If your opponent is
bigger than you or using strength it should be to your advantage.
Use four ounces to deflect a thousand pounds and then borrow his strength.
(Cheng Man Ching)
Extremities follow the centre
Beginners often move
their arms first.
This is an external habit.
The body must move first, and the arms and legs follow.
Stepping
Poor footwork will not allow you to yield skilfully if the attack is
overwhelming.
A common mistake is to have the weight equally distributed between both legs; it
prevents smooth stepping and relaxed footwork.
Over-stepping or under-stepping are equally problematic, as is any attempt to
adopt a formal stance.
Low squatting stances are an encumbrance to
movement.
You must move naturally and freely.
Respond to the space
Do not watch the attacking limb. Keep your gaze expansive and move
when the attacker moves.
Respond to the movement of the body. Watch the space occupied by them.
If you do not adhere to this approach, you will not yield in time and become
flustered.
Offer no purchase
Yield your own body until you emulate water. Do not become stuck,
rigid, fixed or held.
Remain soft and loose, flexible. If somebody tries to hold you - step. Step
repeatedly if you need to.
Withdraw your body and remove the limb your attacker is seeking.
When you are skilled at stepping, stop stepping and find space within your body.
Gravity
Let your limbs be heavy and loose; like flaccid tentacles - boneless and solid.
Use gravity skilfully.
Without yielding, you cannot employ gravity.
Groundpath is not the same as connection. It requires you to place your body
weight in your hand.
If you want to increase your striking power, yield even more. Use less
strength.
No internal strength
New starters do not possess
internal strength and find that the system fails them in application.
They crumple.
Instead of training qigong and neigong, they use local muscular tension instead
and resist.
This is clearly not tai chi.
Yielding will not work for somebody who lacks internal strength.
If you are struggling, look to qigong and neigong to build your strength.
The fastest, most powerful hand movements are the ones that use no strength.
(Cheng Man Ching)
Accepting internal strength
If you have been in the beginners syllabus for 6 months or so, you should
have developed some internal strength.
All of our exercises involve neigong.
This means that you can stop using tension and start doing tai chi instead.
Unless you can see this fact, you will continue to use unnecessary force.
Once you
'get it', you will yield to everything and finally be using tai chi.
Internal strength means that you can move your limbs and body without tensing
at all and have strength.
You can be soft, smooth, sensitive and pliable.
The doing is over. You trained 'doing' in qigong, neigong and form. In
application, focus upon 'not-doing'.
Page created 13 July 2000