Partner Exercises in Taijiquan

In the last post, we looked at a well-known secret on the easy way of getting good at taiji.  However, there is also a not-so well-known secret that sits alongside it.  And that secret is that a large proportion of taiji practice involves working with a partner.

Why Partner Work Is Important
You may recall from an earlier post, that our internal movement in taiji is expelling bad stuff (binqi) and bringing-in new good stuff.  This action originates in the martial art of taijiquan.  We neutralise our opponent's attacks by taking their force through our body and either sending it away or giving it back to our opponent.  This isn't a trick you can learn overnight.  It requires practice of the quality I described in last week's notes.

You need to explore what it feels like to become a conduit of an opponent's energy, to conduct and send that energy away, or to fold it back into the opponent.  Through this exploration, you gradually become adept at doing it correctly without conscious effort.  And by doing this, you become adept at the internal movement of taiji.

Partner Exercises
Perhaps the most well-known partner exercise in taiji is 'tui shou' (pushing hands).  This is a fairly sophisticated, structured sparring exercise, where the partners are trying to cause one another to lose balance.  Other, even more sophisticated sparring exercises, are 'da lu' and 'san shou', which also incorporate foot work.  The only way to learn these things properly is through instruction and practice.

However, before we get to these partner forms in our classes, we need to spend some time learning some of the principles employed.  We do this using 'sticking hands', 'two-handed yielding', and a basic form of 'ba gua'.

In practising sticking hands, we are learning to generally perceive our partner - their position, movements, energy - without using our eyes.  Not only that, but we are learning to trust our perception.  This is the beginning of our understanding of how to sense subtle movements and changes in our external environment.

In two-handed yielding, we up the ante slightly.  In this exercise, we have a defender and an attacker.  As the defender, we are learning to hide our centre of gravity, or 'root'.  As the 'attacker', we are learning how to seek-out our partner's root, and thus cause them to lose their balance.

These exercises can really only be learned through live teaching, and they will are gradually introduced to students as they become more comfortable with the basic solo work.

Some Notes on Movement

Movement

In the previous article, we considered how one of the foundations of taiji is expansion. This expansion provides us with a good infrastructure for movement - a movement that flows from within. Think of it like plumbing. By expanding the joints, we are opening the valves and turning on the taps. Our aim then is to make 'qi' flow through the pipes. To do this, our 'qi' has to be pumped from somewhere and must travel to somewhere.

What is this qi?

I think that a particularly good translation of the word 'qi', is 'stuff'. Qi refers to all sorts of things, the most tangible being bodily matter (solids, fluids, and gases), such as metabolic by-products, blood, synaptic fluid, air, methane, etc. Stuff. 

The exercises we study and practice in taiji get rid of 'binqi' - bad stuff. Things like lactic acid in the muscles, ammonium chloride in the joints, calcifications, stagnant joint fluid, puss, methane, and the like. Stuff that we would rather not have inside us, but nevertheless is present either because we put it there, or because it is produced by natural body processes. 

It is reasonable to assume that there is an abundance of good stuff around us; fresh water, fresh air, fresh food, etc. So in taiji, we adopt the same strategy as breathing, eating, and drinking - we send out the stuff we have used and no longer need, which in so doing, causes a whole load of new, fresh stuff to flow in. And then we repeat ad infinitum. 

So our internal movement within our plumbing system is always in an outward direction, sending all of the qi away. 

The Destination

We control where we send the stuff away to with our mind. We do this by thinking and focusing on the place we want our stuff to go to. It doesn't necessarily matter where that destination is, provided it isn't a person. Rather we choose our destination based on its distance (the further the better), the direction (the direction we want our qi to flow in), and how well we know the place (obviously it is easier to think of and focus on somewhere we know well). 

The Pump

In order for the stuff to actually move through our newly opened plumbing system, it needs to be pumped. This is done by the 'lower dantian'. The lower dantian is a region in the abdomen, centrally located about halfway between the navel and genitals, and about a third of the way inside, in between the abdominal muscles. 

The lower dantian is activated with certain exercises that I will be teaching in my classes. When it is activated, the lower dantian pumps qi through the body when we make all body movement originate from it. This process is easier to understand by demonstration and practice than by reading. 

However, I really want to emphasise that making ALL body movement originate in the dantian, resulting in a flowing, joined-up movement, is the foundation to this process. If you are not doing this, then you are not doing taiji. 

Come along to a class and try it out for yourself!

What's It Like Coming To Your First Class

Coming to Your First Class

New students turning up to their first taiji class often don't know exactly what to expect. So, if you decide to come to one of our classes, then the following might give you some insights.

What is important?

Taijiquan is called an 'internal' martial art for good reason, because it is primarily about what is happening on the inside of the body. Our aim is not to perfect the external manifestation of a taijiquan form, but rather to perfect the necessary internal structure and movements in manifesting any and all of our external movements. We use taijiquan form as a means of studying and practicing this. 

Taijiquan form is important, but there are some even more important fundamentals that need to be covered before and during our study of taijiquan form. 

Expansion

Taiji is all about expansion, rather than relaxation. Expansion is fundamental to taiji. For example, we endeavour to expand our joints, creating space between them. 

We begin our studies by focusing on expanding the biggest joints - our hips, shoulders, and spines. It might be debatable whether our spines are joints, but for our purposes we can think of them as a string of joints running from the coccyx to the base of the skull. We find that muscles around these joints are prone to a lot of physical tension, due to lifestyle habits, negative emotions, and other forms of stress, which in turn cause the joints to contract. 

Many of the exercises that we do are intended to work on these joints; firstly to loosen them, and then to gently expand them. Taijiwuxigong exercises are particularly helpful in achieving this. Each week we spend time doing these exercises, gradually improving our understanding of how we make expansion happen and how it feels. We also apply this fundamental knowledge each week in a step-by-step study of the taijiquan form known as Taiji37 form. 

Benefits

The upshot of this is that studying and practicing taiji provides relief from the physical effects of long term stress. Come along and find out for yourself - the more you do it, the better it works.

How to Become Good at Taiji

In the previous article, we considered what the word 'movement' really means in taiji and how it is done. You will recall that the concept is profoundly simple, yet putting it into practice is far from straightforward. This is mainly because it requires us to re-learn some fundamental aspects of movement, things we originally learned as young children. 

Clearly, movement is pretty fundamental to taiji, in fact it is fundamental to everything we do in life, even sleep. So as a newbie to taiji, it might not be such an attractive prospect to discover that much of the initial work is about learning to move (also breathe, think, and sense) differently than how you do in everyday life. To alleviate this, I am going to let you into a secret: the easy way to become good at taiji.

The Easy Way

This easy method is so simple that you will probably have to read it twice to notice what it is. In fact the philosophy of it is contained within that sentence. 

Much of the effort in bodywork is in development of proprioception - knowing what it feels like to move and position very specific parts of your body in very specific places. To truly know, you have to explore and to question: what am I doing now? where am I now? where do I need to be? how do I need to move to get to where I need to be? what does it feel like when I am there? 

And that last question is probably the most important: how does it feel? Essentially, it is an act of introspection. What is important is this exploratory process, not how long it takes, or how successful you are. Focus on the exploration. ENJOY it and have FUN with it. 

When you go to your next taiji class, use your taiji teacher as a talking mirror. Really apply the feedback you get, really enjoy it and remember what it feels like when you know you are closer to getting it right. Take that knowledge with you and apply it to everything you do. Re-tune your perception of taiji into a philosophy of movement that you apply to everything you do. That way, you can enjoy it so much more because you will have so many more opportunities to explore. 

During those moments of your life where you are doing relatively little movement - perhaps you are watching TV or listening to the radio, or even just boiling the kettle - remember what you learned in taiji class last time. Play with it, explore it, and enjoy it. It need not take more than five minutes, but oh, what five minutes of joy! 

So, when you go along to your next class and try it out for yourself, you will probably already begin to notice how much easier it is. 

What Is Tai Chi, etc?

Tai Chi, etc is all about Taijiquan, Qigong, Meditation, and Qigong Therapy/Healing.

But what Is Tai Chi?

Tai chi is actually the name of the yin-yang philosophy, on which many volumes have been written.  On the other hand, the 'Tai Chi' that many people around the world learn and practice (including me!) is a traditional Chinese martial art, more correctly called 'Taijiquan' or  'Tai chi chuan' - both transliterations being of the same Chinese name. People tend to just call it 'Taiji' (Tai Chi), however, the 'quan' ('chuan') part is important: it means boxing or martial art, which is what Taijiquan is, and it differentiates Taijiquan from the philosophy.

When Taijiquan was first brought to the West (by Cheng Man Ching), its common English translation was 'Grand Ultimate Fist' - the 'Fist' part coming from 'quan', and 'Grand Ultimate' coming from 'Taiji'.  However, while this perhaps satisfies the need for a name, it doesn't really provide an effective translation.  We have already seen that 'quan' actually means boxing/martial art, whereas, the use of the term 'Taiji' is making reference to the philosophy, because the Taiji philosophy was traditionally used in the teaching of Taijiquan.

As a philosophy, Taiji actually refers to 'the universe and everything in it'. So, a direct translation of Taijiquan would be: 'the universe and everything in it boxing', which does not quite roll off the tongue so well, but in any case, it gives us little clue about what Taijiquan really is.  In the end, it is better just to refer to it as 'Taijiquan'.

Perhaps a more useful and informative translation of 'Taiji' might be: 'unlimited size', as this refers to a fundamental principle of Taijiquan: expansion. On the physical level, expansion is the practice of stretching and expanding your joints, and creating space between them. Practitioners begin their studies by focusing on expanding the biggest joints: hips, shoulders, and spines.

We find that muscles around these joints are prone to a lot of physical tension, due to lifestyle habits, negative emotions, and other forms of stress, which in turn cause the joints to contract, physically 'holding-in' the pain.  Later, we move-on to include the smaller joints such as in the fingers. By studying and practicing Taijiquan, we gradually improve our understanding of how we make physical expansion happen and how it feels. This is why studying Taijiquan provides relief from the physical effects of long term stress.

However, ‘expansion’ is a fundamental principle of Taijiquan for somewhat more profound reasons than this.

What is Qigong?

Qigong, on the other hand, refers to any exercises that work on the flow of 'Qi' within the body, for health (self-healing) and spiritual development.  The word was first coined many years ago in an obscure Chinese manuscript, and it was later popularised in the 1950s as a catch-all term for a wide range of exercise systems (old and new).  This includes rare exercise systems as well as the more well-known ones, suchas YiJin Jing daoyin and BaduanJin daoyin.  Arguably, Taijiquan solo practice can be considered as a Qigong as well - the 'expansion' facilitates the flow of 'Qi' within (and out of) the body.

The Qigong in Tai Chi etc classes is primarily the Taijiwuxigong system, with a sprinkling of exercises from the YiJin Jing and the E-Mei Shi Er Zhuang.  These systems work to support the Taiji 37 style Taijiquan that we teach (and vice versa).

 What about Meditation?

Within many of the more interesting and useful Qigong exercise systems, there is a strong element of Meditation.  Firstly, some of the deeper Qigong exercises involve deliberately shifting into a Meditational state as a part of the exercise.  Secondly, Meditational states can spontaneously 'emerge' for the practitioner as a result (and in the moment) of the Qigong exercises.  And thirdly, the later-stage exercises of some of the more profound Qigong systems are specific Meditation practices, which work on control and movement of Qi through the subtle body using mind, breath, sound, and internal movement (eg: Taijiwuxigong has 'Wuxi' Meditation and the E-Mei Shi Er Zhuang has 'Ming Zhi Zhuang' Meditation).

Qigong Therapy/Healing

After some years of practicing Taijiquan, Qigong, and Meditation, we can develop latent skills that can be used to help others to 'move their Qi' within their subtle bodies.  You will find that any good teacher will begin to do this with you after you become an established student of theirs.  However, this practice is also used as a complementary threapy, to help people who are too unwell to engage with Qigong exercises at all (and hence unable to begin the self-healing process unaided).

I offer one-to-one treatments using the Buqi system of Qigong Therapy.  I have used Buqi to support a number of people with various health issues, including somatic problems, spirit problems, eczema/asthma, depression, osteoarthritis, cancer treatment recovery, etc, often with marked improvements to quality of life.

Tai Chi etc

Taijiquan, Qigong, Qigong Therapy, and Meditation are actually all interrelated and inseperable.  So, this is why I call what I do 'Tai Chi etc'.