Those who use force soon exhaust themselves.
And what can be accomplished
with exhaustion and struggle?
But those who follow tao become one with the tao.
Because they move with the world, they become one with the force of its
moving.
Because they are one with the world, great things easily happen.
Therefore, those who trust the way of the world are empowered by the world.
(Lao Tzu)
Resistance is futile
Students train
internal strength but deny themselves the benefits of their
hard work by
clinging to old habits of
tension.
It is not enough to perform qigong,
form and
neigong.
If you want to use internal strength, then you must employ it.
This means letting go of your past.
So long as you dither and doubt, and persist with the use of
local tension, there will be no internal
skill.
Resisting force is simply not the way of
tai chi. External bad habits:
Force against force
More than 4 ounces of pressure exerted by you or expressed by you
Localised arm and shoulder movement
Deep, long or wide stances
Fixed legs - disconnected upper & lower
Tensed muscles
Over-emphasis of the waist
Incorrect use of the pelvis and hips
Pushing upon impact
These will all perpetuate an external approach to tai chi. You must remain calm and composed, relaxed and easy. Rely upon yielding, not upon force.
Falling into the well
Letting go of your old
habits and trusting that internal strength
is present requires a
leap of faith.
You must simply
move and then evaluate
the consequences later.
How do you do it?
There is no doing. It is like the
koan:
When you can do nothing, what can you do?
Internal strength will be there when you
stop all the doing, all the
preparation, anticipation, the physical and
psychological tension.
The doing was all the work that developed your internal strength. Like
ingredients used to bake a cake.
To apply internal strength, you must simply relax and move as
softly as you can - using the whole-body.
Being soft and gentle is the key - the less effort you make, the more
internal strength will emerge.
Understand
You must never resort to
force or brute
strength. The moment you start to tense your muscles, your internal
strength is gone.
A beginner has difficulty
coming to terms with the
nature
of internal strength.
The reason why you train it for years is so that you do not have to
consciously apply strength when you need it.
Internal strength is inherent; it is there all the time.
If something never comes or goes, why would you need to deliberately
summon strength?
Until you
understand this for
yourself and have the faith that comes from
pressure-testing your internal strength, you will remain a beginner.
Jing
The use of
jing is concerned
with energy. It is not some metaphysical concept.
It is about the
physics of
touch.
Cause and effect. Fine-tuning your
nervous system. Developing
awareness.
The
tai chi classics tell us that an
old man defeats a gang of youths. But he cannot be using
strength.
So how does he do it?
A young, fit person can tense their
muscles and force a result. An old man cannot.
He must rely upon:
The quality and effect of his touch (jing)
Internal strength (neigong)
His capacity to respond appropriately (self defence)
Timing, positioning, rhythm
As you grow
old,
your external
strength will drain away. Internal strength does not fade in quite the same
way.
With understanding, and the correct application of the
tai chi
principles,
you can hope to maintain a level of health and martial competence well into
old
age.
A tai chi person must behave as though they had the limited strength of
an old person, and rely upon the internal rather than the external.
Page created 21 March 1999