The way to learn Tai Chi well and get twice the result with half the effort is to practice the basic courses well. The basic courses are the basic skills. Only in this way can the goal be clear, the key points be highlighted, and the effect be obvious. According to my personal teaching experience of more than 30 years, beginners of Tai Chi should focus on three basic skills, namely “lively arms”, “moving waist”, and “sitting legs”.
Three basic skills of Yang style Tai Chi
1，Live arms
The operation of the upper limbs, arms and hands is very important for the success of Tai Chi. In addition to the usual key points of loose shoulders, dropping elbows, sitting wrists, relaxing fingers, and showing palms, special attention should be paid to grasping two points:
(1) Use intention without force, be loose, flexible and smooth, and stretch naturally;
(2) Must be driven by the waist, not blindly and automatically.
Li Yaxuan, a master of Tai Chi, often said: “Arms and hands cannot use any strength, they must be highly relaxed.” “Arms should be as loose as a rope tied to the shoulders.” “Arms should be loose and heavy.” The upper limbs cannot move randomly. Mr. Li Yaxuan pointed out: “… Use your mind, spirit, and energy to slowly command the waist and spine to drive the limbs, arms, and legs to move… There should be no automatic, no discontinuous, no partial, no excessive, and no insufficient movement. … Excessive movement of the limbs, blind movement, rash movement, or no movement, or uneven movement at different speeds are all wrong. It is only the name of Tai Chi but not the reality of Tai Chi. Scholars need to pay attention to this point.”
If the limbs move randomly, it is impossible to make the upper and lower parts move together and move in a complete manner. The upper limbs are soft and heavy. This is the need to practice sinking kung fu and sinking qi into Dantian. Shrugging shoulders and raising elbows, stiff arms and hands, and making qi float up, will lead to tension in the heart and chest, which is contrary to the principle of “empty above and solid below”. Sinking kung fu cannot be practiced on the body. This mechanism is easy to understand.
The upper limbs and arms have special functions from the perspective of martial arts. One is to transmit force. The saying “its root is in the foot, it is released from the legs, it is dominated by the waist, and it is shaped by the fingers” means that the root force rises and finally reaches the waist and needs to be released through the arms and hands. If it is not highly relaxed, the quality of the force will not be high.
Another function of the upper limbs is to transmit information, that is, to practice the skill of “listening to the force”. When the arms and hands come into contact with the opponent, you can know the opponent’s dynamics and strength. “People don’t know me, I know people alone, a feather can’t add, flies can’t land”, this is the highest level of listening to the force and transmitting information. If you don’t work hard from a high degree of relaxation and effort, you will make mistakes in direction and route.
There is another function, which is the so-called “use the mind to move the arm, use the qi to penetrate the fingers, and the internal force to communicate with the spirit” to exercise the strength of the upper limbs, but all of the above functions must be practiced from the “lively arm” at first. When you first learn to practice your hands, the most common problem is that you move randomly and stiffly. Practicing live arms is to change these activity habits that do not meet the requirements. You have to change them, so it is called basic skills.
2， Waist Movement
When practicing Tai Chi for the first time, people often only see their hands and feet move, but not their body. The main problem is that they don’t know how to “move the waist”. The martial arts community generally emphasizes the importance of the waist. A proverb says: “If you practice Tai Chi without training your waist, you will never be a master.” Tai Chi Boxing Theory (Zhang Sanfeng’s posthumous work): “Its roots are in the feet, it starts in the legs, it is dominated by the waist, and it is shaped by the fingers. From the feet to the legs to the waist, it must be complete and coherent. Only by moving forward and backward can you seize the opportunity and gain the upper hand.”
The core of this theory is “the dominance of the waist”. Each boxing style must be completed together with the drive of the waist to achieve the requirement of “following up and down”. Dominance of the waist refers to how to move the waist. In simple terms, dominance of the waist means “moving the waist”. It can also be clearly seen here that the whole body movement starts from the waist. The waist is the locomotive, and its importance can be imagined. The boxing classic “Thirteen Postures Song” says: “The source of life and intention is in the waist gap, and you should always pay attention to the waist.”
To further explore the importance of waist movement, some coaches say that the waist is the locomotive, and all movements start with the waist moving first, so we can think of boxing as the waist doing the boxing. This is also possible, and it is completely consistent with the saying that the source of movement is the waist gap, and we should pay attention to the waist. “Moving the waist” belongs to the essentials of body techniques and is a basic skill, but there are other requirements for body techniques. Why are they not treated as basic skills? Different situations and levels are different, and they cannot be compared.
Empty neck and top strength, and sinking qi into Dantian belong to internal skills. Yang Chengfu, the master of Yang style Tai Chi, has already concluded that they belong to high-level and senior courses. They are gradually developed over a long period of time under the condition of raising the spirit and relaxing the whole body. It is not easy to learn. In the initial stage, just pay attention to the relaxation of the whole body, and there is no need to pursue it in advance. Holding the chest and pulling the back (including wide chest and wide back) is not something that can be learned in the initial stage, so there is no need to pay too much attention to it.
Standing upright can only be regarded as a condition for waist movement. The various requirements of body techniques are proposed from all angles and aspects. In fact, they work closely together as a whole and cannot be understood separately. Otherwise, there may be problems in understanding the mechanism, which is not conducive to learning boxing. Don’t be careless.
In summary, “moving the waist” is to relax the whole body, raise the spirit, stand upright, and use the spine as the axis to slowly twist and drive the whole body’s legs, feet, arms and hands. The “moving waist” movement is mainly twisting the waist, which is a left and right twisting movement in a plane parallel to the ground with the spine as the axis. Twisting the waist is like twisting a towel when washing your face.
In the Yang style Tai Chi routine practiced by Li Yaxuan, each boxing style has a twisting waist movement, such as the knee-blocking palm, which is to connect the root force and send it to the hand by twisting the waist. If you can’t twist the waist, you can’t do the foot and hand movements together, and you can’t meet the requirements of following up and down and the whole body movements.
3，Sitting Legs
The requirements of Tai Chi for the lower limbs, feet and legs are called the foundation of the chassis, which is extremely important and indeed quite difficult to practice. One of the main reasons why many people who practice boxing for many years have not achieved success is that they do not exercise their feet and legs properly.
“Sitting legs” is a method of practicing chassis kung fu. It can also be called “single-leg flexion and weight-bearing training method”, which is also difficult to master, so it should still be regarded as a basic skill. As early as in “Taijiquan Theory”, Zhang Sanfeng mentioned: “Its root is in the feet, it is released from the legs, it is dominated by the waist, and it is shaped by the fingers.” This passage is about the release of strength, indicating that the feet are the foundation, and the leg strength is generated from the flexion to the extension of the legs, and then sent to the waist and hands. This clearly points out that the foot and leg chassis must have the ability to generate root strength.
In the early years of practicing boxing, I met several Tai Chi masters, all of whom said that the foundation of Tai Chi is in the feet, and they also clearly pointed out the importance of chassis kung fu and the importance of root strength. Mr. Li Yaxuan often emphasized the lower limbs, feet and legs: “When practicing boxing, the body is like a train carriage, and the feet and legs are like the large coil springs under the carriage. The carriage is supported on the coil spring, and the carriage is not allowed to rise and leave the coil spring, nor is it allowed to touch the hard iron wheel.” This passage vividly illustrates the role and importance of the chassis, and clearly points out that the feet and legs must be able to bear the load, and must be able to remain loose, soft, powerful and elastic. If the feet are rooted and stable, the stability of the body will be strong. When pushing hands and exerting force, it is often said that the roots must be pulled out first, which means to destroy the opponent’s stable state and destroy his ability to “root in the feet”. Once the root force is pulled out, the center of gravity is unstable, the body is scattered, and it is in a passive situation to be beaten. Those who have a good foundation in Tai Chi have a stable chassis, which is not easy for ordinary people to push.
In summary, the functions of the chassis are summarized as follows:
① Generate root force and send strength upward;
② Be elastic and bear load;
③ Be soft and powerful and enhance stability.
There are different methods to practice chassis kung fu, but the principles are the same, which are to bend the legs and relax, increase the weight, and practice the bearing capacity of the legs and feet as a prerequisite. The static practice method is usually to use standing practice. When the whole body is relaxed and the mind is naturally focused, different postures are used. One stand is for half an hour. It is very strenuous and difficult to practice. Currently, it is not widely used; the dynamic practice method is more common, usually using the “cat-led step”, which is also difficult to learn.
Mr. Li Yaxuan uses the “dwarf step” when teaching Tai Chi. Bend the legs and sink down, the body becomes shorter, and the leg load is not reduced. Under the condition of physical and mental relaxation, walk steadily for a long distance continuously, and walk 1-2 kilometers at a time. The whole body is sweating. It is very hard, but very effective.
Inspired by the above practice method, I use the “sitting leg method” and the effect is also good. My chassis kung fu is practiced by sitting legs. It is a method evolved from the “dwarf step” method. The method is briefly described below.
When practicing boxing, bend your knees and legs, and under the guidance of the meaning of great relaxation and softness, your body and mind will continue to relax and sink downwards. The upper body will seem to be sitting on a stool, increasing the load on the legs and continuously prolonging the time of single-leg weight bearing. Step forward and back, and still be light and steady, and slowly move the center of gravity as if walking on thin ice (do not rush). At the same time, use the changes in the boxing steps and footwork to continuously exchange the posture of single-leg weight bearing to operate the boxing frame. The “sitting leg” method has a better effect when taught in a single style. Generally, the method of playing the “Lou Xi Ao Bu Palm” is adopted. Do dozens of “Lou Xi Ao Bu” continuously until you sweat and your legs are sore. As long as the soreness is reduced and you feel less strenuous, your lower body kung fu has reached a certain level.
From the above analysis, the practice of lower body kung fu, whether static or dynamic, is actually “sitting legs” in its deep meaning. Mr. Li Yaxuan said: “If you never feel leg pain or shoulder soreness while learning Tai Chi, it’s probably because your teacher is wrong. You should ask another famous teacher to correct you.” This is a very important point and you must listen to it. Remember, Tai Chi’s basic skills are very important. Sitting and practicing with your legs together will help you improve your skills. This is the right way.