This is usually the most difficult principle for beginners. It is also an example of a principle that changes quite dramatically as your Tai Chi improves over time. To start with it is explained as the weight being only in one foot at a time. So during the Short Form students are encouraged to emphasise the transfer of weight from one foot to another by taking long steps, staying sunk, and really driving with the legs. Step like a cat. Sink the body and energy to raise the foot from the ground, bring the foot in to the supporting calf before sending it out to step, and sharply point the toe at the spot you intend to place the foot before you place it. Ensure the foot is wholly on the ground before you start to move the weight into it. Savour the stepping: the foot should linger in the air. At any point in the Form you should be able to stop all movement and still maintain your balance, even when a foot is off the ground. A double-weighted posture is one that is too long for you to take either foot off the ground without leaning or jerking. This should be avoided.
Energy is generated by the leg, directed by the waist and issued through the hand. The energy crosses over at the sacrum, so energy from the left leg crosses into the right side of the lower back and is issued from the right hand. We call this cross-energy. Once the student has mastered the rudimentary Short Form she is introduced to cross-energy and encouraged to visualise the intricate martial applications of the postures as they are executed. So, in a very simplified Ward-Off Left posture the body turns to the right, the weight moves completely into the left foot and the energy moves into the right arm which is contacting and yielding to the imaginary opponent’s right arm. The waist then turns to the left, the weight passes into the right foot, the left foot steps forwards and the energy passes into the left arm which rises into an uprooting ward off. The posture finishes by sinking into the left foot, the energy passing into the right hand, pulling the opponent’s right wrist down to sharply downroot and whiplash the neck.
As the student’s energy refines she is introduced to the idea that energy can be generated in a leg by either loading or unloading: bending or straightening. It then becomes clear that when transferring weight from one leg to another (whilst remaining sunk) there are in fact two actions: the straightening of one leg and the bending of the other. So if I transfer from my left foot to my right whilst turning the waist to the right, there are two separate actions - turning to the right whilst pushing with the left leg and turning to the right whilst pulling with the right leg: the left turn is in fact in two halves. Transferring weight by pulling with the empty leg rather than pushing with the full leg is very interesting and powerful. It works the hamstring as well as the quadricep and is potentially more dynamic and spirited.
These developments encourage one’s root (energetic connexion to the ground) to strengthen, and eventually allow the two sides of the body (or the two crossed pathways) to dissociate from each other, rather like the two hands of a pianist being able to play completely independently of each other. This requires the sacrum to loosen and open, as well as a high degree of physical relaxation. The student can then investigate how the two legs are in fact constantly pushing and pulling (as are the two sides of the waist) and it is this dynamic interaction that generates the sharp, short energy of Tai Chi. When the two sides have achieved a high degree of independence it is possible to allow them to subtly shift out of phase with each other, generating an energy of even higher frequency, rather like an interference pattern (certain pianists can do this as well with their two independent hands, and some even with their ten independent digits). This is the sort of detail that the thinking mind can neither impose nor control. Just rouse the spirit, work with speed, and let the body and energy take over. It’s your inner sobriety that keeps everything in order, not your mind. Sobriety develops through single-minded practice. Single-minded means not giving yourself a choice. When you are truly single-minded the mind stops because it’s undistracted. Then the heart and spirit take over and you enter the world of connectedness.
Energy is generated by the leg, directed by the waist and issued through the hand. The energy crosses over at the sacrum, so energy from the left leg crosses into the right side of the lower back and is issued from the right hand. We call this cross-energy. Once the student has mastered the rudimentary Short Form she is introduced to cross-energy and encouraged to visualise the intricate martial applications of the postures as they are executed. So, in a very simplified Ward-Off Left posture the body turns to the right, the weight moves completely into the left foot and the energy moves into the right arm which is contacting and yielding to the imaginary opponent’s right arm. The waist then turns to the left, the weight passes into the right foot, the left foot steps forwards and the energy passes into the left arm which rises into an uprooting ward off. The posture finishes by sinking into the left foot, the energy passing into the right hand, pulling the opponent’s right wrist down to sharply downroot and whiplash the neck.
As the student’s energy refines she is introduced to the idea that energy can be generated in a leg by either loading or unloading: bending or straightening. It then becomes clear that when transferring weight from one leg to another (whilst remaining sunk) there are in fact two actions: the straightening of one leg and the bending of the other. So if I transfer from my left foot to my right whilst turning the waist to the right, there are two separate actions - turning to the right whilst pushing with the left leg and turning to the right whilst pulling with the right leg: the left turn is in fact in two halves. Transferring weight by pulling with the empty leg rather than pushing with the full leg is very interesting and powerful. It works the hamstring as well as the quadricep and is potentially more dynamic and spirited.
These developments encourage one’s root (energetic connexion to the ground) to strengthen, and eventually allow the two sides of the body (or the two crossed pathways) to dissociate from each other, rather like the two hands of a pianist being able to play completely independently of each other. This requires the sacrum to loosen and open, as well as a high degree of physical relaxation. The student can then investigate how the two legs are in fact constantly pushing and pulling (as are the two sides of the waist) and it is this dynamic interaction that generates the sharp, short energy of Tai Chi. When the two sides have achieved a high degree of independence it is possible to allow them to subtly shift out of phase with each other, generating an energy of even higher frequency, rather like an interference pattern (certain pianists can do this as well with their two independent hands, and some even with their ten independent digits). This is the sort of detail that the thinking mind can neither impose nor control. Just rouse the spirit, work with speed, and let the body and energy take over. It’s your inner sobriety that keeps everything in order, not your mind. Sobriety develops through single-minded practice. Single-minded means not giving yourself a choice. When you are truly single-minded the mind stops because it’s undistracted. Then the heart and spirit take over and you enter the world of connectedness.
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