Footwork - the delivery of the mass

Forget about the strokes for the time being , Lets talk about footwork , moving forward , backward, turning to the left and right . By now , u would have been able to maintain the 4 points(the 4 corners of the shoulders and the hips) thereby holding the upper torso as a square and creating the mass . Now , u need the correct footwork to deliver this mass around .

Soften the bottom of the feet. You will be surprised at how tense your feet can be . Softening the bottom of the feet allows the weight to sink into the ground, the softer its is, more weight sinks in , giving you more balance. There are some teachers or articles advocating gripping the ground with your toes in order to maintain more balance - I am totally against it .

While in motion ,it is important not to allow the shoulders to initiate the movement, be it forward or backwards or in any direction for that matter, the initiation must come from the hips . The moment you allow the shoulders to initiate , you are plunching towards that direction , you will lose grip of your own balance. So how big a step should we take ? The distance is best determined by stretching out the feet without moving your body, total stillness on the body . Generally , its only about one feet forward  while maintaining  shoulder width apart.. And when u land your feet , do not let the feet tense up . I would like to add this important point as in moving in a zig-zag manner. If u intend to move your right leg forward, u should first bring your right leg towards the left before moving forward and landing on the right, and vice versa with the left leg.

Alighning the knees with the elbows forming a straight line contributes to the wholeness or mass of the structure. Do not allow the knees to stretch beyond being perpendicular to the ground.

 Zhaobao form is particularly concern with not over stretching the knee forward. We believe in "hiding the knees" , which is an expression behind keeping  the knees straight and not bent.

Please kindly bear in mind the above pointers, this article is extremely beneficial in maintaining your center of gravity and in determining the magnitude of the force you will be able to deliver .

xie xie !! Have fun and practice hard !!

Taichibug

Stillness in structure ,in Senses,and in Intention.

Stillness in structure, in Senses ,and in Intention. ( 定拳架， 定神， 定意念)

We know taichi is an exercise of continuous flow of actions or strokes, then， why is there stillness in structure , in senses and in intentions?

Stillness in this case is a figurative term. Stillness in structure (定拳架) refers to the consistency of the move or stroke. The initiation , the speed , the angle , the distance and the ending of the stroke has to be maintained with the same consistency throughout. This is difficult to achieve. When the legs move, the hands move - when the hips moves , the shoulder moves - when the mind moves , the body moves - but more often than not , we acted vice -versa.

Stillness in Senses (定神) lies in the eyes . When the eyes moves , the head moves , when the head moves , the shoulders moves , this reaction often breaks our sense of balance . Once the shoulder moves, it breaks away from the direction of the hips, the 4 points will be broken , thereby losing your balance. Stillness in the eyes is by far the most difficult to achieve. Learning to have a panoramic view is what you should be training for .

Stillness in Intentions ( 定意念 )is simply about decisiveness. Firstly , you have to be very familiar with the sequence of a stroke. Secondly, a stroke is made up of various actions, each action will intersect into another action , so you have to be able to feel when u should intersect into the next action. In simple language , synchronization!

Ladies and gentlemen , kindly practice what we have gone through in every lesson . You have to set your structure and refine your synchronization . Kindly remember : Refinement is infinite !!

谢谢 ， 欢迎观临 !!!!

Taichibug