have practised the movement of the right forearm in this manner,
1. try your right palm, using the middle of your right palm as the centre; then
2. your right upper arm, using the middle of your right upper arm as the centre;
3. after you have tried all three parts, try to do this procedure with all the three
parts linked up together, starting with your right palm, then right forearm and then
upwards to your right upper arm; and
4. while you are performing this continuous movement, try to relax the remaining
parts of the arm and shoulder, and of course the whole body.
You should repeat the whole procedure with your left arm and then do both arms at
the same time.
Important to note: Whenever you move your arms, do not move the upper arm,
forearm and palm at the same time. Move the three joints linking the three parts in
sequence; either shoulder, elbow and then wrist; or wrist, elbow and then shoulder.
This is how a whip is moved. Further details will be provided in Chapter 11.
You may find it difficult to follow the above procedure in the beginning because it
requires an extremely high degree of concentration and coordination to control the
sequential movements fo the three parts. However, if you persist and concentrate,
you will be able to move your arms without using any muscular power at all.
We will discuss how you can cause your arms to rise in the next chapter. Note I have
again avoided using the word 'lift' here. Indeed the best 'verb' for this movement is
'float', that is, you float your arms upwards. The crux is to let the fulcrum or the centre
move instead of fixing its position. This is different from what I have said before and
we will discuss this later.
CHAPTER 10 - How to ‘sink’ without moving downwards
____________________________________________________________________
What I have said is the way beginners may move their arms. This is not the ultimate
way. One important thing that you have to bear in mind is that when you wish to move
a certain part of your body, you do not move that specific part of the body directly
because if you do, you will have to use muscular power. What you should do is to
move other parts of the body with the assistance of the force of gravity so that the
part of the body which you wish to move will be moved as a result. For example, if
you wish to raise your right arm, you do not actually raise your right arm. What you
should be doing is to further relax the left side of your body and your left arm and feel
that the left side of your body and your left arm are heavier than the right side of your
body and your right arm. By so doing, your right arm will move and with more
practice, your right arm will rise. In the whole process, you must not move the position
of your spine which should act as the fulcrum of a lever, although the spine itself may
turn. Note the difference between the spine itself and its position.
While the Chinese character ‘chen’ is normally used to describe one’s feeling of the
left side of one’s body in the process described above, this character, which means
‘sink’, is most misleading and has caused problems not only to myself when I was a
novice but also many of my fellow learners. The word ‘sink’ in the context of playing
taijiquan really means that while you are relaxing one side of your body, say the left
side, you can feel that the left side becomes heavier but at the same time you should
keep your head floating upwards thus maintaining the left side of your body in more or
less the same position. Since the left side is heavier, it raises the right side of your
body. The right side of your body thus floats upwards without any muscular power
being used. The spine remains in the same position and acts as the fulcrum. If the
process is tampered with by any muscular power, you will not be able to bring about
the desired effect of causing the opposite side of the body to rise. For example, if you
try to assist the upward movement of the right side by lifting it, you will lose the
floating effect. This process is what we call ‘move internally’.
If you combine the movement described in the previous two paragraphs with the
movement of the right arm and right hand described in the previous chapter, you
should be able to float your right arm and right hand without using any muscular power
at all. Of course, this requires a lot of practice and coordination of the different parts
of the body; this also requires the use of the mind. I have bolded the word rise in the
first paragraph above because ultimately, you should feel that the right arm should
float upwards without its weight being reduced by any muscular power. The target
you should be aiming at is to float your arms.
Read all book here:
http://www.chinesechinese.net/Taiji.html
miercuri, 5 mai 2010
sâmbătă, 1 mai 2010
The best exercises and tips you've ever done/gotten
"Hellooo everyone! 
Have been training in aikido for almost four years now, and in stead of things getting better, it only seems to get harder and harder (the "progress" that I feel like I should be making doesn't feel very much like actual progress ). Now, I know I'm not only a newb in here, but still a beginner in this wonderful art as well, but even now I'm glad to say that it has only made my desire to get better and to take things to the "next level" stronger. And that's why I'm here. ^^
So my question is, just as the title says: what are the very best exercises or drills that you've ever done to get better at aikido (whether they be on or off the mat, or solo or partner ones), and what are the very best tips or pieces of advice that you've ever gotten?
Looking forward to hearing from you folks."
http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17828
Have been training in aikido for almost four years now, and in stead of things getting better, it only seems to get harder and harder (the "progress" that I feel like I should be making doesn't feel very much like actual progress ). Now, I know I'm not only a newb in here, but still a beginner in this wonderful art as well, but even now I'm glad to say that it has only made my desire to get better and to take things to the "next level" stronger. And that's why I'm here. ^^
So my question is, just as the title says: what are the very best exercises or drills that you've ever done to get better at aikido (whether they be on or off the mat, or solo or partner ones), and what are the very best tips or pieces of advice that you've ever gotten?
Looking forward to hearing from you folks."
http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showthread.php?t=17828
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