The Yin Yang symbol represents a balance of opposites, a harmony between differences. (Hard / Soft; Empty / Full) In Tai Chi, as with nature, there are no absolutes. You cannot have pure white with out some black and vice versa. You cannot have fullness on one side and emptiness on the other without a small amount of “bleed over” between the sides. This week we focused on applying this concept into our Tai Chi practice. We use the term “Separation” to describe the difference between the sides. When one side is strong, the other must be soft to maintain harmony in the movement.
Left / Right - Up / Down - Front / Back - Which way do we go, George?
These are the three most common directions where we can work on separation within our Tai Chi practice. Each of these represents the direction of focus during a movement or posture. Each begins at the Dan Tien and through the center of the spine, emanating out.
Up / Down involves the concept of rooting and supporting the sky simultaneously. Think of your spine as a spring, which is centered at the lower Dan Tien (just below the belly button) and is both connected to the floor and the ceiling, thus creating a potential energy through the spine. This focus, created in the opening posture, allows us to maintain a strong root while holding an active, healthy posture and should be continued throughout the form.
The Left / Right relationship is best represented in the Empty Step. When working on Tai Chi Step this week each student was asked to take a short step initially in order to effectively establish as much difference from the empty side to the supporting strong side as they could. Typically, the smaller the step, the easier it is to create a more significant separation. In addition, each was asked to extend the reach of the forward step to determine where they lost the ability to feel a Left / Right separation. Once your step reaches out a certain distance you lose the ability to remain empty. This is due to reaching out past your current level of physical strength. Proper Tai Chi requires emptiness in each step we take and there fore you should never step out past your strength to make a movement "look" bigger. If you cannot create emptiness in each step, then you are losing a tremendous amount of how Tai Chi develops physical strength.
Front / Back separation involves recognizing that when you push to the front you must also consider the back and express equally in that direction. If you focus all your attention to the front during a push you take a strong chance on over committing to that movement. Initially, to effectively create a push, it must emanate in both directions.
The 8 Winds
As our Tai Chi practice matures, this direction of focus becomes more complex. The trigrams around the perimeter of the Yin Yang symbol has several meanings but one which I feel is very important to Tai Chi training is that each represents a direction (the 8 winds) from which you must be stable in order to repel an opponent's attack. Basically, if you are not completely aware of your posture, alignment and how it relates to your separation, then you will be knocked out of stance very easily.
All Together Now
Eventually, though much physical practice and development of your concentration, you will learn to maintain attention to each of the directions at once throughout the forms. This leads into the deeper principal of Expansion and Absorption. Every movement is then expressed in all directions, equally.
No comments:
Post a Comment