Apathy can be overcome by enthusiasm, and enthusiasm can only be aroused by two things: first, an ideal, with takes the imagination by storm, and second, a definite intelligible plan for carrying that ideal into practice.
(Arnold Toynbee)
Gibson
The science fiction writer William Gibson is famous for writing prophetic
stories.
He takes existing scientific technology and cutting-edge advances and considers
what may become of things in a century of technological evolution and change.
One of his themes is 'edge'. Having an edge is important.
Edge is that little ineffable something which gives you an unpredictable,
unexpected quality - an advantage that cannot be easily anticipated or
allowed-for.
Our syllabus aims to cultivate your edge.
Yielding
Tai chi has one principal edge.
The Tao Te Ching is littered with examples of it and illustrations of
how to use it.
That edge is yielding.
But what does it mean? How can it be used? What are the advantages? Why is
yielding an edge?
The answers to these and other questions lie within the syllabus you are
training.
You must open your mind to the concept of yielding and scientifically
investigate the possibilities it affords you.
Do not be tempted to dismiss the significance of yielding or trivialise it.
Our syllabus can ably demonstrate that a person who yields is a person with
power.
The less effort you exert, the move power you can produce. This is a perverse,
perplexing yet delicious outcome of yielding.
Manifestation
If
you want your edge to be tangible and productive, it needs to be inherent.
Everything you do must be an expression of yielding.
This takes unrelenting determination and concentration in all aspects of your
tai chi.
You cannot falter and resort to external means, or the edge will vanish
instantly.
Yielding offers so many opportunities for evasion and countering.
It promises a deeper, more significant means of striking somebody, without any
need to exert or tense-up.
You must cultivate yielding at every turn. Explore it. Understand it. Apply it.
Make it yours.
Use every exercise in our classes as a means of training yielding, of deepening
your sense of its significance and application.
Why is yielding an edge?
If
you yield to the moment, you do not prepare in advance. You move as the
situation requires you to move.
No
dithering. No telegraphing. Quiet. Calm. Decisive.
If you yield to gravity, your limbs become heavier and you can deliver far
greater power by using their inert weight.
If you yield to the flow, you focus on the movement of kinetic energy itself,
instead of the localised limb action.
You generate a tremendous body-wave of focussed power with every movement.
If you yield to your opponent's actions, you do not meet strength with strength.
You flow around obstacles and change instantly without the need to relax
beforehand or make plans in your head.
Strength can be borrowed, utilised and turned back upon itself. Force can be
circumvented.
If you yield to contact, you can use 4 ounces of pressure to deflect 1000
pounds.
Your touch becomes spidery and your peng is a web of softness and stickiness;
controlling without forcing and re-directing without committing.
If you yield to the centre, you maintain your equilibrium and find balance at
all times.
You never over-reach or compromise yourself.
The body remains soft
and heavy, with each footstep grounded and firm.
If you yield to softness, jing is possible.
With jing, kinetic energy is freed and your journey towards fa jing commences.
Effortless striking becomes possible.
If you yield to composure, you begin to see things more clearly.
The clouds of emotion fade and you can act without anger or aggression.
You feel to have more time and more favourable options.
If you yield to humility, you fail to attract unwanted attention.
Your journey through life becomes an easier one.
You upset fewer people and offer a deceptively innocuous appearance to others.
If you yield to the material, you learn so much more quickly.
Resistance fades and old habits disappear.
You become sensitive and adaptive, fluid and surprising.
Your responses occur without premeditation and your nervous system moves easily
and softly.
External perceptions
External martial artists never yield and never come across yielding. It is an
unknown principle to them.
This is why yielding is the edge.
They have no idea what you are doing, or how, or why. They come only to know the
effect.
Yielding offers an inexhaustible range of possibilities, choices, opportunities
and power for the individual who diligently employs this quality every chance
they get.
There is more to say than this, but this serves to give you a start.
Page created 17 May 1998