“Practicing Tai Chi must start from Wuji, and the opening and closing of Yin and Yang must be carefully sought.” This sentence explains the essence of the entry guide to Tai Chi. It is the summary of the predecessors of Tai Chi through years of experience, and it has a very profound guiding significance for Tai Chi learners.
This sentence not only points out that the entry way to practice Tai Chi “must start from Wuji”, that is, practicing Tai Chi must first seek Wuji, practice Wuji first and then achieve Tai Chi; it is difficult to achieve the Tai Chi diagram without entering the Wuji circle; it also points out that “Yin and Yang opening and closing” is the core of Tai Chi, the unity of opposites of Yin and Yang is Tai Chi, and opening and closing is the method to unify the two contradictory sides of Yin and Yang, that is, opening and closing to operate Yin and Yang, so carefully and carefully seeking “Yin and Yang opening and closing” is the key to practicing Tai Chi well.
This sentence also reveals the nature of the internal power of Tai Chi: first, it combines movement and stillness, that is, it is active in stillness, and seeks stillness in movement, there is movement in stillness, and there is stillness in movement; second, it practices both internal and external skills, that is, it practices both internal and external skills, and practices both the energy of Tai Chi and the form of Tai Chi; third, it practices both nature and life, that is, it practices both the innate and the acquired, and practices both the spirit and the essence and energy. It is more appropriate to use this sentence as an entry guide for practicing Tai Chi, or even practicing Tai Chi Kung Fu.
(I) Practice boxing must start from Wuji
Why is it said that “practice boxing must start from Wuji”, or that practicing Tai Chi must first seek Wuji? If you don’t start from Wuji, or don’t seek Wuji first, can you practice Tai Chi?
The essential characteristics of Tai Chi are: stillness is active, stillness outside and movement inside, and there is movement in stillness. Tai Chi is divided into Yin and Yang in movement and stillness, and movement and stillness are Yin and Yang, and Yin and Yang are Tai Chi. Tai Chi is just one yin and one yang. When yin and yang are separated, the heaven and earth stand. Yin is rooted in yang, and yang is rooted in yin. When yin and yang are combined, all things are born. It shows that the opening and closing rotation of yin and yang are the roots of each other, and they regulate each other to nourish all things. The essential characteristics of the Tai Chi diagram are: yin and yang complement each other, and movement and stillness are combined.
The way to seek Wuji is to stand quietly in the Wuji stance. Choose a quiet environment with fresh air, stand naturally, relax the whole body, eliminate distracting thoughts, and seek tranquility. Gradually, you will calm your mind and spirit, and your body and mind will be empty and quiet. You will forget about the self and the world, and you will have no thoughts and no things. Your body will be like the void and nothing, and you will enter an empty Wuji image. In this way, you stand quietly and wait for it to move, purely letting nature take its course. When you reach the utmost emptiness and stillness, a little spiritual connection will arise in the sea of qi, and from Wuji, there will be opportunities. When you are extremely still, there will be vitality, and when you move, Tai Chi will be born. You must persist in standing still for a long time without stopping, and gradually generate the Tai Chi Qi in the invisible, and gradually feel it and become connected in the invisible, then the power and spiritual energy will increase.
Tai Chi is an internal power boxing, which is based on the cultivation of internal power. It trains both inside and outside, strengthens the spirit inside and strengthens the muscles outside. The power of Tai Chi’s internal power is reflected by Tai Chi’s abstract soft internal strength; Tai Chi’s internal strength is the commander and core of boxing. If the boxing has no power, the boxing is useless. The internal power of Tai Chi is based on essence, qi, and spirit. When the essence is full, the qi is full, and the spirit is concentrated, the internal power will naturally be thick and spiritual. When it is used, the power penetrates the middle, and the power helps the power of the boxing. It must be hard and soft, and it must be both hard and soft, appearing and disappearing, as fast as lightning, and as shocking as thunder. A boxing proverb says: Boxing without power is nothing; power cannot beat the method, and the method cannot beat the power. Internal power is the foundation of martial arts. If you get one of them, you will have everything. Without sufficient internal energy, the power of martial arts cannot be manifested. Therefore, Tai Chi pays special attention to the cultivation of internal strength, taking strength as the basis, cultivation as the main thing, and boxing as the mother. Only when the three are combined can they succeed.
To practice internal strength, the first thing is to cultivate internal energy. And standing still in the Wuji stance is the primary and foundation-building method for practicing internal energy. Therefore, seeking Wuji first means seeking internal strength first, that is, to cultivate and strengthen internal energy first. By standing still in the Wuji stance for a long time, you can gradually cultivate and strengthen internal energy and enrich Dantian. By standing still in the Wuji stance for a long time, you can make the upper body more empty and the lower body more stable, with an empty top and a solid bottom, as heavy as a mountain, and not afraid of being pushed down by others; and the body and mind are empty and quiet, the inside and outside are strict, and the upper and lower are united.
(II) Seriously seek the opening and closing of yin and yang
The process of practicing Tai Chi is the process of depicting the Yin and Yang Tai Chi diagram and running the principles of Tai Chi Yin and Yang in a unified way. Through the circulation of rise and fall, the opening and closing of emptiness and reality, the two energies of yin and yang are made to grow and decline, and to adjust each other. In the midst of being and not being, neither close nor far, and being impartial, we choose the way of moderation and practice it, and gradually reach the state of Taihe, where there is no end to the cycle, there is no beginning of movement and stillness, there is no trace, the hardness and the softness complement each other, and the emptiness is the ultimate harmony of art, that is, it starts from the invisible, is completed without a trace, and returns to the original image of Taiji.
The two yin and yang of Taiji, when moving, they open, and when still, they close. Movement and stillness are yin and yang, and yin and yang are Taiji. The opening is movement and yang, and the closing is stillness and yin. And there is closing in opening, opening in closing, yin in yang, and yang in yin. One movement and one stillness are the roots of each other; one opening and one closing, yin and yang complement each other, and the opening and closing of movement and stillness operate the principles of yin and yang. Seeking Wuji first is the method of seeking movement in stillness, and from Wuji comes the one Qi of Taiji; moving Qi and walking the frame is the method of seeking stillness in movement, and from opening and closing, the two Qi of Yin and Yang are moved, so that the spirit and Qi are united and the whole body is flowing.
The movement of Taiji is nothing but opening and closing. “One opening and one closing, the boxing is complete”, so Taiji can also be called opening and closing boxing. There is opening and closing in everything, up and down, left and right, front and back, rising and falling, bending and stretching, coming and going, emptiness and reality, forward and backward, advancing and retreating, rolling and releasing, accumulating and releasing, loosening and tightening, breathing, exhaling and inhaling… There is opening and closing everywhere, and there is opening and closing at all times. Opening and closing are everywhere, and Yin and Yang are seen at all times. When opening, Yin and Yang are separated, and the clear rises and the turbid falls; when closing, Yin and Yang intersect, blend and embrace each other. When opening is fully opened, the mind, spirit, and form are all open; when closing is fully closed, the mind, spirit, and form are all united. And there is closing in opening, and opening in closing, Yin and Yang complement each other, and Taiji is true. A closer look reveals that there are internal and external opening and closing. Internal opening and closing refers to the opening and closing of the Qi mechanism. When it opens, all meridians open, and when it closes, all meridians close; external opening and closing refers to the opening and closing of the body. When it opens, all four limbs open, and when it closes, all four limbs close. External opening and closing is based on internal opening and closing, and internal opening and closing is assisted by external opening and closing. When the internal and external are combined, the internal Qi fills the skin and enters the bone marrow.
Internal opening and closing is mainly based on Dantian opening and closing breathing; external opening and closing is mainly based on chest and abdomen opening and closing folding. Dantian is the home of vitality and the source of Qi. The front Dantian is the sea of Qi, and the back Dantian is the root of Qi. Dantian opening and closing breathing is the natural breathing method of Dantian, so that the middle Qi can reach below the navel; the external one is abdominal breathing. Dantian breathing is initiated naturally. When you practice to a certain degree, Dantian can open and close breathing, not intentionally using the abdomen to breathe. The chest and abdomen are the two hexagrams of Qian and Kun. The opening and closing of the chest and abdomen is the way of Yin and Yang Qian and Kun. The opening and closing of the body starts with the chest and abdomen. When the chest and abdomen are open, the limbs are open, and when the chest and abdomen are closed, the limbs are closed. When the chest and abdomen are opened and closed, the Dantian is opened and closed to attract, and the Ren and Du meridians are connected. The twelve meridians are dredged, and the internal qi flows throughout the body. The Yin and Yang Qi run parallel and merge into one Qi. Choose the middle and open and close this way. After practicing for a long time, you will return to the original state of Tai Chi.
Through this article, we know that to learn Tai Chi, you must first practice Wuji Zhuang. Wuji means to seek internal strength first. To practice internal strength, you must first practice internal Qi, that is, to cultivate and strengthen internal Qi. By standing still for a long time in Wuji Zhuang, you can gradually cultivate and strengthen internal Qi, enrich Dantian, circulate meridians, and spread all over the body. The body is like a ball filled with air, and the whole body forms a flexible shelf strength; combined with the spiral winding method of Tai Chi, the internal Qi is wound around the skin and bones, and collected into the bone marrow to form the unique hard and soft winding internal strength of Tai Chi. By standing in Wuji stance for a long time, the upper body can be more empty and the exercises can be more stable. The upper body is empty and the lower body is solid, heavy as a mountain, and you are not afraid of being pushed down by others. At the same time, the body and mind are empty and quiet, the inside and outside are strict, the upper and lower parts are united, and the whole body is one. When practicing boxing and walking, you can meet the requirements of Tai Chi’s overall movement of following the upper and lower parts, connecting each joint, and moving everything.
The essence of the introduction guide to learning Tai Chi tells us that we should practice Wuji stance first, and practice internal skills first. Tai Chi focuses on cultivating, nourishing, and gathering qi, and takes moving qi, circulating qi, and ventilating qi as the rules, and strengthening qi and mixing qi as the purpose. The integration of the three methods of exercises, boxing, and health preservation is the true meaning of Tai Chi, so when practicing boxing, we must first cultivate, nourish, and gather qi.