4 Principles of Tai Chi Chuan

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4. Principles of Tai Chi Chuan

This chapter develops what was said in the previous one, about Tai Chi and physics. If we look at Tai Chi from a Western scientific point of view, interpreting the word 'scientific' to mean something which can be experimentally verified and not merely something popularly held to be true, then the principles on which Tai Chi is based can be summarised as the same principles which we find in the natural world: tabNo object moves or changes its direction without the application of another force. tabTo every force which is applied to an object there is an equal and opposite reacting force. tabTo produce an acceleration in the movement of a body the force applied must equal the mass of the object multiplied by the acceleration. You will recall, perhaps, from school lessons in physics/ mechanics that the above principles are a free interpretation of Newton's laws of motion. What Tai Chi does or tries to do for its followers is to enable them to experience the reality of conventional scientific principles in their movements. This is not a dry, academic enterprise, in which we struggle with concepts which seem to clog up the brain of anyone who does not find mechanics easy. On the contrary, it is not essentially an intellectual operation; but rather one in which the stark principles of Western science find their expression in an Eastern mode of movement. For, in terms of movement, what are the implications of trying to move according to the laws of physics? They imply movement in which; 1. Just the right amount of force is used to bring about a result, no more, no less; 2. No movement is made unless it is called for, no extraneous movements, no movements which go against the structure of the body; 3. An attempt to be in regular, if not constant, touch with the experience of the pull of gravity; and 4. A corresponding and simultaneous awareness of the counter-force from the ground, which is constantly being exerted against the pull of gravity. The last point is probably the most important and, as far as I know from my own reading, it is the one which is never mentioned in Tai Chi; though it is implied in Tai Chi instruction and books. In case readers instantly pick up their pens and start writing to me care of the publishers, Element Books, I should say again that this force coming from the ground is implied in Tai Chi writings but not much, if anything, is made of it. It needs to be emphasized, and will be, in this chapter.
1. The Application of Force

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Beginning with the first principle, we find in Tai Chi a saying that if a leaf were placed in the hand of a Tai Chi expert that hand would sink lower, such is the balance and optimum use of force being applied to keep that hand in place. The weight of a leaf would cause it to move, like a well-balanced pair of scales. Add a gramme weight and one side sinks. This applies to the whole body. The aim in Tai Chi is to have a body which is so balanced, with tensions and relaxations so evenly spread, that even a leaf would displace the position of the whole body. tabOf course, this is an ideal, something which rarely if ever happens in humans, although fully expressed in the rest of the living world. In terms of Chinese philosophy, it is an expression of Yin and Yang balance. In Tai Chi there should be not too much Yin, yielding, softness, and not too much Yang, aggression, hardness.
2. The Balanced Body

The second principle follows from the first. The body is constructed in a particular way. The lower half, from say the top sacral vertebra, should support the rest. The lower half, responding to and at the same time equally resisting the pull of gravity, should be Yang, firm, solid, rooted. The upper half, supported by the lower, should be Yin, soft, pliable, rising or floating upward. Key areas such as the head and neck, shoulders and arms, should be especially watched so that they in a sense rise or float. The body's centre of gravity, in the lower abdomen, below the navel, including the corresponding point on the spinal column, should be the meeting place for the upper and lower parts of the body where forces are focused. tabSince people who take up Tai Chi are only human, and have long since left the innocence and spontaneity of infancy behind, and with it the natural ability of the child to do Tai Chi as it were naturally, we have to take the physical condition in which we find them into account. So, for instance, almost every civilized man and woman holds his or her shoulders up, through tension. Thus, the principle of allowing the shoulders to float has no meaning for such a person, at the beginning. On the contrary, the instruction given here is for him or her to let the shoulders go down. If this is achieved and the study of Tai Chi pursued then in time the shoulders can be encouraged to float. tabThis example is but one of several apparent contradictions in the principles of Tai Chi which a beginner encounters. Another example concerns the tension found in civilized people in the lower back, around the back of the waist or small of the back. Before one can think of the lower part of the body supporting the upper, this tension needs to be investigated in the sense that it needs to be felt and ways of letting it go explored. It is only when the upper and lower parts, usually 'fused' into one through tension in the small of the back, are freed from one another that they can be rejoined with optimum muscle tone.
3. Being Aware of Gravity

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The third principle of being in touch with the experience of gravity is part of the psychological problem of being civilized. What we call being civilized, the condition, implies an over-active, associating, 'thinking' brain and a body whose very existence we are hardly aware of unless hungry, sleepy, in need of sexual satisfaction or in pain. So the first step will be to become more aware of the body, any part of it, and in time also aware of the gravitational pull on it; one could say becoming aware of one's own body weight. The fact that a living organism has to return to an awareness of something which should be a constant in its life, through the intervention of an exercise, is something remarkable in itself. tabThis third principle is clearly intimately connected with the other two, preceding ones. If it were possible for us to be aware, throughout the body, of the action of gravity, and let the body respond to it, without interference, then we would not need Tai Chi, or anything like it. Partly through having an overactive brain, our awareness of gravity has been blanked out, as though certain nerve pathways in our nervous system had been severed, or at least, anaesthetized, put to sleep. By beginning to return to this awareness, to awaken and reactivate the pathways, again and again, we shall approach more of a wholeness in ourselves. Another consequence of a growing awareness of gravity, combined with the effects of exploring the other principles of Tai Chi, is that breathing may become more natural, and less impeded by unnatural tensions.
4. Using the Force from the Ground

The fourth principle, of taking in the force from the ground which counterbalances the pull of gravity, accompanies the growth of awareness of gravity. If this force did not exist, we should be pulled down through the earth to its very centre, and all be piled up on top of one another like an immense sack of human potatoes! When you think about it, the floor is exerting a force of resistance which is transmitted to the body. The feet, legs, pelvis and spine conduct this force upwards, as well as conducting the force of gravity downwards. What we could call a right conducting of these two forces produces or could produce an optimum condition like a man or woman comfortably floating in water, and simply called upon to make small adjustments to remain vertical in the water, and not tip over. As was said before, all this is a question of principles whose optimum expression is an ideal, something to be looked towards and not something readily available. Beginning to study Tai Chi in a practical way is one approach to such an expression.
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4. Principles of Tai Chi Chuan

1. The Application of Force

2. The Balanced Body

3. Being Aware of Gravity

4. Using the Force from the Ground

file:///D|/-%20%20Direct%20Aufnahme%20%20-/-%20%20152%20%20-/{ebook}%20taichi/TaiChi/The%20Art%20of%20Tai%20Chi/chap4.htm (3 of 3)7/20/2004 4:32:57 PM

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