What Are the Secrets Behind Moving Slowly in Tai Chi?
What Are the Secrets Behind Moving Slowly in Tai Chi?
Tai chi is a martial art, but the fundamental form is slow. Why? Although there is a fast form in most tai chi forms, the slow form is what beginners start with and why?
Moving slowly helps one in maintaining a sense of sung/song. Relaxing the muscles and adhering to the tai chi principles. Fast movements in the beginning will make it hard adhering to these principles.
Such as “sinking the chest and raising the back” and keeping a sense of relaxation. However, as one progresses one will notice that the slow form may facilitate understand the jin.
What is jin? Jin is the force, and as per the classics the most fundamental jin, is the one that rises from the feet and is controlled by the waist and released out the hand or fingertips.
As you release excess tension and balance the forces in the body when doing the form. Then one can begin to understand how the jin moves from the lower to the upper.
THE STORY OF THE HARMONIOUS FIST
Connecting the body as one.
And this is the secret to the slow form in tai chi. If you add the practice of Zhan Zhuang and maintain the same state when doing the slow form, this will accelerate ones understanding.
Besides jin from the context of force originating in the feet, there is also ting jin – “listening energy”. Which when doing the solo form would mean the state of awareness of the body and mind. The more in tune, the better the ting jin – the ability to listen.
This then leads to dong jin, understanding energy. The ability to understand through listening of how the jin rises from the ground. Due to adhering to the fundamental tai chi principles.
Yang Cheng Fu’s 10 essences is a summary of the principles and are fundamental to tai chi and not just Yang Style Tai Chi.
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