Body Structure
When an architect designs a high rise building, the first
stage, and the most important, is in the designing of the foundation.
For the building to be structurally sound, all the beams in the
building will have to be interlocked and support each other. If
the architect wants the building to be a skyscraper, then the
foundation has to be dug deeper and the structural detail and
every aspect of weight distrubution has to be examined even more
carefully.
When we practice Tai Chi, we practice
under the same principles as in designing a high-rise building.
Unfortunately, most of the Tai Chi practitioners only focus on
the end product. They focus too much on what they want and ignore
the foundation that they have to build before the rest of the
structure can be built. If you don't have a good understanding
of the Tai Chi principles, the Ten Essences, and how the body
structure should be interlocked, you will never be able to use
your body effectively. Your unbalanced body weight will hamper
your body range and motions. You will find your skill level has
grown up to a point and you have reached your plateau. You won't
be able break through this plateau into the next level. It is
just the same as if your high-rise building reaches the fifteen
floor and you realize that you can't build any higher because
the foundation won't hold it. The building structure has reached
its limit. In order to go higher, you will have to tear down what
you already had and rebuilt the foundation. Then all the time
and energy that you had invested in this building is wasted. In
practicing Tai Chi, understand the body structure is the key to
success.
During my teaching career, lots
of beginners will ask me to show them the next move. They will
say: "I have already learned this from the last class, please
show me the next posture." If I go over the basics of the
posture, they will say: "OK, I know this. What's the next
technique?" The beginners will never ask me to re-explain
the basics. They are so eager to go on. This is a very common
problem with beginners.
Learning the postures is the easy
part of the training. The difficult part is in maintaining and
keeping the energy and power in the body while you're in motion.
If you can't feel the energy and power in the beginning, then
you won't feel any at all through out your practice. If you can't
practice your correct body structure, to the point that it becomes
a good habit, then you won't remember it later on when you start
to learn and move on to a more advanced level.
The first stage of the training
is to try to execute all the body structure correctly, and repeatedly,
until it becomes a habit. You no longer have to think about it
any more. The correct body structure becomes second nature. The
second stage of the training is in the study of energy. Understanding
how the energy is created and how it flows through the body. Next,
we study how the intent is used to guide the energy, and learn
to control it. Finally, we learn how to use the energy at will.
You will agree with me that the first stage, the basic, is the
most important part of the training. Yet, it is also the most
neglect stage.
It took three generations of the
Yang family to improve on their knowledge to become what is today's
Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi. Yang Cheng Fu, the third generation
master, is the person we all agree to as the authority in the
final version of the Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi. If you take
a look at his body frame, you will find that in the "brush
and push" and in "grasping the bird's tail", his
body is leaned forward in an angle. His head, shoulder, back,
hip and leg is lined up in a straight line. In the posture of
"single whip" and "Fan through the back",
his upper body is upright. What's the difference? How does upright
and straight affect the usage of the energy? And when do we use
our body upright and when do we use it straight.
In the next issue, I would like
to discuss on the difference between upright and straight in the
Traditional Yang Style Tai Chi.
