8 januari 2004
Een aantal maanden terug schreef ik een stukje over de geschiedenis van T'ai Chi
Vervolgens kreeg ik in de reacties de vraag over wat T'ai Chi eigenlijk inhoud.
Ik dacht dat ik dat wel makkelijk kon beantwoorden, maar niet is minder waar. En om er maar meteen een stukje Tao tegenaan te gooien: "Dat wat over T'ai Chi verteld kan worden, is niet de werkelijke T'ai Chi."
Echter vandaag vond ik een stuk tekst dat misschien wat meer informatie geeft, dan dat ik zelf kan vertellen. Nine Postures of TaiChi Hanthe traditional TaiChi martial arts training
--- the traditional TaiChi martial arts training
There are two main streams in Chinese martial arts.
One is called Waijia Chuan ( external training schools),
which mainly pay attention on developing physical and
external energy. The other is called Neijia Chuan
(inner training schools), which mainly pay attention
on developing inner energy. After numerous times of
fighting, it is well known that only the Neijia Chuan
can represent the highest level of Chinese martial arts.
The Neijia Chuan consists of three schools: TaiChi,
XingYi and BaGua. Over a hundred years ago, the
Creator of Yang style of TaiChi Chuan named Lu Chan,
Yang , defeated all famous martial arts masters in
Beijing, the capital of Ching dynasty and got a
nickname as invincibility, Yang. After that, gradually
, TaiChi became the first school of Neijia Chuan.
It is hard for many people to understand that TaiChi
movement is so slow and soft, how can it be used in
martial arts and be regarded as one of the best ones.
But these are exactly profound ideas of Chinese
martial arts.
According to the Book of Tao (Tao Te Chin written by
Laotze), there is an idea that the soft can win the
hard, the emptiness can win the substantial. and this
is main principle when Tai Chi is applied in martial arts.
Maybe you say Taoist is just a funny philosophy, no
practical use. But Martial arts. is the easiest method
to let people know whose idea is right or wrong, because
every one can find who really wins or be defeated.
What is the basic theory of TaiChi martial arts?
1. Chi is the main powerful tool. TaiChi will specially
train students the ability of serenity, and eventually
these will make their bodies so sensitive that they will
feel the air around body is heavy and solid, so when other
the opponent into a certain distance range of his body,
he will be aware of that at once and his whole body can
feel the opponent's action.
When they fight back, all this "solid" air following
his attacking will enforce his strength.
2.Soft and light. Why you feel your body is heavy,
because the Chi is not through your channels, if the
Chi can go through your body, you will feel become
ery light and very soft, so you can feel the air
becomes heavy, that is theory of relative. According
to the traditional TaiChi standard, when the master
stand with closing eyes, even a feather flying on
his body, his body will feel its weight, and follow
its falling direction to move, so that the feather
can not stay on his body.
3. Only you feel Chi enough, and very sensitive for
your and your opponent's joints, tendons and muscles'
movements. You can begin to learn TaiChi applied
in martial arts.
How to fight?
Emptiness wins solid. For example, if you walk in
the dark, and stamp a pit without knowing, you will
hurt your ankle or lose balance and fall down, even
the pit is not shallow. That means if you think one
place is solid and hit it , but actually it is empty,
that is very easy to hurt you and make you loose
balance, in fact, your strength has hurt yourself.
That is essence of TaiChi martial arts. So during the
fighting, the opponent thought he has hit your body,
but because your body is soft and sensitive, just the
moment before he has touched, your body has already
backward or sinking, if you can control the correct
time, that is enough for your body only move maybe
one inch. When the opponent make a wrong judgment,
he will lose his balance. And stronger strength
he has, more balance he will lose.
4. Slow wins fast. One examination of TaiChi martial
arts is : put a bird on the hand, then let the bird
fly, every bird will use its legs to jump, before it
fly and when the bird begin to jump on hand, the
master's hand is sinking at same time, then the bird
can not jump, and can not fly. So the energy and strength
of TaiChi is like a sticky swamp, the more energy
the opponent to use, the more sink he will .
How to start to be trained.
The traditional TaiChi martial arts will first use
WuChi posture to train students to relax and go to
silence so that they can feel Chi and make their
bodies sensitive soft.
WuChi posture will teach you how to stand straight
and in a natural way. You will learn how to set
your main three spiritual places free and loosen
your nine physical areas named as "free three places
and relax nine areas", in order to gradually allow
you to go to the deepest state of relaxation, which
is called the "third relaxation"
In the traditional TaiChi martial arts, the state
of relaxation achieved after relaxing tense muscles
is called the "first (level of) relaxation" . Being
able to relax your body and your mind is known as
the "second (level of) relaxation". During the second
relaxation many parts of your body , are still used to
being tense. For example, your eyelids are often tense
because your eyes are constantly blinking. Therefore,
during the second relaxation, your muscles really have
not been used to being relaxed. Relaxation often seems
uncomfortable because your muscles always try to return
to their previous and familiar tense state.
It is only after your body is used to being relaxed
by special training, can you go to the real relaxation
state called "third (level of) relaxation". During
third relaxation your whole body will he completely
, relaxed and f eel very comfortable
When practicing WuChi posture, you may feel heavy
or light, hot or cool, tingly or swollen which in
fact is showing that the energy and the blood are
going through channels inside your body and all
the blockages are gradually being expelled. After
this happens, when you begin to move your body
during the practice of the second posture ofTaiChi
Hand, the SanChai posture, you will feel that a
kind of power is conducting your movement. If you
follow its direction then all the movements of
your body will automatically become circular.
If people play movements of TaiChi Chuan fixedly
and voluntarily and do not follow the body's
natural direction of the muscles' extending, the
joints' twisting and the flow of Chi (energy).
it will be hard work to make all movements circular.
All TaiChi movements are various types of circles
. However, there are always some edges and comers
within peoples' normal movements that are polygon
in shape, not circular.
For example, once the practitioner pay attemion
to his hands, he has taken his attention away
from his arms. Once he relaxes his arms. his
feet may become tense again. He could concentrate
on making the movement of this left hand circular,
and then his right hand's movement will change
from its circular shape. This is the shortcoming
of fixed or not natural movement. The practitioner
might concentrate on a certain place of the body
and he automatically ignores another place.
He may gain something, but he have lost many other
things in the process. This may help to explain
why there are many. people playing TaiChi throughout
the world yet few practitioners develop special power.
But WuChi and SanChai postures has combined voluntary
and natural movement as one.
you will practice some fixed movement, but .you
have to let your body teach you the details about
those movements. If you feel Chi, let the Chi
unite your attention as one, then your attention
can cover all your body, because the Chi covers
everywhere.
Second, the traditional TaiChi martial arts will
teach students Sanchai postures to conduct Chi
and move so slow that they can feel any piece of
muscle is tensed or relaxed at any moment during
practice.
SanChai postures comprises three postures representing
three universal factors Heaven, Earth and Humanity.
The SanChai postures are modeled after the most
natural movements of the human body. Because
the movements are natural it is easier to connect
the inner power (vital Chi) of the body with
the external power found in both Heaven and Earth
Unlike other set of fixed movements or popular
TaiChi, Sanchai only has three simple postures
which are required to finish them within at least
20 minutes and it include rising, decreasing,
opening, closing and turning.
If you do these according to its demands, on one
movement, only a few of parts of body is tensed,
all others are relaxed, but for the whole process,
all muscles has been trained. If people play a set
of very complicated movements in the beginning,
they maybe mainly pay attention on remembering
the movements, what is the next step or chase the
standard and artistic movement, but ignore how to
relax and experience the inner Chi during the exercises.
Because the SanChai is so simple that these
movements can quickly become the habitual and subconscious
movements so that during exercise, students can mainly
pay attention on how to relax their muscles and mind
as soon as possible.
SanChai also provides very strict
and subtle training about many detailed things during
movements, such as the position of any part of the body
, the direction and the speed of movement and the
angle of the muscle's twisting. When your muscles
are relaxed as much as possible the Chi will be able
to move smoothly throughout all the channels of your
body and you will gradually feel "the air" is also
moving and influencing with you once your movement is
enough slow and gentle.
After all your channels are opened or "through" by
the practicing of SanChai. the WuXing (Five Elements)
postures can be learned so that you can learn how to
apply the Chi in martial arts
The theory of WuXing (or Wu, Hsing) describes five
basic elements: Water, Fire, Wood, Metal and Earth
(soil) if you can understand the five elements and
the active (inferring movement and change) relationships
among them, you will have a basic understanding of
the natural world. The WuXing theory is based upon
the observances recorded in the "I Ching", or the
Book of Changes, a well-known and much studied Chinese
philosophical work about natural phenomenon
There is a nurturing aspect as well as a destructive
aspect to the interrelationships of the elements
According to one of the principles in the WuXing
the theory , that describing Mutual Creation,
the Five Elements conceive or nurture one another
and therefore they are in harmony with each other
. Wood creates Fire while Fire falls to the Earth
in the form of ashes and creates more soil, Earth
creates Metal (i e traces of metal are found in
the earth) and Metal in turn creates Water (i.e.
dew forms on metal things left outside overnight
and metal can be melted into a liquid). Lastly
Water creates Wood by nurturing the growth of
trees.
There is also part of the WuXing theory , which
deals with Mutual Destruction where certain
elements destroy or cause harm to one another,
and therefore are in conflict with each other
in these situations. For example, Metal causes
harm to Wood (i.e..: a metal axe can chop up
wood), and Wood weakens the soil (Earth), the
soil (Earth) causes harm to Water (i e a dam),
by taking all the nourishment out of it. Water
can put out a Fire, Fire harms Metal by melting
it.
The five WuXing postures combine naturally
with each other so that many powerful changes
and movements, which are totally eight-one
postures containing many technique of martial
arts called as nine positions of TaiChi boxing
are made and you can create the your own concrete
movement for fighting according to the condition
at that time.
During the practice of the traditional TaiChi
martial arts, the WuChi posture is the root
. posture which creates the Chi. The SanChai
are the three main postures which conduct the
Chi to run through the channels of your body
and the five postures of WuXing teach you how
to apply that powerful Chi in martial arts Thus,
the WuChi (one), the SanChai (three) and the
WuXing (five) together complete the Nine Postures
of TaiChi Hand.
Memorabele verhalenverteller — 11 januari 2004
Dank voor je levenswijsheden. Ga nu slapen. Tot gauw.
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