Wardoff, rollback, press, squeeze, pluck, split, elbow, shoulder are equated
to the eight trigrams.
The first four are the cardinal directions; the second four are the four
corners.
Advance, withdraw, look right, look left and central equilibrium are equated
to the five elements: metal, wood, fire, water and earth.
All together these are termed the thirteen postures.
(Chang San-feng)
8 powers
There are 8 main jing, known as the 8 powers.
These are the core of
tai chi:
rollback
press/push
squeeze
pluck
split
elbow
shoulder/bump
They are part of the 13 postures and represent the fundamental means of energy expression in tai chi.
Jing
The 8 powers may be combined or expressed in different ways to
produce a variety of outcomes.
They lead to manifestations of energy; principles that utilise touch in
different ways.
In our
curriculum,
the topic of '13 postures' trains the 8 powers.
It is explored in the intermediate syllabus.
Students in the experienced syllabus explore 'jing' as a wider topic,
considering how the different powers are manifested, combined and varied.
Striking with the legs - using jing - is also introduced.
Here are the jing explored in the experienced syllabus:
drilling
breaking
sideways hooking
growing
sinking
inch
contact
cold
lifting
controlling
filing
sending
spiralling
interrupting
uprooting
listening
understanding
following
adhere & stick
yielding
resist
intercepting
closing/close-up
wrapping
silk reeling
prying/levering
neutralising
leading
borrowing
blending
opening/open-up
deflecting
turning/twisting
folding/entwining
shaking
upright
rooting
leaping
This list is not exhaustive; there are likely to be other jing taught in
different tai chi schools.
Clumsy
Your opponent should have no sense of what you are doing or which jing you
are using; they should merely experience the effect.
If they feel the onset of an energy manifestation, you are using way too
much
force.
The jing must occur in such a way that the opponent cannot anticipate and
counter it effectively.
Do not advertise your intention or work against a rooted opponent.
A
clumsy practitioner cannot gauge their own
tension and will bang into the opponent.
Jing cannot be expressed in this way.
Force meeting force is simply not
tai chi at all.
To remedy this fault, you must develop internal strength and timing.
That way, your strength is present at all times and you
Newton's Laws of Motion
Our syllabus takes Newton's Laws of Motion into account.
If you ignore the physics, you find yourself blocking, tensing
and using your body unfavourably.
We must follow the way of nature.
Newton was not speculating. His laws reflect how motion actually works.
In the flow
In self defence, jing are employed without
any conscious consideration; they are just part of how you do tai chi.
With practice, appropriateness develops.
Beginners are not formally taught jing.
They just learn to move and the jing emerge as a
consequence of the drills being considered.
Edward De Bono:
Richness and complexity are not the same thing.
Richness is a deliberate choice – complexity is merely an absence of
simplicity.
(Edward De Bono)
Page created 30 September 1999