By Tu-Ky Lam
In our daily life, most of us know how to relax so that we can perfectly perform our tasks. For example, when we push a stalled car to kick-start it, we relax, lean forwards, and put all our body weight on to the car to push it forwards. When we split firewood, we also have to relax to do the job.
It is the same in sports. When we play volley ball, we know that we have to relax when we hit the ball hard. We have to relax when we kick a football or hit a tennis ball with a racket. There are many other occasions when we have to relax when we use force.
Therefore, relaxation does not mean not to use force. It means we relax when we use force so that more force can be produced to achieve our objectives. (If we relax and not use force, we cannot push a car, or send a volley ball to where we want it to go. On the other hand, if we use force and are not relaxed, our body will be stiff and our force will be stuck in our body and not come out. So the car will hardly move and the ball will not go flying away. Our job is not done properly).
We all have no problem pushing a car, kicking a football, etc. But when it comes to doing push-hands, practicing the Taiji form, or sparring, it will be a different story. A lot of people will either use too much force and not relax or be totally relaxed and not use force at all. Either case is not satisfactory. The right thing to do is to use force and be relaxed at the same time. How can we achieve this?
First, we have to understand the importance of relaxation. Relaxation helps our qi, which is our life energy, to flow, and so nourishes our life when we train. It is also a way of conserving our energy. We only use enough energy or strength to perform a task. Using more than enough is a waste of energy, which should be avoided. For example, when we practice the Taiji form we use only a little force. Practicing gently and slowly can help us to relax and so not use much force. The purpose of doing the form in this manner is for us to learn how to gather all our energy or strength into one place and apply it to our opponent. The force we produce from being relaxed should be enormous as it is the force of our whole body.
How can we practice the Taiji form in a relaxed manner and yet produce a lot of force? We must have a correct posture, where all our joints and tendons are stretched and lengthened (for more details, see my other article entitled “How to Align Your Body for Better Qi Flow.”). Then we have to use our mind. Most of us have heard of the saying “Use mind not force”, but have no idea how to carry it out. To use our mind, we must understand the martial applications of each move. One second before we do a move, we must understand what we do this move for. We must also think about how to do this move one second before we do the move. And when we do the move we must concentrate on doing it. In other words, we think about move twice – once before the move and the other during the movement. This think twice approach will ensure that our mind is always there when we practice the routine. The Taiji classics say, “When our mind is present, our qi will be present, and when our qi is present, our jin will be there too”.
To give more substance to our Taiji form, we need to practice zhan-zhuang. Stand half an hour a day. After about three years you will be able to feel you internal body weight move and be able to use it when you practice the form, do push-hands or spar with you mates. Without standing, you cannot have whole body force, and your taiji form will have no substance. For more detail, see my article entitled “Mo-jing: In Search of Internal Power”.
Finally you have to make sure you are very relaxed and know how to use force. How do you know you are relaxed when you train? Use about ten per cent of your strength to do the form, slightly more when doing push-hands. You need to feel that your movements are very light, and your torso feels like empty. If you movements are lighter than air, then you are very relaxed. (You cannot achieve this unless you practice gently for quite a few years. I started with the imagination that I practice the form in the water. So I can feel the pressure of water in my arms and body. After quite a few years, I feel that the air has similar pressure on my body. I know my movements are now very light and I am really relaxed.) When you practice zhan-zhuang, and can make your body weight go to your hands, you are very relaxed too. Then when you practice the Taiji form, you can make your body weight go to your hands too, which make your movement both light and heavy. Now your Taiji form is not empty. This approach is much easier and quicker to achieve than to feel the pressure from the atmosphere.
How to use force? The rule is that you use force in your hands and your feet, and your head has always to lift up and lead your movements, but your torso, especially your shoulders, has to relax.
Your strength is rooted in your feet. You have to bend your knees and hip joints (like sitting on a stool) so that your body weight can go down to your feet, which you can make use of to generate strength. When you shift weight, your leg that has more weight on it pushes toward the other, which will then push into the ground. When you legs push like this your strength will go to your upper body with the help of lifting up the top of your head. (You use about ten per cent of strength to do this, and your torso and shoulders have to relax. If they are tensed, your strength or energy will be stuck at your chest and shoulders and cannot flow freely.)
For the strength in your body to go to your hands, you must use some force (ten per cent) in your wrists to do any move whether it is to bring up your arms, push forwards, roll back, or punch, etc. If you do now know how to use your wrists to move your arms, you (your hands and arms) will have no power.
Wrist movements in Chen style Taijiquan (xinjia as taught by Chen Zhao-kui and his disciples such as Sifu Ma Hong) are very versatile. Each time we do a move, we always use our wrists in such a way as to bring out the strength from our body. We usually flex (bend in) our wrists or extend (bend out) our wrists. These are the two most important features of the wrists. For example, in the first move of “Buddha’s Warrior Attendant Pounds the Mortar”, we flex our wrists so that our fingers point to the ground and use our wrists to bring up our arms. (Our legs push the ground and our head top lifts up to back up and give strength to the move.)
When we do a roll back like in the second move, we bend the thumb and fingers of our right hand, signifying we are holding the wrist of our opponent. The strength is in our right wrist (which is extended) and fingers. At this time, our left wrist (with the palm facing right), also extended, pushes on the elbow of our opponent. We use some strength on our left wrist near the bottom of the sole of our left palm to bring out the force of our whole body (our head rotates and moves slightly towards the direction of the opponent’s elbow and our legs push the ground to give support to our hands).
In the last move of “Kelp out of Sea Bottom,” “White Ape Presents Fruit” and “Cannon over Head” where we clench our thumbs and fingers to make fists, we flex (bend inwards) our wrists to bring out the power. In “Red Fist Covered by Hand), we do a punch where our right fist is extended (bend outwards) slightly.
In these forms: “Step back and Whirl Arms,” “Forward Tricks and Backward Tricks” and “Turn Flowers out and Brandish Sleeves” we use the edge (strength in here) of our palms to chop horizontally or vertically. In “Wild Horse Splits its Manes”, the part of our front wrist that is below our thumb uses force to lead our arm while the strength at the back hand is at the edge of the palm.
If you pay attention to how your wrists move (turns left or right, bend inwards or outwards, etc.), when you practice your Taiji routine, use some force (ten per cent only) in there. Then do not forget to always lift the top of your head up, and move it, together with your torso, in tandem with your hands (to give your hands strong support). At the same time, your feet have to push the ground. Using force in this manner will generate enormous power.
If you practice a style of Taijiquan which does not have so many versatile wrist movements (each time we move our wrist moves first), what do you do? I suggest you use the back of your wrist, the sole of your wrist or the edge of your wrist to bring out the power of your body.
Remember that when doing the form, try to make your movement very light and use only ten per cent of your strength in your hands (wrists), head and legs (feet) to do the move. When you discharge power in training, you can use about 50% force in these parts of your body. (You can use up to 80% strength in your head, hands and feet when releasing power in sparring.) But always relax your chest and shoulders. Under no circumstances can they be tensed up.
Now I hope you understand that if you can relax and put your body weight on your hands plus the strength of your whole body, you will be many times stronger than if you are not relaxed. Relaxation does not mean that we have no strength and are an easy prey to our opponent. Instead, it gives us the strength that we need to outperform our opponent.