Taijiquan:
An Introductory
Oveview
(Copyrighted 2008 by Don M. Tow)
Earlier this month I was invited to give an
introductory overview presentation and a demonstration of Taijiquan at a
high school in central NJ to help celebrate the Chinese New Year.
Below is a slightly modified version of that
presentation.
Although much of the material in this article
is already contained in earlier articles published in this website, I
thought that it is still useful to include this article in the website,
because the different aspects of Taijiquan are now described in this single
article.
If the reader is interested to read more details about
any of these aspects, he/she can find more details about the different
aspects in the appropriate article in the "Archived-Taiji" page.
What is Taijiquan:
Taijiquan[1]
was originally invented as a fighting art, i.e., a martial art.
In recent years, Taijiquan is often known,
especially in the West, as a form of exercise that is good for health.
Taijiquan is actually both:
A form of exercise that is good for health and
a martial art that is good for self defense.
Because of the mostly slow and gentle movements of
Taijiquan, its practice has low impacts on the body.
This is why Taijiquan can be practiced by young
and old, and it has become a favorite health exercise for senior citizens in
Taijiquan’s Origin:
There is some
uncertainty on how and when Taijiquan was invented.
It is possible that it was invented by the
Daoist
mystic Zhang San-Feng (张三丰)
about 900 years ago in the
Different Styles of
Taijiquan:
There are many different
styles of Taijiquan.
The original style is the Chen Style, which
gave rise to the Yang Style, when Yang Lu-Chan (场露禅,
1799-1872) from Hebei Province (河北省),
went to the Chen village to work, and then
for about seven years also learned Taijiquan
from Chen Chang-Xing (陈长兴,
a 14th
generation Chen).
Then Yang went back to
Because
there are so many different styles as well as different forms even within
the same style, it was difficult to evaluate and give scores during
competitions.
Therefore, certain standardized sets were
agreed upon in
Fundamentals of Taijiquan and
Relationship to Yin-Yang Theory:
As a martial art, Taijiquan makes
extensive use of the yin-yang concept,
represented by the yin-yang symbol
which has two main characteristics:
Complementarity and constant change.
Complementarity means that the whole is made up of two complementary
parts of opposites, such as black and white, large and small, strong and
weak, forward and backward, left and right.
Constant change means that the complementary components can
constantly change into the other.
With respect to martial arts application of Taijiquan, this means that one
does not confront an opponent’s force head on.
Instead, the counterattack often allows the opponent to continue in
the direction of his force, and utilizes that momentum to cause the opponent
to lose his balance.
For
example, a large force from an opponent from the front is countered by a
small force in the direction toward the back, or a large force from an
opponent from the front is deflected by a small force perpendicular or at an
angle to the direction of the original force.
This illustrates the “complementarity” aspect, and is the basis for
the Chinese saying “four ounces can deflect a thousand pounds.”
Once the opponent senses that he
may lose his balance and moves in the other direction, one also changes
direction and counterattacks along the momentum of the opponent’s new
motion. Thus one is constantly
changing directions and utilizes the yin-yang
complement of the opponent’s motion.
This illustrates the “constant change” aspect.
To facilitate the constant
changing of directions, one needs to keep the
upper body upright.
The changes of directions are accomplished by the movement of the legs.
Furthermore, to increase one’s
sensitivity to the opponent’s movements and intentions and therefore to be
able to counterattack more effectively, one needs to keep one’s body,
muscles, and mind relax.
Another fundamental aspect of
Taijiquan is that the power doesn’t just come from the strength of the arms,
but also from the power and momentum of the movement of the legs and
especially the hip/waist.
Coupling this with
utilizing the opponent’s force to counter attack, together with
the strategic placements of one’s legs, arms, and body
relative to those of the opponent
in order to generate more leverage, a smaller
person can defend successfully against a bigger and stronger opponent.
As one progresses into Taijiquan,
proper breathing is very important, especially in generating more power and
enhancing one’s health. However,
beginning students already have too many things to learn and remember,
and therefore beginning students are told to just breathe naturally..
As one progresses beyond the beginner’s level, then
one should start paying
more attention to breathing.
The general rule is that when one is exerting force (e.g., pushing
out to punch or pushing downward to block/deflect), one should breathe out.
And when one is pulling in or making a movement to set up an attack,
one should breathe in. When one
progresses to more advanced levels,
then in order to generate the power of Taijiquan as an internal martial art,
one needs to practice more sophisticated
breathing
techniques, in particular, lower abdominal breathing, instead of the usual
upper chest breathing.
Taiji and Health:
Because of the slow and soft movements of Taiji, it has low impacts on the
body. Therefore, it is an
exercise that can be practiced by young and old, including people who may
not be completely healthy.
Because of its utilization of the yin-yang concepts and because of its
gentle movements, Taijiquan as a martial art, unlike other martial arts, can
still be effective when people become older, even when they become senior
citizens.
There is another health benefit of Taiji which is often not mentioned.
When one does Taiji, one should use the mind to lead the form.
This means that even though the Taiji practitioner should remove
other thoughts from his mind, he should use his mind to think of the form
(how it should be done and why it should be done that way) and to lead the
physical implementation of the form.
This means that the mind, as well as the physical body, is also being
exercised while doing Taiji.
In the last 20 years or so, there
has been a lot of scientific research
in the west to investigate the health benefits
of Taiji. Although not yet
definitive, it seems that the research is indicating that there are multiple
benefits of Taiji. For example,
it can improve muscle strength in the legs and arms, improve balance and
flexibility, and reduce the risk of falling, which is especially important
for senior citizens. A recent
study indicates that Taiji can
boost immunity to
shingles,
a painful nerve condition that
is caused by reactivation of the chickenpox (varicella) virus
and generally affects people older than 50.
The research found that practicing Taiji can increase the
effectiveness of the vaccine against the varicella virus.
Taiji, Qigong, and Traditional Chinese Medicine:
I want to discuss a little bit about Qigong, a subject that many people
might not have heard of. In many
Chinese martial arts, especially an internal martial art like Taijiquan,
cultivating the Qi in one’s body is an integral part of advance training,
whether it is for health or for martial art.
What is Qi?
Qi is often defined as an energy, some
sort of bioelectrical energy, that exists inside the human body.
However, the effects of Qi
are not limited to just inside the body; it can
be felt outside of the human body. For example, the strength of the
electromagnetic field around the hands of an expert Qigong practitioner
could be substantially larger than that of an average person. To some
extent, all people have Qi in their body, but the amount may be small, not
noticeable, and stagnant. Through appropriate practice, one can
increase the amount of Qi in
one’s body and increase the circulation of Qi
within
one’s body. It is important to increase
the Qi in the body, because Qi
in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is
considered to be the essence or vital force of life. However, Qi must
also be balanced in the body. There should not be an excessive amount
of Qi in one part of the body, while at the same time there is a deficiency
of Qi in another part of the body. That is why the ability to
circulate Qi is so important; it is the mechanism that can keep a proper
yin-yang
balance of Qi. In modern physiological terminology, balancing the Qi
is equivalent to attaining homeostasis.
The term “gong”
means the power to produce an effect
via steady practice. Therefore,
the term “Qigong” can be defined as the
practice that increases the Qi and its circulation within the body.
TCM believes that the development of illness is due
to the upsetting of the natural balance (or
yin and
yang) of Qi inside the human body from
pathogenic influences, such as germs. To treat any illness, one needs
to eliminate the pathogenic influences. Both increasing the Qi in the
body and balancing the Qi in the body will help to fight against the
pathogenic influences.
Because the Qi imbalance may be occurring in
non-adjacent parts of the body,
TCM stresses that to heal, one should look for
the cause of the illness, and one should not treat only the head if the head
hurts, or treat only the foot if the foot hurts.
What is the relationship between Qigong and Taiji?
Many of the concepts that are important for Qigong are also important for
Taiji. For example, many Qigong exercises are done very slowly while
undergoing slow and deep breathing, which is also the case for doing Taiji.
The slow movement also allows the body to be in a relaxed state, again also
the case for Taiji. In Qigong exercises, the mind is supposed to be
freed of scattered thoughts, and the mind should focus on the activities at
hand, e.g., the body movements and the breathing. As a matter of fact,
the mind is supposed to lead (or regulate) both the body movements and
breathing, again exactly the case for Taiji.
Because of the many similarities between
Qigong and Taiji, many of the exercises for Qigong and Taiji are similar.
As a matter of fact, Taiji Qigong is one of the most popular types of
Qigong, although there are many other types of Qigong.
Qigong plays a key role in Taiji’s two main
objectives: To improve health and for self defense as a martial art.
We have already explained that the ability to increase Qi and to circulate
Qi is key to good health. How does Qigong help Taiji to achieve its
second objective as a good martial art? Basically, Qigong can increase
the martial artist’s striking power and to train the martial artist’s body
to better resist punches and kicks. The theory behind increasing
striking power
can be understood in the following way.
Dr.
Jwing Ming Yang,
a Taiji master and the author of about two dozen books on Taiji, said that
“the average person generally uses his muscles at under 40% maximum
efficiency.” The martial artist can use the mind to lead the Qi to the
muscles to energize them to a higher level, thus increasing the martial
artist’s fighting effectiveness. Similarly, leading Qi to the skin and
muscles can enable them to better resist a blow without injury. This
is clearly demonstrated in those martial arts exhibitions when a martial
artist can resist a pointed spear pointed to a spot below his throat (the
esophagus area). As a matter of fact, the martial artist not only can
avoid the puncture of that area of the body, but can actually bend the
spear.
In Summary:
On the one hand Taiji is a simple form of exercise.
On the other hand, Taiji is also subtle and
complex both as an exercise or as a martial art.
Taiji is an exercise that can be practiced by
both young and old.
Unlike most other exercises, one doesn’t have
to stop practicing it as one becomes a senior citizen.
Besides being an exercise that is excellent for
health, Taiji is also a good martial art.
[1]
Also
known as Taiji, Tai Chi, T’ai Chi, Tai Chi Chuan, or T’ai Chi Ch’uan.
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