After we have learned the ten essences and understand
its concepts, then we study how Tai Chi uses the body
structure to produce a stronger frame.
At the end of a posture we can adjust
the body to find the correct feeling. To find the feeling, adjust
the body until you feel the structure is strong enough to encounter
your opponent's energy. By without using muscle power, or you
can just transmit your opponent's energy through your body into
the ground.
In the study of Tai Chi, creating
this new body structure energy is the easy part. The difficulties
are in trying to maintain the structure energy during the transition
from one posture to the next, or from one technique to the next.
That is also one of the reasons
why we practice Tai Chi slowly. It is to feel the transition and
maintain the energy. Meditation is a side product, not the main
reason for moving slowly. Tai Chi was created as a fighting discipline,
a martial art.
When you apply the Ten
Essences into your tai chi practice, you will notice the first
five essences are the physical requirements. The last five essences
are more abstract. These requirements happen in exact sequence.
If the first five essences are executed it correctly, then the
sixth essence exists. If the sixth essence exists, then the seventh
essence happens automatically, and the eighth essence can be achieved,
and so on until the tenth essence.
Today, we are going to focus on
coordinating the upper and lower body - the sixth essence
In studying the body, we can generally
divided it into three layers of defense, or three rings of energies.
Let's look at our body from the top down, that is looking from
the head down to the feet.
We understand that when we rotate
our body, a new energy is created. This new energy needs to be
guided through the body and released. A lot of body muscles, movements
and directions are necessary to coordination, to transmit this
new energy out of our body.
Whenever the waist is turned, the
shoulders will also turn to the same direction. The waist and
shoulders are the inner most layers, the inner ring. From the
waist down the leg, the knee is the next joint. From the shoulders
out along your arm, your elbow is the next joint. The knees and
elbows are your middle ring. Finally, moving out from your knees
and elbows, your hands and feet are your outer ring.
If you drop a pebble into a calm
lake surface, at the point where you drop the pebble, a very small
ripple starts to form. You will see the small ripple start to
expand its size in all directions and gradually become bigger.
As the first ripple expands into a larger size, a second ripple
will begin to form and so on onto the third ripple…the first
ripple will gradually diminish and so will the other ripples.
The lake will return to its calmness.
Our body energy's expansion is somewhat
like the ripples in the lake. It starts from the center and expands
outward. The body rotation produced the energy, but it must go
through our body, one joint or a section of the body at a time,
until it reaches our extremities, then to the point of final exhaustion.
The beginners in Tai Chi are more
likely to recognize the hands or arm movements first. It is the
body that move first. Energies are created from the inside and
expended it outward. Dynamite explodes from the inside out.
If we use the move of "Brush
past the knee and push". We can understand more about this
three rings principle. In Tai Chi, the body always moves first.
The waist rotation controls the
shoulders motions. The body rotation will also change your weight
in your legs. As your weight changes from the back leg into the
front leg, you will feel the back knee extending forward and your
front knee sinking downward.
As your arm passes the knee, you
should feel the front elbow pulling backward and your back elbow
extending forward. The principle of drawing the bow to shoot an
arrow (see Ward Off Energy).
Finally, the feeling of the knee's
energy will go down into the two feet at the same time your elbow's
energy will go into your hands. The feeling that you can not extend
or expand any more either in your feet and hand, should be completed
at the same time. If this occurs, then your energy is expanding
equally in all directions. Your upper and lower body are coordinated
correctly.
Practice this feeling of three rings
with every move until you feel comfortable then I will discuss
the feeling of sinking with you.
Confucius said: "To put the
world right in order, we must first put the nation in order; to
put the nation in order, we must first put the family in order;
to put the family in order, we must first cultivate our personal
life; we must first set our hearts right." This is also the
principle of The Three Rings. Applied into our daily life, you
will feel the difference in how people responded to you.
Practicing harder is not a guarantee
to understand Tai Chi. Understand the ten essences is practicing
smart. Without understanding the force of words (the ten essences),
it is impossible to learn more.
