Some Essential Elements of Taijiquan Practice

The following article is based on an interview of Patrick Chan by his student Carol Chui that took place in HongKong in 2011. Transcribed and translated by Patrick Chan, and Dominic Chan and Theresa Cancro Chan of Wilmington, DE

Carol Chui: Chan laoshi, the Wang style form you just demonstrated looks somewhat different from the one yourecorded a few years ago; why is that?

Patrick Chan: In truth, in taijiquan practice we are primarily talking about the need for internal motion - movements from within our body that result from the transformation of body weight into a source of energy for motion. The“look” of the form during practice is actually the result of this energy flow, not of using simple brute force to achieve a superficial appearance. In our body this energy flow is dependent upon its pathways. The more you can SONE (relax and loosen up) your body, the wider are these channels. When you open up these channels to allow the energy to flow unimpeded in the body, you can then begin to move methodically following the gravitational track.
All the effort and time that is put into SONE the body to open up the energy channels will certainly alter the look of the form. Today, my form has a certain appearance, but after a few more years of practice, it should not look the same; otherwise, I have made no improvement.

Chui: Are you saying then that the look of our form will change, too?

Chan: Yes, only if you practice correctly. In fact, we can say that from the first day you start practicing taijiquan to the very end, your form will never look like any previous practice because it is impossible to have identical mind intent each time. With the many movements and details in transition in a form, even the slightest variation of mind intent will cause internal change .

Chui: Since we are talking about internal practice and internal movement, how can we tell from looking at our form practice that we are indeed doing internal movement?

Chan: In the taijiquan classic, there is a famous quote: “The JIN (energy) originates from the feet, generated by the legs, controlled by the waist and manifested in the hands.” In other words, the power comes from the feet, which then slowly rises up the body until it is emitted by the hands. However, this quote only tells the second half of the story. So how does the JIN get its start from the feet? Mainly, we are talking about SONE your body to let your weight sink all the way to the bottom of the feet. Once that is achieved, then there is a rebounding force or energy that comes up. This is a lengthy process: From the foot, this energy travels up to the lower leg, then the thigh, followed by the KUA , and then to the waist. From the waist, it goes to the back, the shoulder, the elbow, the wrist,
the hand, and finally is expressed through the fingers. This is the sequence. But, when you use brute force to do taijiquan as many people do, the starting point of a hand movement will typically only be located in area of the forearm. So if you simply extend your arm without thinking, it will merely be the forearm moving. This is considered “using force,” never mind talking about gathering up your JIN from your lower extremities. To make it easier to understand, say you are working on transferring the JIN from the left hand to the right hand. When the left hand presses down, the rebounding force will travel up the forearm, upper arm, shoulder, then transfer to the right shoulder, upper arm and forearm, elbow, wrist and so on. A process has to be there. So what should we focus on
in this JIN transfer process? We should ask ourselves: Where is the initiating point and what is the pathway of the energy from this point to the final point of expression or emission? You must follow this pathway. If you practice diligently according to this method, slowly but surely you will begin to establish channels inside your body through which the energy can flow. This is really one of the most important elements of the practice. Just remember: To move “directly” is using brute force; to move “indirectly” is using JIN.

Chui: So how are we going to practice the form so that we can easily open up these channels?

Chan: First we have to distinguish between the early learning stage and the more advanced stage. In the early stage, you are just trying to learn the form, so it is too soon to talk about internal motion. Your focus should be on remembering the sequence and placement of arms and legs in each movement. After you have become thoroughly familiarized with the form, then you can start to focus on building up pathways in small sections of your body. This is like building an underground pipe system in construction - it is done section by section. In taijiquan, we tend to use our arms a lot. In general, the most difficult areas to open up are the joints. We are talking about the shoulder joint, elbow joint, and the wrist joint. In the form, whenever we have to extend our hand, we should
start by using our mind to SONE the shoulder, and then let the weight of the arm travel slowly down to the elbow. After passing through the elbow, the weight flows down to the forearm. You should then SONE the wrist to let the weight travel out to the fingers. This is not unlike the workings of a hydraulic system in which the hydraulic fluid flows successively through connecting pipelines. So for every hand movement you start by relaxing the shoulder, then sinking the elbow, and finally relaxing the wrist. This is the most fundamental practice. Once you have established this foundation, gradually you have to open up rest of the joints in your body. The goal here is to connect your lower body with your upper body. This is one of the most critical points in taijiquan practice, because without this connection, you cannot talk about JIN traveling from the root of the foot, up the leg to the waist and
expressing through the hand. Therefore, if you simply turn your waist left and right during the movement, there is no connection with the lower body. The starting point of movement which I talked about earlier is located only at your waist, not at the foot or leg. One of the best ways to effectively connect the upper and lower body is to SONE your mingmen point [an acupuncture point on the lower back directly behind the navel] and let your tailbone sink down. This process will take time and step-by-step practice.

Chui: If the mingmen and tailbone are the keys in connecting the upper and lower body in the back, then what should we do with the front of the body?

Chan: We have to focus on the so-called “body method” here. Every moment is propelled by the flow of energy derived from the correct execution of this body method. Let’s take the hand movement with the shoulder -elbow- wrist sequence I talked about earlier as an example. If you just move your shoulder, elbow and wrist, strictly speaking, you are still using some force because the shoulder is the starting point. So to execute this movement using the “body method,” you should really start by gently and slowly lifting up the top of your head. This will cause the shoulder to naturally relax and the energy will begin to flow down your whole arm. Accordingly, the actual starting point of the hand movement is “gently lifting up the crown of the head” (xu ling ding jin - a quote from
Wang Zongyue’s Taijiquan Treatise). It is the lifting up of the head that causes the hand to move forward. This is an example of using “body method” to determine the starting point of a movement. So to apply this “body method” to the front of the body, you begin with “contain the chest” (han xiong). To han xiong, first you have to expand the chest to either side with the feeling of taking the skin of the chest and adhering it to the back. Once that is done, your rib cage will feel like it is suspended in air. Then you relax the rib cage downward, and you will experience a triangular force pushing down towards your dantain.

Chui: Chan laoshi, the style of taijiquan we practice, Wang’s Water-nature style taijiquan, how did it get its name?

Chan: In the beginning, when my late teacher, Master Wang Zhuang Hong, created this form he named it Wang style taijiquan . This style is derived from the Yang Style Large Frame he learned from his teacher, Zhu Guiting, who was a student of Yang Chengfu. Master Wang felt there was a need to modify and further improve the Yang style in order for taijiquan to develop and advance. Since Master Wang drew heavily upon Wang Zongyue’s Taijiquan Treatise for his inspiration during the process, he decided to call it Wang style taijiquan. He did not mean to name the style after himself, even though his family name also happens to be Wang. In the last years of his life, he finally changed the name one more time. This is because the energy for the movements, whether it comes from our own body weight or is leveraged from our opponent, is transformed into a kind of fluid,
which circulates inside the body. In other words, the outside energies, an opponent’s or gravity, are absorbed into our body and converted into another form of JIN which is then used in various applications. The nature of this internal JIN flow is very similar to that of water. Thus, in the end, Master Wang decided to call it the Wang’s Water nature style taijiquan.

Chui: Would you please give us some demonstrations to help illustrate how this water- nature is relevant to the
concept you talked about earlier of JIN starting from the root of the foot, generated by the leg, controlled by the waist and expressed through the hand?

Chan: When we talk about releasing the body weight, we are talking about doing it only to one side. Once the center is established, we have distinguished the left and right sides of our body. When one side sinks, the other side will naturally rise up. The meaning of sinking is to release you weight on one side all the way down to the foot. Then the rebounding energy will begin to fill up that side starting from the foot to the lower leg, thigh and up the waist, etc. As this side is filling up, the other side will automatically become empty. Picture a boat floating on the ocean with its bottom full of water. As soon as you step on one side, all the water will flow to that side and the other side will naturally rise up. To help you experience this “floating” energy, push your left hand against my right
shoulder as I place my right hand under your left elbow. As you start pushing, I imagine water inside me flowing down my left side, down the leg to the bottom of my foot. Then my right kua will begin to rise up. This condition is called “floating,” and you should start to feel as though you are being uprooted. Conversely, I can also do “floating” on the right side, the same side that you are pushing. This time, as I release my body weight down the right leg, the rebounding energy will begin to rise up in my right side, like slowly filling up an empty pitcher with water. The feeling you are experiencing now is somewhat different from the last time. The first one felt a little empty and insubstantial, but now you should feel like you are buoyed by water. Regardless, the net result is the same: You
are being uprooted. All this is accomplished with gravity and without using force. We are talking about a process of slowly releasing your body weight and letting the rebounding force fill up one side of the body.

Chui: How does this apply in the form? For example, in the brush knee twist step, if I press against the side of your back leg, will I also be affected?

Chan: Yes (adopting the left brush knee posture with Carol standing to the side, bending down and placing one hand on Chan’s upper right thigh and one hand on his lower right leg). If I just push my right hand out, you will not feel anything. My force is localized on my forearm – I merely adopted the “look” of the posture. Now, however, before I push my hand, I begin the movement first by releasing my weight down to my feet. Then I simply allow my legs to begin to fill up starting from the bottom of my foot, lower leg, then thigh, then waist; as a result you will lose your balance. Now I want to demonstrate this principle with my upper body. Place your hands on my right upper arm and shoulder. I will do the same sequence of weight release and fill up my body from the leg. You will still be uprooted, but now it will take longer because the energy has to travel farther up my body. This simple demonstration illustrates that in taijiquan, the energy should fill up the entire body even to the smallest part. This is one of the characteristics of energy flow in taijiquan. We must understand this concept and work towards this goal if we say we are taiji practitioners. Also, pay careful attention to the pathway in which the energy flows up from the bottom of the feet.

Chui: Thank you Chan laoshi for your instruction.