Today is another great Qigong and Tai Chi lessons for everyone. What motivates one is knowing how to apply the followings:
1. Linkage in the body.
Each part of our body are linked. Our opponent could feel if your body is linked or not. Also, you as a practitioner could feel whether you are comfortable with the linkage. If each part of your body is not linked, you will feel the pain on that part of the body. To emphasis a bit more from what Jinho Lee told me, there are 3 triangles in our body, we need to maintain these 3 triangles. These triangles must associate with chest, shoulder, toe. (I guess Jinho would be in a better position to describe the linkage.) Without linkage, the opponent could easily defeat you. Without linkage, you could not utilise the whole internal force in your body. I could feel it today practicing with Lizhe, his stand is a stronger forceful one than myself, as my posture is weakening over time.
2. Learn and try to understand the application of the move.
It is a surprise to me today that the application side of the move is deemed the most important aspect of learning Tai Chi. In general class, I am able to replicate the move from Jinho as close as possible in the best of my ability, but I am analysing the move, not how the move applied to an opponent. I was side-tracked by the fact that doing Tai Chi on my own, I was particularly very careful with every stroke or arm or shoulder posture, making sure it looks close to Jinho’s demonstration. But what really surprises me today is that when I am trying to practice the move we learned in class to an opponent, I could not do it. The reason is that I practice with the moves in mind, not the person I am practicing with. Imagining the application to an opponent is absolutely vital. It’s not something anyone can do, unless practice with another person. By practicing with another person, I am able to feel and follow the flow the other person is going, leaving, and pausing. This is the first time I realise practicing tai chi with just the move in mind will not get anywhere, imagining practicing tai chi with another person is closer to what tai chi is about.
3. Internal force.
Again this point comes back to point 1: Linkage in the body. Internal force could only be generated if you have the correct posture and linkage in the body. If your posture dies and weakens, so is your internal force. To start from scratch, you must have a good posture and linkage in the body. I am still trying to get point 1 as a beginner. If I cannot achieve this, the rest is not that important.
4. Gravity force.
One of the key point I almost missed is using the power of the earth. Each and everyone of us have the gravity force. We need to use the gravity force by receiving the energy from the earth and return the energy back to the earth. Energy must come and go, receiving and absorbing. Like sun energy, we receive it but we also release it back to the nature. We need to respect nature. By using gravity force, we could feel where our opponent is going, and follow well, and then at the right time, release the force back to them. Gravity force pull from the ground, if we use it well, we can maximise our internal force.
Learning is about sharing. Sharing is about improving yourself as well as relations to others. Keep on trying! Keep on practicing! This is my fifty cents coin for today!
- Written by Shirley, 2010
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