Relax, Damnit! --- Part 2

I’m standing with my feet a comfortable distance apart, my arms at my sides. I start at the top of my head to relax my whole body. My head becomes lightened, as if suspended from a thread. I empty my mind oof all thoughts. I rest my tongue gently against the roof of my mouth. I loosen up the muscles of my neck and drop my shoulders, allowing my arms to bend very slightly so my elbows move away from my body. My palms turn inward, wrist and fingers in a gentle curve. My spine is straight but as I breath deeply and slowly I feel my back muscles relax and my energy seems to sink. I bend my knees a little to take the tension out of my legs. All of my energy seems centered just below my navel: I have sunk my Chi to the Dantian! My feet, instead of feeling all the weight of my body have rooted themselves several inches below the floor! I have completed the first movement of Tai Chi Chuan: Preparation.

But am I relaxed? What does it really mean to relax in terms of Tai Chi practice? Why is that first movement, so important?

The English translation of Fu Zhongwen’s book, Mastering Yang Style Taijiquan (essential reading) is by Louis Swaim. In his introduction he talks about translation issues and points out that the terms, song and fang song are usually translated as “relaxed” and “relax.”  He says:

Etymologically the term song is based on a character for “long hair that hangs down”--- that is, hair that is loosened and expanded, not “drawn up.” Therefore, “loosened” and “loosen” are more accurate renderings for song and fang song.

Fu Zhongwen, in speaking of the Preparatory Posture, says the “…spirit of vitality (jingshen) should be naturally elevated. The mind should be calm, without a trace of distracting thoughts.” And therein lies another important element of relaxation: emptying the mind. Thinking causes stress and stress increases tension in the muscles. Therefore, it makes sense to empty the mind of daily problems.

Yang Chenfu beginning posture

Standing correctly relaxed at the beginning (or, some say, before the beginning) puts one in the proper state of mind and of body for continuing to be loose during movement: moving, as they say, like a string of pearls. The story goes that Sun Lu Tang went to study the martial art of Xing Yi Quan with the master, Li Kui Yuan. Li taught him only the Standing Posture which he practiced for a whole year. One day as Sun was in the Standing Posture, Li approached him from behind and struck him on his back. Sun was unmoved by the blow and so was allowed to advance in his studies. Sun Lu Tang (originator of Sun Style Taijiquan) wrote about Wu Ji:

Wu Ji is the natural state occurring before one begins to practice martial arts. The mind is without thought; the intent is without motion; the eyes are without focus; the hands and feet are still; the body makes no movement; yin and yang are not yet divided; the clear and the turbid have not yet separated; the qi is united and undifferentiated.

And one cannot discount the importance of placing the tongue against the roof of the mouth. This has a number of benefits. For one, a stressed person tends to grit  or grind their teeth. The muscles of the jaws, when tensed in that way can transfer the tension to your whole body and even cause headaches. In addition, when the tongue touches the roof of the mouth it somewhat blocks one from breathing through the mouth and drying it out. In fact, some saliva may be generated in this way which is beneficial to other body functions. In Qigong theory there are two different energy paths which are connected by this placement of the tongue against the roof of the mouth--- but now we’re getting more complicated than I had intended in this simple discussion of relaxing!

One of the Tai Chi Classics, the Tai Chi Chuan Treatise attributed to Wang Chung Yueh in the Ming Dynasty (translated by Master T. T. Liang) says:

T’ai Chi (The Supreme Ultimate) springs from Wu Chi (The Limitless). It is the source of motion and tranquility and the mother of Yin and Yang. In motion they separate, in tranquility they fuse into one.

From this we can understand that relaxing is the path to correct movement of Qi throughout the body and hence essential to the practice of Tai Chi Chuan (The Supreme Ultimate Fist). So relax, Damnit!

Beautiful Lady's Hand

Architect Mies van der Rohe once said, “God is in the details.” In talking about Tai Chi we might paraphrase this as “Chi is in the details.” Most Tai Chi classes teach the basic movements, then begin to refine the form by stressing principles, applications and philosophy and working on the details. Focusing on details too early can be distracting, but after achieving an understanding of the movements, how they follow one another, it is essential.

One important principle in Tai Chi is softness. This is practiced by keeping the limbs loose, curved and never fully extended. A crucial detail in which softness is practiced is the position of the hand. Never stiff, never extended, always soft.

Wolfe Lowenthal’s book on Cheng Man-Ch’ing, “Gateway to the Miraculous,” has been fascinating me since I first read it. On the cover is a photo close-up of the Professor’s hand in a gesture he calls, “Beautiful Lady’s Hand.” The hand is open but partially folded, the fingers lightly bent, the wrist loose and curved. It seems dossal, limp, but is actually endowed with potential energy, like a spring or a coiled whip. There is no tension in that hand, yet it is ever ready to strike. Like the “needle wrapped in cotton,” there is hardness hidden in the softness.

Early in my study of Tai Chi I held my hands flat with my thumbs sticking out. One time my teacher grabbed me by one of my thumbs: the pain was excruciating! “See,” he said, “you’re giving your opponent a handle.” What he didn’t know was that a few years before I had a severe fall in which I had partially dislocated both thumbs. I held my thumbs outward to ease the pain in my carpometacarpal joints where osteoarthritis was rapidly developing.

You may have read that Tai Chi is good for arthritis, not as a cure but as a therapy. I believe this is true. Over the years I have concentrated on holding my hands in the “Beautiful Lady’s” position, curving my thumbs and fingers slightly. I do this not only during Tai Chi practice but whenever my hands are at rest or idle. I also do finger and thumb exercises, sort of Tai chi for the fingers. Without movement a joint becomes stiff. It’s the same principle that creates some of the health benefits of Tai Chi.

Hands of the Golden Buddha in meditative position (Dhyana mudra).

The hands are not used to grasp an opponent. It may seem, for example, in Roll Back, that you have grasped each side of your opponent’s arm and you are pulling them around you. Here, however, the hands only  guide as the body turns and the opponents momentum propels them forward. In Push Hands, if you grasp your opponent, you are merely increasing their control of you. In effect you have created a fulcrum for your opponent’s leverage.

Yang Chen Fu demonstrating Fair Lady Works the Shuttle

The hands are not used to block. There is no such thing as a block in Tai Chi. There is sticking, following, redirecting, but no blocking. Again, to block you must become rigid  and immoveable. The outcome will depend on whose force and mass are greater. This is not Tai Chi. There is a movement called Fair Lady Works the Shuttle (or Jade Lady or Four Corners) which appears to be a series of blocks, one arm held high to guard the forehead and the other pushing outward, chest level. As you can see in this photo of Yang Chen Fu, the raised arm does appear to be a block. However, when seen as a typical “sticking and following” sequence, this interpretation changes considerably.

There is a nice description on line of the Fair Lady movement on Taichido.com (http://www.taichido.com/chi/explore/Cpt3part2.htm) including some videos. The movement can be seen as an upending of the opponent, similar to Ward Off. The author of the Taichido piece concludes with this:

As a concluding curve ball for further contemplation may I urge you investigate 'Fair Lady' as an upending trip. The foot, leading with the heel in the case of an opponent at locations other than the front, is placed behind those of the opponent and the forearm (this arm and 'leading' leg is always the same i.e. right arm/leg left arm/leg) applies 'extended (yang) ward off that becomes the push that applies the trip.

There are two other forms the hands take besides that of the Beautiful Lady: the Fist and the Hook. The fist, used during various punches, as well as Dredge Ocean for the Moon, Double Gusts Penetrate Ears, Advance to the Seven Stars, and so forth, is also formed loosely. The fingers are curved in toward the palm but only so far, as if you were holding a roll of quarters. The thumb is bent across the outside of the fist. The wrist is not curved but is able to twist and guide so that the punch strikes as an extension of the arm, guided in turn by movement of the waist. Hence there is no tension in the fist.

Cheng Man Ching demonstrating Single Whip

The Hook is formed by the right hand during Single Whip (except in Sun Style and Wu/Hao Style where it is a fist). The thumb touches the index and middle fingers and the wrist is bent. Applications of the Single Whip posture are many and variations of the stance and positioning of arms and legs vary from version to version. Examination of the Single Whip should be saved for another time except to point out that in relaxing and opening up the Hook, the hand goes easily into the Beautiful Lady form.

I see the Beautiful Lady’s Hand as a detail that embodies many of the principles of the Tai Chi Chuan form. The advanced beginner (is that an oxymoron?) can benefit from exploiting this idea as they practice, allowing the hands to relax, curve gently and move by following the actions of the arms which in turn follow the actions of the waist. Remember, Chi is in the details.