My understanding of Tai Chi seems to come in the form of a sine wave: the more I learn, the more I realize I don’t know, and as I adjust for more and more details, other details get lost.
For the last few months, I felt like I was getting nowhere. The concepts made sense in my brain, but not in my body. My teacher has said that Tai Chi is already too intellectualized, and as a person who’s never been very physically co-ordinated and tries to compensate in SHEER MENTAL POWA!, this holds true especially for me. Until I’ve mastered telekinesis, however, I’ll be reliant on more traditional means of movement.
One thing that helped a lot is when a senior student showed me what ward-off (peng) felt like. As he stood with structure in his body, I tried to push him1, but ended up pushing myself off him and falling over. In order to move him, I was forced to use the proper technique (since he’s considerably bigger than me), and expand with my entire body — legs, waist, arms, chest, lungs — instead of simply trying to move through him.
Then we reversed roles and he pushed me until I could channel his energy through my feet. It was the first time I ever felt grounded, instead of simply understanding the idea. I still don’t really understand it, insofaras I couldn’t explain it to someone else.
Adapting this all to the form is something else. I try to focus on one thing at time2 but it falls apart in other places. At this point, I’m just trying to get all the gross mechanics to be natural without having to think about it, hoping that I’ll eventually be able to fine tune everything else.
- It reminded me of the feeling of squeezing a rubber stopper, something with give but not much, that becomes exponentially difficult to compress. [↑]
- Such as staying at one level without being rigid (considered “breathing”), relaxing my lower back, thinking of my body being anchored through my legs, and keeping structure and intent in my palms. [↑]
The basis of “grounding”, as I have discovered so much later in live, will eventually make you come to the conclusion that: “My toes are too weak”
Through my own exploration in the transference of force throughout the body, I realized that usually, a “grounding” is not possible, when one small muscle (in the chain of muscles required for the force transference from certain direction) is too weak. In my case, I have more positions open to me now my toes are strong enough to support my weight. So instead of needing to get into a stance for certain forces, I am already in the right stance without wasting time to change.
The rubber band analogy is probably the highest form of the connection between a couple that dances. I still have trouble with it as I often forget my dance partner when I am in the zone. It’s about being aware of the other.
Interesting. Shotokan Karate teaches similar things, including “gripping the ground” with your toes. Power comes from the foundation to the ground, and–in a way–connecting that power all the way to your arms by using the muscles properly.
Cool. :)
@Causalien — For me, it’s my quadriceps. I’ve never had particularly strong quads; when I go snowboarding, they burn out after one run. That would be my weak link.
The “rubber band” analogy of ballroom dancing sounds like the “breathing” analogy of Tai Chi: something that it’s cohesive and structured that breathes (i.e. isn’t rigid).
@Steve — I think power coming from the ground makes a lot of martial sense, so I’m not surprised that other martial arts, even hard styles, follow the same principles.
When doing exercises like uprooting in Tai Chi, you aren’t supposed to move your feet off the ground,
but it’s permissible (i.e. not cheating) to wiggle your toes to get a better gripEdit: my Tai Chi teacher has clarified the feet should be relaxed but firm on the ground, so no toe wiggling. Since we practice with our shoes off, it makes me wonder whether this is applicable in a real-world self-defence scenario when one is wearing shoes.Sounds like a fascinating point for learning. Far farther in Tai Chi than I got to talk about energy transference.